Star Chamber and English society in the reign of James I a subject selection from Star Chamber proceedings

Format:

Website/Database

Series:

Archives unbound

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Great Britain--History--James I, 1603-1625--Sources.

Great Britain.

England and Wales. Court of Star Chamber--Archives.

England and Wales.

Court records--Great Britain--History--Sources.

Court records.

England and Wales. Court of Star Chamber.

Genre:

Archives

History

Sources

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Other Title:

Archives unbound Star Chamber and English society in the reign of James I a subject selection from Star Chamber proceedings

Place of Publication:

[Farmington Hills, Michigan] Gale, a Cengage Company

Summary:

"The Jacobean Star Chamber Proceedings (STAC 8) have long been recognised as a key source for all aspects of the reign of James I. Hitherto restricted to those able to make personal searches of the originals at the Public Record Office, the most important documents in STAC 8 are now made available to a wider audience in a selection assembled in 1978 by staff of the Early Modern Records Department at the Public Record Office, in connection with an internal editorial project, advised by a leading authority on Star Chamber, Dr. J.A. Guy, Lecturer in History at Bristol University. Designed to reflect all aspects of Star Chamber's work under James I, the selected documents are also a prime source for the social, economic and legal history of early Stuart England. Almost all the litigation in Star Chamber was private at this date, with only a very small proportion of Star Chamber's work being concerned with the more notorious interests of Stuart monarchy under James I. As a result, the records give a unique picture of local issues and conditions, gentry factions and rivalries, crimes, official corruption and public disorders, larded with frequent and accurate insights into the wheeler dealing of Jacobean land transactions - that perennial activity of Stuart aristocracy and gentry. Star Chamber's jurisdiction extended to sedition in both church and state affairs, corruption of juries and local officials, perjury, contempt of court, commercial fraud, forgery, and counterfeiting, engrossing and forestalling, embezzlement, enclosure, abduction, attacks on property and even unlawful hunting. This picture of English society is especially valuable, coming at a time when seventeenth-century historians increasingly appreciate the importance of country and gentry politics as a necessary complement to Court and Parliamentary politics. It was, however, this same picture with which the Privy Council itself became familiar as James's reign progressed, the Privy Council being also judges of Star Chamber"-- Home page

Notes:

Content viewed on August 7, 2026; title from home page

OCLC:

1610521398

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license