- Killing No Murder
Killing No Murder is a
pamphlet published in1657 duringThe Protectorate period of the EnglishInterregnum era of English history. The pamphlet of disputed authorship advocates theassassination ofOliver Cromwell . The publication was in high demand at the time of its distribution. Cromwell was said to have been so disturbed after the publication of "Killing No Murder" that he never spent more than two nights in the same place and always took extreme precaution in planning his travel.Possible Authors
"Killing No Murder" was published under the pseudonym 'William Allen' but the authorship is largely attributed to one of three individuals or some combination of the three. The individuals generally attributed with authorship are (in order): Colonel
Silius Titus ,Edward Sexby orWilliam Allen .ilius Titus
Colonel Titus was a politician and one of two individuals who claimed authorship of the work. Titus' claim could stand on its own merit due to the highly sarcastic nature of the document -- a trait often attributed to Titus. In response to claims that he often "made sport of the House" and didn't take matters seriously, Titus remarked that things were not to be taken seriously simply because they were dull [ [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=43267 Parishes - Bushey | British History Online ] ] . Titus' tone can be seen throughout the document and on that alone, many attribute the work to him before he admitted to writing it. Additionally,
Charles II of England awarded Titus the title ofGentleman of the Bedchamber for his service in authoring the work. [ [http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive/1660/05/07/index.php Monday 7 May 1660 (Pepys' Diary) ] ] [http://ia331314.us.archive.org/3/items/lifeofjohnmilton06massuoft/lifeofjohnmilton06massuoft.pdf]Edward Sexby
Sexby had returned to England to try where
Miles Sindercomb had failed in exacting the call for assassination found in "Killing No Murder". After failing, he was caught trying to escape toAmsterdam and was imprisoned in theLondon Tower . It was there that Sexby went insane and died a year later in1658 . Before his death, he was coerced by Sir John Barkstead to admit his participation in the writing of the pamphlet.William Allen
While it was often assumed that the document was written under a pseudonym, another theory suggested that William Allen, a Republican who had ties with Edward Sexby and Thomas Sheppard, had penned the document. The trio (Allen, Sexby and Sheppard) had agitated Cromwell in the past by expressing their concerns about the Army's attitude toward Parliament. It is possible that Allen, therefore, wrote the document brazenly himself before he died but is more likely named as the author as retribution from one of the other two authors.
References
ee also
* [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=43267 British History Online: Parishes Bushey]
* [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=42481 British History Online: Parishes Ramsey]
* [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~smithhouse/andergen/hunterfam/aqwg164.htm RootsWeb.com: Family History for the House of Smith]
* [http://www.eapoe.org/works/misc/mar0945.htm Edgar Allan Poe Marginalia - Part IV]
* [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Pamphlets 1911 Encyclopedia]
* [http://www.gerald-massey.org.uk/holyoake/c_life_5.htm Sixty Years of an Agitator's Life]
* [http://alpha.lib.uwo.ca:5701/search/XEarly+English+books+online.&SORT=A&searchscope=20/XEarly+English+books+online.&SORT=A&searchscope=20/31297%2C32000%2C32000%2CE/frameset&FF=XEarly%2BEnglish%2Bbooks%2Bonline.%26SORT%3DA%26searchscope%3D20&31299%2C31299%2C University of Western Ontario: Books Online]
* [http://oll.libertyfund.org/Texts/Hume0129/History/0011-6_Bk.html The History of England From the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution in 1688 (1778) Volumn VI]
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