Cotton MS Appendix L

This volume, primarily of original douments, includes correspondence in the hands of Thomas, Cardinal Wolsey (1470/71-1530), Thomas Cromwell (d. 1540), and William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (1520/1521-1598); letters from Sir Francis Walsingham (c. 1532-1590) relating to the Babington conspiracy, 1586 (ff. 140–144, 147); a list of the household of Princess Mary (the future Queen Mary of England, 1553–1558) (f. 43r); and a list of English nobles, bishops and counties which may be in the hand of King Edward VI (1547–1553) (ff. 106r-109r). It also contains a rare scribal copy, probably Elizabethan, of about the last third of Edmund Dudley's 'The Tree of Commonwealth' (1509-1510).

The volume is largely made up of what were originally Cotton MSS Appendix XXIX, XLVII and XLVIII (Tite, The Early Records of Sir Robert Cotton’s Library, 229; BL, 'Unrevised Descriptions of Cotton Appendix, XXVI-LXV'). F. 10 was originally in Appendix III, f. 13 in Appendix VI, f. 19 in Appendix XII, ff. 91r-92v in Appendix I and ff. 140r-v in Appendix XXIX. Pencil notes on the volume itself point to the volume being put together and foliated in or shortly before 1872 (the foliation is dated Jan 1872) with an emendation to the foliation in 1886.

Letters and Papers and State Papers Published under the Authority of his Majesty's Commission: King Henry the Eighth, 1830-1852. Vol. 1: Part I: Correspondence between the King and Cardinal Wolsey, 1518-1530 (London, England: His Majesty's Commission for State Papers, 1830) have been used to provide possible dates for undated letters by Thomas Wolsey - these are generally drafts but a number of the powerful letters that he wrote to Thomas Cromwell in the months of his fall in 1529-30 may be originals (some signed and with an address). Both sources have been accessed through State Papers Online, 1509-1714.

Contents:

ff. 1r-6v: Letter of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey to [?Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk], Hampton Court, 15 Oct 1524. With Wolsey's signature. Damaged. A 17th-century annotation describes this as to the Earl of Surrey, but from the content the Letters and Papers and typescript catalogue identification of Norfolk (who had only become Duke and ceased to be Earl of Surrey earlier in the year) is most likely, Letters and Papers, Vol. 4, Part 1, p. 323.

f. 7r: Letter of Thomas Cromwell to [Thomas Wolsey], 30 Jun [1530]. Only the final page. In Cromwell's hand. Damaged. Year identified as 1530 in Letters and Papers, Vol. 4, Part 3, p. 2913.

f. 8r: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to King Henry VIII, n.d. [1529]. Draft. In Wolsey's own hand. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 3, p. 2428, suggests 1529 and that it was intended to be used by Lord Henry Percy, but if for the latter, then no later than 1527.

f. 9r: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to Mr Strangwyshe,, n.d. In Wolsey's hand. Draft. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 3, p. 2970 suggests 1530. The letter thanks Strangwyshe for his letter of 24 May.

f. 10r: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to Mr Bulmer, n.d. Draft. In Wolsey's hand. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 3, p. 1959, where dated to 1528.

f. 11r: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to [Hugh] Ashton, Westminster, n.d.. Draft. In Wolsey's hand. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 3, p. 3087 suggests possibly 1525, but if this is indeed Hugh Ashton, and the Hugh Ashton, ecclesiastic at York and estates administrator, he died in 1522.

f. 12r: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to [Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk and Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, n.d. [1525]. Draft. In Wolsey's own hand. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 1, p. 583.

ff. 13r-v: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to [Henry Algernon Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland], n.d. Draft. Damaged. In Wolsey's hand. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 2, p. 1806, dates this letter [17 Mar] 1528.

f. 14r: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to King Henry VIII, n.d. Draft. In Wolsey's hand. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 3, p. 2961 gives date as 1530.

f. 14v-15r: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to the Attorney-General (Christopher Hales), n.d. Draft. In Wolsey's hand. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 3, p. 2962, gives date as 1530. The body of the letter is addressed to Mr Attorney, but over the lead of the letter is written 'good lorde chief baron', and at the end Wolsey notes 'the same tenor to my lorde cheff Baron'.

f. 15r: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to [Richard Sampson], Dean of [Windsor], n.d. Draft. In Wolsey's hand. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 3, p. 2962, identifies the Dean as Windsor and gives date 1530.

