The celebrated 1710 trial of Doctor Henry Sacheverell has been viewed as a classic example of the politicised 'state trial'. This work offers a critical edition of original texts and documents necessary for understanding the trial's significance. Previous historians have largely accepted the printing by Jacob Tonson of the 'authorised version' of the trial's proceedings as authoritative. This edition sets the Tonson account in its proper historical, and polemical, context by showing that it was not the only account on offer in the early eighteenth century of the trial's proceedings, and that it's authoritative status was hotly contested, particularly by Tories, but also by radical Whigs.
The texts collected in this edition consist of unique manuscripts and rare printed tracts, most existing in only one copy and never before reproduced. By consolidating them in one volume, it is now possible for scholars to consult and compare these accounts in a readily accessible volume. The sheer variety of different responses to the trial become apparent, and demonstrate that any quest to establish one authoritative account of the trial is unrealistic.
