State Papers Online, 1509–1714:
Take an in-depth view of the issues that dominated seventeenth-century England, including civil war, revolution, and regicide
State Papers Online: State Papers Domestic: Part III: The Stuarts: James I to Anne, 1603–1714, a part of the Gale Primary Sources family, is a collection of English government documents originating primarily from the seventeenth century. The Stuarts' internal struggles come to life through a wealth of primary source documents from one of the most compelling and turbulent eras in Britain's social, political, and religious history. Among the more than one million pages of manuscripts, researchers will find accounts of the English Civil War, the execution of Charles I, and the invasion of William of Orange.
Part III reunites all of the domestic State Papers of Britain's monarchy from 1603-1714 with the Registers of the Privy Council for the whole of the Stuart period. It includes selected documents from the Council of State, Navy Commission and related bodies, the Committee for Plundered Ministers, the State Paper Office, and many other collections from the British Library. State Papers Online, 1509-1714, Part III details every facet of early government, including social and economic affairs, law and order, religious policy, crown possessions, and intelligence. This unique online resource reproduces the original historical manuscripts in facsimile and links each manuscript to its corresponding fully searchable calendar entry. It is an unprecedented research aid for courses in British early modern history and courses on the Stuarts. Key themes of State Papers Online, 1509-1714, Part III include:
- The Coronation of James I (1603)
- The beginning of the English Civil War (1642)
- The trial and execution of Charles I (1649)
- The declaration of England as a commonwealth (1649)
- Oliver Cromwell's claim to the title of Lord Protector (1653)
- The restoration of the monarchy under Charles II (1660)
- William of Orange's invasion of England and rule with wife, Mary (1688)
In addition to providing detailed accounts of daily life and events across all strata of society, the collection uncovers the numerous incidents in Stuart Britain of conspiracy, espionage, treason, heresy, imprisonment, and execution. State Papers Online, 1509-1714 includes a number of research tools to facilitate its use, including:
- Essays on key themes by leading scholars
- Tools -- abbreviations, glossaries, dates, money, weights and measures, chronologies, genealogical trees, diagram maps, principal officers of crown and state
- Notepads
- Personal archives
- Links to related sites -- biographies, understanding documents, paleography courses, Latin courses, primary sources, texts, catalogs and bibliographies, maps and place names, portraits and images, reference works
- Key documents -- within the archive organized by monarch
- Calendar prefaces
- Image gallery
Additional Details
subjects covered
- European Studies
- East European & Russian Studies
- Medieval & Renaissance Studies
- Western European Studies
- Humanities & Social Sciences
- Law & Legal Studies
- Religion & Philosophy
Platform Features & Tools
Cross-Search Capability
Search across State Papers Domestic, Foreign, Ireland, and the registers of the Privy Council from the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries.
Comparative Analysis
View two manuscripts side by side to compare drafts or handwriting.
Multiple Ways to Explore
Search across the calendar entries and link to the manuscript, or browse each manuscript volume folio by folio.
Reviews & Testimonials
State Papers Online transforms early modern historical research at top UK universities Read more>>