f. 16r: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to Mr [William?] Shelley, n.d. Draft. In Wolsey's hand. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 3, p. 2962 gives 1530; State Papers, p. 364 posits Aug 1530. Shelleys is probably Wolsey's friend William Shelley, knighted between 20 Jun and 24 Nov 1530.

f. 17r: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to [Thomas Cromwell], n.d. Draft, In Wolsey's hand. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 3, p. 2729, dates as 1529. State Papers, p. 351 posits Nov 1529.

ff. 18r-v: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to Thomas Cromwell, n.d Draft. In Wolsey's hand. With address. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 3, 2818, dates it to 1529. State Papers, p. 350 posits Nov 1529.

f. 19r: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to [William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury], n.d. Draft. In Wolsey's hand. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 2, p. 1851 dates it to 1528.

f. 20r: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to Thomas Cromwell. Draft. In Wolsey's hand. Damaged, Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 3, p. 2949 posits date as [10 Aug] 1530.

ff. 21r-22v: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to King Henry VIII, in reply to his letter dated Windsor Castle, 21 Jun, Draft. In Wolsey's hand. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 3, p. 2906 gives date as 1529.

ff. 23r-v: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to Percy, my manor at Scroby, n.d. Draft. In Wolsey's hand. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 3, p. 2849 suggests date of 1529; if Percy is Lord Henry Percy, then 1527 or before.

ff. 24r-v: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to Thomas Cromwell, 'Asher' [Esher], Friday, 4 o'clock [1529 or 1530]. In Wolsey's hand, with fragment of his signature and address. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 3, p. 2817, gives the date as 1529. The transcription in State Papers, p. 360, gives the date as 28 Jan 1530.

f. 25r: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to Thomas Cromwell, n.d. In Wolsey's hand. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 3, p. 2783 gives date as 1529. State Papers, p. 359 posits Dec 1529.

ff. 26r-v: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to Thomas Cromwell, n.d. In Wolsey's hand, with signature. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 3, p. 2782 gives 1529 as the date. State Papers, p. 359 posits Jan 1530.

ff. 27r-v: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to Thomas Cromwell, n.d. In Wolsey's hand. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 3, p. 2794 gives 1529 as the date. State Papers, p. 356 posits Jan 1530.

f. 28r: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to [Sivestro de' Gigli, Bishop of Worcester, n.d. [1514]. In Wolsey's hand. Draft. Damaged, Letters and Papers, Vol 1, Part 2, p. 1459.

f. 28*r-v: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to Thomas Cromwell, n.d. In Wolsey's hand, with signature and address ('To myn entirely belovyd Thomas Crumwel in hast'). Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 3, p. 2811 gives 1529 as the date. State Papers, p. 361 posits 1 Feb 1530.

ff. 29r-v: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to Thomas Cromwell, n.d. With Wolsey's signature. Damaged. One sentence of the postcript in Latin. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 3, p. 2762 gives 1529 as the date. State Papers, p. 355 posits Jan 1530.

ff. 30r-v: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to Thomas Cromwell, n.d. Wolsey calls Cromwell 'Myn onely ayder in this myn intollerable anxiete and hevynes'. in Wolsey's hand. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 3, p. 2720 gives 1529 as the date. State Papers, p. 352 suggests 18 Dec 1529.

f. 31r: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to Thomas Cromwell, n.d. In Wolsey's hand. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 3, p. 2936 gives 1530; State Papers, p. 362, suggests Aug 1530.

f. 32r: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to 'My lord', n.d. In Wolsey's hand. Draft. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 2, p. 1851 dates as 1528.

ff. 33r-v: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to [unknown recipient], n.d. In Wolsey's hand. Draft. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 3, p. 3049 gives 1530 as date.

f. 34r: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to 'My Lord', n.d. In Wolsey's hand. Draft. Slightly damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 2, p. 1851 gives the recipient as Viscount Rochford and the date 1528. Rochford was not created Viscount till 1529, whilst the content reads more like the response in Suffolk to the Amicable Grant in 1525.

f. 35r: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to 'my lord', n.d. In Wolsey's hand, n.d. [1524]. Draft. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 1, p. 41 suggests the recipient may be the Duke of Norfolk.

f. 36r: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to [Cuthbert Tunstall and others], n.d. In Wolsey's hand. Draft. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 1, p. 731 dates to 1526.

