Harley MS 165

Folio manuscript volume containing parliamentary papers of Sir Simonds D'Ewes, and a journal of the House of Commons, compiled and partly written by Sir Simonds D’Ewes.

Contents:

• f. 1: Copy of a letter of summons written by Mr Henry Elsinge to Mr Henry Starky of Darley, Cheshire, to appear before a committee of Lords, upon the commitment of the bill for establishing of the lands of John Starkey, in Ralfe Starkey, his eldest son.
• ff. 2-2*v: Fragment of an original letter written by Mr Fortescue, resident of the Duke of Lorraine, to Sir Simonds D’Ewes, touching his departure to the King's quarters. Mr Fortescue demands the Parliament's justice for the losses and injuries he has suffered. Received by Sr. Simonds D'Ewes, 24 October 1644.
• f. 3: The discharge of Lionel Cook Sr, Lionel Cooke Jr, Richard Grimston Jr, and Edward Parris, by Sir Simonds D'Ewes, High Sheriff of the County of Suffolk, for their intermeddling with the execution of the Office of Under Sheriff of Suffolk. 7 March 1639.
• ff. 4-4*v: Letter from John Crewe, a Member of the House of Commons, to Sir Simonds D'Ewes, giving him some parliamentary news. 1 May 1640.
• ff. 5-8: Certificates concerning the behaviour of people at the election of Sir Nathaniel Barnardiston and Sir Philip Parker, Knights of the Shire for the County of Suffolk. October 1640.
• ff. 9-10v: A speech of Sir Simonds D'Ewes at the framing of the triennial bill in the House of Commons, 30 December 1640.
• ff. 11-12: Form of the King’s writ, dated at York 24 September 1640, directed to Sr. Simonds D'Ewes High-Sheriff of Suffolk, for electing Knights & Burgesses to represent the said county & boroughs in Parliament, and the draught of a letter from Sir Simonds d’Ewes to the Mayor and bailiffs of Dunwich, concerning such election for that town.
• ff. 13-13v: Copies of indentures, concerning the election of members to serve for the county & boroughs in Parliament. 1640.
• ff. 14-15v: Names of the committee of the House of Commons appointed to peruse the journals and records of the House. 7 November 1640.
• ff. 16-17: Draught of an act for the annual holding of Parliaments .
• ff. 18-19v: A speech of Sir Simonds D'Ewes at the framing of the triennial Bill in the House of Commons, 19th January 1641.
• ff. 20-21: Copy of the petition of Nathaniel Wickins, servant to Mr. Prynne, to the House of Commons, praying relief from his long and illegal imprisonments, by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Read in the House of Commons, 3 December 1640.
• ff. 21-23: Copy of the petition of Calvin Bruen, mercer of Chester, to the House of Commons, concerning his usage by the High Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes in the province of York, for visiting Mr. Prynne, in his conveyance through Chester to the castle of Carnarvan.
• f. 24: Reference of the petition of the parishioners of Godalming, to another committee, by the Grand Committee for Religion. 15 March 1640.
• ff. 25-26: Mr Pymme’s speech in the House of Commons, April 16, 1640.
• ff. 26-26v: His Majesty’s speech at the dissolving of the Parliament, 5 May 1640.
• ff. 27-28v: Sir Benjamin Rudyard's speech in Parliament, 1640.
• ff. 29-30: Sir Simonds D'Ewes's table of contents to his journal of the Parliament held 1640-1641.
• ff. 31-34: Tables, showing how to find each days entries, for Mr John Moore’s journal of the Parliament, 1640-1641.
• ff. 35-41: Table, showing how to find each day’s entry, for Sir Simonds D’Ewes’s Journal of the proceedings in the House of Commons, 1641 and 1643, which follows. On foli0 36 is a short introduction to the journal in the hand of Sir Simonds D’Ewes.
• ff. 42-288: Journal of the Proceedings in the House of Commons, 1641 and 1643, in various hands. The entries are not sequential.