Star Chamber Matters - University of London Press Skip to main content Search Search Home Books Open access Series Subject Journals Publish with us Author testimonials Open Access policy Artificial Intelligence policy Peer review and publication ethics Submit a proposal About us Funding and governance Meet the team News Our mission Projects, partners and initiatives Publishing partners Stay in touch Information Accessibility Digital editions FAQs For authors For booksellers and librarians For reviewers and media Open Access Rights and permissions Statistics Training Hub Books Journals Open Access Revising your PhD Thesis for Publication Peer review Marketing Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License Copyright: © Authors 2021 DOI: https://doi.org/10.14296/202109.9781912702909 Number of pages: 232 Number of illustrations: 9 Publication date: 8 October 2021 To request a review copy of this title, please email us: [email protected] Star Chamber Matters An Early Modern Court and Its Records K. J. Kesselring (Editor), Natalie Mears (Editor) Series: IHR Conference Series Published in association with: Institute of Historical Research Read online Download (PDF) Purchase Hardback (UK) – £80.00 Hardback (US) – $105.00 EPUB (UK) – £26.99 An extraordinary court with late medieval roots in the activities of the king’s council, Star Chamber came into its own over the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, before being abolished in 1641 by members of parliament for what they deemed egregious abuses of royal power. Before its demise, the court heard a wide range of disputes in cases framed as fraud, libel, riot, and more. In so doing, it produced records of a sort that make its archive invaluable to many researchers today for insights into both the ordinary and extraordinary. The chapters gathered here explore what we can learn about the history of an age through both the practices of its courts and the disputes of the people who came before them. With Star Chamber, we view a court that came of age in an era of social, legal, religious, and political transformation, and one that left an exceptional wealth of documentation that will repay further study. Star Chamber Matters will surely serve as an introductory text for the increasing number of graduate students working on petitioning and justice in early modern England and beyond … For those more well versed in law courts and their records, the contributions are thought-provoking too: on the machinations behind litigation, popular knowledge of the law and its processes, and how historians approach truth and fiction in the archives Journal of British Studies Contents Formats Authors Reviews Subjects Accessibility 1. Introduction: Star Chamber matters K. J. Kesselring with Natalie Mears 2. The records of the court of Star Chamber at the National Archives and elsewhere Daniel Gosling 3. Reading ravishment: gender and ‘will’ power in early Tudor Star Chamber, 1500–50 Deborah Youngs 4. Sir Edward Coke and the Star Chamber: the prosecution of rapes at Snargate, 1598–1602 Louis A. Knafla 5. ‘By reason of her sex and widowhood’: an early modern Welsh gentlewoman in the court of Star Chamber Sadie Jarrett 6. Consent and coercion, force and fraud: marriages in Star Chamber K. J. Kesselring 7. Labourers, legal aid and the limits of popular legalism in Star Chamber Hillary Taylor 8. Jacobean Star Chamber records and the performance of provincial libel Clare Egan 9. A marine insurance fraud in the Star Chamber Emily Kadens 10. Star Chamber and the bullion trade, 1618–20 Simon Healy 11. Contemporary knowledge of the Star Chamber and the court’s abolition Ian Williams PDF: 9781912702909 EPUB: 9781912702916 Read Online: 9781911507451 Hardback: 9781912702893 / 232 pages / 245mm x 163mm K. J. Kesselring (Editor) Natalie Mears (Editor) Star Chamber Matters will surely serve as an introductory text for the increasing number of graduate students working on petitioning and justice in early modern England and beyond … For those more well versed in law courts and their records, the contributions are thought-provoking too: on the machinations behind litigation, popular knowledge of the law and its processes, and how historians approach truth and fiction in the archives Journal of British Studies Subject: Early Modern History , History BISAC codes: HIS015030, HIS015040, LAW023000, LAW060000 Thema codes: LAZ, NHD Keywords: Jacobean law, London history, Sir Edward Coke, Tudor Britain, Westminster, consent, courts, fraud, legal history, marine insurance, medieval judge, medieval libel, medieval marriage, medieval women, popular legalism, rape EPUB accessibility: Accessibility summary EPUB Accessibility Specification 1.1 Table of contents navigation Index navigation Single logical reading order Short alternative textual descriptions Full alternative textual descriptions Print-equivalent page numbering Use of color is not sole means of conveying information Next / Previous structural navigation ARIA roles provided Appearance of all textual content can be modified All non-decorative content supports reading without sight WCAG v2.2 WCAG level AA Compliance certification by (name) More books in this subject area Britain’s Urban Crisis Aaron Andrews 4 February 2027 Museums and Patronage Scott Anthony Alice Byrne Harry Parker 3 December 2026 Living with Machines Ruth Ahnert Emma Griffin Jon Lawrence The Living with Machines Team 12 November 2026 Insiders and Outsiders in the History of Law Joanna McCunn Gwen Seabourne 29 October 2026 Prostitution, Repentance and Social Welfare in Renaissance Florence Gillian Jack 15 October 2026 Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1541–1857: The Welsh Dioceses XIV William H. 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