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The Irish court of wards under James I

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

Victor Treadwell
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Extract

The work of J. Murstfield and H. E. Sell hns directed the attention of historians to the importance of the English court of wards and liveries, both as an instrument of fiscal policy and as a welfare organisation for the children and widows of the king's tenants. In the Public Record Office, Lonclon, a great mass of material remains to throw light on every aspect of the court's activity. More recently Dr H. F. Kearney has published a uselul and suggestive paper on the Irish court of wards which was principally concerned with the reign of Charles I. A more detailed appraisal of the earlier period is not easy since the records of the Irish court of wards have, like those of other departments of state, suffered wholesale loss or destruction. It seems unlikely that the wards papers were ever placed in public archives: they apparently never reached the old Public Record Office in Dublin to be consumed in the holocaust of 1922. Consequently, the student has to work from public and private papers scattered throughout these islands in libraries, record ofices and private collections.

Type
Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 12 , Issue 45 , March 1960 , pp. 1 - 27
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1960

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References

1 See Hurstfield, J., The queen’s wards (1958)Google Scholar; and ’Lord Burleigh as master of the court of wards, 1561-98’, in R. Hist. Soc. Trans., senes 4, xxxi. 95-114; 4 Corruption and reform under Edward VI and Mary—the example of wardship’, in E.H.R., lxviii. 22-36, ’The Greenwich tenures of Edward VI’, in Law Quart. Rev., Ixv 72-81; The revival of feudalism in early Tuder England ’, in History, xxxvii. 131-45; 4 Wardship and marriage under Elizabeth I ’, in History Today, IV. 605-12; ’The profits of fiscal feudalism, 1541-1602’, in Econ. Hist. Rev., series 2, viii. 53-61. H. E. Bell, An introduction to the history and records of the court of wards and liveries (1953), is an excellent vade mecum.

2 The court of wards and liveries in Ireland. 1622-41 ’, in R.I.A. Proc, Ivii, sect, c, pp. 29-63.

3 P.R.O. guide, p. 265. See the appendix to this article for a note on extant records of wardships etc.

4 For a full discussion of these points, see Bell, Court of wards, ch. 4 and Passim.

5 Butler, , Gleanings, pp. 206–14Google Scholar, 218, 220-1, 229. For Connacht, see the indentures printed in Comp, bk Conn.

6 Cal pat. rolls Ire., Hen. VIII-Eliz., p. 99.

7 Liber mun. pub. Hib., i, pt 2, pp. 176-7, where the successive commissions are barely listed.

8 Jacobean specimens of the genre may be found in Repert. pat. rolls Ire., Jas I, pp. 18-19 (1603) and B.M. Add. MS 4794, ff. 236-7 (1610).

9 Liber mun. pub. Hib., i, pt 2, p. 214; H.M.C. Egmont MSS, i, pt 1) pp. 12-13. Escheators had been in existence since the fourteenth century.

10 See the distribution of business shown by table B of the appendix.

11 T. O. Ranger, ‘Richard Boyle and the making of an Irish fortune in I.H.S., x. 257-97, is a very illuminating exposé of the corruption of the escheators and the belated reaction of the English government.

12 Anderson, J., A genealogical history of the House of Yvery (1742), 2. 125 Google Scholar. This work is still of value because it is partly based upon Egmont papers that had disappeared when the H.M.C, compiled its reports. It remains our chief source for Richard Percival, the first clerk (or register) of the wards in Ireland.

13 Cal. S.P. Ire., 1606–8, p. 98. For the escheators, see below, p. 14. Cf. Kearney, op cit., pp. 32, 34, who follows Liber mun. pub. Hib., giving the dates in the old style.

