Cotton MS Caligula B V

Records and papers on English and Scottish affairs in the mid 16th century and the first half of the 17th century. Including The scole of warre callid the sege of Lethe, a poem by Thomas Churchyard (1523?–1604), writer and soldier, concerning the 1560 siege of Leith.

ff. 2r-36v: Account of all the inroads made into Scotland from the East Marches, between June 12 1544 and July 1546.

ff. 37r-38v: An examination of men from Hexham. Made before Ralph Neville, 4th Earl of Westmorland, and two others. Sent to the Lord President of the Council in the North. No date.

ff. 39r-40v: Agreement between James Hamilton, Duke of Châtellerault and 2nd Earl of Arran, the Scottish Lords, and England. May 1560.

f. 41r: Sonnet titled ‘Le jeu de la prime, de l’etat de la France’, beginning ‘Voyant de nostre temps l’inconstante maniere’. No date. French.

f. 41r: Untitled six-line epigram beginning ‘Gallia dum passim civilibus occidit armis’. Latin.

ff. 43r-51v: Copy of instructions sent from King Henry VIII to Sir Thomas Tempest and Thomas Magnus, commissioners on the borders. November 1528. Another copy can be found in Cotton MS Caligula B VIII.

ff. 52r-60v: Indenture between the Lords and gentlemen in the North. For fortifying and defending the borders. With a list of all the Lords, freeholders, and inhabitants of Northumberland, who consented to, and subscribed the said indenture. August 20 1561.

ff. 61r-62v: Copy of a treaty between King Charles IV of France and Robert Bruce, King of Scotland. Corbeil, April 1326. Another copy can be found below (ff. 304r-305v).

ff. 64r-67v: Paper titled ‘Carta conventionis & homagii inter Henricum II. R. Angl. & Gulielmum Leonem rege M Scoter’. 1174. Latin.

ff. 68r-70v: Notes of declarations of homage historically made by the Kings of Scotland to the Kings of England.

f. 71r-71v: Draft indenture between the English and Scottish commissioners. The last is an indenture of May 12, inserted in this instrument. Edinburgh, June 31 1534.

f. 72r-72v: Copies of two commissions by King Henry VIII. The first for Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland, to negotiate with King James VI of Scotland. January 30 1528. The second for Lord Dacre and others, concerning the fishgarth ‘de Esk’. January 26 1524. Latin.

ff. 74r-75v: Instructions sent from King Edward VI to the commissioners in Scotland. Concerning regulation of the differences on the borders. The commissioners were Thomas Thirleby, Bishop of Norwich, Sir Robert Bowes, Dr Leonard Beckwith, and Sir Thomas Chaloner. [April 1551]. Other copies can be found in Sloane MS 2442, Harley MS 289, and Cotton MS Caligula B VII.

ff. 76r-77v: Draft of a prorogation of truce between England and Scotland. In consequence of the treaty of Ayton. 1498. Latin.

ff. 78r-84v: Note of original letters from Scotland, in the possession of the Earl of Salisbury. From 1559-1603.

ff. 85r-148v: Extracts from 14 books of state papers concerning Scotland, in the possession of the Earl of Salisbury. No date.

ff. 149r-150v: Fragment of instructions for Henry Killigrew. See Cotton MS Caligula B IV.

ff. 151r-152v: Fragment of a minute from the meeting between King Richard III and the Scottish ambassadors. At Nottingham, September 1484.

ff. 153r-159v: Description of Scotland in the time of Queen Elizabeth I. No date.

ff. 160r-162v: List of Earls and Lords in Scotland.

ff. 163r-164v: Instrument of an association for the preservation of the person of Queen Elizabeth I. Hampton Court, October 19 1584.

ff. 164v-173v: Articles of a treaty between Queen Elizabeth I and King James VI. July 1 1586.

ff. 174r-173v: Copies of five letters between Mary, Queen of Scots, and Anthony Babington. 1586.

ff. 174r-179v: Copy of the order of the proceedings at the arraignment of Mary, Queen of Scots. At Fotheringay, October 6 1586.

