The Politics of Polemic: John Ponet's Short Treatise of Politic Power and Contemporary Circumstance 1553-1556

Abstract

In her biographical note on John Ponet, C. H. Garrett observed that although there was little good to be said of him as a man, as a political pamphleteer Ponet had attracted less attention than was his due.1 Although W. S. Hudson and W. Gordon Zeeveld have remedied this deficiency to a considerable extent,2 precise connections between Ponet's Short Treatise of Politic Power and contemporary situation in England have not been delineated. Much of strength of this work lies in fact that it was written as a direct response to events in England and on Continent. In particular, Ponet's theories regarding natural rights of subjects stemmed from efforts by crown in 1555 to remove right of ownership of private property from those it regarded as delinquents: Protestant exiles. Ponet elevated possession of property by private individuals to status of a right. He went on to examine basis of regal power and its practical limits and, in arguing legitimacy of resistance to an unjust ruler, postulated a commonwealth in which a substantial measure of power rested with the people. Although produced for an immediate polemical purpose, Short Treatise has more claim than any other anti-Marian tract to be regarded as political theory rather than propaganda. Ponet's opposition to Mary's rule was based on a set of constitutional principles which went beyond stress placed on maintenance of true religion by other pamphleteers of Marian exile. This paper proposes to show links between Ponet's treatise and Marian government's attempts to coerce exiles, and also to indicate role played by circumstance of exile in forming opinions expressed in Short Treatise. After a distinguished academic career at Queen's College, Cambridge,