Add MS 74251 A

ILLUMINATED GENEALOGY of the family of Weston of Weston-under-Lizard, co. Staff., etc.; 1632-circa 1633. Partly Latin and French. The title (f. 2) reads in part ‘Westonorum (ab antiquo loco qui dicebatur Weston subtus Luzers in Agro Staffordiensi denominatorum) antiquissimae, et equestris familiae genealogia, et prosapia è quâ (regnante Henrico secundo Anglorum Rege) floruit vir perillustris Hamo de Weston. Miles...Anno incarnationis Dominicae m.dc.xxxii’. Underneath occurs the subscription of Sir William Segar (d. Dec. 1633) as Garter King of Arms, who authenticated the work and whose attestation, 25 Nov. 1633, occupies the final page (f. 141). An signed inscription at the foot of the titlepage, ‘Ex industria, et labore Hen. Lily Rouge Rose’, identifies the compiler and copyist. Lilly al. Lily, who was created Rouge Rose pursuivant on 4 Jan. 1634 and Rouge Dragon pursuivant in 1638 (cf. W. H. Godfrey, etc., The College of Arms, 1963, p. 221), was responsible for several genealogies, etc., in the Harley collection (C. E. Wright, Fontes Harleiani, 1972, p. 224), notably the Villiers pedigree (Harley MS 7178). Several coloured drawings of seals (ff. 29v-89v, passim) and monuments (ff. 31-32, 125-126v) here may be the work of his servant, William Sedgwick, the artist later employed by Sir William Dugdale to execute drawings for his Book of Monuments (Add. 71474) and probably by Christopher, 1^st Baron Hatton, for his Book of Book of Seals (cf. Sir A. Wagner, Heralds of England, 1967, pp. 251, 252; and Wright, op. cit., pp. 299-300). A more elaborate and calligraphic version (Add. 18667) of the present manuscript incorporates a pedigree, etc., of Cave of Chicheley, co. Bucks., ancestors on the mother’s side of Sir Richard Weston, Baron Weston of Neyland, who was created Earl of Portland on 17 Feb. 1633. See also the roll-pedigree (Add. MS 31890) of Sir Richard Weston of Sutton Place, co. Surr., dated 1632, which carries later additions. In addition, Harley MS 5816 comprises collections towards the genealogy, including pedigree, evidences and pencil drawings of monuments.

Vellum: ff. 148. Approx. 375 mm x 275 mm. Contemporary binding of brown calf over pasteboard with two treble-ruled compartments on the covers, the inner rules of each gilt, as are the flowered cornerpieces. Large gilt centrepiece (also found, circa 1604-1635, in bindings by James I’s bookbinder, John Bateman; cf. M. M. Foot, The Henry Davis gift, vol. 1, 1978, pp. 35-49, and vol. 2, 1983, pp. 80-86), with central cartouche blank; ruled incisions used to locate tool on front cover still visible. Spine of six raised bands, with edges gilt. Two brass clasps chased with five roundels, lacking latches. Two long tags of cotton, braided in gold and black, formerly held wax seal (cp. Add. MS 18867), now wanting, of which impressions survive at various points. Text-pages, etc., ruled in pencil with compartments and guide lines, bear contemporary foliation in ink from 1 to 130, above which is visible sporadically a non-consecutive foliation in pencil. Some intervening leaves and pages left blank, possibly for additions; stubs occur at several points. Belonged, in 1633, apparently to Richard Weston of Rugeley, M.P, later Kt. (1635) and Baron of the Exchequer; bef. 1862 to Thomas Stratton, barrister, of Lincoln’s Inn; and bef. 1881 to Rev. Heathfield Weston Hickes, Rector of Cranford, co. Midd., who bequeathed it to his nephew J. H. Stratton of Little Berkhampsted. Donated by the Rev. R. J. Ross, Canon of Derby Cathedral, 20 May 2000.

The contents are as follows:-

1. ff. 6-22. Family tree, emblazoned with arms, of branches of the Weston family settled at Weston-under-Lizard, Rugeley, Lichfield and Weeford, co. Staff., Roxwell, co. Essex, and Oxford. The pedigree, almost each page of which is certified by the addition of Segar’s name and title at the foot, extends (f. 17) as far as Henrietta Maria (b. after Feb. 1633), eldest daughter of Jerome, Baron Weston, later 2^nd Earl of Portland. It incorporates four full-page blazons of the armorial achievements of Edward Mitton (f. 12), lord of the manor of Weston; of Richard Weston of Rugeley, M.P. (f. 15); of Richard Weston, 1^st Earl of Portland (f. 18); and of Sir James Weston, Baron of the Exchequer (f. 22), the date of whose death on 5 Dec. 1633 was added later (f. 21) by the same copyist. The pedigree is preceded (ff. 3-4v) by an index of personal names.

2. ff. 26-126v. Evidences drawn from public records (ff. 26-28v) are followed by others (ff. 29-122v) taken from charters in the hands of private individuals, viz:- (i) Edward Mitton (ff. 29-116 passim), 1631; (ii) Richard Weston of Rugeley, M.P. (ff. 55v-122v, passim); (iii) Andrew and Walter Giffard, al. Gifford, of Chillington, co. Staff. (ff. 27, 40, 40v, 50v, 71v, 74v, 105, 105v), 29 Aug. 1631; (iv) Garret Weston, deceased (f. 41v); and (v) Henry Weston of Ockham, co. Surr. (f. 45v). Latin and French. Included are coloured facsimiles of seals (ff. 29v-89v, passim, 140, 140v), most notably (f. 46v) the small seal of Edward I, 1305. Numbers added in red ink in the margins key the documents to individuals mentioned in the pedigree, who are in turn linked to the charters by folio-refs. added in black ink.

3. ff. 31-32, 125-126v. Coloured drawings of Weston family monuments, viz:-(a) Figures and arms (f. 32) of John and Isabella Weston, temp. Edward III, from stained glass in windows, with two wooden effigies (ff. 31, 31v) of unidentified knights, apparently (cf. Add. 36388, ff. 95, 96) Sir Hamo de Weston, 1188, and Sir Hugh de Weston, 1304, in Weston church; (b) sepulchral brass (f. 125) to John Weston of Rugeley (d. Mar. 1566), and wall monuments to (f. 125v) Ralph Weston (d. 10 July 1605), and (f. 126) Richard Weston (d. 29 Mar. 1613), in Rugeley church; and (c) wall monument to James Weston of Lichfield, his son Sir Simon Weston, and Simon’s son-in-law, Robert Ridgeway, 2^nd Earl of Londonderry (Jan. 1632), with their wives, in St. Mary’s church, Lichfield (f. 126v).

4. ff. 127-136. Copies of the P.C.C. wills of Richard Weston, Justice of the Common Pleas, 4 July 1572 (ff. 127-128), of his widow Elizabeth Weston of Chicheley, co. Bucks., 24 July 1577 (ff. 129-132v), and of Sir Jerome Weston of Roxwell, 28 Dec. 1603 (ff. 135-136), etc.

5. f. 137. Pedigree of the Westons of Roxwell, co. Essex, from the Visitation of Essex, 1612, by John Raven, Richmond Herald (cf. Harley MS 6065, f. 6, a manuscript subscribed by Lilly).

6. ff. 139-140v. Informations concerning recent members of the Weston family, sent to Richard Weston of Rugeley and the Inner Temple, by John Weston, D.C.L. (d. 20 July 1632), n.d. (ff. 139-140), and ‘in aunswer to your letters for the perfecting of our pedegree’, James Weston of St. John’s, Lichfield, 9 Dec. 1631 (f. 140v).