FILMER, SIR ROBERT (d. 1653), English political writer, champion of the "divine right" of kings, was born at East Sutton, Kent, and educated at Trinity college, Cambridge. He was an ardent supporter of the king's party, and his house is said to have been sacked ten times during the Civil War. Filmer held that God gave authority to Adam, an authority inherited by Noah and handed down to his three sons ; from the patriarchs, kings and governors derived an absolute authority, founded on divine right. The king was perfectly free from all human control. These views were developed in a series of works of which the most com plete, Patriarcha, was not published until 1680.
The Patriarcha was reprinted (1883) in Morley's Universal Library.