Add MS 48045

THE NEGOTIATIONS OF CARDINAL WOLSEY: transcripts of correspondence, etc., mostly between Cardinal Wolsey and various ambassadors, with short introductory comments; 1522-1525. Copy, 17th cent. Not to be confused with George Cavendish's life of Wolsey, which was called in its first edition (1641) The Negotiations of Thomas Woolsey, the Great Cardinall of England. The present collection occurs in a number of other MSS., for example: Harley MS. 6260; Lansdowne MS. 258; Sloane MS. 3839; Stowe MSS. 147, ff. 3-177, 148 and 149 (which contains only artt. 16-19 below). A copy made in 1780 by William Cole from a 17th-cent. MS. then in the possession of Richard Farmer, Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, is Add. 5860, ff. 2-96. The title by which the collection is known apparently dates from the 17th cent. It is added in a 17th-cent. hand on the fly-leaf of the copy in Stowe MS. 148 (f. 1) and appears in notes added in an 18th?-cent. hand at the beginning of Lansdowne MS. 258 (f. 1). The title is also used in Cole's copy. The source of this collection was probably a larger compilation similar to that in Harley MS. 6345, ff. 3-173, which includes, in addition to the material in the present collection, transcripts of further letters of Wolsey, diplomatic instructions, extracts from treaties, etc. The short introductory comments, of unknown authorship, on the different documents in the present MS. are also found as marginal glosses in Sloane MS. 3839 and do not occur in Harley MS. 6345. The comments were probably added after the collection was abstracted from the earlier source. The collection has never been printed in its entirety. Francis Douce states in the Catalogue of the Lansdowne Manuscripts, p. 93, that 'There is reason for supposing that the originals have been used by Lord Herbert in his Life of Henry VIII'. Douce was apparently referring to the 18th?-cent. notes in Lansdowne MS. 258, which give page references to a work described as 'H. 8'. It seems, however, that these were made by someone trying to use Herbert's work to date the documents in the collection and there is no evidence that Herbert himself used this collection. Some documents were printed from the present MS. by Richard Fiddes in the 'Collections' appended to his Life of Cardinal Wolsey, London, 1724. Artt. 16-19 were collated for Fiddes on 11 March 1721 by Humfrey Wanley with the copies in Harley MS. 297, ff. 22-63b, which is a fragment of an early copy of a collection apparently related to that in Harley MS. 6345: see The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. C. E. and R. C. Wright, 1966, i, p. 94 and n. 5. The bookmarks, consisting of strips of paper with names of tradesmen and London streets written on them, inserted by Wanley in the present MS. still survive: ff. 270*, 283*, 287*, 288*, 298*, 300*, 324*, 345*. Notes in Wanley's hand on the dates of different letters, etc., are on ff. 269b, 282b, 287, 287b, 297b, 299b, 323b, 344b.

1. ff. 1-15b. Letter from Wolsey to John Clerk, Bishop of Bath and Wells, Richard Pace, secretary to Henry VIII, Dean of St Paul's, and Thomas Hannibal, Master of the Rolls, ambassadors at the Court of Rome; 25 March 1524. LP Hen. VIII, iv, no. 185. See also Fiddes, op. cit., pp. 88-96.

2. ff. 16-22b. Letter from Henry VIII to the Bishop of Bath and Wells; c. 1523. Not apparently in LP Hen. VIII. Dated 8 Jan. 1517-1518 in Harley MS. 6345, ff. 6-7b.

3. ff. 23-32. Letter from Wolsey to Richard Sampson, Dean of Windsor and of the Chapel Royal, afterwards Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, and Sir Richard Jerningham, ambassadors to Emperor Charles V; 6 Nov. 1523. LP Hen. VIII, iii, no. 3513. See also Fiddes, op. cit., pp. 131-135.

4. ff. 32-51b. Letter from Wolsey to the Bishop of Bath and Wells, Pace and Hannibal at Rome; 22 Dec. 1523. LP Hen. VIII, iii, no. 3659.

5. ff. 52-76. Letter from Wolsey to the Bishop of Bath and Wells at Rome; 16 Jan. 1525. See ibid., iv, no. 1017, where the date is given. This date is, however, taken from the copy in a 17th-cent. MS. of the 'Negotiations', Lambeth Palace MS. 245, f. 42. Other MSS. give different dates, e.g. Harley MS. 6345, ff. 14b-19, and Lansdowne MS. 258, ff. 44-61b, give Dec. 1524 and 1524 respectively.