ff. 37r-v: Letter of Thomas Wolsey to Thomas Cromwell. With Wolsey's signature, my manor of Southw[ell], Jun [1530]. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 3, p. 2914 gives the year.

ff. 38r-39v: Letter of John West, Friar Observant, to Thomas Wolsey, n.d. In West's hand throughout. With address. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 3, p. 2374 gives the date as 1529.

ff. 40r-v: Letter of [Sir John Wiltshire] to King Henry VIII, Middelburg, 20 Mar [1513]. Author and year from Letters and Papers, Vol. 1, part 1, p. 776. With address. Damaged.

ff. 41r-v: Letter of the Council of the North (Duke of Richmond's Council) to Thomas Wolsey, Sheriff Hutton, 9 Apr [1526]. Letters and Papers, Vol. 4, Part1, p. 934 gives the year. With signatures and later endorsement.

ff. 42r-v: Complaint by the inhabitants of Jersey to King Henry VIII, against the French, Normans and Bretons pillaging the island, Jersey, 19 Jul 1522. In French. With signatures and address,

ff. 43r-44v: Officers and councillors appointed to be resident about the person of My Lady Princess [Princess Mary Tudor] in the Marches of Wales, n.d. Dated in Letters and Papers, Vol. 4, Part 1, pp. 1044-1045 gives date as 20 Jul 1526.

ff. 45r-46r: Letter of University of Cambridge to Thomas Wolsey, 15 Jul [1528]. In Latin. With address. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol. 4, Part 2, 1972 gives year as 1528.

ff. 47r-v: Letter of University of Cambridge to Thomas Wolsey, [Oct 1528]. In Latin. Damaged. Date derived from Letters and Papers, Vol. 4, Part 2, pp. 2114-5.

ff. 48r-v: Letter of University of Cambridge to Thomas Wolsey, n.d. [1528]. In Latin. With address. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol. 4, Part 2, pp. 2247-8 gives year as 1528.

ff. 49v: Letter of University of Cambridge to Thomas Wolsey, n.d. [1528]. In Latin. Damaged, and first page wanting, Letters and Papers, Vol. 4, Part 2, p. 2247 gives year as 1528.

f. 50r: Letter of University of Cambridge to Thomas Wolsey, n.d. [1528]. In Latin. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol. 4, Part 2, p. 2248 gives year as 1528.

ff. 51r-v: Letter of University of Cambridge to Thomas Wolsey, n.d. [Oct 1528]. In Latin. With address. Damaged. Date derived from Letters and Papers, Vol. 4, Part 2, pp. 2114-5.

ff. 52r-v: Letter of King's College, Cambridge to Thomas Wolsey, [on or c. 22 Sep 1528]. In Latin. Damaged. On the election of Edward Fox as Provost. Date derived from Letters and Papers, Vol. 4, Part 2, p. 2065.

f. 53r-v: Letter of - College to Thomas Wolsey, n.d [1528]. Letter of University of Cambridge to Thomas Wolsey, n.d. [1528]. In Latin. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol. 4, Part 2, pp. 2245-7 gives year as 1528.

ff. 54r-v: Letter of University of Cambridge to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, [1518]. In Latin. Damaged. Date from Date derived from Letters and Papers, Vol. 2, Part 2, p. 1437.

ff. 55r-v: Letter of Canons of Cardinal College, Oxford, to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, [1528]. In Latin. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol. 4, Part 2, pp. 2245-7 gives year as 1528.

ff. 56r-v: Letter of Canons of Cardinal College, Oxford, to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, [1528]. In Latin. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol. 4, Part 2, pp. 2245-7 gives year as 1528.

ff. 57r-v: Letter of Canons of Cardinal College, Oxford, to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, [1528]. In Latin. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol. 4, Part 2, pp. 2245-7 gives year as 1528.

ff. 58r-v: Letter of Minor Canons of Cardinal College, Oxford, to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, [1528]. In Latin. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol. 4, Part 2, pp. 2245-7 gives year as 1528.

ff. 59r-60v: Letter of Cardinal College, Oxford to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, [1528]. In Latin. With address. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol. 4, Part 2, pp. 2245-7 gives year as 1528.

f. 61r: Letter of John Colepeper to Thomas Cromwell, Lord Privy Seal, Aylesford (Kent), 1 Jan [1538]. With address. Possibly in Colepeper's hand throughout.