14 For typical grants : Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Jas I, pp. 155, 195, 276-7, 366, 455; H.M.C. Hastings MSS, iv 19, 23, 25; Cal. S.P. Ire., 1608–10, P- 422, BodL, MS Carte 62 f. 237 For complaints· Cal. S.P Ire., 1606-8, p. 98; Desid. cur. Hib., i. 245-7, 249, 267 For the report of 1622 : B.M. Add MS 4756, ff. 41v, 28v-29. Cf. the view of Jacob, the Solicitor general, in H.M.C. Hastings MSS, iv 8, and a paper entitled The moneys collected for the surrenders of Connaught were thus disposed’ of, 1621, in P.R.O., S.P. Ire., Eliz.-Geo. Ill, vol. 236, no. 19a.

15 Desid. cur Hib., i. 263-4, 267-70. An examination of the patenl rolls and fiants confirms that the education clause was inserted inte most grants of wardship after 1595.

16 Cal. S.P. Ire., 1606-8, p. 75; Cal. Carew MSS, 1603-24, pp. 101 109. For two Irish officials’ estimates of the deficit, see Camden Miscellany, x. 108, and H.M.C. Hastings MSS, iv 7

17 Moody, T. W., The Londonderry plantation, 1609–1 (1939), p. 35 Google Scholar; B.M. Add. MS 4756, f. 124v; Kearney, op. cit., p. 37 For a similar solution of the same problem in England, see Law Quart. Rev., 72-81.

18 Bell, , Court of wards, pp. 77–8Google Scholar, Cal Carew MSS, 1603-24, p. 109; Cal. S.P Ire., 1608-10, p. 174. For an example of the schedule attached to special livery, see Anal. Hib., xx (1958). 61.

19 Cal. Carew MSS, 1603-24, p. 101. Cf. Cal. S.P. Ire., 1606–8, P. 75.

20 H.M.C. Hastings MSS, iv. 10.

21 Cal. S.P. Ire., 1608–10, p. 476.

22 Desia1, cur. Hib., i. 229-30; Parsons to Middlesex, 2 July 1623 (P.R.O., unnumbered Sackville MSS); Parsons to Buckingham 24 Dec. 1623 (Bodl., MS Carte 30 f. 189). I am greatly indebted to Lord Sackville for permission to use the Cranfield papers deposited with the Historical Manuscripts Commission.

23 Cal. Carew MSS, 1603–24, pp. 158, 167, Commons’ jn. Ire., i. 41, 56.

24 Acts privy council, 1615–16, p. 346; Cal. S.P. Ire., 1615–25, p. 105.

25 Acts privy council, 1615–16, pp. 378, 588, 635, Spedding, Bacon, vu. 320-1.

26 P.R.O., Chancery 66/2111/pt 22. Cf. Kearney, op. cit., p. 34. Sir John King had been on the commission for the wards since 1609 much of the wards revenue was paid in to him as clerk of the hanaper, Liber. mun. pub. Hib., i, pt 2, p. 24.

27 Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Jas I, p. 309.

28 Rymer, , Foedera (ed. 1704–27), 17. 66–7.Google Scholar

29 R.I.A. Proc, xxxviii, sect, c, p. 63; H.M.C. Egmont MSS, i, pt 1, P- vii; D.N.B., under 4 Denham ’ : pace Kearney, op. cit., p. 34, Denham was not chief justice of the common pleas and he did not die in 1617.

30 Acts privy council, 1616-17, pp. 235, 314.

31 Jones was sworn in on 10 Oct. 1617, Liber mun. pub. Hib., i, pt 2, P- 178; Rymer, , Foedera, 17. 20–5.Google Scholar

32 Cal S.P. Ire., 1615–25, pp. 170-2; P.R.O., S.P. Ire., Eliz.-Geo. Ill, vol. 234, no. 17; Bodl., MS Carte 62 ff. 414, 502, Liber mun. pub. Hib., i, pt 2, p. 179.

33 P.R.O., S.P. Ire., Eliz.-Geo. Ill, vol. 234, no. 17; vol. 235, no. 15 passim; Acts privy council, 1618–19, p. 92; Cal. S.P. Ire., 1615–25, p. 189.

