A comprehensive historical study into the birth of the law and legal courts in early modern Britain.
Star Chamber Matters details some of the fascinating, tragic, and startling cases brought before the Star Chamber, an English court that sat at the Royal Palace of Westminster from the late fifteenth century to the mid-seventeenth century. Through close examination of the breadth and depth of cases brought before the court in its day, readers will experience the trials and tribulations of life, love, and death in Tudor Britain. These cases touch on changing gender roles, shifting religious views, and more. Star Chamber Matters witnesses the birth of English common and civil law as we know it today.
Star Chamber Matters details some of the fascinating, tragic, and startling cases brought before the Star Chamber, an English court that sat at the Royal Palace of Westminster from the late fifteenth century to the mid-seventeenth century. Through close examination of the breadth and depth of cases brought before the court in its day, readers will experience the trials and tribulations of life, love, and death in Tudor Britain. These cases touch on changing gender roles, shifting religious views, and more. Star Chamber Matters witnesses the birth of English common and civil law as we know it today.
300 pages | 1 color plate, 1 figure, 8 tables | 6.14 x 9.21 | © 2021
Institute of Historical Research
History: British and Irish History
Table of Contents
1. Introduction: Star Chamber matters
K. J. Kesselring with Natalie Mears
2. The records of the court of Star Chamber at the National Archives and elsewhere
Daniel Gosling
3. Reading ravishment: gender and ‘will’ power in early Tudor Star Chamber, 1500–50
Deborah Youngs
4. Sir Edward Coke and the Star Chamber: the prosecution of rapes at Snargate, 1598–1602
Louis A. Knafla
5. ‘By reason of her sex and widowhood’: an early modern Welsh gentlewoman in the court of Star Chamber
Sadie Jarrett
6. Consent and coercion, force and fraud: marriages in Star Chamber
K. J. Kesselring
7. Labourers, legal aid and the limits of popular legalism in Star Chamber
Hillary Taylor
8. Jacobean Star Chamber records and the performance of provincial libel
Clare Egan
9. A marine insurance fraud in the Star Chamber
Emily Kadens
10. Star Chamber and the bullion trade, 1618–20
Simon Healy
11. Contemporary knowledge of the Star Chamber and the court’s abolition
Ian Williams
K. J. Kesselring with Natalie Mears
2. The records of the court of Star Chamber at the National Archives and elsewhere
Daniel Gosling
3. Reading ravishment: gender and ‘will’ power in early Tudor Star Chamber, 1500–50
Deborah Youngs
4. Sir Edward Coke and the Star Chamber: the prosecution of rapes at Snargate, 1598–1602
Louis A. Knafla
5. ‘By reason of her sex and widowhood’: an early modern Welsh gentlewoman in the court of Star Chamber
Sadie Jarrett
6. Consent and coercion, force and fraud: marriages in Star Chamber
K. J. Kesselring
7. Labourers, legal aid and the limits of popular legalism in Star Chamber
Hillary Taylor
8. Jacobean Star Chamber records and the performance of provincial libel
Clare Egan
9. A marine insurance fraud in the Star Chamber
Emily Kadens
10. Star Chamber and the bullion trade, 1618–20
Simon Healy
11. Contemporary knowledge of the Star Chamber and the court’s abolition
Ian Williams