Michael Malet (c 1632 - after 1683) was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

from 1660 to 1679. He was a zealous Protestant and opponent of the court and appears to have lost his reason. Malet was the son of Sir Thomas Malet of Poyntington. He was a student of

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

in 1650 and was called to the bar in 1655. He became a member of the Rota Club in 1659. In 1660, he was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Milborne Port Milborne Port is a village, electoral ward and civil parish in Somerset, England, east of Sherborne, and in the South Somerset district. It has a population of 2,802. The parish includes the hamlets of Milborne Wick and Kingsbury Regis. The vill ...

in the Convention Parliament. He was a J.P. for Somerset from July 1660 to 1670 and a commissioner for maimed soldiers from December 1660 to 1661. In 1661 he was re-elected MP for Milbourne Port in the

Cavalier Parliament The Cavalier Parliament of England lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. It was the longest English Parliament, and longer than any Great British or UK Parliament to date, enduring for nearly 18 years of the quarter-century reign of C ...

. He was commissioner for assessment for Somerset from 1661 to 1669 and for Berkshire from 1664 to 1667. In 1675 he became a bencher of Middle Temple. He was commissioner for assessment for Westminster from 1677 to 1679. History of Parliament Online - Michael Malet
/ref> Malet was an extreme Protestant opposed to the High Church as well as Roman Catholics. He was also an outspoken enemy of the Court and apparently became increasingly insane. It was said of him when

Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys (; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English diarist and naval administrator. He served as administrator of the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament and is most famous for the diary he kept for a decade. Pepys had no mariti ...

introduced the naval programme "Michael Malet, who, to make good the M’s in his name, is many times mightily mad, without a metaphor or a trope, said he knew no need we had of ships in time of peace, unless it were to carry away the Italian women again, meaning the duchess of York." Later it was reported that he "came to the Queen’s drawing room to show he can be as mad elsewhere as in the Parliament House, and there bawled out aloud to his royal highness, quite across the circle when the room was full, ‘Monsieur le Duc, il faut laisser l’idolatrie, il faut faire Dieu votre ami; il vous servira mieux que le roi de France, ce que je maintiendrai’; which he was so pleased with that he said it over twice; and afterwards, being persuaded out of the Queen's presence, uttered twenty other follies in the privy chamber". His final disgrace came at a by-election in Berkshire in July 1678 when "poor, maggot-headed Mr Malet" uttered some words ... which were said to "reflect very greatly upon his Majesty’s honour" and he was sent to the Tower. He was never brought to trial and was last recorded alive in 1683. Malet married Mary Aldworth, widow of John Aldworth of Letcombe Regis, Berkshire and daughter of Thomas White of Fyfield Berkshire by 1664. They had at least three sons. He was the brother of John Malet.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malet, Michael 1632 births Year of death missing 17th-century Protestants English MPs 1660 English MPs 1661–1679 Prisoners in the Tower of London