Knights of the Post: Professional Perjurers in Early Modern England, circa 1550–1700

Abstract

Historians have long been aware that several aspects of the early modern English legal system were prone to manipulation and misuse, though some of these remain unstudied or barely acknowledged. One such topic is the interference of the knights of the post, about whom historians know very little except that they were professional perjurers in early modern England. This thesis uses late sixteenth and seventeenth century sources to reconstruct who the knights of the post were, what courts they operated in, what perjuries they provided, and how individuals in early modern England attempted to deter them, ultimately seeking to determine how much of an impact these professional perjurers had on the legal system. These “knights” were ascertained to be well-trained professional criminals, primarily active in the common law courts but also in the criminal justice system, who continued to subvert justice despite numerous attempts to stop them. Given their widespread influence, historians need to take into account the knights of the post and their actions when studying the early modern English legal system.