PT]BLIC DUTY AAID PRIVATE C OATSCIE N CE /A/ .\,E VE IV TE E AI TH -CE N T U RY EATCLAIVD EssaysPresentedto G. E. Avlmer Edited by JOHN MORRILL PAUL SLACK and DANIEL \JrOOLF GERALDAYLMER CLARENDON PRESS. OXFORD r993 CONTENTS .'lbbreuiations ix ()erald Aylmer at Balliol I cHRISTopHER HILI-, foruer! Masterof Balliol College, Oxford ()erald Aylmer in Manchester and York (;oRDoN LEFF, PmfessorEmeitasof History,Uniuersiry of York (ierald Aylmer as a Scholar r9 AUSTIN \rooI-Rycu, PmfessorEmeritasof History, Uniaersiryof I.ancaster t. Cases of Conscience in Seventeenth-Century England 29 KEITH THoMAS, Pnsidtntof CorpusChirti College,Oxford \. Public Drry, Conscience, and Women in Early Modern 57 lrngland IATRTcIA cRAwFoRD, AssociatePmfessorof History,Uniaersi\ of V'estemArctralia (r Private Conscience and Publ-icDrrty in the Writings of James 77 VI and I KEVIN sHARrE, Readerin History,UriuersiE of Soathanpton l)ivine Rights in the Early Seventeenth Century IOI coNRAD RUSsntt, PrcfessorofHistory,King'sCollege Itndon 'urlger The Conflicting Loyalties of a counselor': The Tlurd t2l Earl of Southampton, r 597-t624 N EI L cu DDy , AssistantPmfessor of HistorJ, Uniuersigof Tomnto The Public Conscience of Henry Sherfield IJI pAUL sLACK, ReaderinModervHistory,Uniuersiry of Oxfordand Felloa of Exeter Colhge William Dowsing, the Bureaucratic Puritan 17t JoHN MoRRILL, Readerfu Ear! ModervfIistory, Uduersiryof (.'ambidge,and Fellou of SelryynCollege A Man of Conscience in Seventeenth-Century Urban Politics: 205 Nderman Hoyle of York cLATRE cRoss, PmfessorofHistory, Uniuersilt of York viii Contents r z. The King's Servants: Conscience, Principle, and Sacrifice in 22t Armed Royalism ABBREVIATIONS p. R. NE.I(MAN , CuratorialAdviser to tbeDean and CbEter of York r I. Conscience, Constancy, and Ambition in the Career and 241 Writings of James Howell Uniansiry Bil {R Bulletin of the Institute of Ilistoical Research ,-:i; Study in 279 nt, British Library Multiple t oyalties ll rdl. Bodleian Library JoHN FERRIs, Editor,History of ParliamentTrus t ( ,il. .lP Dom. Calendarof State Papers,Domestic Series ( of the Hoase of Commons ry. William Penn's Odyssey: From Child of Light to Absentee 30t ,l Joamals Landlord t)hlB Dictionary of National Biograpbl l:r. Hist. Reu. EconomicHistory Reuiew RIcHARD s. DUNN, Ra7F. andJeannette P. Nichok Pmfessorof Ameican History, Uniuasiryof Pennylaaria l:l tR English Histoical Reuiea III,RO House of Lords Record Office r6. A SelectBibliography of the Writings of G. E. Aylmer, rgtT- )zt r990 IIMC Historical Manuscripts Commission, Reports Present wILLIAM sHEILs, Pmuostof GoodickeColhge, Uniaersirofy York l,cP Pa$ and l,Ro Public Record Office Index l{() Record Office "J t't^f TimesLiterary Sapplenent t'RHS Transactionsof the Royl Histoical Sociej []nless otherwise stated, all works cited rwerepublished in London. ln dates the old style has been retained, except that the year is trrkento begin on r January. 28 Aastin lf,/oolrych 'Crisis his essay.(already referted to) on and Regrouping in the Political Elites' (r98o), which also addressesquestions of allegiance, though viithin a narrower social band and over a slighdy longer 4 period. Casesof Consciencein Gerald's auure has been so large and varied that it has been impossible in the space allowed to mention all of it-and it is, of Seventeenth-CenturyEngland course, still in progress. Besides extending his study of admin­ KEITH THOMAS istration and administrators into the post-Restoration period, one hears that he means to turn his hand to naval history, prompted Of all Divinity that part is most usefi.rl, which determines by a strong naval tradition in his family and by his own experience Cases of Conscience; and of all cases of Conscience the of the service as a young man. He is still at the height of his Practical are most necessary;as action is of more concernment powers, and one can be confident that retirement-another term than speculation; and of all Practical Cases those which are which historians understand differendy from most other 6e6215­ of most common use are of so much greater necessity and will free him to concentrate on the work that he really wants to benefit to be resolved. do. Meanwhile I ask his pardon for having left it so late to Joseph Hall, Resolationsand Decisionsof Diuers Practicall Cases acknowledge his long and much valued service on the Historical of Consciencein Continmll Use amongstMen (znd edn., 165o), Manuscripts Commission and as chairman of the editorial board sig. A3 of the History of Padiament Trust, and for not having mentioned Beloved, you live in a world wherein conscience is like to so far his more recent participation in the European Science cost you dear; if you will own any such thing as conscience, Foundation's project on the modern state, which presumably or conscientious walking, you are like to smart for it. 