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I 'A MAN MOSTE MEETE': a NATIONWIDE SURVEY OF 'A MAN MOSTE MEETE': A NATIONWIDE SURVEY OF JUSTICES OF THE PEACE IN MID-TUDOR ENGLAND, 1547-1582 _____________ A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Department of History University of Houston _____________ In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy _____________ By Clarissa Elisabeth Hinojosa May 2014 i 'A MAN MOSTE MEETE': A NATIONWIDE SURVEY OF JUSTICES OF THE PEACE IN MID-TUDOR ENGLAND, 1547-1582 _____________ An Abstract of a Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Department of History University of Houston _____________ In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy _____________ By Clarissa Elisabeth Hinojosa May 2014 ii ABSTRACT This dissertation is a national study of English justices of the peace (JPs) in the mid- Tudor era. It incorporates comparable data from the reigns of Edward VI, Mary I, and the Elizabeth I. Much of the analysis is quantitative in nature: chapters compare the appointments of justices of the peace during the reigns of Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I, and reveal that purges of the commissions of the peace were far more common than is generally believed. Furthermore, purges appear to have been religiously- based, especially during the reign of Elizabeth I. There is a gap in the quantitative data beginning in 1569, only eleven years into Elizabeth I’s reign, which continues until 1584. In an effort to compensate for the loss of quantitative data, this dissertation analyzes a different primary source, William Lambarde’s guidebook for JPs, Eirenarcha. The fourth chapter makes particular use of Eirenarcha, exploring required duties both in and out of session, what technical and personal qualities were expected of JPs, and how well they lived up to them. There was a disconnect between Lambarde’s standards for a JP’s morality and behavior and what the Crown was willing to accept. While Lambarde placed emphasis on the proper practice of religion, he also had high standards for personal behavior, standards with which the Crown agreed in theory but abandoned in practice in favor of men who worshipped in accordance with the Queen’s religious reforms. The expansion of JPs’ powers over the course of the 1570s is examined, comparing data in the Calendars of the Patent Rolls against the Eirenarcha. It is argued that Elizabeth I used the expansion of JPs’ powers as a form of state-building, quietly taking away long-held powers from other officials and re-assigning them to JPs, simultaneously increasing the Crown’s authority in the localities. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The process of creating a dissertation is simultaneously an isolating endeavor and one which requires an enormous amount of outside support and encouragement. I am humbled by the continual kindness, patience, encouragement, and support of my advisor, Catherine Patterson. I am grateful as well for my committee, Todd Romero, Karl Ittmann, and Ann Christensen, for all of their help with this project. The faculty, staff, and my fellow graduate students at the University of Houston created a stimulating intellectual atmosphere and kept me well-supplied in counsel, advice, friendship, and chocolate. I was fortunate to receive the Murry Miller Travel Award in 2009, which facilitated my research in England. This dissertation is in many ways an extension of my Master’s thesis, and I would be remiss if I did not thank my MA advisor, Eugene Bourgeois, both for setting my feet upon this path and for his continuing support. Fellow graduate students Angie Calder, Ann Maley Kapp, and Kathy Fellers talked me out of any number of (metaphorical) trees, and provided emotional support outside of University walls as well. My good friends Janet Clemenson and Leslie Walsh helped keep me sane and mulled over the necessity of the Oxford comma, more or less respectively. I was fortunate to be able to draw on the support of my father, Rolando Hinojosa-Smith, my siblings, and my extended family as well. In an unhappy coincidence, I lost my mother just as I began my Master’s studies, and I lost my godmother as I was finishing this. Just as I dedicated my thesis to the memory of my mother, I am dedicating this dissertation to the memory of Clarissa Hinojosa Garcia, my aunt and godmother, who always helped me find my way when I was lost, and is still my map and my compass. Ad astra per aspera. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction..……………………………………………………………………..1 Chapters 1. Sources and Historiography…………………………………………….14 2. Justices of the Peace under Edward VI and Mary I……………..