Space, Patronage, Procedure: The Court at Oxford, 1642–46

This article considers King Charles I's wartime court at Oxford (1642–46). For all the influential and in‐depth work undertaken on Charles' court during the 1620s and 1630s, there has been little attempt to chart the history or structure of the court after 1642. The court was much smaller, and more physically confined, after it moved from Whitehall to Oxford. This essay contributes a brief description of this institution, relying primarily on neglected manuscript evidence to consider the physical changes undergone during the years 1642–46. Charles was a King for whom physical location was extremely important, and the arrangement of his court is an invaluable index of his theories of government and authority. The article particularly examines the shift in power structure, a movement away from the Privy Council mode based upon the King's household towards a version of government predicated upon the structures of the Council of Oxford and the Council of War. This reconfiguration of the paradigms of governance was in part consequent upon the change in physical circumstances: the movement and restructuring of the court forced a concomitant shift in power structures.