‘The contempt and reproach of our nation’? Wardship in England and Wales, 1617–1624

This thesis evokes the Jacobean Court of Wards and Liveries as historians have never seen it: as a means of redress for individuals from a diverse range of economic backgrounds who approached the court with a variety of difficulties and anxieties that all had one common thread. They were occasioned by royal wardship.

Using the vast but neglected WARD collection at The National Archives, this thesis investigates how wardship affected individuals during the later Jacobean period. In so doing it tests the court’s long-held reputation as a mercenary revenue-generator that evinced little concern for the fortunes of who fell within its remit. A set of Instructions was issued to the court by James I in 1611, designed to address accusations of ill usage. The thesis provides evidence that the court observed these directives and worked to mitigate its unsavoury reputation. It further demonstrates that, contrary to current understanding, the court had a wide social spread, drawing over a third of its litigants from those below the gentry. Developing this theme, it also elucidates the importance of the court for women, thereby adding to the ongoing debate about female agency and women’s interaction with the law in early modern England.

Additionally, the thesis investigates the remit and significance of an almost wholly overlooked institution, Prince Charles’s Court of Wards and Liveries, established in 1619 to handle tenures belonging to the prince as Duke of Cornwall and Earl of Chester. It establishes that the court presented new and difficult challenges to those holding land in chief of the prince, while demonstrating the importance of the court as a training-ground for Charles and showing how the court’s drive for revenue generation can be seen as a precursor of the Personal Rule (1629–1640).