The Crown and Its Records : Archives, Access, and the Ancient Constitution in Seventeenth-Century England / Isabel B. Taylor.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Taylor, Isabel, author.

Series:

Cultures and practices of knowledge in history ; Volume 13.

Cultures and Practices of Knowledge in History Series ; Volume 13

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Constitutional history--England.

Constitutional history.

England--History, Local--Archival resources.

England.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (492 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Boston : De Gruyter Oldenbourg, [2023]

Summary:

Archives are popularly seen as liminal, obscure spaces -- a perception far removed from the early modern reality. This examination of the central English archival system in the period before 1700 highlights the role played by the public records repositories in furnishing precedents for the constitutional struggle between Crown and Parliament. It traces the deployment of archival research in these controversies by three individuals who were at various points occupied with the keeping of records: Sir Robert Cotton, John Selden, and William Prynne. The book concludes by investigating the secretive State Paper Office, home of the arcana imperii, and its involvement in the government's intelligence network: notably the engagement of its most prominent Keeper Sir Thomas Wilson in judicial and political intrigue on behalf of the Crown.

Contents:

Intro

Foreword and Acknowledgements

Contents

Introduction, focus, sources and method

Part One: The Institutional Background

1 English archives: The beginnings

2 Records mismanagement

3 Preservation, misplacing, destruction, and embezzlement

4 Specific record-keeping situations: Provincial and legal records

5 Arrangement and description: Inventories, calendars, and records editions

6 Attempts at reforming government records before 1640

7 The records in the Revolutionary era

8 The Restoration and afterwards

9 An ironic counterpoint: Sir Robert Cotton's 'private library'

Part Two: English Archives and the Seventeenth-Century Constitutional Controversies

10 Archives' role in the constitutional debates, and the Whig theory of history

11 The English legal system in the seventeenth century and the permissions regime for the public records

12 The foundation of the seventeenth century: History, Reformation and the 'Ancient Church'

13 History-writing, treason, and censorship

14 The Society of Antiquaries, primary source research, and the Ancient Constitution

15 Sir Edward Coke, Magna Carta, and records seizures

16 Parliamentary research orders

17 Sir Robert Cotton as archival research assistant to government and Parliament

18 John Selden: Archival research, legal history, and constitutional activism

19 William Prynne and the counter-revolution in the records editions

20 Epilogue to Part Two: The Civil War, the Tower records clerks, and espionage

Part Three: Secrecy and Access at the State Paper Office

21 Thomas Wilson's appointment as Keeper: The political background

22 The establishment of the State Paper Office

23 Francis Bacon, George Villiers, and records classification.

24 Practical problems at the State Paper Office: Records storage, Jacobean court intrigues, and money matters

25 The political uses of history and the Crown's records

26 Records accessioning and power politics during Wilson's tenure

27 Archives and intrigue: Wilson and the judicial persecution of Sir Walter Ralegh

28 The State Paper Office after Wilson

29 The Civil War and Interregnum

30 The Restoration, records seizures from Revolutionaries, and cataloguing

31 Official secrecy and research permissions

32 Use requests under James I

33 Use requests after the Restoration

Conclusion: English archives and the wider European context

Bibliography

Biographical note

Index of Persons.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9783110791464

3110791463