This page intentionally left blank Treason and the State This study traces the transition of treason from a personal crime against the monarch to a modern crime against the impersonal state. It consists of four highly detailed case studies of major state treason trials in England beginning with that of Thomas Wentworth, First Earl of Strafford, in the spring of 1641 and ending with that of Charles Stuart, King of England, in January 1649. The book examines how these trials constituted practical contexts in which ideas of statehood and public authority legitimated courses of political action that might ordi- narily be considered unlawful – or at least not within the compass of the foundational statute of 25 Edward III. The ensuing narrative reveals how the events of the 1640s in England challenged existing conceptions of treason as a personal crime against the king, his family and his servants, and pushed the ascendant parliamentarian faction toward embracing an impersonal conception of the state that perceived public authority as completely independent of any individual or group. d. alan orr was educated at Queen’s University at Kingston, the University of Glasgow and the University of Cambridge, where he received his Ph.D. in 1997. He has taught subsequently at Carleton University in Ottawa and Queen’s University at Kingston. Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History Series editors anthony fletcher Victoria County History, Institute of Historical Research, University of London john guy Professor of Modern History, University of St. Andrews and john morrill Professor of British and Irish History, University of Cambridge, and Vice-Master of Selwyn College This is a series of monographs and studies covering many aspects of the history of the British Isles between the late fifteenth century and the early eighteenth century. It includes the work of established scholars and pioneering work by a new generation of scholars. It includes both reviews and revisions of major topics and books, which open up new historical terrain or which reveal startling new perspectives on familiar subjects. All the volumes set detailed research into our broader perspectives and the books are intended for the use of students as well as of their teachers. For a list of titles in the series, see end of book. TREASON AND THE STATE Law, Politics, and Ideology in the English Civil War D. ALAN ORR    Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge  , United Kingdom First published in print format ISBN-13 978-0-521-77102-3 hardback ISBN-13 978-0-511-06879-9 eBook (EBL) © D. Alan Orr 2002 2002 Information on this title: www.cambrid g e.or g /9780521771023 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. ISBN-10 0-511-06879-4 eBook (EBL) ISBN-10 0-521-77102-1 hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of s for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Published in the United States by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org CONTENTS Acknowledgmentspageix List of abbreviations xi Introduction 1 Part I: Concepts 1 The statutory basis of English treason law 11 2 Sovereignty and state 30 Part II: Practice 3 Thomas Wentworth, First Earl of Strafford 61 4 William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury 101 5 Connor Lord Maguire, Second Baron of Enniskillen 141 6 Charles Stuart, King of England 171 Conclusion 206 Bibliography 211 Index 224 vii . The Law of Treason and Treason Trials in Later Medieval France (Cambridge, 1981), p. 6. 4 Treason and the State that law was the municipal law of England,. to the demands of the Reformation, the extension of English control over the whole of Ireland, and the rise of Jesuit and missionary priest activity in the