On our blog today Dr Andrew Thrush, editor of our House of Lords 1558-1603 project, takes a look at an infamous murder that took place in 1613, and asks why foul play wasn’t suspected until two years later… In the early hours of the morning of 15 September 1613, Sir Thomas Overbury, the former friend and mentor of the royal favourite Robert Carr, Viscount Rochester, … Continue reading The Murder of Sir Thomas Overbury, 1613
As part of the History of Parliament’s blog series on marriage, Dr Paul Hunneyball, assistant editor of the Lords 1558-1603 project, considers the options available four centuries ago to those whose marriages had broken down… Contrary to popular belief, Henry VIII never got divorced. In sixteenth-century England, the option of divorce as we now understand it didn’t exist. The only way to end a marriage … Continue reading Three degrees of separation: alternatives to divorce in early modern England
After an all-night debate, the Brazilian Senate voted today to begin impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff. Impeachment was once a powerful tool for MPs in our own parliament. Here Dr Andrew Thrush, editor of the House of Lords 1603-1660 section, discusses the 17th century revival of impeachment… Impeachment was a judicial procedure, carried out in the name of the king, whereby those suspected of … Continue reading Impeachment in the early seventeenth century
Our own Dr Andrew Thrush, editor of the House of Lords 1603-1660 section, discusses his recent ‘Parliaments, politics and people’ seminar paper on the link between the fall of Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk, and the Stuart parliament’s rediscovery of their right to impeach ministers… The revival of impeachment has received little attention since the publication of Colin Tite’s seemingly exhaustive monograph nearly forty … Continue reading Parliaments, Politics and People seminar: Dr Andrew Thrush, ‘The Fall of Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk and the revival of impeachment, 1621’
