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Harley MS 286
- Record Id:
- 040-002046114
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002046114
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000596.0x00024f
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100163585393.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 286
- Title:
- State papers and letters relating to England, 1559-1648
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
ff. 1r-326r: A large collection of state papers and letters relating to England, dated to 1559-1648.
The collection also contains a printed leaf with a list of jewelry (f. 3r) dated to 22 October 1561, beginning: ‘Ye shall enquier for a fanne of gold of a verie faire fassion with figures of divers beastes, having on either side .iii. great Diamonds and a great table Rubie’, ending: ‘for two Marchauntes of Antwarpe. Who so stayeth any of these Iewels and the bringer, that knowledge may be had of the rest, he shall have .L. crownes for his paynes or more, if reason requires’.
Texts in cipher are on ff. 80r-87r, featuring on f. 86v: ‘These I conceave to have been Mr Secreatire Walsinghams Characters or Cyphers’.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002046114", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 286: State papers and letters relating to England, 1559-1648" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002046114 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 286 : State papers and letters relating to England, 1559-1648 - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[0285]/040-002046114
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- 1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100163585393.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Cipher
English - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1559
- End Date:
- 1648
- Date Range:
- 1559-1648
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Paper.
Dimensions: approximately 300-335 x 210 mm.
Foliation: ff. 81* + 81** + 286* + 297* + 326 ( + 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 5 at the end); ff. 80-81** are blank paper leaves with paper fragments pasted onto them; ; each leaf has been mounted onto a paper guard; 1 unfoliated paper pastedown on f. [348]verso (notes on loan for exhibition); red wax seals, most but not all are covered with paper, on ff. 17r, 51v, 54v, 59v, 61v, 69v, 73v, 79v (2x), 90v, 92v, 96v, 99v, 98v, 99v, 104r, 105v, 123v, 126v, 133v, 139v, 148v [with a printed image of the seal on top the covering paper], 154v (2x), 162v, 164v, 166v, 168v, 167v, 178v, 186v (2x), 196v, 198v, 202v, 206v, 216v, 218v, 220v, 231v, 237v, 241v, 259v, 261v, 263v ,267v, 275v, 283v, 295r (2x), 309v, 310v, 312v, 314v, 315r, 317v, 319r, 323v, 325v.
Script: 16th-century script.
Binding: British Museum in-house;
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
England.
Provenance:
John Dee (b. 1527, d. 1609), mathematician, astrologer, and antiquary: probably wrote items 19, 91-92 and 152 [the items are as listed in the Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts (1808), I, pp. 130-38] (see Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (1966), p. 321; but not listed under his entry in Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), pp. 126-28).
Ralph Starkey (d. 1628) of Darley Hall in Oulton, owned and partially written by him: wrote items 1, 16, 162-63, and his hand also occurs on items 5, 30-31, 33, 48, 75, 89, 154-5, 157, and 160; ff. 286-86* (item 160) contain the warrant for the seizure of his state papers [the items are as listed in the Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts (1808), I, pp. 130-38] (see Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (1966), p. 323); acquired from him in 1628 by Sir Simonds D’Ewes (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 314).
Sir Simonds D’Ewes (b. 1602, d. 1650), 1st baronet, diarist, antiquary, and friend of Sir Robert Cotton (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 131): f. 318v (item 181) is a letter from D’Ewes; ff. 308r-309r (item 175), 311-13 (items 177-78), 316 (item 180), 322-25 (items 185-86) are letters to D’Ewes, and ff. 295r (item 167), 306r (item 173), 315r (item 179), 319-21 (items 182-84) concern his or his family’s affairs. His hand is on ff. [iv]recto (item 1), 84 (item 53), 86 (item 54), 105 (item 64), 124 (item 75), 142 (item 82), 144-45 (items 83-84), 248 (item 139), 258 (item 145), 262 (item 147), 269v (item 150), 284v (item 158), 293v-294r (items 165-66), and 298 (item 170) [the items are as listed in the Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts (1808), I, pp. 130-38]; recorded in his catalogues as Int. n144, X.50, and B.248 [only items 26, 31, 146, and 148] (see Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (1966), p. 323).
Sir Simonds D’Ewes (d. 1722), 3rd baronet and grandson of the former: inherited and later sold the D’Ewes library to Robert Harley on 4 October 1705 for £450.
The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts.
Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta Cavendish, née Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d. 1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library.
- Publications:
-
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), I (1808), pp. 130-38.
Andrew G. Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (London: British Museum, 1966), p. 323 [X.50].
Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), p. 377.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)