The House of Commons 1604–1610 by Wallace Notestein (review)

458 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW Henryn andhissons, thesubject israrelysurvived bypersonal letters orother autobiographical data,information concerning a figure's lifebefore hebecame important inchurch orstate isusually absent, andthesources frequently failto castlightonthose aspects of a man's history aboutwhichwearemostcurious. Theseproblems explainwhy thereare somanysuppositions and cunning probabilities in thebook underreview. Professor Kealey's finestudy shows that theproblems ofmediaeval biography arenotinsurmountable whenapproached by a meticulous scholar with patience and soundjudgment. Roger,who 'inaugurated theexchequer system, centralized royaljustice, created a trained bureaucracy, andstillfoundtimeto governhisownlargediocese andbe an active patronof art,education andlearning ... wasa modelfor laterpolitical prelates andecclesiastical statesmen' andthefounder of a dynasty of administrators of churchandstate. Thisbookilluminates carefully theadministrative developments of the reignof Henry •, showing accelerated rationalization of government, but not yetitsspecialization; that wouldawait the fruitful reign of Henryn. The author's discussion of thecircumstances surrounding thegreat statesman's fallin •139iswellhandled, meticulous initsargument andplausible in the reconstruction of probablemotivations of Roger'senemies; again, chivalrous King Stephen appears slyandshifty. The book's principal contributionslie in its thoroughaccountof Roger'scareer,its detaileddiscussions of importantaspects of thereigns of Henry• andof Stephen, anditscarefulexamination of the intricaciesof diocesanadministration;Roger is valuable as biography, aschurchhistory,and as administrative history.Amongthe four appendices isa transcription of thirty-one charters; thebibliography iscomplete, but readers will wishto beawareof two books published toolatefor inclusion: R.W. Southern,Medieval Humanismand Other Studies(Blackwell,Oxford, I97o) and H.A. Cronne,The Reign o[ Stephen(Weidenfeldand Nicolson, London,•97o). Mycriticisms ofKealey's book areminor, andmatters ofjudgment rather than of scholarship. The workwouldhavebeenenrichedhad the authordrawnsome considered parallels with the careerof Ranulf Flambard.Sometimes Kealey raises mostinteresting pointsand then leaves themafloat- for instance, 'the English chiefjusticiarhad no real equalin otherkingdoms'; he mighthave explained whythiswasso.Butthese arecavilling points;thisbiography will takea deserved placeamong recent distinguished biographies of twelfth-century English churchmen. It isrighttoconclude bycalling attention tothecompetent workof California Press' copyeditors (thereareonlythreeminormisprints in theentiretext) andthequalityof thebookmaking. JAMES W. AI.EXA1NIDER University o[ Georgia The House o[ Commons•6o4-•6•o. wta•I•t, cw NOTESTEXN. New Haven and London, YaleUniversity Press, I97I. Pp.xiv,585.$I8.5o. The purpose of thisstudyononelevelisto providea chronology of thehistory ofthefoursessions of theHouse of Commons in thefirstparliament of James I, REVIEWS 459 I6o4-•o. The chronology, however, isdevoted morespecifically to themajor political issues. Eachsession ispresented in terms of thechieftopics of political controversy. In thismannerthereaderisgivena veryfull account of thegrievancesconcerning parliamentary returns,monopolies, recusancy, purveyance, impositions, Anglo-Scots Union,andtheGreatContract. Important figures such asKing James, RobertCecil,Earl of Salisbury, Sir Edwin Sandys, Sir Francis Bacon,and Sir EdwardPhelips are discussed at length,and two concluding chapters assess thedevelopment of parliamentary procedures andthe roleof the Speaker of theCommons. The studyis alsopurported to be based on an examination of the original records. Instead, secondary worksandcollections of printeddocuments comprise themajorsources. Thustheextensive manuscript correspondence in theBritish Museum,theunprinted tractsandmemoranda in theStatePapers at thePublic Record Office, and parliamentarycollections at local recordofficeswere not apparentlyused.The ramifications of thisneglectare significant. For example, in thelengthy section on Anglo-Scots Union (Chapterin), noneof themajor manuscript collections are utilized,and many of the importantquestions are neverraised.In fact,theonlyunprintedsource in thewholesection isBodleiean Rawlinson•as•,i e3. On anotherlevelthisstudyassumes to providethe readerwith all that is important abouttheHouse of Commons andtheparliamentary struggles of the period.In thewords of theauthor,wewill begivenall but the 'bird-feeding' stories which provided delightful excursions fromthedebates onpolitical matters (p. ••). Thisis,unfortunately, notthecase. The Parliament of •6o4 wasnot concerned solely withthepolitics ofanopposition. Ninety-seven publicacts were enrolled, morethantheprevious fourparliaments of Elizabeth,andmorethan all theparliaments whichmet up to the convening of the LongParliament in I64I. The makingof thelaw with respect to industry, trade,justice,and the problems of theboroughs andthelocalities wasnosmallmatterto themenwho satin the firstparliamentof the newmonarch.The outlineof the Commons whichwe havebeengivenis far removedfrom the historicalrecordthat it has left us. What kindof Houseof Commons havewe beengiven?On theonehand there isno breakfrom thepastexceptfor moreof everything(Chaptervi). On the otherhand,the victoryof theCommons in returningits ownmembers in the GoodwinCase(I6o4) isrecorded asthefirstloudout againstthe Stuartmonarchyin theseventeenth century.Andit wasachieved on thefirstpitch (pp. 6o78 ). With respect tocomposition, 'a considerable majority[were]Puritanin some degree'(p. e55). Somehow, beingPuritanwasnecessary to explainhow this parliamentwasresponsible for somanybreakthroughs againstroyalistpolicies. Particularlysincethe Housewasnot Puritanand few important'royal'policies wereundone. Thesetwinproblems ofexaggeration andconfused uncertainty also permeate theauthor's account ofimportantindividuals. Notestein's Jamesisevenmoreunbelievable than that of D.H. Willson...