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The Elizabethan Society of Antiquaries Reassessed THE ELIZABETHAN SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES REASSESSED By HELEN DOROTHY JONES A. (Hons.), The University of British Columbia, 138 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN HISTORY i n THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Department of Hi story> We accept this thesis as conforming bo the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA August, 1988 (c) Helen Dorothy Jones, 1988 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of b«? p The University of British Columbia 1956 Main Mall Vancouver, Canada V6T 1Y3 Date IV-^i^b 3^2.///CjrJTff- DE-6G/81) i i ABSTRACT The Elizabethan Society of Antiquaries has traditionally been regarded as a scholarly group which dissolved due to attrition and perhaps the suspicion of the ruling administration. A 1614 effort to recongregate failed due to James I's'unfounded suspicions of the members' political intentions. This interpretation rests on the assumption that the discourses produced by members were the object of the Society, and that the members were primarily scholars. While the discourses required extensive research, they were superficial and uncritical, not representative of the standard of historical work of which some of the members, such as Camden, Stow and Lambarde, were capable. They did not justify in themselves either the amount of time which must have been expended on them, or the secrecy which the Society maintained. Close examination of the members' professional and patronage-related activities shows that they were not scholars, but highly placed and very busy functionaries of the central administration. They had politically powerful patrons, were drawn from all points on the political and religious spectrum, and had official duties throughout the country. Careful probing of their activities suggests that their political motive was to establish and prepare the ground for a widely acceptable successor to Elizabeth I. James' suspicions were soundly based on fact. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv PROLOGUE THE OCCASION OF THIS DISCOURSE 1 CHAPTER 1 THE ANTIQUARIES AS INTELLECTUALS: A PUZZLE 5 CHAPTER 2 THE ANTIQUARIES AS CAREER MEN 20 CHAPTER 3 THE ANTIQUARIES AS FACTION PLAYERS 42 CHAPTER 4 THE SOLUTION 64 BIBLIOGRAPHY 91 APPENDIX: THE MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY 98 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have received a great deal of help while I have been preparing this paper. My thanks are due to my adviser, Dr. Murray Tolmie, who hung onto his patience and good humour even when I tried both. Harvey and Angela Henderson generously allowed me free rein with their computer. Most of all I thank my husband Don, and daughter Katriona, who never complained, no matter what sacrifices "Mum's work" demanded of them. "Mum's work" would not have been possible without their support. 1 Sir Henry spelman, c. 1626-1628: THE OCCASION OF THIS DISCOURSE (1) About forty two years since, clivers Gentlemen in London, studious of Antiquities, framed themselves into a College or Society of Antiquaries, appointing to meet every Friday weekly in the Term, at a place agreed of, and for Learning sake to confer upon some questions in that Faculty, and to sup together. The Place, after a Meeting or two, became certain at Darby House, where the Herald's Office is kept: and two Questions were propounded at every Meeting, to be handled at the next that followed; so that every Man had a Sennight's respite to advise upon them, and then to deliver his opinion. That which seemed most material, was by one of the Company (chosen for the purpose) to be entered in a Book; that so it might remain unto Posterity. The Society increased daily; many Persons of great Worth, as well noble as other Learned, joining themselves unto it. Thus it continued divers Years; but as all good Uses commonly decline; so many of the chief Supporters hereof either dying or withdrawing themselves from London into the Country; this among the rest grew for twenty Years to be discontinued. But it then came again into the minds of divers principal Gentlemen to revive it; and for that purpose, upon the Day of in the Year 1614 there met at the same Place Sir James Ley Knight, then Attorney of the 2 Court of Wards, since Earl of Marlborough and Lord Treasurer of England; Sir Robert Cotton Knight and Baronet; Sir John Davies his Majesty's Attorney for Ireland; Sir Richard St. George Knt. then Norrey, Mr. Hackwell the Queen's Solicitor, Mr. Camden then Clarencieux, my self, and some others. Of these, the Lord Treasurer, Sir Robert Cotton, Mr. Camden, and my self, had been of the original Foundation; and to my knowledge were all then living of that sort, saving Sir John Dodderidge Knight, Justice of the King's Bench. We held it sufficient for that time to revive the Meeting, and only conceived some Rules of Government and Limitation to be observed amongst us; whereof this was one, That for avoiding Offence, we should neither meddle with Matters of State, nor of Religion. And agreeing of two Questions for the next Meeting, we chose Mr. Hackwell to be our Register, and the Convocator of our Assemblies for the present; and supping together, so departed. One of the Questions was, touching the Original of the Terms; about which, as being obscure and generally mistaken, I bestowed some extraordinary pains; that coming short of others in Understanding, I might equal them if I could in Diligence. But before our next Meeting, we had notice that his Majesty took a little Mislike of our Society; not being informed, that we had resolved to decline all Matters of 3 State. Yet hereupon we forbore to meet again, and so all our Labours lost. But mine lying by me, and having been often desired of me by some of my Friends, I thought it good upon a Review and Augmentation to let it creep abroad in the Form you see it, wishing it might be rectified by some better Judgement. 4 NOTES 1. Sir Henry Spelman, The English Works of Sir Henry Spelman, Kb (London, 1723), pp.69-70. The "Occasion" was written as a preface to Spelman's The Original of the Four Terms of the Year, first printed in 1684. Spelling has been modernised, except for proper names and capitalisation. Punctuation has also been left untouched. 5 THE ANTIQUARIES AS INTELLECTUALS: A PUZZLE Why would a group of English gentlemen, only "studious of Antiquities", promise so firmly in advance to avoid matters of state and religion? And why would James I, himself interested in history and in the concept of a Royal Academy, refuse so firmly to allow the formation of such a Society on the grounds that it might meddle in politics? The original Society of Antiquaries had ostensibly operated between 1586 and c.1607, very much in the way that Sir Henry Spelman described it. The members were expected to attend London meetings, where they exchanged short papers on subjects relating to British antiquity. These papers, or "discourses", dealt generally with the question of origins, of how Britain had developed as it had. Thus they discussed the development of offices, of customs, of terminology and of laws. Little in all this explains James' unease. Historians have never successfully explained his "mislike". The sole major modern study of the Society is Linda Van Norden's 1946 doctoral dissertation, in which she carefully established a list of 38 members* and studied the 198 discourses then known.(1) Interested in the Society mainly as it "helped to create modern method in historical * Details on the careers of the 38 members are listed in the Appendix. 6 research", Van Norden only briefly touched on James' 1614 disapproval, speculating that he was simply uninterested in the project.(2) More recently historians, who address the Society only momentarily, generally assume that James disapproved of the subject matter of some of the Society's later discourses, particularly those to do with the history of Parliament.(3) This is possible, though unsatisfying. The Society of Antiquaries was not a formal academy of history such as existed in Italy at that time.(4) Nor was it in any sense a national repository of books and manuscripts, although an undated petition with the names of James Ley, Robert Cotton and John Dodderidge proposes the formation of such an institution.(5) This petition suggests that a small minority of the antiquaries had a broad vision of the scholarly potential of a state library supported and maintained by a national academy of history; if this had been a Society project, one would expect more members to have signed the petition. Yet the members of the Society were not scholars. Not one of them was solely a historian; they all had demanding professions with which they were extremely involved during the Society's years of operation. Those of the antiquaries who wrote history tended to do so either before or after these years. Lambarde's Perambulation of Kent was virtually finished by 1570. Camden's Britannia was published in 1586, and the first part of his Annales did not appear until 1615. Robert Cotton published nothing 7 before 1627, and Henry Spelman, a prolific writer on various subjects related to the law, also published only quite late in his life.
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