Edward Forsett
Edward Forset was an English official, politician and writer, known for political works and as a playwright.
Life
He was the fourth son of Richard Forsett, a barrister and Member of Parliament, and his wife Margaret Vaughan. Educated at Christ's College, Cambridge and Trinity College, Cambridge, he graduated B.A. in 1572, and was a Fellow of Trinity from 1574 to 1581.In the service of Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, and a justice of the peace, Forset was involved on the prosecution side of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot. In 1606 he became Member of Parliament for Wells.
Works
Forset wrote:- Pedantius , a Latin comedy. It made fun of Gabriel Harvey.
- A Comparative Discourse of the Bodies Natural and Politique, contributing to the traditional monarchist theory of the king's two bodies: the body politic and the body natural. This is considered one important source for later divine right and royalist ideas, as well as spinning out the bodily metaphor.
- A Defence of the Right of Kings. Wherein the power of the papacie over princes, is refuted; and the Oath of Allegiance justified, a belated reply to writings of Robert Parsons, belonged to the allegiance oath controversy.