Killing No Murder - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Killing No Murder is a pamphlet

Pamphlet

A pamphlet is an unbound booklet . It may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths , or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddle stapled at the crease to make a simple book...

published in 1657 during The Protectorate

The Protectorate

In British history, the Protectorate was the period 1653–1659 during which the Commonwealth of England was governed by a Lord Protector.-Background:...

period of the English Interregnum

Interregnum

An interregnum is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order...

era of English history. The pamphlet of disputed authorship advocates the assassination

Assassination

To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...

of Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....

. 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.

Text from Killing No Murder

To his Highness, Oliver Cromwell.

To your Highness justly belongs the Honour of dying for the people, and it cannot choose but be unspeakable consolation to you in the last moments of your life to consider with how much benefit to the world you are like to leave it. 'Tis then only (my Lord) the titles you now usurp, will be truly yours; you will then be indeed the deliverer of your country, and free it from a bondage little inferior to that from which Moses delivered his. You will then be that true reformer which you would be thought. Religion shall be then restored, liberty asserted and Parliaments have those privileges they have fought for. We shall then hope that other laws will have place besides those of the sword, and that justice shall be otherwise defined than the will and pleasure of the strongest; and we shall then hope men will keep oaths again, and not have the necessity of being false and perfidious to preserve themselves, and be like their rulers. All this we hope from your Highness's happy expiration, who are the true father of your country; for while you live we can call nothing ours, and it is from your death that we hope for our inheritances. Let this consideration arm and fortify your Highness's mind against the fears of death and the terrors of your evil conscience, that the good you will do by your death will something balance the evils of your life.

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

Silius Titus

Silius or Silas Titus , of Bushey, was an English politician, captain of Deal Castle, and Gentleman of the Bedchamber to King Charles II.-Early Life:He was born in London, the son of Silas Titus, a salter and Constatia Colley...

, Edward Sexby

Edward Sexby

Colonel Edward Sexby or Saxby was an English Puritan soldier and Leveller in the army of Oliver Cromwell. Later he turned against Cromwell and plotted his assassination.-Life:...

or William Allen.

Silius Titus

Colonel Titus

Silius 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 . 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

Charles II of England

Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

awarded Titus the title of Gentleman

Gentleman

The term gentleman , in its original and strict signification, denoted a well-educated man of good family and distinction, analogous to the Latin generosus...

of the Bedchamber for his service in authoring the work.

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 to Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

and was imprisoned in the Tower of London

Tower of London

Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...

. It was there that Sexby went insane and died a year later in 1658. Before his death, he was coerced by Sir John Barkstead

John Barkstead

John Barkstead was an English Major-General and Regicide.Barkstead was a goldsmith in London; captain of parliamentary infantry under Colonel Venn; governor of Reading, 1645: commanded regiment at siege of Colchester; one of the king's judges, 1648; governor of Yarmouth, 1649, and of the Tower,...

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 former New Model Army

New Model Army

The New Model Army of England was formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, and was disbanded in 1660 after the Restoration...

trooper and 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.

Text from Killing No Murder

Possible Authors

Silius Titus

Edward Sexby

William Allen

See also