ff. 179v-181r: An account of the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. February 8 1587.

ff. 181v-183v: List of reasons and answers concerning Mary, Queen of Scots. No date.

ff. 184r-185v: The end of one letter, and three further letters, from Edward Wotton to Francis Walsingham, principal secretary. June-August 1585.

ff. 186r-189v: Account of the proceedings of some commissioners on the borders. Possibly the latter part of an indenture. Berwick.

ff. 190r-194v: Fragment of an indenture between English and Scottish commissioners on the borders. September 23 1563.

ff. 195r-200v, 202r-206v: Historical notes on the affairs of Scotland during the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots. French.

ff. 201r-201v, 218r-218v: List of papers concerning Scotland, from 1516 to 1528.

ff. 207r-217v: Considerations concerning the title of Mary, Queen of Scots, to the crown of England. [By John Lesley, Bishop of Ross]. No date.

ff. 219r-220v: Letter from Queen Margaret to King Henry VIII. Desiring that the truce concluded on September 11 be prolonged to St. John’s Day, and that a servant of Albany may be allowed to go to France. Edinburgh, September 19 1522.

f. 221r-221v: Letter from King James V to King Henry VIII. Requesting certain writings of the Pope. Seized from a monk by Cardinal Wolsey. Edinburgh, August 15 1528.

f. 222r-222v: Paper on the communication between the Earls of Northumberland and Bothwell. In which the latter states certain complaints against King James V. September [December] 21 1531.

ff. 223r-225v: Commission of King Henry VIII. For a peace treaty between England and Scotland. April 12 1534. Latin.

ff. 226r-228v: Commission of King James V. For a treaty between Scotland and England. February 17 1534. Latin.

ff. 228v-230v: Ratification of the above treaty. London, May 11 1534.

ff. 230v-233v: Fragment of a second treaty between the commissioners appointed on February 17 and April 12 1534. May 12 1534.

ff. 234r-237v: Draft instructions from Queen Elizabeth I to Sir George Carie, an ambassador sent from the King of Scotland. Corrected in the hand of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley. No date.

ff. 238r-238v: Draft letter from an anonymous correspondent in Berwick. About the state of that town and the conduct of the people employed there. [1564?].

ff. 239r-243v: Memorial showing the faithful service of Claude Nau, secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots, in her last troubles and at her death. French.

ff. 244r-257v: Paper titled ‘Refutatio libru cui titulus “Analogia, seu comparatio Janae Neopolitanae, cum Maria Scotiae regina’. No date. Latin.

ff. 258r-267r: Fragment of a discussion of the title of Mary, Queen of Scots, to the crown of England. With various pedigrees. No date.

ff. 267v-268v: Latin verses attributed to George Buchanan. One eight-line poem beginning ‘Quanquam flere nefas te caelo Jacobe receptum’. One thirty-eight line poem beginning ‘Illa procax Mori lingua irreverenter in omnes’. With a list of books written by Buchanan, and a five-line French poem beginning ‘Trois choses sont d’un accord’. No date.

f. 269r-269v: Questions concerning ambassadors, with answers. No date.

f. 270r-270v: Extracts of verses concerning Papists and Puritans. No date. Latin.

f. 271r-271v: ‘Verses upon a good conscience’. A twenty-one line poem beginning ‘To shine in silk to glitter all in gold’, with a Latin translation. Said to have been given to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley. No date.

ff. 272r-279v: Paper on the relation of the manner of judicatures in Scotland. No date.

f. 280r-280v: Draft paper on the points to be negotiated with King James VI of Scotland. No date.

ff. 281r-297v: Draft treaty alliance between Queen Elizabeth I and King James VI. Latin.

ff. 298r-303v: Paper titled ‘Certain things to be delivered to the Earl of Bothwell, to show him what hath been liked or misliked in him for his late actions’. No date.

ff. 304r-305v: Copy of the league between King Charles IV of France and Robert Bruce, King of Scotland. Dundee, April 20 1325. French. The counterpart is above, ff. 61r-62v.

