Posted on 12/12/2019 12:00:08 PM PST by Perseverando
Britain's William Laud had spies listen to pastors' sermon to see if they said anything against the King's ordinances.
If they did, the pastors were arrested.
Decisions to punish political enemies of the King were made in the secret "Star Chamber."
No witnesses were allowed in these arbitrary and oppressive inquisitions.
Though started with the intention to cut through the red tape of bureaucracy, Britain's Court of Star Chamber usurped power.
It became a political weapon for auditing, intimidating and punishing opponents to the King's policies, similar to modern-day IRS audits or partisan secret special counsel investigations.
Individuals were subject to hostile questioning, and if they gave unsatisfactory answers, they were charged with perjury.
If they did not answer for fear of self-incrimination, they were held in contempt of court.
The abuses of England's Star Chamber led America's founders to include the Fifth Amendment in the U.S. Constitution.
Notoriously biased in favor of the King, the Star Chamber was used in 1637 by William Laud to punish religious dissenter William Prynne who objected to the State's control over religious matters.
William Prynne was tied to a pillory -a public pillar- where he had his ears cut off and was branded on the cheeks with the letters "S.L." for seditious libel, which Prynne called the "Sign of Laud."
William Laud approved of the Star Chamber's sentence of dissenting Pastor Henry Burton for his "seditious" sermons, resulting in his ears cut off and imprisonment.
When John Bastwick published religious opinions which opposed government ordinances, he was brought before the Star Chamber and had his ears cut off then thrown in prison.
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bkmk
I am related to the last man to be burned at the stake in England. I want reparations from her majesty.
https://twitter.com/replouiegohmert/status/1205152301196988416?s=20
So sorry - wrong link
https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/edward-wightman-executed-heresy
I am also. Mine was Burned at the stake at Horndon on Hill.
Hubbard-although the name was not Hubbard at the time.
Small world.
BTW, they claim that a good per cent of the American population can trace back to the Pilgrims.
It’s estimated that 10 million living Americans are decendants of Mayflower passengers. I’m one. (William Brewster).
There is a plaque on a cathedral in UK to honor my relative burned to death, at the place of his horrible death. We hope to see it next summer. My first trip there !
You know..after the death of Bloody Mary Tudor, the whole country celebrated for days.
That was one nasty bitch. Reminds me of a few we have in the political arena here.
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