Add MS 46410

COTTON CHANCERY COLLECTIONS

COLLECTIONS OF SIR ROBERT COTTON relating to the Courts of Chancery and Requests; 1433-temp. James I. Miscellaneous transcripts, excerpts, etc., in English, Latin, and French, similar in content for the Court of Chancery (artt. 1-16) to those found in, e.g., Stowe MS. 415, Hargrave MSS. 227, 249, and for the dependence of which upon Lambarde see Paul L. Ward, 'William Larnbarde's Collections on Chancery', Harvard Library Bulletin, vii, 1953, pp. 271-298. The texts of many of the ordinances, etc., are printed from elsewhere by G. W. Sanders, Orders of the High Court of Chancery, 1845. The material for the Court of Requests (artt. 17-22) is transcribed in Add. MS. 25248, ff. 1-60, which also belonged to Cotton, and this has largely been printed by I. S. Leadam, Select Cases in the Court of Requests, Selden Soc., xii, 1898, pp. xxxv-cvii passim (cf. also Add. MS. 25246, Hargrave MSS. 165, 240, etc). The Chancery material was presumably intended as source material for Cotton's treatise on the Court of Chancery, of which MS. versions are in Add. MS. 36106, ff. 2- 4, Stowe MS. 415, ff. 219-257b, etc. Besides transcripts and extracts from the Patent, Close, etc., Rolls, the principal contents are:-

(1) 'Of the high Courtes of Justice in England ... by William Lambert Esquier'. An early version of part of Lambarde's Archeion. Cf. art. 8 below. ff. 3-14b.

(2) 'The name and office of the Lord Chancellor under the Saxons' by John Selden, 1617. Cf. Selden, Works, iii, 1725, cols. 1464-1470. ff. 16-19.

(3) 'Cancellarii Angliae': a chronological list with biographical notes, Wulfinus-Sir John Puckering (Lord Keeper 1592-1596 ). ff. 20-34b.

(4) Breviates out of the Records in the Tower concerning the authority of the Chancery, with directions to find the originals. Written into blank leaves and spaces seriatim. Lacks the opening section found in other versions (e.g. Add. MSS. 20700, 36106, ff. 48-162b, Hargrave MS. 165) and begins with the section 'De Cancellario et Cancellaria'. ff. 34b-36b, 41-41b, 48-49, 62-63b, 74-78b, 81-82b, 224-227b.

(5) Woodcuts of English royal seals, coins, and coats of arms, Edgar-James I; early 17th cent. Printed on one side of a series of sheets numbered at the foot 26- 42, except the last half sheet (f. 61 b), which is unnumbered. The sheets are now stuck together by the blank sides in pairs, with many of the reproductions of coins excised. The same designs, with occasional minor differences, and with attribution to Christopher Switzer, appear in J. Speed, History of Great Britaine, 1611, pp. 369-883 passim, cf. A. M. Hind, Engraving in England, i, 1952, pp. 228-229; the models for many of the coins were provided by Cotton (see his correspondence with Speed in Cotton MS. Julius C. iii, ff. 354-358, printed by Sir H. Ellis, Original Letters of Literary Men, Camden Soc., xxiii, 1843, pp. 108-112). For other copies of these woodcuts see Cotton MS. Vespasian F. xiii, ff . 3-6, 11, etc., Harley MS. 39, ff . 3-10b. ff. 53-61b.

(6) Extracts from accompts of the hanaper, etc., 1332-1511, 'de exitibus magni Sigilli', etc. ff. 64-68.

(7) 'Custodes Rotulorum': a chronological list of Masters of the Rolls, Adam de Osgodby-Sir Thomas Egerton (1594-1603). ff. 79-80b.

(8) (a) 'A discourse of the highe Courtes of Justice in England and especially of the Chancerie Court and of the Lord Chancelor written by Mr Wm. Lambert Esquier': an early version of Lambarde's Archeion dated (f. 94b) at Ightham, 8 Mar. 1576/7_{Cf. art. 1 above. ff. 87-94b;- (b) The authority of the Lord Chancellor as limited by secondary Acts of Parliament. ff. 94b-99;- (c) Arguments of the Lord Keeper Sir Nicholas Bacon proving 'the Noblemens persons to be Attachable for Contemptes' in Chancery, 1572. ff. 99-100b;- (d) Controversy between the Six Clerks of the Chancery and the Cursitors as to their respective sphere of authority, Dec. 1585. ff. 100b-107;- (e) Orders, etc., concerning the twenty-four Cursitors of the Chancery. Sanders, i, pp. 36-44. ff. 107-113;- (f) 'The fines of all manner of writes and pattents', taken from an ancient register once belonging to John Chamberlain, one of the Six Clerks, temp. Hen. IV (sic, elsewhere Edw. IV). ff. 113-115b.}

(9) (a) 'Some Notes and observations upon the Statute of Magna Carta cha.

