Who Wrote Eikon Basilike? Considered and Answered

What it is

This is a book of two letters by the Reverend Christopher Wordsworth, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, published by John Murray in London in 1824. The letters are addressed to the Archbishop of Canterbury. The title asks Who Wrote Eikon Basilike? and the book is held in the Internet Archive collection. The title page and opening pages show the author's name and the book's publication details.

Why it matters

The Eikon Basilike was presented as the writings of Charles I, and the question of its true author has been argued for centuries. Wordsworth's letters take up that question and consider the evidence for and against the king. The archive's record names both Charles I and John Gauden as subjects, which shows that the debate concerned both men. Reading this work shows how a historian of the 1820s approached the problem.

Look closer

• What evidence does the author use to decide who wrote the book, and what evidence might he have overlooked?
• Why does the author address his letters to the Archbishop of Canterbury?
• How does a 1824 argument about authorship differ from a modern one?