author
John Gauden
1605–1662
A churchman, writer, and skilled political survivor, he moved through one of England’s most turbulent centuries and ended his career as bishop of Exeter and then Worcester. He is still best remembered for his connection to Eikon Basilike, one of the most famous royalist books of the Civil War era.
1 Audiobook
Eikon Basilike The Pourtracture of His Sacred Majestie, in His Solitudes and Sufferings
by King of England Charles I, John Gauden
About the author
Born in Essex in 1605, he was educated at St John’s College, Cambridge, and later studied at Oxford. He became an Anglican clergyman and built a reputation as a preacher and prolific writer during the unsettled years around the English Civil War.
His career shows how closely religion and politics were tied in 17th-century England. He held church positions during the Commonwealth and, after the Restoration of Charles II, was rewarded with higher office, serving first as bishop of Exeter and then as bishop of Worcester in 1662.
Gauden is most often remembered because he claimed to be the author of Eikon Basilike, the enormously influential royalist portrait of Charles I published just after the king’s execution. That claim has been debated for centuries, which has helped keep his name alive long after his own sermons and religious writings faded from view.