34 P.R.O., S.P. Ire., Eliz.-Geo. Ill, vol. 234, no. 17, H.M.C. Hastings MSS, iv. 52.

35 Acts privy council, 1618–19, pp. 258, 400, 404-5; P.R.O., S.P. Ire., Eliz.-Geo. Ill, vol. 235, no. 15 is the original report, undated but compiled early in 1619 and signed by Hobart, Ley and Yelverton. Marginal notes indicate the action approved.

36 Merely listed in Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Jas I., p. 444, and no longer extant. An interim commission dated 8 Jan. 1619, added Loftus and Annesley but no other significant details, P.R.O., Chancery 66/2167/pt 3.

37 Liber mun. pub. Hib., i, pt 2, p. 179; Cal. S.P. Ire., 1615–25, P. 265.

38 Liber mun. pub. Hib., i, pt 2, p. 56.

39 Cf. Hurstfield in History Today, iv. 607 ’ The mastership of the wards was a key position of patronage, influence and power in Elizabethan England ’.

40 Cal. S.P Ire., 1615–25, pp. 275, 286-7, Parsons to Buckingham, 22 Feb. 1621 (Bodl., MS Carte 30 f. 108).

41 Bodl., MS Carte 30 f. 139; P.R.O., Sackville MS 7551; T.C.D., MS 672, p. 279. Concordatums of £40 and £20, totalling £240 Eng., had been recommended by the Hobart committee in 1619, P.R.O., S.P. Ire., Eliz.-Geo. Ill, vol. 235, no. 15 (article 12).

42 Cal. S.P Ire., 1615–25, pp. 281, 338.

43 P.R.O., Sackville MS 7550; Bodl., MS Carte 30 f. 143.

44 Bodl., MS Carte 30 ff. 113-14 (30 Sept. 1621).

45 Cal. S.P. Ire., 1615–25, p. 338: a copy, correctly dated. P.R.O., Sackville MS 7512.

46 P.R.O., Sackville MSS 7549, 8494, Norton to Cranfield, 10 Feb. 1622, enclosing MS 7554, a copy of lord deputy and council to the king, 14 Jan. 1622. Within a year of the court’s erection, Sir Laurence Parsons declined the post of chief baron as ‘unfortunate and unvaluable’, Lismore Papers, series 2, iii. 80. Perhaps it was a symbolic gesture to give the post to the wards attorney in June 1625, Liber mun. pub. Hib., i, pt 2, p. 50.

47 P.R.O., Sackville MS 7558.

48 P.R.O., Sackville MS 22.

49 Rymer, , Foedera, 17. 358–63.Google Scholar

50 P.R.O., Sackville MS 8728.

51 B.M., Add. MS 4756, ff. 41-2, 53-4 and passim.

52 Falkland to Buckingham, 24 Sept. 1622 (Bodl., MS Carte 30, f. 129).

53 Blundell to Middlesex, 16 Oct. 1622 (P.R.O., Sackville MS 8480).

54 Acts privy council, 1621–3, p. 91. Cf. Bishop Williams to Buckingham, 12 Oct. 1622) Cabala, ed. 1654, p. 75). Besides the court of wards, Buckingham had other interests at stake in Ireland.

55 P.R.O., Sackville MS 8481.

56 Cal. Wynn Papers, ed. Ballineer, J (1926), nos 1052 and 1056.Google Scholar

57 P.R.O., Sackville MS 7580.

58 P.R.O., Sackville MSS 8465, 8486 and 431.

59 P.R.O., Sackville MS 8484.

60 BodL, MS Carte 30 ff. 135, 137.

61 Parsons to Middlesex, 4 Apr. 1623 (P.R.O., unnumbered :kvillc MS).

62 Rymer, , Foedera, 17. 429–37Google Scholar The wards silver seal was completed May 1623, Devon, F, Issues of the exchequer (1837), pp. 269–70.Google Scholar

63 Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Jas I, p. 567.