ff. 62r-v: Letter of King Henry VIII to the Consuls and City of Lubeck, Windsor, 8 Jul 1535. In Latin. With address and signature. Damaged.

ff. 63r-64v: Letter of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk to King Henry VIII, Newark, Monday, 11 o'clock [1536, ? 23 Oct]. Letters and Papers, XI, 337 gives the precise suggested date. With Norfolk's name at the end, though not his personal signature.

ff, 65r-v: Letter of [Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk and Sir William Fitzwilliam] to King Henry VIII, [1536, ? 20 Oct]. Letters and Papers, XI, 313, identifies the authors and date from the course of the Lincolnshire rebellion.

ff. 66r-v: Letter of [Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk and Sir William Fitzwilliam] to King Henry VIII, [1536, ? 22 Oct]. Letters and Papers, XI, 331, identifies the authors and date from the course of the Lincolnshire rebellion.

f. 67r: 'The names of other men sworne', 21 and 22 Oct [1536] [Evidently in Lincolnshire]. Damaged.

ff. 68r-96v; Letter of the Council of the North to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, 3 Nov [1527]. With signatures and address. Letters and Papers, Vol 4, Part 2, p. 1600, gives 1527 as the year.

ff. 70r-v: Letter of [Sir George Darcy] to Thomas Cromwell, Lord Privy Seal, with address, Gateforth, 2 Apr [1537]. With address. Damaged and incomplete.

f. 71r: Letter of Thomas Wriothesley to [Thomas Wyatt], Brussels, 13 Nov [1538]. Wyatt from the damaged head of the letter, which seems to read 'Wiatt'.

f. 72r: Confessions of [name lost] in [place lost] in Berkshire, 17 [April ?], 30 Henry VIII [? 1539]. Letters and Papers, Vol. 14, part 1, pp. 378-9 suggests April 1539, and the deposition suggests that Passion Week is not long past. If the month is May rather than April, the year would be 1538. Endorsed 'Smethewyke'. Damaged.

ff. 73r-74r: Examinations of seditious words spoken in Kent, before Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury and 3 others, 7 Jan [1538]. The one date on the document - perhaps not for all items - is 7 Jan. Year from Letters and Papers, Vol. 13, part 1, p. 25, and from reference to birth of Prince Edward.

ff. 75r-76v: Letter of Sir William Godolphin to Thomas Cromwell, n.d. [1537, after 3 May]. Slightly damaged. With address. For date, Letters and Papers, Vol. 12, Part 1, p. 522.

ff. 77r-78r: Letter of William Fitzwilliam, Earl of Southampton and Thomas Goodrich, Bishop of Ely to Thomas Cromwell, Warblington, late at night, 14 Nov [1538]. With signatures. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol. 13, Part 2, p. 345.

ff. 79r-v: Letter of William Fitzwilliam, Earl of Southampton and Thomas Goodrich, Bishop of Ely to Thomas Cromwell, Cowdrey, 16 Nov [1538]. With signatures. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol. 13, Part 2, p. 357.

ff. 80r-v: Answers of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham before Sir Thomas Lovell, touching such words as were spoken between him and his ghostly father called John[n] […] Vicar-General of Henton, n.d. [1521]. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol. 3, Part 1, 490, dates 13 May 1521.

f. 81r: Letter of [Thomas Cromwell] to [Thomas Wolsey], 21 Oct , no year [?1530]. Incomplete. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol. 4, Part 3,p. 3019 identifies the author as Thomas Cromwell and gives the year, perhaps more uncertainly, as 1530.

f. 82r-85v: Informations against Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury: [Gervase Tyndall alias Clifton] (f. 82r); John Anford (ff. 83r-84v); Richard Ayer and Peter [illegible] (ff. 84v-85v. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol. 13, part I, p. 352, gives Tyndall's name and a date of 1538.

f. 86r: Letter of John Gostwick to [Thomas Wolsey], n.d. Damaged. Letters and Papers, Vol. 4, Part 2, pp. 2254, dates to 1528.

f. 87r: Confession of Roger Tyler of St. Albans. Enclosed in letter of John Longland, Bishop of Lincoln to Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, 12 Jan 1532. See Letters and Papers, Vol. 5, p. 341.

ff. 88r-v: Confession of Simon Jo[nes?] born in Monmouth, n.d. Probably the confession against Richard de la Pole enclosed in letter of William Knight to Thomas Wolsey, 13 Apr 1524 (BL, Cotton MS Galba B VIII, ff. 28r-v).

