“Take care, or you will break my shins with this damned axe”: The trials of Lords Balmerino, Cromartie and Kilmarnock (Summer 1746)

The summer is normally a period for Parliament to go into recess, and for MPs and members of the Lords to take some time off. On extraordinary occasions, though, Parliament has been known to sit through the summer. As Dr Robin Eagles explains, this was true of 1746 as the government got on with the task of mopping up after the ‘45. Charles Edward Stuart … Continue reading “Take care, or you will break my shins with this damned axe”: The trials of Lords Balmerino, Cromartie and Kilmarnock (Summer 1746)

What price a peerage? John Roper and the Jacobean trade in titles and offices

Accusations of political sleaze are on the rise again, but the concept of government insiders profiting from the system is nothing new, as Dr Paul Hunneyball of our Lords 1558-1603 project explains… If the Committee on Standards in Public Life had existed 400 years ago, it would have needed a rather different remit. While Jacobean politicians periodically attacked corruption and venality in government, it was … Continue reading What price a peerage? John Roper and the Jacobean trade in titles and offices