29 & other statutes concerning the proceedings in the Chancerie of Equitie and Conscience'. Printed as Priviledges and Prerogatives of the High Court of Chancery Written by . . . Thomas Lord El[le]smere, 1641. ff. 117-123;- (b) 'Some Notes and observations upon the Statute of Provisors and Praemunire', etc. Printed ibid. as a continuation of (a). ff. 123-130;- (c) Letter of the Lords of the Council to James I on behalf of Sir Edward Coke, 26 June 1616, with (ff. 135-136b) the King's sentence of 30 June. Acts of the Privy Council 1615-1616, pp. 644-650. ff. 131-136b;- (d) 'That the Court of Chancerie cannot be intended within the statute of 27 E. 3, cap. 1'. ff. 137-162.

(10) Order by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, as Chancellor, regulating the expenses of the household of John de Vere, 14th Earl of Oxford; 16 Feb. 1524. Contemporary copy. Letters and Papers Henry VIII, iii (2), 1867, no. 2932; cf. iv (1), 1870, no. 106. Sanders, ii, pp. 1030-1032. f. 165.

(11) (a) Notes on procedure, etc., in Chancery, arranged by subjects, beg. 'Proces against Lordes'. ff. 166-197b;- (b) Notes on the cases of Glanville (ff. 198-200) and Allen, elsewhere found associated with the contents of art. 9 above. ff. 198-205b;- (c) Ordinance of James I concerning the jurisdiction of Chancery, 18 July 1616, etc. Sanders, i, pp. 89-98. ff. 205b-217.

(12) Ordinances upon the Estate of the Chancery Court, explained by John Croke, Master in Chancery, 1554, followed (f. 219b) by the old and new patents granted by the King in Chancery. Sanders, i, pp. 10-12. ff. 217b-220.

(13) Tract on the Chancery Court, beg. 'The Courte of Chancery in the Kinges Prerogative Royall'. Cf. Ward, art. cit., p. 289. ff. 220-221.

(14) Ordinance of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper, concerning commissions 'in perpetuam rei memoriam'; 10 Dec. 1560. Sanders, i, pp. 24-25. ff. 221-223 b.

(15) (a) 'Cases where there is help in Chancery out of a Book of the late lord chancelor Baron of El[le]smere'. ff. 228-232;- (b) 'Cases where there is no help in Chanc[ery]' from the same book. ff. 232-234b;- (c) The allowed fees of the ordinary Masters of the Chancery, 8 Mar. 159⁷/₈, 'ex libro Wmi. Lambard'. ff. 234b-235;- (d) Ordinances for procedure agreed upon in April 1596 by Sir John Puckering, Lord Keeper, and Sir Thomas Egerton, Master of the Rolls, and published by the latter on 24 May, on becoming Lord Keeper. Sanders, i, 69-71. ff. 235-236b;- (e) 'Orders agreed uppon by all the 6 Clerkes for the better government of themselves and their Clerkes'. Sanders, i, pp. 74-75. ff. 237-238;- (f) Appointment by Sir Thomas Egerton of William Lambarde as Deputy Keeper of the Rolls, 27 May 1597. Sanders, i, pp. 72-73. f. 238;- (g) Orders by Sir Thomas Egerton for the new making up of the Rolls of Chancery, 28 Apr. 1599. Sanders, i, pp. 80-82. ff. 238-239;- (h) Notes on the suit against Joachim Latitats in the King's Bench on untrue surmises (1592-1596). ff. 239-240b;- (i) Matters determinable in Chancery. ff. 240b-242;- (j) Articles of the justices of both benches to the Lord Chancellor, etc., concerning committal to prison at pleasure, Easter Term 1592. Reports du treserudite Edmund Anderson, i, 1664, pp. 297-298, no. cccv. ff. 242b-243;- (k) Observations on the case of Richard Cavendish, subscribed with the names of Sir Edmund Anderson and other judges of C.P., Michaelmas Term 1587. 'ex libro Edmundi Anderson capitalis justiciarii de Banco'. Ibid., pp. 152-158, no. cci. ff. 243b-247b.

(16) (a) Ordinances of Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam, for the better and more regular administration of justice in the Chancery, 23 Jan. 161 ⁸/₉ Sanders, i, pp. 109-122. ff. 279-287;- (b) Means to restrain the length and charge of suits in Chancery. ff. 287b-288b;- (c) 'Manner of proceeding at this day' in Chancery. ff. 288b-291;- (d) Ordinances of the Clerks of the Enrolments concerning Scire facias, etc., 25 June 1578. ff. 291-291b.

