Intolerable Opinions in the Time of Genocide

John Lilburne, reading from Coke’s Institutes of the Lawes of England (1628-44) at his trial for high treason in 1649. Image: The British Library/Public Domain.

In Love’s free state, all powers so levelled be
That them affection governs more than awe.

– William Davenant

In 1638, John Lilburne was put on secret trial by the Star Chamber of Charles I. His crime? The writing and distribution of seditious pamphlets that skewered the legitimacy of the monarchy and challenged...