Hard-coded id of currently selected item: . JSON version of its record is available from Blacklight on e.g. ??
Metadata associated with selected item should appear here...
Add MS 74287
- Record Id:
- 040-001968470
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-001968468
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000001061.0x00011a
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100165152101.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Add MS 74287
- Title:
- Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, autograph draft of Discourse on War with Spain
- Scope & Content:
-
This manuscript is an autograph draft of Discourse on War with Spain, by Robert Devereux (b. 1565, d. 1601), 2nd earl of Essex.
Essex wrote the work on board his ship the Due Repulse, during his return voyage from Cadiz to England in early August 1596. The Discourse is written in the form of a letter addressed to an unnamed recipient, probably Sir Robert Cecil (b. 1563, d. 1612), secretary of state, and possibly intended for Queen Elizabeth I (r. 1558–1603). It gives an account and justification of Essex's Cadiz expedition, proposes various measures for dealing with Spain, and speculates on the response of King Philip II of Spain (r. 1596–1598) to the English capture of Calais and Lisbon.
The text of the Discourse incorporates deletions and additions, both marginal and interlinear, along with some subsequent revisions and corrections by Essex, and also includes at several points deletions and additions made in a distinctive reddish brown ink by an unidentified but contemporary annotator (e.g. ff. 1v, 3r, 5r, 9v, 10r-11v, 12v, 16r). The work is imperfect at the end.
The manuscript was formerly bound as ff. 154-169 of Add MS 74286.
Contents:
ff. 1r-16v: Robert Devereux, 2nd earl of Essex, Discourse on War with Spain, imperfect.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Additional Manuscripts
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-001968468
040-001968470 - Is part of:
- Add MS 74286-74287 : . ROBERT DEVEREUX, 2ND EARL OF ESSEX : forty-three letters to Queen Elizabeth I; 1590-1601
Add MS 74287 : Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, autograph draft of Discourse on War with Spain - Hierarchy:
- 032-001968468[0002]/040-001968470
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Add MS 74286-74287
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100165152101.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- English
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1596
- End Date:
- 1596
- Date Range:
- Aug 1596
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
- Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
Please request the physical items you need using the online collection item request form.
Digitised items can be viewed online by clicking the thumbnail image or digitised content link.
Readers who have registered or renewed their pass since 21 March 2024 can request physical items prior to visiting the Library by completing
this request form.
Please enter the Reference (shelfmark) above on the request form.If your Reader Pass was issued before this date, you will need to visit the Library in London or Yorkshire to renew it before you can request items online. All manuscripts and archives must be consulted at the Library in London.
This catalogue record may describe a collection of items which cannot all be requested together. Please use the hierarchy viewer to navigate to individual items. Some items may be in use or restricted for other reasons. If you would like to check the availability, contact our Reference Services team, quoting the Reference (shelfmark) above.
- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Material: Paper.
Watermark: a crossbow flanked with the letters 'GZ', all within a circle, similar to Briquet No. 755 (dated 1592) (ff. 1-5); a Latin cross within a pendent and the letters 'AI' beneath, similar in type to Briquet No. 5693 (dated 1566) (ff. 6-8); a crossbow countermarked with the letters 'GZ', similar to Briquet No. 730 (dated 1590) (ff. 6-8) (C. M. Briquet, Les Filigranes: Dictionnaire historique des marques du papier dès leur apparition vers 1282 jusqu'en 1600, A Facsimile of the 1907 edition with supplementary material, ed. by Allan Stevenson, 4 vols (Amsterdam: The Paper Publications Society, 1968), nos. 730, 755, and 5693).
Condition: Some text is lost from f. 11r-v owing to mutilation of the leaf.
Dimensions: 320 x 240 mm.
Foliation: ff. 16.
Script: Late 16th-century secretary hand, written by Robert Devereux, 2nd earl of Essex.
Binding: British Library in-house. Covers of blue modern cloth.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
England.
Provenance:
Robert Devereux (b. 1565, d. 1601), 2nd earl of Essex: wrote the manuscript, apparently onboard his ship the Due Repulse, in early August 1596.
Robert Devereux (b. 1591, d. 1646), 3rd earl of Essex and son of the former: bequeathed to him along with Add MS 74286 after his father's death in 1601.
William Jessop of Gray's Inn (b. c. 1603, d. 1675), government official, politician and MP: acted as attorney to the executors of the will of Robert Devereux, 3rd of Earl of Essex; owned the manuscript from 1646 until his death in 1675 and then bequeathed it to his only child Anne Jessop (d. 1681).
The Hulton (alias Hilton) family of Hulton Park, County Lancashire: inherited the manuscript through the marriage of Anne Jessop and William Hulton (b. 1625, d. 1694).
Sir Roger Hulton (b. 1891, d. 1956), 3rd baronet: deposited the manuscript on loan to the British Museum (as Loan MS 23), where it remained until it was removed by the Hulton Trust for public auction at Messrs. Sotheby's, 14 December 1992.
Purchased by the British Library at Messrs. Phillips, 11 June 1999, lot 250.
- Former Internal References:
- Loan MS 23
- Source of Acquisition:
- Formerly Loan MS 23.
- Publications:
-
L. W. Henry, 'The Earl of Essex as Strategist and Military Organizer', English Historical Review, 68 (1953), 363-93.
Peter Beal, Elizabeth & Essex: The Hulton Papers (London: Sotheby's Catalogue, 1992).
Paul E. J. Hammer, Elizabeth's Wars: War, Government and Society in Tudor England, 1544-1604 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), p. 284 n. 13.
New Texts and Discoveries in Early Modern English Manuscripts, ed. by Peter Beal (London: British Library, 2007), p. 28 n. 31.
Janet Dickinson, Court Politics and the Earl of Essex, 1589-1601 (London: Routledge, 2015), p. 134 n. 89.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)