ABSTRACT
If Lord Burghley may be acquitted of any charge of misusing his position as guardian for personal gain, he must still face the more searching test of how he conducted himself as Master of the Court of Wards. There is, however, one source which makes possible, not a precise answer, but at least a useful estimate of the annual sales. Burghley was indeed a man of ideas who hoped to make England strong, self-sufficing and stable; but every statute with this in mind carried a long tail of exceptions and exemptions, forced out of impecunious government by groups of vested interests inside and outside of Parliament. It was a conservative partnership in both state and church. Occasional windfalls might also drop at Burghley’s feet when a high office—such as that of Receiver-General—fell vacant. Mothers were still without any special title to be the guardians of their children and could merely take their place in wild scramble for a profitable wardship.
