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Power, Prerogative, and the Politics of Sir Thomas Wentworth in Early Stuart England and Ireland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2021

Mark Empey Open the ORCID record for Mark Empey [Opens in a new window]
Mark Empey*
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UCD Humanities Institute, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
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Email: markempey@gmail.com
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Abstract

Investigations into the career of Sir Thomas Wentworth, first earl of Strafford, essentially consider three core aspects. First, his parliamentary career and whether his concern for upholding the ancient rights of the subject conflicted with his alleged apostacy when the prospect of office seemed achievable. Second, his deputyship in Ireland, specifically the manner in which he governed the kingdom and the wider implications that this entailed. Finally, his trial and execution, and the validity (or otherwise) of the charges laid against him. As a consequence, these assessments are generally limited to, or confined within, national perspectives, resulting in an assessment of Wentworth's career being too compartmentalized and lacking in overview. This article examines the merits of comparing his political style as the king's representative in northern England and Ireland. It demonstrates how Wentworth's presidency of the north was crucial in establishing prerogative rule, which he later applied with notable effect in Ireland. The parallels are important. In the course of governing two distinct jurisdictions he both encountered and confronted similar obstacles impeding what he called ‘good government’. Viewed from this perspective, Wentworth's accomplishments in the early years of his deputyship were drawn from past experiences where he successfully consolidated royal authority.

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The Historical Journal , Volume 65 , Issue 2 , March 2022 , pp. 275 - 296
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

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2 Prestwich, Menna, Cranfield: politics and profits under the early Stuarts: the career of Lionel Cranfield, earl of Middlesex (Oxford, 1966), pp. 423–68Google Scholar; Lockyer, Roger, Buckingham: the life and political career of George Villiers, first duke of Buckingham, 1592–1628 (London, 1981), pp. 437–56Google Scholar.

3 Wentworth arrived on 23 July 1633. See Empey, Mark, ed., ‘The diary of Sir James Ware, 1623–66’, Analecta Hibernica, 45 (2014), pp. 53–146Google Scholar, at p. 95.

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7 Kane, Brendan, The politics and culture of honour in Britain and Ireland, 1541–1641 (Cambridge, 2010), pp. 221–67Google Scholar, esp. pp. 224–30. Though Julia Merritt's study of Wentworth's networks of communication covers the period 1629 to 1635, there is very little consideration of his presidency: J. Merritt, F., ‘Power and communication: Thomas Wentworth and government at a distance during the personal rule, 1629–1635’, in J. F. Merritt, ed., The political world of Thomas Wentworth, earl of Strafford, 1621–1641 (Cambridge, 1996), pp. 109–32Google Scholar.

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10 Aidan Clarke, ‘The government of Wentworth, 1632–40’, in T. W. Moody, F. X. Martin, and F. J. Byrne, eds., A new history of Ireland (9 vols., Oxford, 1976–2005), III, pp. 243–69, at p. 243.

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12 Canny, Nicholas, Making Ireland British, 1580–1650 (Oxford, 2001), p. 287CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

13 Ibid., p. 288. The other two sources were a document entitled ‘A survey of the government of Ireland, 1 January 1631[/2]’, Wentworth Woodhouse Muniments, Sheffield City Archives, Strafford papers (WWM, Str P), 34/unnumbered, and an anonymous text called ‘The heads of all such matters as I conceive do conduce for advancement of the crown's revenues and the certainty and security of the better subjects of Ireland’, WWM, Str P 24–25/142.

14 Treadwell, Victor, Buckingham and Ireland, 1616–1628 (Dublin, 1998), pp. 305–8Google Scholar, 383n; Victor Treadwell, ed., The Irish Commission of 1622 (Dublin, 2006), p. xxxix; Kearney, Strafford in Ireland, pp. xvi–xix.

15 Wentworth to Coke, 3 Mar. 1633[/4], WWM, Str P 5/58; Wentworth to Windebank, 6 Mar. 1633[/4], WWM, Str P 5/60.

16 Kearney, Strafford in Ireland, p. xxviii.

17 When occasion permitted, however, he reiterated the same points to Charles. Wentworth to the King, 19 July 1634, WWM, Str P 3/103.

18 Sir Edward Stanhope to Wentworth, Oct. 1631, WWM, Str P 21/79.

19 Edward Nicholas to Lord [Feilding], 13 Dec. 1631, in Historical Manuscripts Commission, Report on the manuscripts of the earl of Denbigh (London, 1911), p. 8.

20 Wentworth to Archbishop Laud, 12 Apr. 1634, WWM, Str P 6/46; Clodagh Tait, ‘Colonising memory: manipulations of death, burial and commemoration in the career of Richard Boyle, first earl of Cork (1556–1643)’, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, section C, 101 (2001), pp. 107–34, esp. pp. 126–32.