ff. 306r-310v: Treaty between Queen Elizabeth I, and King Francis II of France and Mary, Queen of Scots. Edinburgh, July 6 1560. Latin.

ff. 311r-310v: Articles proposed to the Bishops of Valence and Bauday, deputies of King Francis II of France and Mary, Queen of Scots. By way of petition on behalf of the nobility and people of Scotland. Edinburgh, July 6 1560. French.

ff. 311r-315v: A memoir intended for one de St Cosme, possibly Henry Stewart, Lord St. Colme. Concerning negotiations in England. Signed by Mary, Queen of Scots. Calais, August 11 1561.

ff. 316r-318v: Paper containing reasons to move England to forbear traffic with Flanders. No date.

f. 319r: Fragment concerning the rights of Mary, Queen of Scots. No date.

ff. 319v-320v: Record of the words of John Jewell, Bishop of Salisbury, at his death. With a twelve-line epitaph beginning ‘Calta velut flores tenebris sub noctis opacae’; an eight-line epitaph on the Duke of Guise by 'Constantinus Scotus', beginning ‘Quu tormenta olim siculis sudaret in antris’; a seventeen-line epitaph beginning ‘Reginae geminae pari labore’; and a seven-line epitaph beginning ‘Juelle mater quem tulit Devonia’. No dates. Latin.

f. 321r: Epitaph by George Buchanan, titled ‘Epitaphium Matthaei comitis Leviniae’.

f. 321v: Advice concerning Madam de Jovare, and the means of her release from confinement through marriage to the Marquis du Maine. No date. French.

f. 322r-322v: Declaration made by the Prince of Orange, and other Princes. Concerning the reasons for taking up arms against the Duke of Alba. No date. French.

ff. 323v-324v: Sonnet, beginning ‘Al pensier che mi nuoce insieme e giova’. Said to have been sent from Mary, Queen of Scots, to Queen Elizabeth I. Italian and French.

f. 325r: Copy of a letter from Mary, Queen of Scots, to the Marshall of Berwick. Sent with Robert Melvil, who was dispatched to Queen Elizabeth I. Edinburgh, May 24 [1564].

f. 325r-325v: Extracts of letters patent in which King Francis II of France and Mary, Queen of Scots, style themselves King and Queen of England. 1558.

f. 325v: Six-line satirical epitaph on the Cardinal of Lorraine, beginning ‘Ille ego qui quondam bene notus in orbe sacerdos’. With a three-line epitaph on James Stewart, Earl of Moray and natural son of King James V, beginning ‘Jacobo stewarto Moraura Comiti Scotia pro rego’. No dates. Latin.

f. 326r-326v: Answer from Queen Elizabeth I to the Earl of Morton. Concerning the marriage of the Earl of Arran following the siege of Leith. Westminster, December 11 1560.

f. 327r-327v: Paper titled ‘A device out of England, for the quietness of the state of Scotland’.

ff. 328r-329r: Paper summarising negotiations between James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray and Regent of Scotland, and the nobility, and Gilbert Kennedy, 3rd Earl of Cassilis. On behalf of James Hamilton, Duke of Châtellerault and 2nd Earl of Arran. Glasgow, March 13 1568.

f. 329v: Burlesque, beginning ‘Bultizar by the grace of Mawhoud king of king’s’. Possibly referring to Balthazar, Spanish Secretary of State. No date.

ff. 330r-332r: Paper titled ‘De externa et civili politia per liberas Germaniae civitates, vel potius in civitate Tigurina; dialogus’. Latin.

ff. 332v: Eight-line verse titled ‘Pasquilla in regem Gallorum’. With a commentary in Latin. No date.

ff. 334r-344v: Paper titled ‘The confession of the church of Scotland’. No date.

ff. 345r-364v: Chronological table of events in Europe from 1509 to 1546. Not including England.

ff. 365r-381v: Copy of Thomas Churchyard, The scole of warre callid the sege of Lethe (1560). In stanzas of seven pentameters.

ff. 382r-456v: Commission and examination of Mary, Queen of Scots. At Fotheringay, 1586. The end wanting.