The English Revolution saw a cascade of unlicensed print that was unlike anything in the years when the crown exercised at least some control of the press. It was possible now for the public to learn about how the war was going, what Parliament was doing, and, among other things, how Parliament's enemies were being called to account. It has been remarked previously that sequestration and compounding information was often slow to reach the county sequestration committees at the height of the conflict. This provoked some sequestrators to develop their own processes in order to execute their duties. In Warwickshire, for example, the county commissioners devised their own system for collecting compounding rents because they did not always have adequate information available to them. Hitherto, no one has really looked at the practicalities of how petitioners and officials dealt with the sequestration process and with each other. The sequestration procedure was a topic of lively public discussion, especially when it came to matters of corruption and the controversy over whether those being targeted should be compelled to swear oaths like the Oath of Abjuration or Covenant.

This chapter looks at the above issues. Printed acts and ordinances in theory allowed the public to know what the state of play was regarding sequestration and, in particular, petitioners could work out how to settle up with the authorities and rescue something from the wreck of their fortunes. It will be shown that printed text reveals the wider debate concerning sequestration and the status of Catholics, which in turn exposes the larger context of politics and Catholic factionalism.

Within months of the outbreak of the first Civil War, Parliament had begun to put into print the text of legislative measures, including acts, ordinances, orders, and war articles. English statutes had been printed by Parliament since the reign of Richard III. By Henry VIII's reign, the printing of statutes by Parliament had become customary. This was a political issue ofsome moment. Once the Long Parliament had decided how the sequestration process should operate in the March 1643 ordinance, politicians sanctioned the printing of the legislation. The printing of the ordinance presented the public with the mechanics of the sequestration of delinquents, and it also provided the names of all the county sequestration commissioners, and detailed instructions about the execution of their duties.