Star Chamber ??

Browsing at TNA, I pulled up a reference to a surname of interest in a
Star Chamber proceeding under Elizabeth I.

First off, surely this can't refer to what *I* thought was a Star
Chamber -- anyone know what it really was likely to be?

Then, has anyone seen one of these documents? IF I order it up, am I
entertaining myself with a trial transcript sort of thing or is it
likely to have something that would identify the man beyond
of ? If someone thinks his name matters, I can/will
supply it, but I'd have to go look it up off-line because I don't
remember which variant it popped up under.

Anne Chambers...

I'm not sure what you thought a Star Chamber was ;)
It was actually a court of law, started, AFAIR, by Henry VIII, and named
after the pattern on the ceiling of the chamber - in, I think,
Westminster Palace. I'm sure there's lots in web-search.

Anne Chambers...

Correction:
I see from
that it actually existed well before Henry VIII.

singhals...

Thanks, Anne.

Don Aitken...

The Star Chamber is exactly what it would be. It was the Privy Council
operating as a Court. The jurisdiction was defined by statute in 1487
regularly exercised throughout Elizabeth's reign. The name (originally
"Camera Stellata") is believed to come from the fact that the ceiling
of the room where it met was decorated with a pattern of stars.

The Star Chamber jurisdiction was abolished in 1641, because Charles I
was thought to have misused it, but, it fact, it was just about the
only place where a small man could hope to get justice against a great
noble.

But the really good news is that, unlike the common law courts, but
like the ecclesistical courts, Star Chamber followed the Roman law
tradition, which meant that *all* the evidence was written down - so,
with any luck, you might have something like a full transcript.

There is a detailed description of how it worked, with a number of
sample cases, in Elton's ""The Tudor Constitution".

John Cartmell...

The clue is in the date. Most of the institutions brought in by Henry VII were
designed to bolster his illegal claim to the throne and wrest power back from
Parliament. Everything contemporary that describes his acts is suspect as
spin-doctored* and much that is written later is based on Tudor PR. Those
writing alternative versions didn't survive and nor did their writings.

*make what you will of my original spelling of this as 'sin-doctored'. ;-)

singhals...

Thanks, John.