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40-460: The Koniecpolski was a magnate family. The family appears in the historical annals beginning in the 15th century. The family originated from the village Stary Koniecpol 40 km east of Częstochowa , currently in the Silesian Voivodeship . Their family name derives from that place's name. One of its first representatives was voivode of Sieradz Jakub Koniecpolski who participated in

80-473: A man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or other qualities in Western Christian countries since the medieval period. It also includes the members of the higher clergy, such as bishops , archbishops and cardinals . In reference to the medieval , the term is often used to distinguish higher territorial landowners and warlords , such as counts , earls , dukes , and territorial- princes from

120-676: A survivalistic mistrust of nobles from his father. Henry VIII ennobled very few men, and the ones he did were all " new men ": novi homines , greatly indebted to him and with very limited power. The term was specifically applied to the members of the Upper House of the Diet of Hungary in the Apostolic Kingdom of Hungary , the Főrendiház , that can be translated as the House of Magnates , an equivalent to

160-553: The Battle of Grunwald in 1410, considered the biggest battle in medieval history. In 1443 the Koniecpolski family founded the city-fortress Koniecpol , which became the seat of the family. In the 16th century the family lineage split into two branches the " Hetman branch" and the " Castellan branch". In the 17th century the family acquired great political authority, and became owners of huge landed estates. The most representative of

200-552: The Court of Castle Chamber , to deal with cases of riot and offences against public order. Although it was initially popular with private litigants, under the Stuarts it developed the same reputation for harsh and arbitrary proceedings as its parent court, and during the political confusion of the 1640s, it disappeared. In the early 1900s, Edgar Lee Masters commented: In the Star Chamber

240-591: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . Velikaš is the Serbo-Croatian word for 'magnate', derived from veliko ('great, large, grand'). It was used to refer to the highest nobility of Serbia in the Middle Ages and Croatia in the Middle Ages. In Spain, since the late Middle Ages, the highest class of nobility hold the appellation of Grandee of Spain and was known earlier as ricohombres . In Sweden,

280-560: The Scrovegni Chapel in Padua and elsewhere. Alternatively, William Blackstone , a notable English jurist writing in 1769, speculated that the name had been derived from the legal word " starr " meaning the contract or obligation to a Jew (from the Hebrew שטר ( shtar ) meaning "document"). This term was in use until 1290, when Edward I had all Jews expelled from England . Blackstone thought

320-730: The Thirty Years' War in England was unfair. As a result, newsbooks pertaining to this matter were often printed in Amsterdam and then smuggled into the country, until control of the press collapsed with the developing ideological conflict of 1640–41. The Star Chamber became notorious for judgments favourable to the king, for example when Archbishop Laud had William Prynne branded on both cheeks through its agency in 1637 for seditious libel . In 1571, Elizabeth I set up an equivalent Court in Ireland,

360-460: The baronage . In Poland the szlachta (nobles) constituted one of the largest proportions of the population (around 10-12%) and 'magnat' refers to the richest nobles, or nobles of the nobility - even though they had equal voting rights in Poland's electoral monarchy. In England , the magnate class went through a change in the later Middle Ages. It had previously consisted of all tenants-in-chief of

400-611: The "Hetman branch" was Field and Grand Crown Hetman Stanisław Koniecpolski one of the greatest commanders of the 17th century. Stanislaw begun in 1643 the present-day construction of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw . He also ordered the reconstructing and strengthening of the Bar castle. Stanisław was owner of numerous latifundia situated in Poland's eastern borderlands. It was said that he owned so much landed property that he could cross

440-527: The "Starr Chamber" might originally have been used for the deposition and storage of such contracts. However, the Oxford English Dictionary gives this etymology "no claim to consideration." Other etymological speculations mentioned by Blackstone include the derivation from Old English steoran (steer) meaning "to govern"; as a court used to punish cozenage (in Latin : crimen stellionatus ); or that

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480-738: The "star chamber" is in 1398, as the Sterred chambre ; the more common form of the name appears in 1422 as le Sterne-chamere . Both forms recur throughout the fifteenth century, with Sterred Chambre last attested as appearing in the Supremacy of the Crown Act 1534 (establishing the English monarch as head of the Church in England). It was housed in a three-storied building with at least three rooms and kitchen. The origin of

520-554: The British Peers. In feudal Japan, the most powerful landholding magnates were known as daimyo . In the 11th and 12th centuries, the daimyo became military lords of samurai clans with territorial and proprietary control over private estates. Magnates were a social class of wealthy and influential nobility in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania , and later

560-526: The Court of Star Chamber grew considerably under the House of Stuart , and by the time of King Charles I , it had become synonymous with misuse and abuse of power by the King and his circle. King James I and his son Charles used the court to examine cases of sedition, which meant that the court could be used to suppress opposition to royal policies. It came to be used to try nobles too powerful to be brought to trial in