21 Brendan Kane, ‘Scandal, Wentworth's deputyship and the breakdown of Stuart honour politics’, in Brian Mac Cuarta, ed., Reshaping Ireland, 1550–1700: colonization and its consequences (Dublin, 2011), pp. 147–62, esp. pp. 152–4.

22 Sir William Wentworth's advice to his son, 1604, in J. P. Cooper, ed., Wentworth papers, 1597–1628 (Camden Fourth Series, London, 1973), p. 12.

23 Richard Cust, ‘Wentworth's “change of sides” in the 1620s’, in Merritt, ed., Political world of Thomas Wentworth, pp. 63–80, at pp. 66–7. The works which Wentworth studied during his travels through France are noted in Stoye, J. W., English travellers abroad, 1604–1667 (London, 1952), p. 65Google Scholar. On the connections between Wentworth and Lipsius, see Malcolm Smuts, ‘Force, love and authority in Caroline political culture’, in Ian Atherton and Julie Sanders, eds., The 1630s: interdisciplinary essays on culture and politics in the Caroline era (Manchester, 2006), pp. 28–45.

24 Sir William Wentworth's advice to his son, 1604, in Cooper, ed., Wentworth papers, p. 12.

25 Nicholas to [Feilding], 13 Dec. 1631, in Historical Manuscripts Commission, Manuscripts of the earl of Denbigh, p. 8.

26 Seignior Miguel Nicholaldie to Wentworth, 10 Sept. 1633, WWM, Str P 9/17. See also Viscount Conway's remarks that the lord deputy ‘lived ther like a king’. George Wentworth to Wentworth, 1 Mar. 1633[/4], WWM, Str P 8/88.

27 Stanhope to Wentworth, Oct. 1631, WWM, Str P 21/79.

28 Wentworth to Richard Weston, 3 Aug. 1633, WWM, Str P 3/8; Wentworth to the earl of Carlisle, 27 Aug. 1633, British Library (BL), Egerton MS 2597, fo. 150; Wentworth to Lord Marshal Arundel, 19 Aug. 1633, WWM, Str P 8/11; Wentworth to Carlisle, 7 Oct. 1633, WWM, Str P 8/31.

29 Tables of the Irish council books, Star Chamber cases, defence of the mandates, TCD, MS 843, fo. 418, cited in Crawford, Jon G., A Star Chamber court in Ireland: the Court of Castle Chamber, 1571–1641 (Dublin, 2005), p. 352Google Scholar.

30 Wedgwood, Thomas Wentworth, p. 127. A similar contention is taken up by Kane, Politics and culture of honour, p. 230.

31 Merritt, ‘Power and communication’, p. 111.

32 Wentworth to Coke, 31 Jan. 1633[/4], WWM, Str P 5/45.

33 Forster, G. C. F., ‘Faction and county government in early Stuart Yorkshire’, Northern History, 11 (1976 for 1975), pp. 70–86CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

34 Wentworth's speech to the gentlemen present in the county court, [July 1626], in William Knowler, ed., The earl of Strafforde's letters and dispatches (2 vols., London, 1739), I, p. 36; Pogson, Fiona, ‘Wentworth, the Saviles and the office of custos rotulorum of the West Riding’, Northern History, 34 (1998), pp. 205–10CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

35 Simon Adams, however, provides an insightful analysis of early Stuart discourse on court faction: Adams, ‘Favourites and factions at the Elizabethan court’, in Ronald G. Asch, ed., Princes, patronage, and the nobility: the court at the beginning of the modern age (Oxford, 1991), pp. 265–87. See also Shephard, Robert, ‘Court factions in early modern England’, Journal of Modern History, 64 (1992), pp. 721–45CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

36 The destruction of the council's records during the Civil War has hampered any detailed study of the day-to-day running of the northern administration, but see Reid, King's council in the north, pp. 404–35; Cliffe, J. T., The Yorkshire gentry: from the Reformation to the Civil War (London, 1968), pp. 231–55Google Scholar; Pogson, ‘Wentworth as president of the Council of the North’.

37 Sir Henry Savile to Wentworth, 11 Apr. 1626, WWM, Str P 20/255.

38 Wandesford to Wentworth, Sept. 1627, WWM, Str P 16/262.

39 Cust, Richard, The forced loan and English politics, 1626–1628 (Oxford, 1987), pp. 187–239Google Scholar.

40 Gardiner, S. R., ed., ‘Sir Thomas Lord Viscount Wentworth's speech when he first sat as lord president of the north, December 1628’, Academy, 7 (1875), p. 582Google Scholar.

41 Report by Wandesford, n.d. [1631?], WWM, Str P 16/238.

42 The others who were recorded as present were Sir Thomas Tildesley, another lawyer, and Sir George Radcliffe, the king's attorney in the north.

