John Spelman
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Sir John Spelman (1594-1643) was an English historian, and is known for his biography of Alfred the Great. His father was English antiquary Sir Henry Spelman, and his brother was Henry Spelman who was a translator and Captain for the Jamestown Colony in Virginia.
Where his father was a leading expositor of the idea of an 'ancient constitution', John Spelman was a theorist of the Royalist cause. He was knighted by Charles I of England in 1641 and served the king actively at the beginning of the First English Civil War.
He had studied at the University of Cambridge, and travelled in continental Europe. He edited from manuscripts in his father's library Psalterium Davidis latino-saxonicum vetus (1640), and wrote a Life of Alfred the Great which was translated into Latin and published in 1678.
[edit] Works
- Certain considerations upon the duties both of prince and people written by a gentleman of quality (1642) Excerpt
- Case of our affaires in law, religion, and other circumstances examined and presented to the conscience (1643)
- A Protestant's account of his orthodox holding in matters of religion, at the present indifference in the Church (1642)
- Aelfredi Magni, Anglorum regis invictissimi vita tribus libris comprehensa (1678)
