Egerton MS 2949-2950

" LIBER Camerarii Honoris de Rayleigh cum pertinentiis in comit. Essex, Suff., Bedd., Huntt., Canc., et Surr., de serviciis recognitis et inquisicionibus captis et finibus solutis pro secta Curie respectuanda .... toto tempore quo Ric. Ryche, miles, dns. Ryche fuit seisitus de honore (1553-1557) ... ex industria Johannis Cook generosi senescalli Honoris"; continued by him or his successor, Ezechiel Rayner, during the lordships of (a) King Philip and Queen Mary (1558), Vol. I, f. 205 b;- (b) Sir Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon (1559-1596), I, f. 212 - II, f. 112 ;-

(c) Sir George Carey, 2nd Baron Hunsdon (1596-1603), II, f. 112 b ;-

(d) Sir John Carey, 3rd Baron Hunsdon (1603-1606), II, ff. 222-271. In two volumes, with indices locorum at the beginning of Vol. I and the end of Vol. II. Leaves are missing in Vol. I before and after f. 695. Prefixed to Vol. I are transcripts of records showing the descent of the Manor and Honour of Rayleigh :-

(a) Grant by Henry III to Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent, and Margaret his wife, of the Manor and Honour, 1226-7, from the Charter Roll (Cal. i, p. 12). f. 1 ;-

(b) Inquisition concerning the extent of the Honour, 1340 (Cal. Inqu. Misc. ii, p. 419). f. 2 ;-

(c) Grant by Richard II to Edmund, Duke of York, of the Honour, vill, fair, and market, 1391. f. 3;-

(d) Confirmation of the same by Henry IV, 1400. These two from the Originalia. f. 3 b ;-

(e) Grant by Edward VI to Sir Richard Rich, Lord Rich, of the Honour, etc., 1553. f. 30 b. Paper; ff. 695, vii + 277. Folio. 14 3/4 in. x 10 1/2 in. and 16 5/8 in. x 11 1/4 in. The original bindings are preserved separately, viz. of Vol. I, wooden boards (last missing) covered with deer-skin; of Vol. II, leather profusely stamped with the Tudor arms and devices, as in Add. MSS. 32103, 37270. The vellum fly-leaves of Vol. II (ff. ii-vii) were part of an early 13th cent. lectionary containing fragments of lives of St. David (1 Mar.), St. Germain of Auxerre (31 July), St. Oswald (5 Aug.), and SS. Sixtus, Felicissimus and Agapetus (6 Aug.). Those for 31 July and 6 Aug. are apparently excerpts from the lives printed by Mombritius, Sanctuarium (ed. 1910), i, pp. 573, 581, ii, p. 619. The MS. belonged about 1895 to Alfred Wyatt Digby, Lord of the manor of Rayleigh, and was sold at Sotheby's 21 Dec. 1915, lot 181. From the Farnborough Fund.