ff. 89r-90r: Instructions to Roger Becket, gentleman usher, and John Worth, sewer of the King, sent into Cornwall, n.d. [1531]. Damaged. Another copy is Harley MS 296, f. 36v.

ff, 91r-92v: Letter of Sir William Brabazon to Thomas Cromwell, 1 Mar, no year [1537]. With signature and address. No year given, but identified as 1537 by Letters and Papers, Volume 12, Part 1, p. 257.

ff. 93r-105v: Edmund Dudley, 'The Tree of Commonwealth' [1509-1510]. Partial scribal copy of the latter part of the treatise, probably late-16th-century. Complete 16th- and early 17th century texts (two of three surviving) are, in the BL, Add MS 32091, ff. 44r-82v and Harley MS 2204, ff. 1r-88v. For another partial copy, but from the beginning and overlapping with this, see Add MS 48022, ff. 51r-75r. The version here is probably part of the copy noted by Anthony Wood in 1691, 'It is now, or at least lately was, reserved, as a choice Monument, in the Cottonian Library' (Anthony Wood, Athenae Oxoniensis, 2 Vols, London: Thomas Bennet, 1691-2, I, 7).

ff. 106r-109r: List of Peers. Bishops' and noblemen's sons who are earls, viscounts or lords, [late 1552]. In a large, youthful hand. This has been identified as that of King Edward VI himself, and is plausible both in terms of subject matter, and what we know of his hand. Comparison with BL, Cotton MS Vespasian F XIII, f. 273r-v: 'Certain pointes of weighty matters to be immediatly concluded on by my counsel. 18 Januarij 1551[/52]' shows striking similarities but also some differences in the formation of certain capital letters ('T', 'W', 'M'). Suggestively there is some information pointing to the King in terms of what such a youthful writer would have known, as well as helping date the item to late 1552: two of the Bishops named on f. 108v were intended but never actually appointed. Edmund Grindal is named as Bishop of Newcastle - this places it in late 1552 (probably November onwards) or the first part of 1553, when Edmund Grindal was intended for the planned diocese. Moreover, Robert Horne is named as Bishop of Durham: on 28 Oct 1552 he was destined for the post but the idea had been dropped by 4 Dec. (A third, John Harley, was only named to Hereford in Oct 1552).

ff. 110r-v: Letter from a member of the English Embassy (not the Ambassador) to Henri IV, King of France, n.d. [?1608]. The letter refers to a favourite of Henri IV, de la Varenne; that the King intends to christen his two youngers sons this year, and make the Queen (i.e. Anne of Denmark) godmother of one of them, and that his last son shall be made Duke of Anjou rather than Prince of Navarre. The two sons are Nicolas, Duke of Orleans (1607-1611), who was never baptised, and Gaston (b. 1608, when created Duke of Anjou).

f.111r: 'A copie of the Act to establish the proceedings in Ecclesiasticall Courts and Causes and to abolish Sanctuarie', n.d. [?1606]. Copy (partial). Damaged.

ff. 112r-115r: Portions of copies of letters patent of Queen Mary I, appointing Nicholas [Heath], Bishop of Worcester, Robert Rochester, Controller of the Household, Sir Richard Southwell, Sir John Mason, Sir Francis Englefield and Richard Mo [-], Richmond, 27 Aug 1553. Apparently to be commissioners for the assessment of ransoms and fines for persons convicted of treason. Very damaged.

f. 116r: Fragment of letter from the 'consules et senatus Imperialis', 1562. In Latin. With seal.

ff. 117r-118v: Letter of Lady Elizabeth Dacre to Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, 3 Jul 1566. With signature and address.

ff. 119r-120v: Summary of dated events, 20 Sep 1568 - 30 Jan 1569 in the making of the bargain with Odet de Coligny, Cardinal of Chatillon for £20,000. Text and endorsement in the hand of Sir William Cecil.

ff. 121r-122v: Letter of Sir William Cecil to Thomas Radcliffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex, 30 May 1569. Letter in Cecil's hand.

ff. 123r-124v: Letter of Sir Ralph Sadler to Thomas Radcliffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex, the Duchy House at the Savoy, 24 Dec 1571. Letter in Sadler's hand. With address. Endorsed by sir Robert Cotton

ff. 125r-v: Letter of Charles IX, King of France to Thomas Radcliffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex, Chabon, 12 May 1572. In French. With royal signature and address.

