‘The Gentry are sequestred all’: A study of English Civil War sequestration. The Roundhead, and the Cavalier Have fought it out almost seven yeare, And yet (me thinks) they are never the neere, Oh God a mercy Parliament. The Gentry are sequestred all, Our Wives you find at Goldsmiths Hall, For there they meet with the Divell and all, Still God a mercy Parliament. The Parliament are grown to that heigth, They care not a pin what his Majesty saith, And they pay all their debts with the publique faith, Oh God a mercy Parliament. … We must forsake our Father and Mother, And for the state, undoe our own brother, And never leave murthering of one another, Oh God a mercy Parliament.1 Charlotte Louise Young Royal Holloway, University of London Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History December 2018 1 Anonymous, I thanke you twice, or, The city courting their owne ruine, Thank the Parliament twice, for their treble undoing (1647); EEBO Thomason / 669.f.11[65*], p. 1. 1 Declaration of Authorship I, Charlotte Louise Young, hereby declare that this thesis and the work presented in it is entirely my own. Where I have consulted the work of others, this is always clearly stated. Signed: Date: 2 Abstract The policy of sequestration was implemented by Parliament during the English Civil War and Interregnum as a method of punishment and financial gain. It enabled them to legally confiscate the real and personal property of anyone supporting King Charles, as well as all Catholics, irrespective of whether they were actively involved in the war or not. Sequestration was one of the most vital Parliamentarian wartime policies, and yet it has been largely overlooked in the existing historiography. This thesis will undertake the first study of the implementation of sequestration at national and county level, and shed new light on an unexplored aspect of the infrastructure of English Civil war government. It will explore how the legislation governing the policy changed as the war progressed, and who the men involved in its administration were. A new database of sequestration appellants compiled during this research is a groundbreaking resource for understanding how warfare affected far more people than just the soldiers, and it adds to our knowledge of how the contest between crown and parliament was fought away from the battlefields. The database has revealed the statistics of sequestration appeals for the first time, and has provided an absolute minimum number of 3,895 appellants, which is an invaluable start for assessing the scope and impact of the policy. This research also highlights John Bradshaw’s forgotten role as a legal adviser to the sequestration committee, and demonstrates that he was the single most important man in the policy’s machinery during the 1640s. Although after the Restoration his reputation was thoroughly blackened as that of a ruthless and bloodthirsty traitor, his work for the committee presents an alternative character for him as a fair and honest lawyer who was trusted by both Parliament and the people. 3 Contents Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... 5 Abbreviations and Conventions .................................................................................... 7 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 8 Literature Review ......................................................................................................12 Chapter 1 – The Timeline of Sequestration ............................................................... 28 The introduction of sequestration, 1642-1644 ....................................................28 The First Civil War, 1645-1646 .............................................................................31 The Surrender of Charles I .......................................................................................49 Peace Negotiations between King and Parliament, 1646-1647 .........................68 The Second Civil War, 1648 ...................................................................................72 The Republic ..............................................................................................................79 European Responses ..................................................................................................80 Chapter 2 – The Central Committee and Sequestration Appeals Database .......... 90 The Central Committee.............................................................................................91 Database Methodology .......................................................................................... 102 Analysis by Date ..................................................................................................... 109 Analysis by Location............................................................................................... 111 Scotland and Ireland .............................................................................................. 127 Analysis by Sex and Status / Occupation ........................................................... 127 Chapter 3: John Bradshaw’s Forgotten Role ........................................................... 145 Education and Training ......................................................................................... 146 Historiography ........................................................................................................ 162 The Committee for Sequestrations’ Legal Advisers ............................................ 168 Contemporary references to his role ................................................................... 171 He hath done very great Service to the Parliament ........................................... 173 My Report is Annexed ........................................................................................... 182 Legal Advisers during the Interregnum .............................................................. 201 Chapter 4 – The County Sequestration Committees .............................................. 205 Historiography ........................................................................................................ 207 Committee Meetings .............................................................................................. 216 A Sequestration Raid .............................................................................................. 219 Interactions between the Central and County Committees .............................. 236 Chapter 5: A Case Study of Anthony Wither .......................................................... 254 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 271 Appendices A, B, C, D, E ............................................................................................ 274 Bibliography................................................................................................................ 287 For the Sequestration Appeals Database in Appendix F please see the attached CD. 4 Acknowledgements There are several people who deserve my deepest thanks for their constant support and encouragement, and without whom this thesis would very likely not have happened. The first is my mother, Cathy. As a child, instead of watching cartoons and soap operas, I watched the VHS copies of period dramas our home was filled with, and that was where my love of history began. Mum has always believed in me, particularly when health problems developed. When the high school I briefly attended threatened her with legal action because I had been taking time off for medical reasons she made the very brave decision to home educate me to GCSE level instead. It was a risk, and none of our family or friends supported the decision, but it turned out to be the best thing in the world for me. She has always put me first, and, as she regularly reminds me, she read me my first book the day I was born, and if it hadn’t been for her I wouldn’t even know how to use a spoon, let alone do anything else. Thank you for teaching me how to use cutlery when I was young, and for so many other things. The second person I owe a debt of gratitude to is Dr Nick Barratt, not the least for taking a chance on an unknown 15 year old with a penchant for genealogy and offering her work experience, which spiralled into a proper job. On 15th January 2013 I forwarded him a list of the coursework questions which had been set for a module of my undergraduate degree, and which were all so uninspiring that I had no idea which to pick. He told me to go with question 4, which focussed on the experience of women during the Civil War, and recommended looking in the SP 20 files at the National Archives to explore how women survived after their family estates were sequestered. I’d never heard of sequestration before, and a quick search of published literature revealed that very little had been written on it. Down to the National Archives I went, and I ordered file SP 20/11 at random, without any idea what was going to be in it. This was one of the files of surviving petitions and case papers, and I was instantly hooked. I had to understand what had happened to these men and women, and thus my obsession with sequestration was born – and five years later it’s still going strong. Thanks are also due to Christine Robson,