Twysden, Sir Roger

▪ English historian

born Aug. 21, 1597, East Peckham, Kent, Eng.

died June 27, 1672, East Peckham

      English political pamphleteer and constitutional historian who is noted for his work on the development of English law and constitutional government.

      Twysden was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He was knighted in 1620 and served in Parliament in 1625 and 1626. At the outbreak of the Civil War between Charles I and Parliament in 1642, he participated in the writing of a petition stating grievances against the king, Parliament, and the ecclesiastical authorities. He was imprisoned from July to September of that year for antiparliamentary activities. In June 1643 he attempted to escape to France but was recognized and again imprisoned. During his detention he wrote The Laws of Henry I (1645) and began a study of parliamentary history, completed in 1655 as Certaine Considerations upon the Government of England, his major work and one of the first treatises dealing with the historical roots of English constitutional law and history. Released after 1647, he continued both his research of ancient records in London and his petitioning of Parliament on various issues throughout the 1650s. After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, he remained active in public affairs until shortly before his death. In 1652 Twysden also wrote Historiae Anglicanae Scriptores X, a compilation of 10 early English chronicles and histories that is a valuable source of medieval material.

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