ff. 126r-127v: Letter of Mary Wharton to Thomas Radcliffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex, Henley, 6 Oct 1572. With signature and address.

ff. 128r-129v: Letter of Lady Katherine Berkeley to Thomas Radcliffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex, Westminster, 10 Nov 1573. With signature and address.

ff. 130r-131v: Letter of John Leslie [Lesley], Bishop of Ross to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Paris, 20 Nov 1574. Damaged. With address.

ff. 132r-133v: Letter of George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury to Thomas Radcliffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex, Sheffield, 12 Nov 1576. In Shrewsbury's own hand. With address.

f. 134r: Copy of warrant of Queen Elizabeth I to the Sheriffs of London, directing them to issue proclamations for the return of the fugitive Charles Arundell, Westminster, 8 Jan 1584; on f. 134v the answer of the sheriffs, John Spencer and William Masham, 14 Jan 1584. Both items in the same hand.

ff. 135-136v: Letter or warrant of Queen Elizabeth I to Thomas Paget, 4th Baron Paget, ordering him to return to England, where he has left without leave, and present himself before the Queen or Privy Council, Westminster Palace, [17 Nov 1583-24 Mar 1584].

f. 137r: Warrant of Queen Elizabeth I to Sir Henry Lee, Master of the Armoury, to deliver specified stores to Sir Simon Musgrave, Master of the Ordinance in the North, Westminster Palace, 27 [April-Oct] 1584. Damaged.

ff. 138r-139v: Examination before Henry Radcliffe, 4th Earl of Sussex, of - Hassall, 24 [or 14] Jun 1590. Damaged.

ff. 140r-144v: Letters of Sir Francis Walsingham at the time of the Babington conspiracy. As follows:

• ff. 140r-v: To [Thomas Phelippes, the decipherer], at the Court, 2 Aug 1586. In Walsingham's hand throughout. With signature. Damaged. The letter enclosed a letter he has received from Sir Amias Paulet (presumably an intercept).
• ff. 141r-142v: To Thomas Phelippes, at the Court, 3 Aug 1586. In Walsingham's hand throughout. With signature and address. Damaged.
• ff. 143r-v: To unknown recipient, at the Court, 3 Aug. 1586. In Walsingham's hand throughout. With signature and address. Damaged.
• ff. 144r-v: To unknown recipient, at the Court, 3 Aug 1586, In Walsingham's hand throughout. With signature and address. Damaged.

ff. 145r: Letter of de Montessant to unknown recipient, 15 Aug [late 16th-century]. In French. In De Montessant's hand throughout. He acknowledges receipt of the packet, and mentions that 'Seigneur Cornelis' is returned to France.

ff. 146r-v: Letter of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley to Sir Francis Walsingham, 4 Oct 1586. In Burghley's hand throughout; with signature. Damaged. Contents include the commission for the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots; the calling of Parliament; and evidences against Mary.

f. 147: Letter of Sir Francis Walsingham to unknown recipient, at the Court, 27 Oct 1586. In Walsingham's hand throughout and with his signature. Damaged. With signatures.

ff. 148r-149v: Letter of Honor, Countess of Sussex to her husband Henry Radcliffe, 4th Earl of Sussex, 18 Jul 1587. With signature and address. Family and domestic matters, with postscript asking for him to send her a pair of spectacles in a case.

ff. 150r-v: Letter of Privy Council authorising the attachment of vagrants who have committed outrages of any kind under pretext of having served in the army or navy, Somerset House, Nov 1589.

ff. 151r-v: Letter of C. Tombes [Fombes] to 'Son exc[ellence] Monseigneur de legible: best reading 'My^e'], n.d. [late 16th or early 17th century]. In French. With signature and address (and possibly in same hand throughout). The letter states that there are some English soldiers in Wesel, in the hospital or begging their bed in the streets; the writer asks for money to assist him in sending them from Holland. In a postscript he says that this letter may be delivered to the Elector.

f. 152r: Exceptions concerning the Book of Common Prayer, whereunto the ministers are expected to subscribe, n.d. [Elizabethan]. Damaged.

ff. 153r-154v: Account of the death of Pope Gregory XIV, d. 15 Oct 1591]. In Italian. Damaged. The later endorsement by Sir Robert Cotton, in English, changes the date to old style , 4 Oct 1591.

