Instructions which you are to follow in the execution of his Majesty’s commission concerning the Order of Knighthood to be taken at the King's coronation Charles I Noah Millstone Principal Investigator MPESE Sebastiaan Verweij Co-Investigator MPESE Richard Bell Research Associate Victoria Anker BRIHC Research Impact Fellow Mike Jones Research Software Engineer Tim Wales Research Assistant Manuscript Pamphleteering in Early Stuart England (MPESE) 2017 United Kingdom London British Library Hargrave MS 311

British Library, Hargrave MS 311

 Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson C 674, ff. 74v–75v Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson D 924, ff. 129r–v Cambridge University Library, MS Gg.4.13, pp130–131

1630 English instructions royal order taxation royal finance royal officers knighthood Distraint of Knighthood coronation

Instructions which you are to Follow in the execution of his Magesties Commission concerninge the order of Knight-hood to be taken att the kings Coronation by vertue of a statute maide Anno the jst Ed.-2 putt in execution .1629.

1. First vpon the receipt of this our Commission you are to meet and by your joynt consents to aduise & resolue of the fittest & places & maner for your execution of this our Commission with the most expedition & best aduantage for our s

2. Against the time of your further meetinge you shall vse best endeauors by your selues & others to informe your selues all the persons, who by the law, or by the Tenor of this Commission ought to make agreement with vs for there fines in case of contempt, & of their estates lying aswell within th as any other Countyes of this Realme./

3. To that end you shall send for the vnder sheriffe, Escheator & s of the County, for the high Constables, & Bayliffs, petty Constables & such others as in your Iugdments, yee thinke fittest to giue true informaton herein. All which or as many of them as you shall send for, wee charge & Command to attend you accordingly & giue there best assistance for this our seruice./

4. That besides these informations, yee shall instructe your selves by the veiw of the subsidy Roll, & booke of the Free-hold the Countye, the Muster Roll & the booke for Collection f poore in their seuerall parishes; all which wee command brought & shewd vnto you when yee shall yee shall req the same./

5. In makinge your Compositions with any yee shall not accept summe under 10 l. & yee shall raise it to a greater proportion according to the ability of the party Compounding, wherein generall we direct. That hee that is sett at lands in th e sub sidy booke shall pay at least the rate he is sett at twice halfe, & hee that is assessed in goods to pay at the least d the rate att which hee is assessed. Videlicit if att xx l. lands 50 l. & if att xx l. goods to pay forty pounds, & so in the proportion./

6. If yee find any who hath a lesse proportion of reuenew in lands yet enough to charge him according to the law, & hee hath a better estate in goods or other personall estate. yee shall then haue respect to his entire estate, both reall & personall, in making your Composition. /

7. In makinge these Compositions yee may guide your selues by the pre= sidents which the Lords & others our Comissioners haue maide here aboue, that as nere as may bee theire bee an equallity with all, hauinge due respects to their estates & quallities: And with those that are in Commision for peace yee shall not make any Composition with any under xxv l. it being to bee presumed that they are all of good estate answerable their vnto./

8. For your better directions with whome you are to deale in this case, yee are to take knowledge, that all Barronets whoe were not knighted att our Coronation or before, all knights who haue receiued that order since that time, all who haue lands or rents to forty pounds yearly valew although held in soccage, or though held of a Common person or of vs by a meaner tenure all who haue but an estate of free-hold for life only are lyable to this fine./

9. If any shall refuse, or neglect to come before you or when they are come to make agreement with you on our be= halfe, you shall certefie their names, & places of habitation/.

10. If any shall alledge they haue already Compounded & payde & shall shew the Tallye or Constat they are to be discharged, or if they shall alledge they are not yett returned by the Shreiffs or shall make any other excuse, or giue any reason for theire discharge or refusall, you are to certefie the same particularly with the names of the parties & their seuerall allegations to the lords our Commissioners residinge here, that vpon consideration had thereof, such further course may be taken concerninge them, as shalbe agreeable to law & best for our seruice. /

11. When any doth Compound with you you shall either receiue those monys in hand, or appoynt them a short day when to pay the same, which shalbe within 10 days after, to be payd to such of you as wee shall appoynt to be our Collector, & yee shall make a certificate thereof also particularly to our Lord Treasurer or to our Court of Ex= chequer vnder your hands, or the hands of two of you att the least not being our Collector, & the Acquittances of our Collector testi= fiing the receipt thereof, shalbee theire discharge who pay the same./

12. The monys beinge receiued, your Collector is to send the s vnto our receipt, within 10 dayes after it is receiued for Counties neere hand, for the North & more remote Counties Thirty days to be payd to the hand of Edward Crane E one of our Tellers their./

13. Yee shall certifie vs or the Lords of our Councell, or Lord Treasurer from tyme to tyme, of your proceedinge often as you shall haue cause & oportunity, but the it selfe to bee returned as is thereby directed./