43 Report by Wandesford, n.d. [1631?], WWM, Str P 16/238.

44 Ingram worked closely with Wentworth in the administration of the recusancy fines and promoted the lord president's interests at court. However, he never enjoyed the same relationship as Wandesford did with Wentworth and subsequently fell out with the latter when he tried to satisfy his claims on the crown from the money generated out of the recusancy fines. See Anthony F. Upton, Sir Arthur Ingram, c. 1565–1642 (Oxford, 1961), pp. 214–23.

45 Report by Wandesford, n.d. [1631?], WWM, Str P 16/238.

46 C. K. Brownhill, ‘The personal and professional relationships between Thomas Wentworth, earl of Strafford and his closest advisors’ (Ph.D. thesis, Sheffield, 2004), pp. 86–92.

47 Wentworth to Stanhope, 19 Feb. 1628[/9], WWM, Str P 21/54.

48 A. B. Grosart, ed., The Lismore papers, 1st ser. (5 vols., London, 1886), IV, p. 109.

49 Stanhope to Wentworth, Oct. 1631, WWM, Str P 21/79; Nicholas to [Feilding], 13 Dec. 1631, in Historical Manuscripts Commission, Manuscripts of the earl of Denbigh, p. 8.

50 Falkland to Coote, 18 Aug. 1633, National Archives of Ireland (NAI), Falkland letter book, 1629–33, MS M2445, fo. 331.

51 Aungier to Wentworth, 28 June 1632, WWM, Str P 1/43r; Wilmot to Wentworth, 9 Mar. 1631[/2], WWM, Str P 12/282.

52 Gardiner, ed., ‘Wentworth's speech’, p. 582.

53 Lord Conway to Heath, 18 Mar. 1629, in John Bruce, ed., Calendar of state papers, domestic, 1628–29 (London, 1859), p. 496.

54 Heath to the King, 28 Mar. 1629, in Bruce, ed., CSPD, 1628–29, p. 504; Reid, King's council in the north, p. 411.

55 Edward Osborne, vice-president of the Council of the North, to Wentworth, 3 Nov. 1633, WWM, Str P 13/83.

56 John Rushworth, Historical collections of private passages of state, weighty matters in law, remarkable proceedings in five parliaments, beginning the sixteenth year of King James, anno 1618, and ending the fifth year of King Charles, anno 1629 (London, 1682), appendix, p. 21; ‘Discharge to John Lord Savile, comptroller of the household … in a cause lately depending between him and Thomas Viscount Wentworth, 30 June 1629’, in Bruce, ed., CSPD, 1628–29, p. 596.

57 ‘His Ma[jes]ties letter to the Lord President and Councell in the North for due administracon of justice, notwithstanding anie prohibicon grannted out of the Courts of Westm[inste]r’, 22 June 1629, West Yorkshire Archives, Temple Newsam MS, Public Office 1/51.

58 The King to Secretaries Dorchester and Coke, 21 July 1631, in J. Bruce, ed., Calendar of state papers, domestic, 1631–33 (London, 1862), p. 117.

59 On the Council in the Marches of Wales, see Bowen, Lloyd, The politics of the principality, c. 1603–1642 (Cardiff, 2007)Google Scholar; Sharpe, Kevin, The Personal Rule of Charles I (London, 1992), pp. 448–55Google Scholar.

60 Affidavit of Sir Thomas Gower, 15 Feb. 1632[/3], The National Archives (TNA), State papers domestic series (SPDom), Charles I, 16/232/55.

61 Ibid.

62 Petition of Sir Thomas Gower to the privy council, 23 Nov. 1632, TNA, SPDom, Charles I, 16/225/58. For an excellent assessment of Wentworth's concern when scandal touched him personally, see Kane, ‘Scandal’, pp. 147–62.

63 Order of the privy council, 23 Nov. 1632, TNA, SPDom, Charles I, 16/225/59.

64 Wentworth to the privy council, 1 Dec. 1632, TNA, SPDom, Charles I, 16/226/1. Both Weston and Francis Cottington presented Wentworth's letter to the king to push home his argument. Wandesford to Wentworth, 14 Nov. [1632], WWM, Str P 16/243; Wandesford to Wentworth, 19 Dec. [1632], WWM, Str P 16/242. See also Pogson, Fiona, ‘Making and maintaining political alliances during the personal rule of Charles I: Wentworth's association with Laud and Cottington’, History: The Journal of the Historical Association, 84 (1999), pp. 52–73CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

65 Report of Attorney General Noy on the petition of Sir Thomas Gower, Dec. 1632, TNA, SPDom, Charles I, 16/226/82. It was supported by Henry Montagu, lord of the privy seal, and Lord Keeper Coventry, ‘besydes other personns for factionns sake’. Wandesford later revealed that the earl of Dorset, Archbishop Neile, Cottington, and Lord Marshal Arundel were ‘in earnest of your syde’. Wandesford to Wentworth, 19 Dec. [1632], WWM, Str P 16/242.

