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MARTEN, HENRY (1602-1680)

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 785 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MARTEN, See also:HENRY (1602-1680) , See also:English See also:regicide, was the See also:elder son of See also:Sir Henry Marten, and was educated at University See also:College, See also:Oxford. As a public See also:man he first became prominent in 1639 when he refused to contribute to a See also:general See also:loan, and in 164o he entered See also:parliament as one of the members for Marsupial See also:Mole (Notoryctes typhlops). See also:Berkshire. In the See also:House of See also:Commons he joined the popular party, spoke in favour of the proposed See also:bill of See also:attainder against See also:Strafford, and in 1642 was a member of the See also:committee of safety. Some of his See also:language about the See also:king was so See also:frank that See also:Charles demanded his See also:arrest and his trial for high See also:treason. When the See also:Great See also:Rebellion See also:broke out Marten did not take the See also:field, although he was appointed See also:governor of See also:Reading, but in parliament he was very active. On one occasion his zeal in the See also:parliamentary cause led him to open a See also:letter from the See also:earl of See also:Northumberland to his countess, an impertinence for which, says See also:Clarendon, he was "cudgelled" by the earl; and in 1643, on See also:account of some remark about extirpating the royal See also:family, he was expelled from parliament and was imprisoned for a few days. In the following See also:year, however, he was made governor of See also:Aylesbury, and about this See also:time took some small See also:part in the See also:war. Allowed to return to parliament in See also:January 1646, Marten again advocated extreme views. He spoke of his See also:desire to prepare the king for See also:heaven; he attacked the Presbyterians, and, supporting the See also:army against the parliament, he signed the agreement of See also:August 1647. He was closely associated with See also:John See also:Lilburne and the See also:Levellers, and was one of those who suspected the sincerity of See also:Cromwell, whose See also:murder he is said personally to have contemplated. However, he acted with Cromwell in bringing Charles I. to trial; he was one of the most prominent of the king's See also:judges and signed the See also:death See also:warrant.

He was then energetic in establishing the See also:

republic and in destroying the remaining vestiges of the monarchical See also:system. He was chosen a member of the See also:council of See also:state in 1649, and as See also:compensation for his losses and See also:reward for his services during the war, lands valued at bocci a year were settled upon him. In parliament he spoke often and with effect, but he took no part in public See also:life during the See also:Protectorate, passing part of this time in See also:prison, where he was placed on account of his debts. Having sat among the restored members of the See also:Long Parliament in 16J9, Marten surrendered himself to the authorities as a regicide in See also:June 166o, and with some others he was excepted from the See also:act of See also:indemnity, but with a saving clause. He behaved courageously at his trial, which took See also:place in See also:October 166o, but he was found guilty of taking part in the king's death. Through the See also:action, or rather the inaction of the House of Lords, he was spared the death See also:penalty, but he remained a See also:captive, and was in prison at See also:Chepstow See also:Castle when he died on the 9th of See also:September 1680. Although a leading Puritan, Marten was a man of loose morals. He wrote and published several See also:pamphlets, and in 1662 there appeared Henry Marten's See also:Familiar Letters to his See also:Lady of Delight, which contained letters to his See also:mistress, See also:Mary See also:Ward. Marten's See also:father, Sir Henry Marten (c. 1562-1641), was See also:born in See also:London and was educated at See also:Winchester school and at New College, Oxford, becoming a See also:fellow of the college in 1582. Having become a See also:barrister, he secured a large practice and soon came to the front in public life. He was sent abroad on some royal business, was made See also:chancellor of the See also:diocese of London, was knighted, and in 1617 became a See also:judge of the See also:admiralty See also:court.

Later he was appointed a member of the court of high See also:

commission and See also:dean of the See also:arches. He became a member of parliament in 1625, and in 1628 represented the university of Oxford, taking part in the debates on the See also:petition of right. See J. See also:Forster, Statesmen of the See also:Commonwealth (184o); M. See also:Noble, Lives of the English Regicides 0798); the See also:article by C. H. See also:Firth in See also:Diet. Nat. Biog. (1893); and S. R. See also:Gardiner, See also:History of the Great See also:Civil War and History of the Commonwealth and Protectorate.

End of Article: MARTEN, HENRY (1602-1680)

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