6. ff. 76b-106. Letter from Wolsey to Richard Sampson, as ambassador to Charles V; 13 Feb. 1525. Ibid., iv, no. 1083.

7. ff. 106b-118b. Letter from Wolsey to the Bishop of Bath and Wells and Hannibal at Rome; 28 May 1524. Ibid., iv, no. 375.

8. ff. 119-130b. Letter from Sampson and Jerningham, as ambassadors to Charles V, to Wolsey; 3 July 1523. Ibid., iii, no. 3150.

9. ff. 131-133b. Letter from Pace, ambassador at Rome, to Henry VIII, followed (f. 133b) by a covering letter to Brian Tuke; 26 Jan. 1525. Ibid., iv, nos. 1036-1037.

10. ff. 134-175. Instructions to Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of London, and Sir Richard Wingfield on their special mission to Charles V; 26 March 1525. Ibid., iv, no. 1212 (1).

11. ff. 175-195. Letter from Henry VIII to the Bishop of London, Wingfield and Sampson, as ambassadors to Charles V; 8 Sept. 1525. Ibid., iv,

no. 1628.

12. ff. 195b-205. Letter from Wolsey to Sampson and Jerningham, as ambassadors to Charles V; 31 Aug. 1523. Ibid., iii, no. 3281, where it is wrongly dated 30 Aug. 1523. See also Fiddes, op. cit., pp. 135-139.

13. ff. 205b-216b. Letter from Wolsey to Sampson and Jerningham; 14 Jan. 1524. Wrongly dated 15 Jan. in the present MS. LP Hen. VIII, iv, no. 26. See also Fiddes, op. cit., pp. 139-144, where the letter is printed as two separate items, one undated and the other with the heading 'Fourth Jan.'.

14. ff. 217-234. Letter from Wolsey to Sir Thomas Boleyn, Treasurer of the Household, and Sampson, as ambassadors to Charles V; 10 Jan. 1523. LP Hen. VIII, iii, no. 2764.

15. ff. 234b-259b. Instructions to William Knight, afterwards Bishop of Bath and Wells, on his mission to Margaret of Savoy, Archduchess of Austria, Governor of the Netherlands; June 1523. Wrongly dated 31 Aug. 1524 (altered by a later hand to 1514) in the present MS. Ibid., iii, no. 3123.

16. ff. 260-311b. Letters from Wolsey to Pace; 1524-1525. As follows: (a) 7 Aug. 1524. The year has been added at the end by Wanley. LP Hen. VIII, iv, no. 567. ff. 260-269b; (b) 28 May 1524. The year has been added at the end by Wanley. Ibid., iv, no. 374. ff. 270-282b; (c) 15 March 1525. Wrongly dated here 5 March 1544. Collated by Wanley, who has corrected the year in the dating clause, with the copy in Harley MS. 283, ff. 22-23b. Ibid., iv, no. 1152. Printed by Fiddes, op. cit., pp. 146-148, from Lambeth Palace MS. 245. ff. 283-287; (d) To Sir John Russell and Pace; Aug. 1524. Collated by Wanley with the copy in Harley MS. 283, ff. 24-25b. LP Hen. VIII, iv, no. 590. Printed by Fiddes, op. cit., pp. 144-146 from Lambeth Palace MS. 245. ff. 287b-291b; (e) 16 Jan. 1525. Collated by Wanley with copy in Harley MS. 283, ff. 26-28. Wanley added the dating clause on f. 297b of the present MS. LP Hen. VIII, iv, no. 1015. ff. 292-297b; (f) 28 Feb. 1524. Ibid., iv, no. 126. Printed by Fiddes, op. cit., pp. 96-97. ff. 297b-299b; (g) 28 June 1524. LP Hen. VIII, iv, no. 456. ff. 300-311b.

17. ff. 311b-323b. Instructions to Richard Pace on his mission to Venice;

2 Sept. 1522. Ibid., iii, no. 2497.

18. ff. 323b-336b. Instructions to Richard Pace on his mission to Switzerland; 19 March 1523. Ibid., iii, no. 2901. Collated by Wanley with copy in Harley MS. 283, ff. 39b-44. A note in the Harley MS. (f. 39b), copied by Wanley into the present MS. (f. 323b), states that 'Sir Robert Cotton hath not founde the Date of this . . . ', suggesting that the original of this document may have been in the Cottonian Library. No copy has, however, been traced amongst the Cotton MSS. This note led the compiler of the description of the Yelverton MSS. in HMC, 2nd Report, 1871, App. p. 43, to suggest that the whole of the present collection came from a Cotton MS. This does not appear to be the case. ff. 323b-336b.

