This is John Batchel, conversation with Professor Jonathan Healy of Oxford University, 16th and 17th century historian,

writing of the English Revolutionary Century, the 17th, where America comes from. The book, The Blazing World,

a new history of Revolutionary England, 1603 to 1689.

This passage speaks to Edward Cook, an aged man who served Queen Elizabeth, James I,

had estates in Buckinghamshire, was Lord High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire, towards the end of

his very long life.

Most importantly, he challenged the king.

He challenged the king as the leader of the opposition in Parliament.

After he served the Queen and the King,

he challenged the King about his power to tax people without their permission,

his power to dismiss Parliament and rule by fiat,

his power to put people in jail without a warrant.

He challenged the king.

Sound familiar?

This is a revolutionary man from the 16th century

who lasts into the early part of the 17th century.

Edward Cook is remembered for passages of law that become the ability to speak in Parliament of any

matter. However, I celebrate him in this passage as an iconoclast.

He challenged the king.

He challenged James I, and then he challenged Charles I.

And the regicide that followed is in part because Charles I didn't listen to Edward Cook and the opposition and Parliament. Sound familiar?

Here's Jonathan Healy on Edward Cook.

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