Everything about John Cooke Prosecutor totally explained
John Cooke (
1608 –
1660) (sometimes spelt
John Cook) was the first
Solicitor General of the
English Commonwealth and led the
prosecution of
Charles I. Following the
English Restoration, Cooke was convicted of
regicide and
hanged, drawn and quartered on
16 October 1660.
Biography
John Cooke was the son of a
Leicestershire farmer, educated at
Wadham College, Oxford, and at
Gray's Inn. Prior to his appointment as prosecutor, he'd established a reputation as a radical lawyer and an
Independent.
In a 2005 biography of Cooke,
Geoffrey Robertson argued that Cooke was a highly original and progressive lawyer, but he wasn't fundamentally anti-monarchist. However, he was forced to this stance when Charles refused to recognise the legality of the court or answer the charges of
tyranny against him. Robertson says that Cooke bravely accepted his fate at the Restoration when many others compromised with the new regime.
The idea of trying a king was a novel one; previous monarchs had been deposed, but had never been brought to trial as monarchs. The
High Court of Justice established by the Act consisted of 135 Commissioners (all firm
Parliamentarians); the
prosecution was led by Cooke.
His trial on charges of high treason and "other high crimes" began on
20 January 1649, but Charles refused to enter a plea, claiming that no court had jurisdiction over a monarch. When Cooke began to read the
indictment, Charles I tried to stop him using the poke of his cane. The ornate silver tip of the cane fell off and Cook refused to pick it up. After a long pause, King Charles I stooped to retrieve it. This is considered an important moment that may symbolize the divine monarch bowing before the human law.
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