64 Cf. P.R.O., Sackville MS 7554, and B.M., Add. MS 4756, f. 28. Barker had been feodary for Leinster and the Pale since 1616, Liber mun. pub. Hib., i, pt 2, p. 179, Bodl, MS Carte 30 f. 108.

65 Huntingdon R.O., Kimbolton Castle MS 70, no. 38 f. 2.

66 See, for example, Parsons’ letters to Middlesex, 4 Apr., 2 July, and 20 Aug. 1623 (P.R.O., unnumbered Sackville MSS).

67 B.M., Add. MS 4756, ff. 53, 72; P.R.O., Sackville MS 8211.

68 P.R.O., Sackville MS 436.

69 P.R.O., S.P. Ire., Eliz.-Geo. Ill, vol. 235, no. 15 (articles 5, 6 and 8).

70 Kearney, op. cit., pp. 31, 35.

71 H.M.C. Hastings MSS, iv. 15. A brief account by the auditor general of the wards revenue for 1608-15 has no mention of any sums arising from leases of land for want of livery, P.R.O., S.P. Ire., Eliz.-Geo. III, vol. 234, no. 17 II.

72 Cal. S.P. Ire., 1615–25, pp. 171-2; P.R.O., S.P. Ire., Eliz.-Geo. Ill, vol. 234, no. 17 i; P.R.O., Sackville MS 7513.

78 P.R.O., S.P. Ire., Eliz.-Geo. III, vol. 235, no. 15 (article 7).

74 Parsons to Buckingham, 12 Nov. 1623, enclosing instructions to ischeators and feodaries (Bodl., MS Carte 30 ff. 151-2, 141-2); Parsons o Middlesex, 2 July 1623, with the same instructions (P.R.O., mnumbered Sackville MSS).

75 Parsons to Middlesex, 12 Apr. 1623 (P.R.O., unnumbered Sackville AS); Sackville MS 8556 is a compendium of Parson’s achievements, :omplaints, and demands prepared for Richard Hadsor, one of H.M. earned counsel for Irish affairs. The English laws of wills and uses vere enacted in Ireland by 10 Chas I, sess. 2, c. 1-3.

76 Parsons to Middlesex, 20 Aug. 1623 (P.R.O., unnumbered Sackville MS); Parsons to Marlborough, 20 Sept. 1625 (Bodl., MS Carte 30 f. 203v).

77 In Parsons’ commission, and repeated 20 Mar. 1623 and 6 May .625, Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Jas I, p. 566; Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Chas I, p. 20.

78 Disclaiming any ‘ glorious affectations ’, Parsons continually pressed Buckingham to get him precedence among the Irish judges, ‘ as was ntended before your departure ’ (for Spain). On 6 May 1625 he was granted precedence of all Irish judges and officers of state after the lord chief justice of king’s bench, Bodl, MS Carte 30 ff. 15 lv, 189, 163v; Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Chas I, pp. 19-20. In 1627 Parsons was authorised to administer the oath of supremacy to all persons concerned m any cause depending in the court of wards in as ample a manner as the lord chancellor had been accustomed to administer the oath, Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Chas I, p. 244. This was a real advance on the procedure adopted in 1619.

79 Kearney, op. cit., pp. 37-8, 45, 46 n. 66.

80 B.M., Add. MS 4756, f. 37v. The council rejected this advice ind ordered that the feodaries were ’ to be continued and to be allowed is they are by the court of wards in England Orders and directions concerning the courts and course of justice (Dublin, 1622), article 28.

The tables showing the volume and geographical distribution of vardships etc. are based on a comparison and conflation of the bllowing sources

  • (i)

    (i) Fiants : Cal. fiants Ire., Hen. VIII-Eliz.

  • (ii)

    (ii) Patent rolls Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Hen. VIII-Eliz.

    Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Eliz.

    Cal. pat. rolls Ire., fas I

    P.R.O.I., la. 53. 67-8 (Lodge MSS).

The figures for pardons of alienations and intrusions do not include he numerous cases where such grants were combined with liveries.