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Harley MS 1578

Record Id:
040-002047408
Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
040-002047408
MDARK:
ark:/81055/vdc_100000000709.0x000055
LARK:
SLARK:
Format:
ISAD(G)
Reference (shelfmark):
Harley MS 1578
Title:
Political tracts
Scope & Content:

Composite volume of political tracts bound together. On impositions, commission of sewers, ship-money, liberty of freemen, right to property, and other subjects, with some ecclesiastical matters.

Contents:

ff. 1-123: Remonstrance of the House of Commons to King James I (ff. 1-16r); Argument in Parliament by W. H. [William Hackwell] against impositions, 1610 (ff. 16v-123).

ff. 124-135: Title ‘Of Islands ariseinge in the Sea; and of the Salt Shoare, compared with the Fresh’.

ff. 135-181: On impositions:

  • Argument of Sir John Davis in defence of impositions, dedicated to the King (ff. 136-162).
  • Remonstrance to the King after the verbal and written inhibition given by him to the House of Commons, not to proceed in examining his right to impose without parliamentary assent (ff. 163-180r).
  • Petition to the King by the House of Commons, in pursuance of their determination that he had no right to impose without parliamentary assent (f. 180v-181).

ff. 182-199: Arguments proving the King’s propriety in the sea lands and salt shore; and that no subject can hold any part of them without the King’s grant.

ff. 200-223: Cases concerning Commission of Sewers:

  • Law of the wreck, or wreck of the sea (ff. 201-204).
  • Of the inundation of the sea, and the flowing of waters (ff. 205-208r).
  • Cases on the commission of sewers, and the jurisdiction of them (ff. 208v-221r).
  • Certain notable observations (ff. 221v-223).

ff. 224-287: Arguments concerning ship-money by Judge Crooke, Judge Jones, and Judge Hatton, 14-28 April 1638.

ff. 288-312: Case of the City of London on prisage.

ff. 313-328: Parliamentary speeches on liberty of the subject and right to property:

  • Sir Dudley Diggs’ introduction at the Conference with the Lords (ff. 313-314r).
  • Argument by Edward Littleton concerning (ff. 314v-317).
  • Argument by John Selden (ff. 318-326).
  • Argument of Sir Edward Coke (ff. 327-328).

ff. 329-343: Cases of high-treason, felony, premunire, abjuration and exile, with the several trials, punishments, and proceedings, by Sir Francis Bacon.

ff. 344-366: Treatise of learned observations on ecclesiastical matters.

ff. 367-379: Lord Keeper Coventry’s speech, or delivery of his charge received from the King, to all the judges of Assize, by the rule of Star-Chamber, June 1635.

ff. 380-398: Discourse on the manner of passing bills in Parliament.

ff. 399-403: 'An Act for Abolishing Episcopacy' by General Assembly of Scotland, 12 August 1639.

ff. 404-407: Recantation of Alexander Lindsey, Bishop of Dunkell, and George Graham, Bishop of Orkney, 1639.

ff. 408-427: Short account of statutes and conditions of the Royal Courts of Records kept in and around London and Westminster, relating to English law.

Collection Area:
Western Manuscripts
Project / Collection:
Harley Collection
Hierarchy Tree:
[{ "id" : "040-002047408", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 1578: Political tracts" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
Hierarchy Record Ids:
032-002045828
040-002047408
Is part of:
Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

 

Harley MS 1578 : Political tracts
Hierarchy:
032-002045828[1579]/040-002047408
Container:
View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
Record Type (Level):
File
Extent:
1 volume
Digitised Content:
Languages:
English
Scripts:
Latin
Start Date:
1600
End Date:
1649
Date Range:
1st half of the 17th century
Era:
CE
Access:

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User Conditions:
Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Paper.

Dimensions: 325 x 230 mm.

Foliation: 427 folios.

Binding: British Museum in-house binding.

Custodial History:

The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (1661-1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (1689-1741), 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 (1694-1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (1715-1785), 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.

Former owner: Bulstrode Whitelocke (1605-1675); volume endorsed by Humfrey Wanley ‘Bought of Mrs Whitlock’ (Wright, Fontes Harleiani, p. 353).

Finding Aids:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), II (1808), no. 1578.

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. 353.

Publications:

Manuscript Pamphleteering in Early Stuart England (MPESE) (online) https://mpese.ac.uk/m/BL_Harley_MS_1578.html (Accessed 7 August 2023):

  • ff. 224r-227v: 'Argument Concerning Ship Money' by George Croke
  • ff. 248r-268x: 'Argument Concerning Ship Money' by Sir William Jones
  • ff. 269r-278v: 'Argument Concerning Ship Money' by Richard Hutton
  • ff. 365r-379: 'Charge to all the Judges in the Star Chamber' by Thomas Lord Coventry
  • ff. 380r-398r: 'The Course of Passing Bills in Parliament'
  • ff. 399r-407r: 'An Act for Abolishing Episcopacy' by General Assembly of Scotland.
Material Type:
Archives and Manuscripts
Legal Status:
Not Public Record(s)