The Catholic peerage and the House of Lords 1604-1624

Abstract

This thesis is a prosopographical study of the participation of Catholic peers in the parliaments of James I, which attempts to reintegrate the history of English Catholicism within a wider political context. It wrestles with the problems of definition, takes a broad view of who might be counted as having Catholic allegiances, and then seeks to investigate how those peers performed their parliamentary duties. This study thus hopefully contributes findings to two broad fields of research that have hitherto been treated at arm’s length: the history of parliament, and the history of post Reformation English Catholicism. In concentrating on the reign of James I, it also forms part of valuable work that has been done in recent years to rehabilitate the reputation of that monarch, and pay due attention to parliamentary activity in this period without undue reference back to Elizabeth I, or forward to problems under Charles I. The thesis draws on the wide range of printed material that has been made available on early modern Parliaments in recent years, from the journals of both houses to printed diaries, and latterly, the invaluable biographical research of the History of Parliament Trust and the Nun’s Project. Taking up the baton of revisionist historians in both camps, this thesis asks fundamental questions about the work of Catholic peers in the House of Lords, their attendance, committee work, use of proxies, and possible influence in elections for members of the House of Commons. It also enlarges on the work of revisionists working on Catholicism with the push to see English Catholics as better integrated than images of a persecuted, isolated minority might suggest. English Catholics under James I played a prominent part at court, in government, and at Westminster, even though this period also witnessed scares regarding the gunpowder plot and the assassination of Henry IV of France. The thesis demonstrates that English Catholic peers played a full part in the work of Parliament during the reign of James I, a role that needs to be better understood if we are to form a full understanding of the work of that institution. English Catholic peers played their part in both national and local politics, and in the work of both houses of Parliament; they were very much part of the Jacobean political establishment