THE TENURE OF KINGS AND MAGISTRATES

Published in 1649, this tract defended the government of the time and implicitly sanctioned the regicide of Charles I. Milton’s political reputation earned him an appointment as Secretary for Foreign Tongues by the Council of State in March 1649.  In the tract, Milton discusses the formation of commonwealths and describes an ideal constitutionalism, which is not an outright anti-monarchical argument. He suggests what the role of a king should be and conversely what a tyrant is, arguing why it is necessary to limit a ruler’s power.

In February 1649, less than two weeks after Parliament executed Charles I, Milton published The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates in order to excuse the action and to defend the government against the Presbyterians who initially voted for the regicide and later condemned it, and whose practices he believed were a “growing threat to freedom.”  Milton wished to expose false reasoning from the opposition, citing scripture throughout the Tenure of Kings and Magistrates to counter biblical reference that would cast holy and public disapproval on Parliament’s actions. The work also rejects theories posited by Robert Filmer and Thomas Hobbes. Specifically, Milton took issue with the notions that a separation of powers leads to anarchy and that the King’s power was naturally absolute.