66 Falkland to Viscount Ranelagh, 12 Jan. 1632[/3], NAI, Falkland letter book, 1629–33, MS M2445, fo. 284; Falkland to Sir William Parsons, 18 Feb. 1632[/3], ibid., fo. 286; Falkland to Ranelagh, 28 Feb. 1632[/3], ibid., fo. 287.

67 Wedgwood, Thomas Wentworth, p. 111.

68 Wentworth's input in the modifications was acknowledged by Coke: Coke to Wentworth, 27 May 1633, WWM, Str P 5/1.

69 Commission and instructions for the lord president and Council of the North, 21 Mar. 1632[/3], WWM, Str P 24–25/24; Thomas Rymer, ed., Foedera (20 vols., Neaulme, 1739–45), XIX, pp. 410–29.

70 Rushworth, Historical collections, p. 158.

71 Coke to Wentworth, 11 June 1633, WWM, Str P 5/3.

72 Wentworth's triumphant mood underlines the significance of his achievement. See Wentworth to Coke, 3 June 1633, WWM, Str P 5/1.

73 John Rushworth, The tryal of Thomas, earl of Strafford (London, 1680), pp. 137–48.

74 Rushworth, Historical collections, p. 162; Reid, King's council in the north, p. 424.

75 Wentworth's propositions concerning the government of Ireland, Feb. 1631[/2], WWM, Str P 21/86. The king added four propositions to Wentworth's initial list: King's additional propositions for the government of Ireland, 17 Feb. 1631[/2], WWM, Str P 21/87.

76 Wentworth's propositions concerning the government of Ireland, Feb. 1631[/2], WWM, Str P 21/86.

77 Ibid.

78 Wentworth held very strong views on this and made a point of hitting out at the commissioners of 1622 who had attempted to curb such powers. Wentworth to Arundel, 22 Mar. 1633[/4], WWM, Str P 8/94; Arundel to Wentworth, 16 Apr. 1634, WWM, Str P 14/36; Wentworth to Coke, 31 Jan. 1633[/4], WWM, Str P 5/46; Wentworth to Arundel, 10 June 1634, WWM, Str P 8/131.

79 Wentworth's speech to both houses of parliament in Ireland, 15 July 1634, WWM, Str P 3/157–65.

80 Wentworth's speech to both houses of parliament in Ireland, 15 July 1634, in Knowler, ed., Strafforde's letters and dispatches, I, p. 288.

81 Gardiner, ed., ‘Wentworth's speech’, p. 582.

82 Wentworth's speech to both houses of parliament in Ireland, 15 July 1634, in Knowler, ed., Strafforde's letters and dispatches, I, pp. 289–90.

83 Gardiner, ed., ‘Wentworth's speech’, p. 582.

84 The analogy originated from a letter by Wandesford to Wentworth on the eve of the latter's opening address to the council. Wandesford to Wentworth, 29 Dec. 1628, WWM, Str P 16/226.

85 Wentworth's speech to both houses of parliament in Ireland, 15 July 1634, in Knowler, ed., Strafforde's letters and dispatches, I, pp. 289–90.

86 Laud to Wentworth, 2 Aug. 1634, in William Scott and James Bliss, eds., Works of William Laud (7 vols., Oxford, 1847–60), VII, p. 84; Windebank to Wentworth, 6 Aug. 1634, WWM, Str P 5/250. Wentworth made a point of emphasizing his achievement to the king and key dignitaries at court. Wentworth to the King, 19 July 1634, WWM, Str P 3/102; Wentworth to Laud, 19 July 1634, WWM, Str P 6/82–3; Wentworth to earl of Newcastle, 19 July 1634, WWM, Str P 8/132; Wentworth to Coke, 18 Aug. 1634, WWM, Str P 5/96; Wentworth to Henry Danvers, earl of Danby, 28 Dec. 1634, WWM, Str P 8/179.

87 Order for enquiry into the conduct of Mountnorris as vice treasurer, 31 July 1635, WWM, Str P 24–25/443; sentence delivered on Mountnorris, and draft corrected in Wentworth's hand, 12 Dec. 1635, WWM, Str P 24–25/444–5; Empey, Mark, ed., Early Stuart Irish warrants, 1623–1639: the Falkland and Wentworth administrations (Dublin, 2015), p. 239Google Scholar; Kearney, Strafford in Ireland, pp. 70–2.

88 Empey, ‘Paving the way to prerogative’, pp. 99–110.