The Exchequer of Receipt in the Palace of Westminster, 1548-1662

The Exchequer of Receipt was responsible for the administration of crown finance, yet historians have paid little attention to its role in early modern government. This thesis takes an architectural approach to administrative history to examine the development of the Exchequer of Receipt in the Palace of Westminster from 1548 to 1662. It seeks to explain the evolving form and function of the Receipt within its changing political, religious and social context through examination of the built environment over a protracted period. To do this it reconstructs the Receipt offices at Westminster, the process of account, the conditions of officeholding and record-keeping practices. In doing so a broader spectrum of administrative activity can be accounted for to produce a more inclusive account of the Receipt. It asks where administrative duties were performed and how changes to the configuration of space impacted the institution to explain its changing role in government. This poses new questions to a traditional subject to demonstrate the value of conducting research on a central government institution from a different perspective.

Using an interdisciplinary methodology this thesis aims to reconnect administrative and political histories to put administration back into politics. It reconceptualises the Receipt as a place to explore how its officers interacted with other branches of government and the wider population. In doing so, this thesis argues that the significance of the Receipt in the early modern period has been underestimated.