'The prompted his essay on Peculiarities of the English State' R[ichard] Apeinel, Wndiciaepietatis(t66), y (tggo). I have also failed to find a slot for his searching article on 'The Tnp seventeenth century can justly be called the Age of Con­ Meaning and Definition of "Property" in Seventeenth-Cenrury science. Certainly there has been no period in English history when England' (r98o). Limitation has of space precluded consideration men and women were subjected to so many religious and political of his many scholady reviews, which are marked always by the conflicts of duty and allegiance or responded to them in so intensely same scrupulous thoroughness and fairness that his characterize scrupulous a fashion. For much of the century it was generally own work. are the What other Aylmer hallmarks? I would s y ^ believed that conscience, not force of habit or self-interest, was profound but never desiccatederudition; a special flair for cracking what held together the social and political order. Every change in historical problems means by of exact c^tegorrzatJon and the that order accordingly precipitated a moral crisis for its members. establishingof vital distinctions; impartiality exceptional and balance Every new oath of allegiance posed a dilemma for those who haci of judgement, stem-irg not from Olympian detachment but from sworn loyalty to the previous regime. Every attempt by the State the independence of a mind impervious to fashion and (still more) from a breadth of sympathy that gives him the entry into the The casuistry of the eady modern period has attracted a good deal of attention in recent minds of all parties to a conflict or controversy; an affectionate years. Historians have studied its use by persecuted religious groups. Literary scholars have delight in the varieties and vaganes of human character; an enviable shown its influence upon poetry, drtrma, and the novel. Intellectual historians have examined its links with political thought. Philosophers have urged its revival as a philosophical 'New 'destabilizing' gr^ce, precision, and clarity of style; and (not least) an unfailing technique. historicists' have seen an afiRnity berween its effect and the courtesy towards both the living and the dead. Firm though his deconstructionist theory of language. I have profited from (almost all) these writings while principles are, I always feel that Gerald would rather think well dtawing on my own reading in this brief attempt to evoke the general historical interest of the subiect. As an offering to one who is unsurpassed for the scrupulousness with which than ill of both. he confronts dilemmas of conscience. whether in the seventeenth centurv or the twentieth. it is necessarily inadequate. ta Keitb Thomas Casu of Lonsaence jr to prescribe the forms ef lsligious doctrine and worship tested the guidance.' But most commentators thought that both the law of consciences of those who believed it was their duty to obey the nature and the law of God had a role to play in shaping conscience. laws of the land but were also persuaded of the truth of a rival Conscience,therefore, was presumed to have an objective basis. creed. Good intentions were not enough; indeed it was a sin to act in Outside the public arena, changing social and economic cir­ accordance with an erroneous conscience. Unfortunatel!, it was cumstances made many inherited rules of morality increasingly also a sin to ^ct ^garnst it, since that would involve disregarding 'This difficult to observe. The application of the Ten Commandments what the individud took to be the law of God: is a constant -to daily life had never been a straightforward business; it did not rule:we always sinwhen we disobey conscience.'rIt is not suqprising grow easier with the passage of time and the emergence of that the conscientious individual, confronted by these stern doc­ conditjons very diflerent from those of ancient Israel. Traditional trines, should have felt the need fot guidance. ' maxims about buying and selling or lending or borrowing appeared In the Roman Catholic Church the provision of such guidance archac as the economy diversified and credit became universal. had long been a specialized function of the clergy. In the later . The duties of parents and children, husbands and wives, and Middle Ages, priests hearing confessions had needed to assessa masters and servants needed constant redefinition in an age when penitent's degree of sinfulness in order to impose an appropriate people were encouraged to think for themselves and religious unity penance. That need had stimulated the production of numerous had disappeared. The complexities of human relationships had confessors' manuals which classifiedhuman actions in a variety of always been such that even the simplest prohibition, whether on circumstances and assessedthe degree of sin involved. After the killing people or on telling lies, could prove anything but simple Reformation the composition of large works of casuistry became to interpret in practice. In every sphere of life moral obligations a Europe-vdde phenomenon; and these volumes were as much could conflict and circumstances alter cases.