……...39 3. Justices of the Peace under Elizabeth I…………………………………82 4. The Changing Nature of Justiceship…………………………………...130 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………...178 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………....182 Appendices Introduction to Appendices………………………………………………….191 Appendix A – Edwardian Data (All Shires)…………………………....192 Appendix B – Marian Data (All Shires)………………………………..242 Appendix C – Writs and Commissions Issued, 1560-1582, and Lambarde’s List of Out-of-Sessions Duties…………………………….281 v Introduction This dissertation began with a footnote. In the annotated footnotes of England under the Tudors, G.R. Elton remarked, “Makes too much of uninstructive calculations and says too little about the functions of the office. But nothing better exists at present.”1 The book to which Elton referred was J.H. Gleason’s The Justices of the Peace in England 1558-1640.2 Elton originally wrote that note back in 1955; a half-century later, Gleason’s work still remains the standard in the field, although some historians have begun to challenge that, most notably Alison Wall. Gleason’s focus on the importance of JPs to the early modern state is well-placed, but he left open questions about the degree to which the Crown manipulated the makeup of the commissions of the peace, and why they did so. This dissertation makes a new foray into these critical elements of the function and development of the early modern state. It argues that these questions are essential to understanding the character of the ‘mid-Tudor’ period, precisely because successive monarchs did manipulate the makeup of the benches to serve their own ends. Further, it demonstrates that the JPs were not interchangeable parts, but men who had religious beliefs that they could not casually change with each change in policy; family ties and obligations that sometimes held greater importance than their bonds to the monarch; and, sometimes, very human flaws. This dissertation is a national study of English justices of the peace in the mid- Tudor era. The story of the Reformation and the subsequent turmoil are well known, and need no reiteration here. It is crucial, however, to contextualize justices of the peace, 1 G. R. Elton, England under the Tudors (London: Routledge, 1996 [third edition]): p. 497, footnote 95. 2 J. H. Gleason, The Justices of the Peace in England 1558-1640: A Later Eirenarcha: (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969). 1 who were local government officials appointed by the Crown, within the troubled religio- political setting that Henry VIII left to his heirs. Beginning in 1547 with the accession of Edward VI, England saw three rapid shifts in religious policy which left a religiously divided populace.3 Some scholars have maintained that the Reformation occurred only among the upper reaches of society, and that those at the bottom remained staunchly Catholic; others have maintained that the era was far less contentious than is generally thought.4 Certainly a great deal of substantive, well-analyzed data can be found to support both views, a fact which should on its own suggest the fractured religious nature of the country by the time Elizabeth I took the throne in 1558. Edward VI, a brilliant and genuinely ardent Protestant, radicalized the Reformation even further.5 He reigned for only six years, and was succeeded by his eldest sister Mary, who was as devout a Catholic as he was a Protestant; she was determined to restore Catholicism to England.6 Mary I also died after a brief reign, which ended the Catholic Restoration. Whatever the determination of monarchs, however, men’s hearts cannot be changed by mere laws. They may be forced to attend services, but complying with the law does not equate with religious devotion. To her credit, Elizabeth I understood this, at least in principle, and her version of the Church of England, while undoubtedly Protestant, was not as radical as 3 Christopher Haigh, English Reformations: Religion, Politics, and Society under the Tudors (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993): pp 168-83, 187-250, and passim. 4 For the first view, see Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Alters: Traditional Religion in England c. 1400- c. 1580 (New Haven: Yale University Press,1992); for the second; see Robert Tittler and Jennifer Loach, editors, The Mid-Tudor Polity, c. 1540-1560 (New Jersey: Rowman and Littlefield, 1980). 5 Diarmaid MacCulloch, The Boy King: Edward VI and the Protestant Reformation (Los Angeles: University of Los Angeles Press, 2002). MacCulloch, arguing passionately against Elton’s declaration that Edward VI “played no part in his reign,” argued that Edward VI had considerably more influence than anyone has previously given him credit for. At the very least it can be said that Edward VI was surrounded by religiously like-minded Protestants who supported extending the Reformation. For the Elton quote, see, G.R. Elton, England under the Tudors (London: Routledge Press, 1996 [Third Edition]): p. 202. 6 David Loades, Mary Tudor: A Life (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Press, 1992). 2 her brother’s church. By the time she took the throne, however, there were far more than merely two distinct schools of religious thought. Numerous studies and primary sources suggest that there were a minimum of four: the ‘hotter sort of Protestant,’ as David Cressy put it; less radical Protestants; Catholics; and men whom the Bishops described variously in 1564 as “indifferent” or “neutral.”7 Within this fractured religious landscape, each successive monarch was eager to ensure that their religious policies would be the only acceptable form of practice.
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