Wenceslas_Hollar_-_Prynne_croppedLame Jack his haultings: J. H. Hexter, the ‘middle group’ and William Prynne by Warwick K. George

This article examines the historiography of J. H. Hexter’s ‘middle group’, arguing that current trends in historical scholarship have revived the need for a convincing scheme of faction in the Long Parliament. Hexter’s evidence is discussed, and his supporters and critics addressed, before the hypothesis of a moderate, secular, constitutionalist lobby is subjected to scrutiny through a tract by William Prynne, commissioned by the Commons at the height of middle group ‘ascendancy’. In light of this, it is argued that Prynne represents a body of opinion within the Commons that was radical, religious and essentially Anglo-Saxon, which has implications for neo-whig, bicameral and ‘Three Kingdoms’ interpretations alike.

The Guildhall Library, Robert Bale and the writing of London history by Mary C. Erler

The careers of four of London’s late medieval chroniclers – Robert Bale, Richard Arnold, Robert Fabyan and Edward Hall – show the entrée to City administration that facilitated the writing of the City’s narrative. More importantly, points of connection among these writers suggest the borrowings, physical and intellectual, that the presence of London’s administrative library at the Guildhall made possible. This article focuses in particular on Robert Bale (c.1410–73), correcting some errors in his biography, and on his personal compilation (now Trinity College Dublin, MS. 509), its movements and its possible influence on other London chronicles.

The early Irish hostage surety and inter-territorial alliances by Jaqueline Bemmer

This article examines the legal evidence on treaty law in early medieval Ireland, focusing on fragments from the lost law text Bretha Cairdi (Treaty Judgements) and the short text Slán n-aitire cairde (The Immunity of a Hostage-Surety in a Treaty). It aims to examine the ways in which jurists faced cross-border violence and to look at how law was used to forge a political alliance in extending legal allowances and duties beyond the frontier, and so permit designated enforcers from both sides to collaborate in the quest for legal satisfaction and social stability.