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The Madman and the Churchrobber: Law and Conflict in Early Modern England

The Madman and the Churchrobber: Law and Conflict in Early Modern England

Author: Jason Peacey
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780192897138
Published In: January 2022
Format: Hardback
Jurisdiction: U.K. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

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Description
Contents

Details

This microhistory reconstructs and analyses a protracted legal dispute over a small parcel of land called Warrens Court in Nibley, Gloucestershire, which was contested between successive generations of two families from the mid-sixteenth century to the early eighteenth century. Employing a rich cache of archival material, Jason Peacey traces legal contestation over time and through a range of different courts, as well as in Parliament and the public domain, and contends that a microhistorical approach makes it possible to shed valuable light upon the legal and political culture of early modern England, not least by comprehending how certain disputes became protracted and increasingly bitter, and why they fascinated contemporaries.

This involves recognising the dynamic of litigation, in terms of how disputes changed over time, and how those involved in myriad lawsuits found legal reasons for prolonging contestation. It also involves exploring litigants' strategies and practices, as well as competing claims about the way in which adversaries behaved, and incompatible expectations of the legal system. Finally, it involves teasing out the structural issues in play, in terms of the social, cultural, and ideological identities of successive generations. Ultimately, this dispute is employed to address important historiographical debates surrounding the nature of civil litigation in early modern England, and to provide new ways of appreciating the nature, severity, and visibility of political and religious conflict in the decades before and after the English Revolution.

Introduction

Part One: Suits

Introduction

1:'Strange passages in divers suits': waging law over Warrens Court, 1560-1615

2:'Given to superstitious uses': contesting Lady Katherine Berkeley's Grammar School, 1615-1662

Part Two: Strategies

Introduction

3:'A lawyer by practice': John Smyth of Nibley as litigant

4:'Power and wicked practices': John Smyth, influence, and intimidation

5:'A huntsman after broken titles': Benjamin Crokey as litigant

6:'For your sake I sent this down': the battle over Crokey's pamphlet, 1625-1631

Part Three: Structures