Resumen de "Wrangling lawyers": proclamations and the management of the English parliament of 1621

Chris R. Kyle

• This article examines the fall of lord chancellor, Sir Francis Bacon, Viscount St Alban, during the parliament of 1621. It reviews Bacon’s drafting of two controversial proclamations relating to the calling of the parliament and James I’s intense displeasure at the actions of his lord chancellor. While Bacon sought to inform the political nation of English policy towards the Spanish match and the Thirty Years’ War, James closed down all such talk and railed against the legal profession in general and ‘wrangling lawyers’ in particular. When allegations of corruption against Bacon surfaced during the 1621 parliament, James did not defend him, in part because of his long-standing antipathy towards lawyers.