EIKON BASILIKE, •c111-10. ( Gk.
elKedv flacre)ito5, kingly likeness). The name of a book. the full title of which is EIKf2N BA l.tIIiil, The Pourtraieture of His Sacred Majestic in His Solitudes and Sufferings (161S). It was pub• fished probably at The Hague. and, appearing immediately after the execution of Charles 1., professed to be from his Majesty's pen. .1ilton, in the leonoelastes (1649), assailed it, suggesting doubts also as to its genuineness. The loyalists. on the other hand, warmly defended the theory of royal authorshii.; but after the Restoration John Gamlen, Rishop of Exeter, asked for promotion to the bishopric of Worcester on the ground that he had himself written the book. it is an im portant fact that the Royalist Clarendon, author of the history of the Rebellion, at once accepted this unpalatable statement of the matter. As others, however, refused to credit Gamlen, the controversy has raged to the present day. If
Gamlen was the author, as most authorities now believe, he must have entered thoroughly into the spirit of Charles, though he necessarily idealized the King's character. Consult especially: Words worth, Who Wrote EicSv (Cambridge, 1824) : Todd, Bishop Gamic?' the .1 ltthor of lam Basilike, Further Shown -in A nsicrr to the Recent Remarks of Rev. Dr. Wordsworth (London, 1 S25 ) ; Toland, Amyntor (London. 1699) ; Tuck erman, On the Author of Eisitip BactXish, (Berlin, 1 S74 ) ; Godwin. History of the Commonwealth, pp. (iStff. (London. 1826) ; Hallam. Constitn Noma History of England, ii.. pp. 313f., G36-42 (London, 1S2S) ; Almack. Bibliography of the King's Book. or Eikon Basilike (London, 1896). very valuable. See GAUDEN, JOHN.