John Spelman

Sir John Spelman (1594 – 24 July 1643) was an English historian and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1626. He is known for his biography of Alfred the Great.

Spelman was the son of Henry Spelman, antiquary. He studied at Cambridge University and at Brasenose College, Oxford. He entered Gray's Inn on 16 February 1608 and later travelled in continental Europe In 1626 he was elected Member of Parliament for Worcester. He edited from manuscripts in his father's library. Psalterium Davidis latino-saxonicum vetus (1640), and wrote a Life of Alfred the Great which was translated into Latin and published in 1678. Whereas his father was a leading expositor of the idea of an "ancient constitution", John Spelman was a theorist of the Royalist cause. He was knighted by Charles I of England in 1641 and served the king actively at Oxford at the beginning of the First English Civil War. The House of Commons ordered Sir John Spillman to be sent for as a delinquent on 10 December 1642.

Spelman died in Brasenose College of the camp disease about 24 July 1643.

Spelman married Anne Townshend, daughter of Sir John Townshend, of Raynham, Norfolk, and Anne Bacon, by whom he had a son, Roger Spelman. His brother, Clement Spelman, was Cursitor Baron from 1663 to 1679.

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