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Davies, Sir John
Davies, Sir John (1569–1626). The third son of a Wiltshire tanner, Davies was already a well‐known court poet when he was King James I's choice as Irish solicitor‐general (1603–6) and attorney‐general (1606–19). In his Discovery of the True Causes Why Ireland was Never Entirely Subdued (1612) Davies showed how the common law had finally been extended across Ireland in James's reign. Contemporary writers— Barnaby Riche and Fynes Moryson—questioned this glowing assessment.
Pawlisch credits his subject with the invention and use of judge‐made law to underpin the Tudor conquest in default of a subservient Irish parliament. Basically the Irish law officers (most of them New Englishmen) came together and decided key issues (invariably in the interests of the state) as binding legal precedents. Their decisions rode roughshod over vested interests, both Gaelic Irish (cases of tanistry and gavelkind) and Old English (cases of mandates and town charters). Davies, however, was not wholly responsible for this policy of arbitrary absolutism, even though he wrote up the cases in his Reports (1615). As chief law officer, he was the instrument of the government of Chichester and not even a member of his privy council. In fact both the Discovery and the Reports were written to glamorize his own role in order to get a long sought after appointment in the English judiciary, which he eventually achieved. Sir John's influence was greatest in the Ulster plantation. Having trumpeted the rights of free‐holders, he abandoned them after the Flight of the Earls and instead advocated full‐scale colonization, which the king preferred to Chichester's more conservative proposals. Davies (himself a survey commissioner) received 7,500 acres and the impoverished aristocratic Touchet family, into which he had married, was allotted a further 9,000 acres. Bibliography Pawlisch, Hans , Sir John Davies and the conquest of Ireland (1985) Hiram Morgan |
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"Davies, Sir John." The Oxford Companion to Irish History. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Davies, Sir John." The Oxford Companion to Irish History. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O245-DaviesSirJohn.html "Davies, Sir John." The Oxford Companion to Irish History. 2007. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O245-DaviesSirJohn.html |
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Davies, Sir John
Davies, Sir John (1569–1626). Lawyer and poet. Davies was born in Wiltshire, sent to Queen's College, Oxford, and became a lawyer. In 1597 he was elected to Parliament for Shaftesbury. Appointed solicitor-general in Ireland in 1603 through the patronage of the earl of Devonshire, Davies was knighted and spent much of his life in Ireland, serving as attorney-general from 1606 and as speaker of the Irish House of Commons in 1613. His letters and reports on conditions in Ireland are of great value. He returned to England in 1619 and was appointed chief justice of King's Bench in 1626, but died before he could take up office. His best-known poem, Nosce teipsum (1599), dealt with the immortality of the soul, was admired by James I, and was quoted approvingly by Coleridge in Biographia literaria. Davies's wife claimed the gift of prophecy and, predicting his death, irritatingly adopted mourning in advance of the event.
J. A. Cannon |
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JOHN CANNON. "Davies, Sir John." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN CANNON. "Davies, Sir John." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-DaviesSirJohn.html JOHN CANNON. "Davies, Sir John." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-DaviesSirJohn.html |
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Davies, Sir John
Davies, Sir John (1569–1626), was appointed Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench but died before taking office. His Orchestra, or A Poeme of Dauncing (1596) describes the attempts of the suitor Antinous to persuade Penelope to dance with him, giving a long account of the antiquity and universality of dancing. His other works include The Hymnes of Astraea (1599) and Nosce Teipsum (1599), written in quatrains, a philosophical poem on the nature of man and the nature and immortality of the soul. His Epigrammes and Gullinge Sonnets reflect his keen and satirical interest in the contemporary scene.
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MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Davies, Sir John." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Davies, Sir John." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-DaviesSirJohn.html MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Davies, Sir John." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-DaviesSirJohn.html |
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Sir John Davies
Sir John Davies dā´vĬs , 1569–1626, English poet. A successful lawyer, he served as solicitor general and attorney general in Ireland from 1603 to 1619. His works include Nosce Teipsum (1599), a long poem on the immortality of the soul; Orchestra; or, A Poem of Dancing (1596), an explication of the order of the universe; Hymns of Astraea (1599), acrostics on the name Elizabeth Regina; epigrams; sonnets; and tracts on the state of Ireland. |
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"Sir John Davies." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Sir John Davies." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-DaviesSrJ.html "Sir John Davies." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-DaviesSrJ.html |
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