Filmer

Filmer, Sir Robert, who died 1653, was a Royalist of the Stuart period. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and was knighted by Charles I. He wrote a work called Patriarcha, in which he advocated the extreme doctrine of Divine right, considering the country to be the king's family, and the patriarchal family with all its patria potestas to be the model of political rule. The hook has no great pretensions either in style or argument. Sir Robert had the courage of his opinions, and is said to have been plundered ten times, and to have been imprisoned in Leeds Castle for his loyalty to the losing cause. The family still retains the old seat and estate at East Sutton, in Kent.