Add MS 46349

ACCOMPT AND MEMORANDUM Book of Sir John Howard, of Stoke by Nayland, co. Suff., Constable of Colchester and Norwich castles, Commissioner for the Peace, and of Array, for cos. Suff., Norf., Berks, etc., Sheriff of cos. Oxon and Berks 1467- 1468, Treasurer of the Household 1467-1474, l st Duke of Norfolk 1483, etc.; 5 Nov. 1462-Aug. 1469. English, except f. 78 (Latin). Written mainly by a clerk, but with substantial autograph additions and insertions by Howard throughout, artt. 2 and 5 being wholly autograph. Edited, with a related MS. for the years 1463-1471, now in the possession of the Duke of Norfolk and formerly in that of Thomas Martin of Palgrave (salecat., Lynn, 1772, p. 174, no. 202) and of John Ives (sale-cat., 3 Mar. 1777, lot 450), by T. H. Turner, Manners and Household Expenses of England in the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, Roxburghe Club, 1841, pp. lxxxv-xcv, 149 - 458, who followed the 18th-cent. foliation of the present MS., made when it was in some disorder, see further below. For some later accompts of Sir John Howard, see also J. Payne Collier, Household Books of John Duke of Norfolk, etc., Roxburghe Club, 1841. Besides lists, memoranda, etc., of debts owed to Sir John Howard, and other miscellaneous accompts, etc., the principal contents are:-

(1) Accompt of sums owed to Sir John Howard by his uncle John Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk, for expenses incurred in the latter's service; 5 Nov. 1462 - Apr. 1468. Printed by Turner, op. cit., pp. 149 - 170. ff. 1-12.

(2) Drafts of six letters from Sir John Howard to Edward IV (f. 15) and others not identified, with a draft of a seventh (f. 13) written in the King's name relating to the purchase of oak for shipbuilding; n.d. Autograph. Two of the letters (ff. 14b, 15) appear from their contents to have been written shortly before the meeting of the Yorkist Council at Coventry on 3 Feb. 1468. Turner, pp. xc-xci, 170-174, cf. 557-558. ff. 12b-15b.

(3) Accompts relating to the preparation for sea of the ship 'Mary Talbot' of Lynn, co. Norf., including lists of crew, etc.; 2 Aug.- 2 Oct. 1463. Turner, pp. 188-194. ff. 27-32, 34.

(4) List of followers of Sir John Howard on his northern expedition, with notes added at various times of equipment, etc., issued to them; 5 May 1464. Turner, pp. 194 -196. See also art. 8 below. ff. 32b -33b.

(5) Draft of a letter from Sir John Howard to [?Richard Wydville, 1st Earl Rivers 1466] reporting local reactions to Edward IV's marriage to the latter's daughter; Wench, 22 Sept. 1464. Autograph. Turner, pp. 196-197. f. 35b.

(6) Accompts rel. to the building and fitting-out of a caravel at Dunwich, co. Suff., and of bringing it to Orwell haven, etc.; 5 Apr. 1463 - 1 May 1466. Turner, pp. 197-214. ff. 37-43b.

(7) Accompts of miscellaneous expenses; 31 July 1463-4 Oct. 1464, 3 May 1465 - 15 Dec. 1467. Turner, pp. 215-437 (who also prints accompts for the missing period 5 Oct. 1464-2 May 1465 from the Duke of Norfolk's MS. referred to above, pp. 480 sqq.). Included are:-(a) An accompt with Thomas 'lympner' of Bury St Edmunds for the illumination of a psalter. Turner, pp. 419-420 (cf. J. Fenn, Original Letters written during the reign of Henry VI, ii, 1787, pp. 16-17). f. 146b;-(b) Accompts for victuals during two visits of Sir John Howard to London; 14 Dec. 1465-20 Feb. 1466. Turner, pp. 433-437. ff. 154 - 159b. ff. 102 - 159b.

(8) List of followers of Sir John Howard, with notes added at various times of equipment, etc., issued to them; 31 July [1464?]-12 Feb. [1465?]. Turner, pp. 439-449. Cf. art. 4 above. ff. 160b-176b. Paper and (ff. iii, 1-5, 18-26) vellum. ff. xi+179. Octavo. 1462 -1469. Gatherings irregular and apparently to some extent assembled by a process of accretion. An 18th-cent. foliation in ink, followed by Fenn and Turner, opp. citt., numbers seven folios after f. 94 as 170-176 and two folios after f. 100 (now f. 107) as 150-151, indicating that these leaves were at that time, and apparently fortuitously, wrapped round following gatherings. F. iii, which is the trimmed remnant of an original limp vellum cover, bears a note by Thomas Martin of Palgrave of the book's removal from Framlingham Castle, a former seat of the Howard family, in May 1722. An 18th-cent. inscription 'Michael Baldreys de Framlingham in Comitis Suff.' on f. 100 (then placed as f. 175 at the end of the book) is perhaps contemporary with this removal. Belonged, in 1787 (cf. art. 7(a) above), to Sir John Fenn (d. 1794), who bound the MS. in its present order, added a MS. title-page and index (ff. v-vii), and has annotated it throughout. The spine of his binding is now preserved at the front of the volume. Subsequently belonged to Craven Ord (sale-cat. 25 June 1829, lot 552) and Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart. (MS. 3790; Sotheby's sale-cat., 11 Nov. 1946, lot 52). Purchased with assistance from the Friends of the National Libraries.