ff. 155r-156r: Copies of commissions issued by Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. In Latin and English. All transcribed at the same time on the same pages. As follows:

• f. 155r: 'Commissio ad inquirendum de officios', 37 Hen. VIII [1545-1546].
• f. 155r: Commission ad inquirendum pro rege [de] diversis articulis', 12 Jul 13 Hen VIII [1521].
• f. 155v: Commission for examining into frauds commited by controllers, paymasters purveyors and others and for committing to prison all those found guilty, 36 Hen VIII [1544-1545].
• f. 155v: Commission for reformation of disorders in the Isle of Guernsey, 26 Jul , 21 Elizabeth [1579].
• f. 155v: Commission to enquire of abuses by the Treasurer in Ireland, 10 Mar, 42 Elizabeth [1600].
• f. 156r: Commission to enquire of misdemeanours in inferior officers of the Navy, 17 Jun, 44 Elizabeth [1602].

f. 157r-v: 'The Decree at Rome concerning Preestes and Jesuites In congregatione Habita die 20 Julij Super rebus Anglicanis'. Text in Latin. On f. 157v, at the foot: '9 Augusti 1602 Card: Burgesius delivered us this as it standeth worde after worde as his holiness deeds and the Inquisitors'. Damaged.

ff. 158r-159v: Receipt by Innocentio del Bufalo, Bishop of Camerino and Nuncio in France, from Sir Thomas Parry, English Ambassador to the French court, of an Agnus Dei, with relics, 3 pictures (2 large and 1 small), a crown with a small cross, and 3 other crowns, restored by order of King [James I], 26 May [endorsement says 1604]. Damaged.

ff. 160r-161v: Further declaration of George Brooke, 20 Aug 1603. Damaged.

ff. 162r-163v: 'Summarium Capitulorum que fuerant jurata per Cardinales in Conclavi post obitum Clementis Octavi', 1605. Damaged. Clement VIII died on 5 Mar 1605.

ff. 164r-v: Letter of Bernardus Pau[…] to unknown recipient in Paris, Rome, 11 Jan 1605. Endorsement, f. 164v: 'A Scott Dat 11 of Janry 1605'. In Latin. Damaged.

ff. 165r-166v: Letter of Sir Anthony Standen to Father Robert Persons [Parsons], Paris, 27 Dec. No year. Damaged.

ff. 167r-v: Memorandum on disputed case of a successor to Thomas Legge as Master of Caius College, Cambridge. With (f. 168r) Draft of a letter to Robert Cecil , 1st Earl of Salisbury on the same matter [Aug 1607].

f. 169r: satirical verse epitaph on the death of Thomas Sackville, 1st Baron Buckhurst, 1st Earl of Dorset, 'who died Suddainly at the Counsell table at Whitehall 19th Aprilis 1608 as he was Speaking in his owne Cause against Sir John Lewson knight'.

ff. 170r-171v: Observations to the King on Pardons, n.d [reign of Charles I?].

ff. 172r-173r: Extracts of letters, in the hand of Georg Rudoplh Weckherlin, Latin secretary to Charles I. His damaged signature appears at the foot of f. 173r: 'Imprimatur … herlin'. As follows:

• f. 172r: From Hamburg 3 Jun, old style [?1629].
• f. 172v: From St Esprit in Languedoc, 9 Jun [?1629].
• f. 173r: From the Camp before 'Busse or Bolduke' ['s-Hertogenbosch], [1629].
• f. 173r: From Geneva, 11 Jun [?1629].
• f. 173r: From the siege before 'the Busse' ['s-Hertogenbosch], 24 Jun [1629].

ff. 174r-175v: Report from the Leaguer by the Prince of Orange of 's-Hertogenbosch, 16-20 Jul [1629]. Incomplete. In the same hand as ff. 177r-178v.

f. 176r: Report 'From the Leaguer at the Bosk' ['s-Hertogenbosch], 24 Jul 1624. Damaged.

ff. 177r-178v: Imperfect copy, apparently of an English translation of the peace between King Louis XIII and the Huguenots on 29 Jun 1629. In the same hand as ff. 174r-175v.

ff. 179r-v: Letter from the Scottish Privy Council to King Charles I, Edinburgh, 25 Aug 1637. Converning their former willingness to assist in establishing the service boo, but unable to meddle further in the cause on account of the protests from all sides, unless the King can present some course for a general pacification.