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Book on constitutional theory by John Milton

The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates is a book by John Milton, in which he defends the right of people to execute a guilty sovereign, whether tyrannical or not. In the text, Milton conjectures about the formation of commonwealths. He comes up with a kind of constitutionalism but not an outright anti monarchical argument. He gives a theory of how people come into commonwealths and come to elect kings. He explains what the role of a king should be, and conversely what a tyrant is, and why it is necessary to limit a ruler's power through laws and oaths.

The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates: proving that it is lawful, and hath been held so through the ages, for any, who has the Power, to call to account a Tyrant, or wicked King, and after due conviction, to depose, and put him to death; if the ordinary MAGISTRATE have neglected, or deny’d to do it. And that they, who of late so much blame Deposing, are the Men that did it themselves.

In February 1649, less than two weeks after Parliament executed Charles I, Milton published The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates to justify 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 aimed 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. "Milton’s case was not that Charles I was guilty as charged, but that Parliament had the right to prosecute him." Milton later remarked that the piece was "written to reconcile men's minds, rather than to determine anything about Charles". The work also rebuts theories posited by Robert Filmer and Thomas Hobbes. The work appeared five times: in 1649, perhaps written during the King's trial, with a second edition following in 1650 ("with improvements" during a controversy over the succession of William III. This edition, titled Pro Populo Adversus Tyrannos: Or the Sovereign Right and Power of the People over Tyrants, may have been edited by James Tyrell, a historian, but continued to be advertised, in 1691, as being Milton's work.

Jonathan Scott believed that The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates was one of the "key republican texts" during the 17th century. However, Milton gave up parts of his Republican views to support Parliament, especially when he called for the people to support the government. The argument in The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates is complicated, and Milton attempts to reexplain his views in Eikonoklastes. With both pieces Milton attempted to disrupt the popular image of Charles I as innocent (Eikonoklastes means "image breaker"). It being thus manifest that the power of Kings and Magistrates is nothing else, but what is only derivative, transferr’d and committed to them in trust from the People, to the Common good of them all, in whom the power yet remains fundamentally, and cannot be tak’n from them, without a violation of thir natural birthright. Milton emphasises the concept of trust, instilled in the king by the people, and the dynasty’s violation of that trust. He describes the crimes perpetrated by the executed King, asserting that kings are accountable to more than just God. Also, Milton emphasises the importance of an education focusing on the ability to discriminate between ideas and establishing self discipline.

The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates immediately influenced the political works and theories of many others, including Bulstrode Whitelocke, John Canne, John Lilburne, John Twyn, and various anonymous works. The amount of attention that the work received prompted John Shawcross to declare that the work, itself, allowed Milton to be viewed as a "great writer". Milton's controversial denial of the divine right of kings prevented widespread acceptance of The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates. The Song Curse my Name by the German metal band Blind Guardian is an interpretation of Milton's tract.