Edmund Bohun (1645–1699) was an English writer on history and politics, a publicist in the

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

interest.

Life

Great Britain

Edmund Bohun was born on March 12, 1644/5 in Ringsfield, Suffolk, England.S. Wilton Rix, The Diary and Autobiography of Edmund Bohun Esq (1885) He was educated at

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...

. He married

Mary Brampton Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

(d. 1719) on July 26, 1669. They had a single child, Nicholas (1679-1718) who died in Carolina. In the late 1660s, Bohun became associated with

William Sancroft William Sancroft (30 January 161724 November 1693) was the 79th Archbishop of Canterbury, and was one of the Seven Bishops imprisoned in 1688 for seditious libel against King James II, over his opposition to the king's Declaration of Indul ...

, Samuel Parker and

Leoline Jenkins Sir Leoline Jenkins (1625 – 1 September 1685) was a Welsh academic, diplomat involved in the negotiation of international treaties (e.g. Nimègue), jurist and politician. He was a clerical lawyer who served as Judge of the High Court of Admi ...

, in a group of

High Church The term ''high church'' refers to beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, liturgy, and theology that emphasize formality and resistance to modernisation. Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term originate ...

proto-Tory thinkers. He began to write against the Whigs after the

Exclusion Crisis The Exclusion Crisis ran from 1679 until 1681 in the reign of King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland. Three Exclusion bills sought to exclude the King's brother and heir presumptive, James, Duke of York, from the thrones of England, Sc ...

of the 1680s. He attacked Whig theories and in particular

Algernon Sidney Algernon Sidney or Sydney (15 January 1623 – 7 December 1683) was an English politician, republican political theorist and colonel. A member of the middle part of the Long Parliament and commissioner of the trial of King Charles I of Englan ...

in his ''Defence of Sir Robert Filmer'' (1684). Sancroft asked Bohun to edit

Robert Filmer Sir Robert Filmer (c. 1588 – 26 May 1653) was an English political theorist who defended the divine right of kings. His best known work, ''Patriarcha'', published posthumously in 1680, was the target of numerous Whig attempts at rebuttal, ...

’s works, for an edition of 1685, and its preface Bohun attacked

James Tyrrell Sir James Tyrrell (c. 1455 – 6 May 1502) was an English knight, a trusted servant of king Richard III of England. He is known for allegedly confessing to the murders of the Princes in the Tower under Richard's orders. William Shakespeare por ...

. Andrew Pyle (editor), ''Dictionary of Seventeenth Century British Philosophers'' (2000), article on Bohun, pp. 105-7. In reply to

Jeremy Collier Jeremy Collier (; 23 September 1650 – 26 April 1726) was an English theatre critic, non-juror bishop and theologian. Life Born Jeremiah Collier, in Stow cum Quy, Cambridgeshire, Collier was educated at Caius College, University of Cambrid ...

's ''The Desertion discuss'd in a Letter to a Country Gentleman'' (1688), Bohun wrote ''The History of the Desertion'' (1690), bringing forward an argument influential for Tories who (unlike Collier) were prepared to swear allegiance after the

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution; gd, Rèabhlaid Ghlòrmhor; cy, Chwyldro Gogoneddus , also known as the ''Glorieuze Overtocht'' or ''Glorious Crossing'' in the Netherlands, is the sequence of events leading to the deposition of King James II and ...

; this work was the first history written of the events in which

James II of England James VII and II (14 October 1633 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Gloriou ...

left the throne. He drew on the work of

Grotius Hugo Grotius (; 10 April 1583 – 28 August 1645), also known as Huig de Groot () and Hugo de Groot (), was a Dutch humanist, diplomat, lawyer, theologian, jurist, poet and playwright. A teenage intellectual prodigy, he was born in Delft ...

, in ''

De Jure Belli ac Pacis ''De iure belli ac pacis'' (English: ''On the Law of War and Peace'') is a 1625 book in Latin, written by Hugo Grotius and published in Paris, on the legal status of war. It is now regarded as a foundational work in international law. The work t ...

'', for the idea of

conquest Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms. Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...

after a

just war The just war theory ( la, bellum iustum) is a doctrine, also referred to as a tradition, of military ethics which is studied by military leaders, theologians, ethicists and policy makers. The purpose of the doctrine is to ensure that a war i ...

as applicable to the contemporary United Kingdom, as was also done by William King.

J. P. Kenyon John Philipps Kenyon, FBA (18 June 1927 – 6 January 1996) was an English historian and Fellow of the British Academy. His area of expertise was 17th-century England. Life Kenyon was born in Sheffield where he attended King Edward VII School, ...

, ''Revolution Principles: The Politics of Party 1680-1720'' (1977), p. 31. In 1692, Bohun was appointed Licenser of the Press, a position as pre-publication censor. He ran into trouble in the case of an anonymous pamphlet called, ''King William and Queen Mary Conquerors'' which was really by Charles Blount. It argued a case similar to Bohun's own views.

Thomas Babington Macaulay Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, (; 25 October 1800 – 28 December 1859) was a British historian and Whig politician, who served as the Secretary at War between 1839 and 1841, and as the Paymaster-General between 1846 and 184 ...

claimed that the Whig Blount in writing it deliberately set out to entrap the unpopular Bohun, but this is no longer accepted. In a House of Commons debate in 1693, Tories defending Bohun pointed out that the bishops

Gilbert Burnet Gilbert Burnet (18 September 1643 – 17 March 1715) was a Scottish philosopher and historian, and Bishop of Salisbury. He was fluent in Dutch, French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Burnet was highly respected as a cleric, a preacher, an academic, ...

and William Lloyd had published similar arguments. The outcome was that Bohun lost the position, which was shortly abolished, and Burnet's ''Pastoral Letter'' of 1689 was included in a suppression order covering ''William and Queen Mary Conquerors''. Bohun was briefly imprisoned, and after a two-year renewal of the Press Act providing for a Licenser as censor to 1695, the pre-publication censorship of the press was allowed by Parliament to lapse.

America

He emigrated to Carolina, becoming in 1698 the first recorded Chief Justice of (south) Carolina there, based in Charleston. On October 5, 1699, Bohun died of

Yellow Fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...

. In 1885, Bohun's diary and autobiography were published by S. Wilton Rix.

Works

* A defence of Sir Robert Filmer, against the mistakes and misrepresentations of Algernon Sidney, esq. in a paper delivered by him to the sheriffs upon the scaffold on Tower-Hill, on Fryday December the 7th 1683 before his execution there. (1684)
A Geographical Dictionary, Representing the Present and Ancient Names of All the Countries, Provinces, Remarkable Cities ...: And Rivers of the Whole World: Their Distances, Longitudes and Latitudes (1688)

The history of the desertion, or, An account of all the publick affairs in England, from the beginning of September 1688, to the twelfth of February following with an answer to a piece call'd The desertion discussed, in a letter to a country gentleman (1690)

The Character of Queen Elizabeth, or, A full and clear account of her policies, and the methods of her government both in church and state: her virtue and defects, together with the characters of her principal ministers of state, and the greatest part of the affairs and events that happened in her times (1693)

The justice of peace, his calling and qualifications (1693)

Life

Great Britain

America

Works

Notes

Further reading