Jason Peacey - The Madman and the Churchrobber: Law and Conflict in Early Modern England

This project took longer than expected to complete. Archival discoveries forced me to confront complex issues, and I came to identify with comments by one of the books protagonistsJohn Smyth of Nibley. Official duties (my time as Head of Department) were like thieves in stealing much time from this, and the research was sometimes painful, as weeks were spent without the gleaning of a note to enlarge a line herein. Like Smyth, I have reflected on how an immersion in legal complexities made me privy to mine own ignorance, and like him I am grateful for considerable support along the way. Many people have mitigated my ignorance and taken time to engage with an unusual and perhaps risky project. These include: Ian Archer, Richard Bell, Alex Barber, Mike Braddick, Simon Brown, Bill Bulman, Tom Cogswell, David Como, Richard Cust, David dAvray, Kenneth Fincham, Steve Hindle, Clive Holmes, Ann Hughes, Robert Ingram, Mark Jenner, Sean Kelsey, Chris Kyle, Peter Lake, Patrick Lantschner, Ed Legon, Noah Millstone, Nicholas Popper, Stephen Roberts, John Walter, Tim Reinke-Williams, John Sabapathy, David Harris Sacks, Christopher St John Smith, Jack Sargeant, Laura Stewart, Elliot Vernon, John Walter, and Andy Wood. This book would not have been possible without enthusiastic support from librarians and archivists, including Karen Davidson and David Smith at Berkeley Castle, Judith Curthoys at Christ Church, Oxford, and Julian Reid at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and the wonderful staff at Gloucestershire Archives. I am also grateful to the Huntington Library for a fellowship that enabled me to put my findings into a wider context, and to Cathryn Steele at OUP for her wonderful help and support. Most of all I am grateful to Annette, who has heard more than anyone ought to about John Smyth and Benjamin Crokey, and who even came on pilgrimage with me to Nibleytwice.

C. H. Firth and R. S. Rait, Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum, 16421660(3 vols, London, 1911)

Additional

H. A. C. Sturgess, ed., Register of Admissions to the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple(3 vols, London, 1949),

American Historical Review

American Journal of Legal History

American Journal of Sociology

John Venn and J. A. Venn, Alumni Cantabrigienses(4 vols, Cambridge, 1922)

Joseph Foster,