CRIME, COMMUNITIES AND AUTHORITY IN EARLY MODERN WALES: DENBIGHSHIRE, 1660-1730 SHARON HOWARD THESIS SUBMITTED IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF PhD UNIVERSITY OF WALES, ABERYSTWYTH Department of History and Welsh History 2003 ii DECLARATIONS This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed ............ (S. Howard) ...................................... (candidate) Date ................ 21 May 2003 .................................... STATEMENT 1 This thesis is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes giving explicit references. A bibliography is appended. Signed ............ (S. Howard) ...................................... (candidate) Date ................ 21 May 2003 .................................... STATEMENT 2 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter- library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed ............ (S. Howard) ...................................... (candidate) Date ................ 21 May 2003 .................................... iii Table of contents Summary........................................................................................................................................v Acknowledgements.......................................................................................................................vi List of tables.................................................................................................................................vii List of figures..............................................................................................................................viii List of maps.................................................................................................................................viii Abbreviations................................................................................................................................ix Conventions and note on Welsh names..........................................................................................x Preface............................................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1: Introduction..................................................................................................................4 Early modern criminal justice, participation and power ...........................................................4 Communities, courts and the state...........................................................................................9 Historiographies of early modern Wales ............................................................................... 12 Conclusion........................................................................................................................... 18 Chapter 2: Denbighshire: regional contrasts and contexts..........................................................21 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 21 Households, settlements and communities ............................................................................ 24 Demographic and economic developments ........................................................................... 27 English law, Welsh courts in a border county........................................................................ 33 Great Sessions, Quarter Sessions and the local administration of justice ................................ 38 Indicted crimes in their wider context ................................................................................... 50 Conclusion........................................................................................................................... 56 Chapter 3: Interpersonal violence................................................................................................57 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 57 Patterns of prosecution ......................................................................................................... 58 The ‘wickedness of the heart’ and the ‘sudden heat of the passions’: murder and manslaughter in law and society.............................................................................................................. 61 Fatal confrontations and dangerous masculinities.................................................................. 72 The domestic contexts of women’s violence ......................................................................... 82 Men’s violence against women............................................................................................. 94 Conclusion........................................................................................................................... 95 iv Chapter 4: Investigating theft......................................................................................................98 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 98 Patterns of prosecution ....................................................................................................... 102 The generation of suspicion and the investigation of theft ................................................... 105 Livestock theft in a pastoral economy................................................................................. 115 The world of stolen goods .................................................................................................. 125 Outcomes: verdicts and discretion ...................................................................................... 132 Conclusion......................................................................................................................... 139 Chapter 5: Contesting authority: communities and the state.....................................................141 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 141 Contesting local authorities: officials, abusive or abused? ................................................... 142 Seditious words: local controversies and national politics.................................................... 152 Fears, plots and revolutions: the changing meanings of sedition .......................................... 155 A contested town: religion, politics and riot in Wrexham .................................................... 167 Conclusion......................................................................................................................... 179 Chapter 6: Local conflicts and disputing neighbours................................................................181 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 181 Denbighshire neighbourhoods: ideals and disruptions ......................................................... 182 Contention and dispute: local and legal contexts ................................................................. 192 Law and violence: conflicts, strategies, alliances................................................................. 201 Conclusion......................................................................................................................... 211 Chapter 7: Experiences of authority at the margins of ‘community’........................................213 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 213 Parishes, paupers and poor relief......................................................................................... 214 Contention, disorder and discipline: authorities and the poor ............................................... 222 The lone stranger: the mobile poor, crime and authorities.................................................... 230 Servants and their masters: the ‘usual suspects’?................................................................. 235 Conclusion......................................................................................................................... 246 Chapter 8: Conclusion...............................................................................................................248 Crimes and courts in Denbighshire, 1660-1730................................................................... 249 Towards a social history of the ‘British regions’?................................................................ 253 Crime and conflicts in early modern communities............................................................... 255 Appendix 1 Survival of records................................................................................................260 Appendix 2 Note on sampling and use of records....................................................................262 Bibliography...............................................................................................................................264 v Summary The social history of crime and the use of legal records