Moket (Mocket), Richard (1577-01-01 - 1618-07-06)

Richard Mocket was born in Dorchester, Dorset in 1577. He attended Brasenose College, Oxford and graduated B.A. in February 1596; he was subsequently elected fellow of All Souls in 1568 and proceeded M.A. in April 1600, B.D. in April 1607, and D.D. in July 1609. He was rector of St Clement, Eastcheap from 1610-11, of St Michael, Crooked Lane from 1611-14, of Newington, Oxon. from 1614-18, of West Tarring, Sussex from 1614-18, and of Monks Risborough, Bucks. from 1615-18. He served as domestic chaplain to George Abbot, archbishop of Canterbury and as one of the king’s commissioners on ecclesiastical affairs. Mocket was employed licensing books for entry at Stationers’ Hall from March 1610 to June 1614; in 1614, he was elected warden of All Souls. Mocket is believed to have been the author of a short tract, “Deus et rex” (1615) that defended the oath of allegiance and summarized the church’s political theology; it was well received, with King James I issuing a 1615 proclamation ordering the universal teaching of the book to youth — a decree echoed by the privy council of Scotland and by the Aberdeen general assembly in 1616. That same year Mocket published the joint works “Doctrina et politia ecclesiae Anglicanae” and “Disciplina et politia ecclesiae Anglicanae” to far less favourable reviews. Offended by the book, King James condemned it and ordered it burned in 1617. Mocket died on 6 July 1618 and was buried in the chapel of All Souls.