Add MS 21481

A household book for the court of Henry VIII (b. 1491, d. 1547), including lists of monthly loans, revenues, bonds, obligations, taxes, rents and for the years 1509-1518 written by John Heron (b. 1470, d. 1522), Treasurer of the Chamber, signed by the King on almost every page.

Contents:

ff. 4r-288r: Payments and wages, ‘Primo die Maij. Anno primo Regni Regis Henrici Octavj’.

ff. 289r-305v: Recognisance, ‘P[ri]mo die Octobr[is] a[nno] ij^o R[egis] H[enrici] viij^th’.

ff. 318r-353v: Obligations (written on a parchment tab and in the lower right corner), ‘P[ri]mo die Junij anno p[ri]mo R[egis] Henrici viij^th’.

ff. 347r-348v: 2 smaller leaves, first inserted and later bound into the manuscript, containing Heron's copy of a letter from Henry VIII (‘By the King’) to John Heron (‘oure trusty [and] wellbeloved fr[ien]t John Heron tresourer of o[ure] chamb[e]r’) on 23 January, 1512: Henry orders Heron to use the treasure (‘p[ar]ticulary entred in yo[ur] boke of receipt[es] by thand[es] of our[e] moste derrest father[e] and of blessed memory henry the v^ijth’) for making payments (listed in the letter) to Gilbert Talbot (b. 1452, d. 1517), Lord Deputy of Calais, and Edward Poynings (b. 1459, d. 1521), military commander and diplomat, for soldiers and accommodation in Flanders (‘c[er]tain men of armes and hooysse in fflaunders for our[e] werres use’), presumably in preparation for Henry’s campaign against France.

The manuscript contains several later additions:

f. 1r: A description of the manuscript written by an 18^th-century scribe on a leaf in an octavo format.

ff. 2r-2v: A table summing up the payments recorded in the household book written by another 18^th-century scribe on a leaf in an octavo format.

ff. 306r-317v: Name index, organised according to obligations and recognisance, written by a (17th- or 18th-century) scribe.

[ff. 1v and [317a] recto, and [317a] verso are blank].

Decoration:

Numerous large initials decorated calligraphically in brown ink throughout the manuscript.