(17) (a) Extracts from the evidence of Richard Oseley, Clerk of the Court of Requests, on the antiquity and authority of that Court, 4 Feb. 159 ½ Leadam, op. cit., pp. lxxxiii-lxxxiv. ff. 295-295b;- (b) Observations of the proceedings in the Court of Requests addressed to Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton. Leadam, pp. xcvi-xcix. ff. 296-299.

(18) Memorial of the names of Counsellors appointed to hear causes in the Court of Requests. Arranged by reigns, Hen. VII-Eliz I. Leadam, pp. cvi-cvii. ff. 302-303.

(19) (a) 'Bookes of the Comon Lawe and the Statutes to prove th'authority of the Kinges Counsell.' Part (ff. 311b -312) printed by Leadam, pp. xciv-xcv. ff. 306-313b;- (b) Oath of Sir Julius Caesar when sworn Master of Requests extraordinary, 10 Jan 159⁰/₁. Cf. f. 350b below. Leadam, pp. xciii-xciv. f. 314.

(20) (a) 'A commission to certaine Counsellors to heare and determine the suits preferred eyther to the kinge or to his privie Counsell'. Leadam, pp. lxxxix-xc. ff. 318-318b;- (b) Articles for the manner of the Commission, 9 Mar. 155 ½ Leadam, pp. xci-xciii. ff. 319b-320b;- (c) Orders and rules appointed by the Privy Council for the hearing of causes and suits in the Court of Requests, taken from a book written by Robert Dacres, Master of Requests, 1543. Leadam, pp. lxxxv-lxxxvii. ff. 321-323b.

(21) 'The auncient state aucthoritie and proceedinges of the Court of Requests', by Sir Julius Caesar. Printed with this title in 1597. ff. 334-338b.

(22) List of prohibitions granted in the Court of Common Pleas to stay proceedings in the Court of Requests 1590-1600, etc., compiled by Sir Julius Caesar, and concluding (ff. 350b-351) with a copy of his oath when sworn as Master of Requests. ff. 345-351. Paper (except ff. i, ix, 42, 73 vellum). ff. ix +355. Folio. XV-XVII centt. Written in a number of hands on gatherings and single sheets of various sizes, and with many blank leaves passim. Arranged, foliated in ink (348 leaves), and bound in its present order by Sir Robert Cotton (see his annotations, etc., passim, and signature as owner 'Robertus Cotton Bruceus' at the foot of f. 3). Ff. 104 -115b, 295-299 appear to be written in the hand of Ralph Starkey, cf. Harley MS. 169. An engraved portrait of James I by Simon van der Passe, taken from The Workes of... James ... Kinge of Great Britain, 1616, etc. (cf. Hind, op. cit., ii, 1959, p. 259 and pl. 154) has been used as a frontispiece (f. 1). The boards of the original blind-tooled calf binding, without Cotton's armorial bookstamp, are now preserved separately; the pastedowns (ff. i, ix) consist of two leaves containing part of the French verse romance Doon de Mayence (288 lines), 14th cent., which corresponds approximately with passages on pp. 163 -178 of the edition by M. A. Pey, 1859 (Les Anciens Poètes de la France, ii). Not identifiable in the Cotton catalogue of 1621 (Harley MS. 6018) but perhaps 'My Great book of the Chancery' lent by Cotton to the Lord Keeper that year (ibid., f. 149b). 'Latere dextr., scrin. 3, classis 4' in the Cotton catalogue of circ. 1635 (Add. MS. 36789, f. 24). Subsequent Cotton pressmark 'Claudius B. viii', f. iib. A note of the loan of the MS. by Sir Thomas Cotton to Sir John Borough, 11 June 1640, in Cotton MS. Appendix xlv, art. 13, f. 7b, is cancelled, but that of another to Henry Montagu, 1st Earl of Manchester (d. 1642), on 13 July 1640 is not (ibid. f. 8b). An 18th cent. table of contents has been added as ff. v-viii. Bequeathed before 1794 by 'Mr Deaves' (? Charles Deaves of Lincoln's Inn) to John Mitford, afterw. Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale 1802 (see the notes at ff. iib, iii, and armorial bookplate of John Mitford, f. iv). Used in 1794, when in the possession of Mitford, by Francis Hargrave, see his notes at ff. v, 53, and references to the volume in Hargrave MSS. 219, f. 127b; 227, ff. 159b-179b, etc. Sold at Sotheby's, 28 July 1947, lot 177, as the property of Mitford's descendant David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale.