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Harley MS 288
- Record Id:
- 040-002046116
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002046116
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000596.0x000251
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100163607439.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 288
- Title:
-
A collection of letters and papers relating to France, and matters between France and England from the time of Edward III to Charles I
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
ff. 1r-289r: A large collection of letters and papers relating to France, and matters between France and England from the time of Edward III to Charles I. The letters are mostly original, dating from 1505-1639. The collection features several letters that have been partially written in cypher (ff. 194r 200r-200v, 204r-205r, 210r, 214r-214v, 220r-221r, 222r-222v, 224r, 227r-227v). Ends with a drawing of a ‘strange sight’ (perhaps a meteorite) in the South-Eastern night sky in July 1570 connected to affairs in France: ‘July 1570 betweene 10 and 11 of the clocke at neigte which durid 6 minutes, this strai[n]ge seighte was [sene] seene in the south est, after which coment the most cruell murthers be ganne in frauns’.
Decoration:
A pencil drawing of a burning object in the night sky, featuring clouds, stars and a crescent moon with an anthropomorphic face (f. 289r).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002046116", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 288: A collection of letters and papers relating to France, and matters between France and England from the time of Edward III to Charles I" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002046116 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 288 : A collection of letters and papers relating to France, and matters between France and England from the time of Edward III to Charles I - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[0287]/040-002046116
- 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_100163607439.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- English
French
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- -9999
- End Date:
- -9999
- Date Range:
- 1505-1639
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Paper.
Dimensions: 290-345 x 220-225 mm.
Foliation: ff. 6* + 8* + 54* + 240* + 242* + 289 (+ 7 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 6 at the end); 1 unfoliated paper pastedown on f. [i]recto (bibliographical notes) and one on f. [290v] (exhibition notes); each leaf has been mounted onto a paper guard; red wax seals (most but not all are covered with white paper) on ff. 53v, 82v, 87v [badly damaged], 89v, 90v, 95v, 99v, 113v, 153v, 155v, 166v (2x), 167v, 171v, 173v (4x), 209v (2x), 211v [badly damaged]; the remains of removed or dissolved seals throughout the manuscript.
Script: 16th- and 17th-century script.
Binding: British Museum in-house.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
England.
Provenance:
Ralph Starkey (d. 1628) of Darley Hall in Oulton, owned and partially written by him: wrote item 131; his hand is on items 1-2, 4-5, 7, 14, 72-73, 77, 120, 122, and 126 [the items are as listed in the Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts (1808), I, pp. 142-49] (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): his hand is on ff. 136r (item 71), 154r (item 79), 174 (item 91), 253r (item 129), and 286r (item 133); item 135 on f. 288r concerns Richard D’Ewes; recorded in his catalogues as X. 51, and B. 249 (item 72 only) [the items are as listed in the Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts (1808), I, pp. 142-49] (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. 142-49.
Andrew G. Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (London: British Museum, 1966), p. 323 [X.51].
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)