FISCAL, SOCIAL, AND SILVICULTURAL STATE FORESTRY IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND, c. 1600-1700 by James Garfield Lees Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia July 2020 © Copyright by James Garfield Lees, 2020 For John Garfield Lees ii Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................v List of Abbreviations Used ................................................................................................ vi Glossary ............................................................................................................................ vii Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... viii Chapter I - Introduction .......................................................................................................1 Chapter II - Fiscal State Forestry and the Genesis of the Natural Resource ......................14 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 14 James I’s Search for Revenue in the Crown Lands ....................................................... 19 The Survey as an Instrument of Fiscal State Forestry ................................................... 22 The Surveyor-General of Woods as a Forestry Professional ........................................ 31 Disafforestation to Extract Revenue ............................................................................. 38 Comprehensive Leasing Proposals................................................................................ 41 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 50 Chapter III – Social State Forestry and the Royal Forest as a Contested Resource ..........53 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 53 The Forest of Dean’s Contested Landscape .................................................................. 57 Competing Claims to Property Right and Resource Usage in Dean ............................. 61 Leasing of the Forest ..................................................................................................... 72 Violent Resistance ......................................................................................................... 81 iii The Eyre of 1634 and Disafforestation ......................................................................... 88 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 95 Chapter IV – Silvicultural State Forestry and the Material Wealth of Woodland .............98 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 98 State Forestry During the Civil War and Interregnum ................................................ 101 Silvicultural Knowledge During the Restoration ........................................................ 115 Accuracy in Silvicultural State Forestry ..................................................................... 120 Efficiency in Silvicultural State Forestry .................................................................... 125 The Exploitative Capacity of Silvicultural State Forestry .......................................... 133 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 142 Chapter V - Conclusion ...................................................................................................145 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................150 Primary Sources .......................................................................................................... 150 Archival and Calendared Sources............................................................................ 150 Printed Sources and Published Manuscripts ............................................................ 151 Secondary Sources ...................................................................................................... 153 iv Abstract In early modern England, wood supplies were fundamental to the existence of the state which relied on woodland both to generate revenue and to build naval capacity. This study examines how state forestry began to be practiced in England as woodland was increasingly treated as a national natural resource rather than the private property of the king. In charting the development of state forestry in England, this study evaluates the fiscal exploitation of the forest and crown methods for asserting its exclusive control over forest resources under the early Stuarts and considers the newfound material interest in woodland and corresponding silvicultural management during the Civil War, Interregnum, and Restoration. Ultimately, this study contends that a variety of early modern state-woodland interactions can be understood as aspects of a developing state forestry apparatus which substantially altered the usage and treatment of state-owned woodland in England. v List of Abbreviations Used HLJ Journals of the House of Lords SR Statutes of the Realm CSPD Calendar of State Papers Domestic APC Acts of the Privy Council of England AOI Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum Where possible, spelling and punctuation of quotations has been amended to reflect modern conventions. Glossary Coppice – a silvicultural management technique whereby certain favourable species of tree are cut back to their stump at a young age to encourage the growth of new shoots, particularly useful for the generation of firewood, fencing, and other applications not requiring timber. Disafforestation – the process of removing the legal status of a Royal Forest from a parcel of land, with an according nullification of forest law. Estovers – a collection of rights to wood use afforded to residents of a Royal Forest under forest law. For instance, firebote and housebote, wood for heating and for the repairing of houses respectively, was a commonly exercised estovers right. Fishing Busses – a two or three-masted fishing vessel, commonly employed in the herring fishery of the North Sea. Forest Eyre – a circuit court held by Justices in Eyre, senior judges of forest law, which was the highest court in which cases pertaining to forest law could be tried. Mastage – acorns, walnuts, and other tree fruit on the forest floor used to fatten pigs before slaughter, often sold or otherwise used as the right to drive swine through a certain section of forest. Pig Iron – cast iron as a result of smelting from iron ore, usually from bloomery furnaces in oblong ingots. Pollard – a silvicultural management technique, similar to coppicing, where young trees are felled leaving a sizeable portion of their stump intact, thus encouraging the re-growth of new shoots above the browsing height of most animals. Ship’s Knee – a component in marine architecture, ship’s knees were used to secure the interior frame of a ship, such as the decks, to the hull. These were commonly made from sections of trees naturally bent at or near right angles. vii Acknowledgements I would like to give thanks to Dr. Krista Kesselring, supervisor for this MA thesis, for her diligent guidance without which this project would not have been possible. I would also like to thank Dr. Justin Roberts and Dr. Jerry Bannister, thesis examiners, and Dr. Colin Mitchell, graduate supervisor, for their guidance both during the writing process, and in bringing this project to completion. Finally, I give my sincere appreciation to those who provided me with loving support during this project, including Ross and Charlene Lees, and Rebecca Ford. viii 1 Chapter I - Introduction In 1611, Arthur Standish’s treatise, The Common Complaint, offered an ominous portent: “no wood, no Kingdom.”1 Standish’s words represent a basic reality of the pre-modern economic order in England: that the kingdom, both its subjects and governors, depended on wood for its material existence. Individuals relied on wood for the quotidian demands of heating and construction and the English economy depended on cordwood and its derivative charcoal to fuel nascent industrial processes. Meanwhile, the crown required vast quantities of the costliest woodland resource, mature timber, for the maintenance of the navy which upheld its sovereign existence internationally, while using wood sales from crown estates as a tool of fiscal solvency. The estates of the crown held rich prospects for meeting these needs – properties across the kingdom contained various sorts of woodland, managed as simple possessions of the crown. Furthermore, the crown also held numerous Royal Forests, subject to specific forest laws largely from the medieval period which governed the use of their resources and their management as a hunting preserve for the king and other nobility. Therefore, the crown had a great interest in ensuring that wood supplies, both on its own estates and in the country at large, were reliable and capable of meeting the fiscal, domestic, economic, and martial needs of the nation, making woodland, in effect, a national resource. Nevertheless, the