The King's Chambers: the bedchamber of James I in administration and politics, 1603 -1625

Thesis

The focus of this study is the Bedchamber of James I, a new institution formed in 1603 by the political pressures of a foreign king's accession. First to be discussed is the English court which existed at Elizabeth's death, followed by the institutional background of James's household in Scotland (and French influences on it). The household above stairs in James's reign is next described, with emphasis on the Privy Chamber. Then the structure of the Bedchamber - practice, personnel, the limitation of access - is fully analysed. The remaining three-quarters of the dissertation consists, on the one hand, of analysis of the Bedchamber's administrative functions, centring on its role, and that of the Bedchamber favourites Somerset and Buckingham, in the private governmental machine of the sign manual, coffers and privy purse; and on the other hand, of a narrative of the reign's politics from the perspective of the Bedchamber.

This political narrative demonstrates that at first the Bedchamber played a central role in the king's Union intitiative; that the Scots' Bedchamber monopoly and massive patronage gains- practical expressions of James's policy - triggered principled parliamentary opposition between 1604 and 1614; and finally that James in the second half of his reign withdrew from English politics to virtual internal exile, shielded by his Bedchamber and his favourites Somerset and Buckingham, thenceforth dealing with principled conflict by staying above it. In conclusion, continuities are investigated between parliamentary attacks, in 1604-14 on the Bedchamber Scots, in 1621 on Buckingham as Bedchamber favourite; and such continuities are linked with James's fears about what principles lay at the root of such attacks - fear of 'popular courses' indeed explains much if his later withdrawal and disillusion. In all, whether used positively as an instrument of policy or negatively as a last defence, the Bedchamber is revealed as a central directing force in Jacobean politics.

Authors: Cuddy, N

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-ko7zzmb8w
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English