19. ff. 336b-344b. Letter from Wolsey to Pace; March 1523. LP Hen. VIII, iii, no. 2863.

Paper; ff. v + 345 + (270*, 283*, 287*, 288*, 298*, 300*, 324*, 345*). Contemporary foliation. Quarto. XVII cent. One hand throughout.

Thomas Wolsey, Cardinal; Archbishop of York: Correspondence, etc., with ambassadors abroad: 1522-1525: Copies, 17th cent.

Henry VIII of England: Correspondence, etc., with ambassadors abroad: 1522-1525: Copies, 17th cent.

Elizabeth I of England: Papers of R. Beale, Clerk of the Council: 16th cent.

Robert Beale, Clerk to the Privy Council: Correspondence and papers.

includes:

• ff. 1-15b, 32-51b, 106b-118b Thomas Hannibal, Master of the Rolls: Letters to, from Cardinal Wolsey: 1523-1524: Copies, 17th cent.
• ff. 1-15b, 32-51b, 260-311b, 336b-344b Richard Pace, Secretary to Henry VIII; Dean of St Paul's: Letters to, from Cardinal Wolsey: 1523-1525: Copies, 17th cent.
• ff. 1-15b, 32-76, 106b-118b John Clerk, Bishop of Bath and Wells: Letters to, from Cardinal Wolsey: 1523-1525: Copies, 17th cent.
• ff. 16-22b John Clerk, Bishop of Bath and Wells: Letter to, from Henry VIII: c. 1523: Copy, 17th cent.
• ff. 23-32, 119-130b, 195b-216b Sir Richard Jerningham, ambassador to Charles V: Correspondence with Card. Wolsey: 1523-1524: Copies, 17th cent.
• ff. 23-32, 76b-106, 119-130b, 195b-234 Richard Sampson, Bishop of Chichester: Correspondence with Card. Wolsey: 1523-1525: Copies, 17th cent.
• ff. 131-133b Richard Pace, Secretary to Henry VIII; Dean of St Paul's: Letters to Henry VIII and Sir B. Tuke: 1525: Copies.
• f. 133b Sir Brian Tuke, Secretary to Henry VIII: Letter to, from R. Pace: 1525: Copy, 17th cent.
• ff. 134-175 Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop successively of London and Durham; Master of the Rolls: Instructions, as envoy to Emperor Charles V: 1525: Copy, 17th cent.
• ff. 134-175 Sir Richard Wingfield, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster: Instructions to, as envoy to Charles V: 1525: Copy, 17th cent.
• ff. 175-195 Sir Richard Wingfield, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster: Letter to, from Henry VIII: 1525: Copy, 17th cent.
• ff. 175-195 Richard Sampson, Bishop of Chichester: Letter to, from Henry VIII: 1525: Copy, 17th cent.
• ff. 175-195 Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop successively of London and Durham; Master of the Rolls: Letter to, from Henry VIII: 1525: Copy, 17th cent.
• ff. 217-234 Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire: Letter to, from Cardinal Wolsey: 1523: Copy, 17th cent.
• ff. 234b-259b William Knight, Bishop of Bath and Wells: Instructions, as envoy to Margaret of Savoy: 1523: Copy, 17th cent.
• ff. 269b-344b passim Humfrey Wanley, librarian to the Earls of Oxford: Memoranda by: 1721.
• ff. 270*-345b passim Humfrey Wanley, librarian to the Earls of Oxford: Bookmarks inserted by: 1721.
• ff. 287b-291b John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford: Letter to, from Card. Wolsey: 1524: Copy, 17th cent.
• ff. 311b-323b Richard Pace, Secretary to Henry VIII; Dean of St Paul's: Instructions, as envoy to Venice: 1522: Copy, 17th cent.
• ff. 323b-336b Richard Pace, Secretary to Henry VIII; Dean of St Paul's: Instructions, as envoy to Switzerland: 1523: Copy, 17th cent.