600-417: The Court of Star Chamber, along with its more common role of dealing with misdemeanours, and, later, riots and sedition . Capital felonies and capital treason were not in its jurisdiction, it was not authorized to torture, and it could not impose the death sentence. The cases decided in those sessions enabled both the very powerful and those without power to seek redress. Thus, King Henry VII used

640-452: The Star Chamber had imposed were not forgotten, and were revived by King James II , prompting an article in the Bill of Rights of 1688 "That excessive Baile ought not to be required nor excessive Fines imposed nor cruell and unusuall Punishments inflicted". The Chamber itself stood until its demolition in 1806 (or 1834 or early in 1836), when its materials were salvaged. The door was reused in

680-508: The Star Chamber was regarded as one of the most just and efficient courts of the Tudor era. Sir Edward Coke described the Star Chamber as "The most honourable court (Our Parliament excepted) that is in the Christian world. Both in respect of the judges in the court and its honourable proceeding." The Star Chamber was made up of Privy Counsellors , as well as common-law judges, and it supplemented

720-450: The Tudor period, after Henry VII defeated Richard III at Bosworth Field , Henry made a point of executing or neutralising as many magnates as possible. Henry would make parliament attaint undesirable nobles and magnates, thereby stripping them of their wealth, protection from torture, and power. Henry also used the Court of the Star Chamber to have powerful nobles executed. Henry VIII continued this approach in his reign; he inherited

760-779: The United States Constitution . The meaning of "compelled testimony" under the Fifth Amendment – i.e., the conditions under which a defendant is allowed to " plead the Fifth " to avoid self-incrimination – is thus often interpreted via reference to the inquisitorial methods of the Star Chamber. As the US Supreme Court described it, "the Star Chamber has, for centuries, symbolized disregard of basic individual rights. The Star Chamber not merely allowed, but required, defendants to have counsel. The defendant's answer to an indictment

800-541: The activities of the common-law and equity courts in both civil and criminal matters. In a sense, the court was a court of appeal, a supervisory body, overseeing the operation of the lower courts, although it could hear cases by direct appeal as well. The court was set up to ensure the fair enforcement of laws against the English upper class , those so powerful that ordinary courts could never convict them of their crimes. Despite its subsequent reputation, it followed elaborate procedures and innovated in allowing defendants

840-617: The advantages given to them by the Laws in Wales Acts. One of the weapons of the Star Chamber was the ex officio oath where, because of their positions, individuals were forced to swear to answer truthfully all questions that might be asked. Faced with hostile questioning, this then gave them the "cruel trilemma" of having to incriminate themselves , face charges of perjury if they gave unsatisfactory answers to their accusers, or be held in contempt of court if they gave no answer. The power of

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880-455: The breadth of the Republic while spending every night in one of his own manors. At the beginning of the 18th century, the family began to decline. The Koniecpolski used the " Pobóg " arms. Magnate The term magnate , from the late Latin magnas , a great man, itself from Latin magnus , "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders or

920-457: The chamber was full of windows. The Court evolved from meetings of the King's Council , with its roots going back to the medieval period. The so-called "Star Chamber Act" of King Henry VII 's second Parliament (1487) did not actually empower the Star Chamber, but rather created a separate tribunal distinct from the King's general Council. Initially well-regarded because of its speed and flexibility,

960-541: The chief defence of Charles against assaults upon those usurpations which cost him his life. In 1641, the Long Parliament , led by John Pym and inflamed by the severe treatment of John Lilburne , as well as that of other religious dissenters such as William Prynne , Alexander Leighton , John Bastwick and Henry Burton , abolished the Star Chamber with the Habeas Corpus Act 1640 . The gruesome punishments that

1000-529: The council could inflict any punishment short of death, and frequently sentenced objects of its wrath to the pillory , to whipping and to the cutting off of ears . ... With each embarrassment to arbitrary power the Star Chamber became emboldened to undertake further usurpation. ... The Star Chamber finally summoned juries before it for verdicts disagreeable to the government, and fined and imprisoned them. It spread terrorism among those who were called to do constitutional acts. It imposed ruinous fines. It became

1040-503: The crown, a group of more than a hundred families. The emergence of Parliament led to the establishment of a parliamentary peerage that received personal summons, rarely more than sixty families. A similar class in the Gaelic world were the Flatha . In the Middle Ages, a bishop sometimes held territory as a magnate, collecting the revenue of the manors and the associated knights' fees . In

1080-564: The deal was "consistent with the restoration of UK sovereignty". In December 2023 the ERG's Star Chamber rejected Rishi Sunak's proposed legislation to allow the Rwanda plan to go ahead. The historical abuses of the Star Chamber are considered to be some of the reasons, along with English common law precedent, behind the protections against compelled self-incrimination embodied in the Fifth Amendment to

