Commission of array: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|General proclamation to defend the state in the Kingdom of England}}

{{refimprove|date=July 2013}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

A '''commission of array''' was a [[Letters patent|commission]] given by [[England|English]] royalty to officers or gentry in a given territory to muster and array the inhabitants and to see them in a condition for war, or to put [[soldier]]s of a country in a condition for military service. The term '''arrayers''' is used in some ancient English statutes, for an officer who had a commission of array.{{Citation needed|date=July 2013}}

{{refimprovemore citations needed|date=July 2013}}

A '''commission of array''' was a [[Letters patent|commission]] given by [[England|English]] royaltysovereigns to officers or gentry in a given territory to muster and array the inhabitants and to see them in a condition for war, or to put [[soldier]]s of a country in a condition for military service. The term '''arrayers''' is used in some ancient English statutes, for an officer who had a commission of array.{{Citation needed|date=July 2013}}

==History==

Commissions of array developed from the ancient obligation of all free men to defend their tribal lands. Commissioners were usually experienced soldiers, appointed by the crown to array able bodied men from each shire. By the time of the Wars of the Roses, conscript levies were less important than troops raised by [[indenture]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2013}}

===Medieval examples===

Although obsolete by the 17th century, the system was revived by [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] in 1642 (in opposition to the 1641 [[Militia Ordinance]] that gave [[Parliament of England|Parliament]] control of raising troops) in order to muster a [[Cavalier|Royalist]] army at the onset of the [[English Civil War]].<ref>Andriette, Eugene A., Devon and Exeter in the Civil War, Newton Abbot, 1971, p.56</ref>

*A Commission of Array was established in October 1403 by King [[Henry IV of England|Henry IV]] by [[letters patent]] to raise an army to resist the Welsh rebellion of [[Owain Glyndŵr]], who had recently captured [[Newport Castle]].<ref>Cal. Patent Rolls, Membrane 20, 1403, 7 Oct. Gloucester.</ref>

*In October 1473 there was a commission to oust the rebels who had entered [[St Michael's Mount]] in Cornwall.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/calendarpatentr05blacgoog/calendarpatentr05blacgoog_djvu.txt|title=Calendar of patent rolls, preserved in the Public Record Office|year=1948}}</ref>

===Civil War revival===

Although long obsolete by the 17th century, the system was revived by King [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] in 1642 at the start of the [[English Civil War|Civil War]], in an unconstitutional manner, that is to say without [[Parliament of England|Parliament]] having been consulted, in order to counteract the equally unconstitutional [[Militia Ordinance]] enacted by Parliament in 1642 without the usual [[Royal Assent]]. Both decrees tried to gain control of existing [[militia]] and to raise further troops. The Commission of Array issued by the king thus sought to muster a [[Cavalier|Royalist]] army.<ref name="auto">Andriette, Eugene A., Devon and Exeter in the Civil War, Newton Abbot, 1971, p.56</ref> Commissioners were appointed for each county, generally from leading members of the local aristocracy and gentry who might be assumed to wield great influence over their feudal tenants and the population in general. The commissioners read out the text of their commission in public gatherings in the main towns. Often the local people suspected such innovative royal decrees, uncertain in precedent and purpose, to be designed for the general suppression of the people, and they were openly hostile. Opponents of the king, whilst playing down the role of the [[Militia Ordinance]] in augmenting civil strife, portrayed the Commission of Array as a sign that it was the king and not Parliament who was the real aggressor in the developing conflict.<ref>Andriette, p.57</ref>

====Devon====

28 Commissioners of Array were appointed in Devon on 19 July 1642, including:<ref name="auto"/>

*[[Henry Bourchier, 5th Earl of Bath]]<ref name="auto"/>

*[[Edward Chichester, 1st Viscount Chichester]]<ref name="auto"/>

*George Southcote of [[Buckland-Tout-Saints]], appointed but apparently never acted as he was appointed [[Sheriff of Devon]] during the [[Commonwealth of England|Commonwealth]]. Father of [[Thomas Southcote]] (c. 1622–1664), also of Buckland-Tout-Saints, MP.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1660-1690/member/southcote-thomas-1622-64|title=SOUTHCOTE, Thomas (c.1622–64), of Buckland Tout Saints, Devon |work=History of Parliament Online}}</ref>

*[[Sir John Acland, 1st Baronet]] (c. 1591–1647)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1660-1690/member/acland-sir-hugh-1639-1714|title=ACLAND, Sir Hugh, 1st or 5th Bt. (c.1639–1714), of Killerton, Devon |work=History of Parliament Online}}</ref>

==See also==

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[[Category:Military history of the United Kingdom]]

[[Category:Military command staff occupations]]

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{{England-hist-stub}}