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The dawn of the Tudor regime is one of most recognisable periods of English history. Yet the focus on its monarchs' private lives and ministers' constitutional reforms creates the impression that this age's major developments were isolated to halls of power, far removed from the wider populace. This book presents a more holistic vision of politics and society in late medieval and early modern England. Delving into the rich but little-studied archive of the royal Court of Requests, it reconstructs collaborations between sovereigns and subjects on the formulation of an important governmental ideal: justice. Examining the institutional and social dimensions of this point of contact, this study places ordinary people, their knowledge and demands at the heart of a judicial revolution unfolding within the governments of Henry VII and Henry VIII. Yet it also demonstrates that directing extraordinary royal justice into ordinary procedures created as many problems as it solved.
List of contents
Introduction. Part I. The New Justice System: Chapter 1. The principle and problem of justice; Chapter 2. Conciliar justice at centre and periphery; Chapter 3. 'Travailing between the prince and petitioners': the court of requests; Part II. Seeking and Requesting Justice: Chapter 4. Geography and demography; Chapter 5. Disputes and dispute-resolution; Chapter 6. 'Your poor orator': petitioning the king; Part III. Delivering and Contesting Justice: Chapter 7. Before the king's honourable council; Chapter 8. Answers and arguments; Chapter 9. 'A final peax': passing judgment; Conclusion. Justice and the Tudor Commonwealth.
About the author
Laura Flannigan is a researcher at the University of Oxford. She has published several articles in Law and History Review and Historical Research, and was awarded the Sir John Neale Essay Prize in 2020. Her volume on the Court of Requests archive is forthcoming (List and Index Society, 2023).