1120-460: The government, usually relating to budget appropriations. The press and some civil servants under the premiership of Margaret Thatcher (1979–1990) revived the term for private ministerial meetings at which disputes between the Treasury and high-spending departments were resolved. Neil Kinnock made reference to this style of Thatcher's government during his first outing at PMQ's in 1983. In 2010,

1160-546: The judicial activities of the common-law and equity courts in civil and criminal matters. It was originally established to ensure the fair enforcement of laws against socially and politically prominent people sufficiently powerful that ordinary courts might hesitate to convict them of their crimes. It was mainly a court of appeal and could impose any penalty, except the death penalty, in its own right. At various times it had sub-courts for particular areas, notably for appeals of "poor man's causes". The Chamber building itself

1200-624: The lower courts. King Charles I used the Court of Star Chamber as a Parliamentary substitute during the eleven years of Personal Rule , when he ruled without a Parliament. King Charles made extensive use of the Court of Star Chamber to prosecute dissenters, including the Puritans who fled to New England . This was one of the causes of the English Civil War . On 17 October 1632, the Court of Star Chamber banned all "news books" because of complaints from Spanish and Austrian diplomats that coverage of

1240-462: The name has usually been explained as first recorded by John Stow , writing in his Survey of London (1598), who noted "this place is called the Star Chamber, at the first all the roofe thereof was decked with images of starres gilted ". Gold stars on a blue background were a common medieval decoration for ceilings in richly decorated rooms: the Star Chamber ceiling itself is still to be seen at Leasowe Castle , Wirral , and similar examples are in

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1280-577: The nearby Westminster School until it was destroyed in the Blitz , and the historic Star Chamber ceiling, with its bright gold stars, was brought to Leasowe Castle on the Wirral Peninsula in Cheshire from the Court of Westminster, along with four tapestries depicting the four seasons. In the late 20th century, the expression was revived in reference to ways of resolving internal high-level questions within

1320-505: The power of the Star Chamber to break the power of the landed gentry, which had been such a cause of problems in the Wars of the Roses . Yet, when local courts were often clogged or mismanaged, the Court of Star Chamber also became a means of appeal for the common people against the excesses of the nobility . In the time of Henry VII, the privy counsellors not attending the King at the time might sit in

1360-648: The press employed the term for a committee established by the Cameron ministry to plan spending cuts to reduce public debt. In March 2019, the European Research Group formed its own "Star Chamber" to pass judgement on Theresa May 's then proposed Brexit deal, recommending that MPs should not back it. On 29 December 2020, the ERG's Star Chamber gave a similar verdict on Boris Johnson 's recently agreed EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement , but on this occasion recommended that their members vote for it because

1400-418: The right to counsel and to call witnesses. Another function of the Court of Star Chamber was to act like a court of equity , which could impose punishment for actions that were deemed to be morally reprehensible, but were not in violation of the letter of the law . This gave the Star Chamber great flexibility, as it could punish defendants for any action that the court felt should be unlawful, even though it

1440-512: The star chamber. In the reign of King Henry VIII , the court was under the successive leaderships of Cardinal Wolsey (the Archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor ), perhaps the King himself and Thomas Cranmer (the Archbishop of Canterbury ). From this time forward, the Court of Star Chamber became a political weapon for bringing actions against those who opposed the policies of King Henry VIII, his ministers and his parliament. Although it

1480-532: The wealthiest medieval lords were known as storman (plural stormän ), "great men", a similar description and meaning as the English term magnate. Court of the Star Chamber The court of Star Chamber ( Latin : Camera stellata ) was an English court that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster , from the late 15th century to the mid-17th century ( c.  1641 ), and was composed of privy counsellors and common-law judges, to supplement

1520-460: Was also sometimes used for other councils, courts, and committee meetings, which may cause confusion as to the role of the court of Star Chamber. In modern times, legal or administrative bodies with strict, arbitrary rulings, no due process rights to those accused, and secretive proceedings are sometimes metaphorically called "star chambers". However, the arbitrariness is considered mythological by at least one academic. The first reference to

1560-582: Was initially a court of appeal , King Henry, Wolsey and Cranmer encouraged plaintiffs to bring their cases directly to the Star Chamber, bypassing the lower courts entirely. The Court was used extensively to control Wales , after the Laws in Wales Acts (sometimes referred to as the "Acts of Union"). The Tudor-era gentry in Wales turned to the Chamber to evict Welsh landowners, to protect themselves, and in general, to protect

1600-436: Was technically lawful. However, this meant that the justice meted out by the Star Chamber could be very arbitrary and subjective, and it enabled the court to be used later on in its history as an instrument of oppression rather than for the purpose of justice for which it was intended. Many crimes that are now commonly prosecuted, such as attempt , conspiracy , criminal libel , and perjury , were originally developed by

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