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Harley MS 6285
- Record Id:
- 040-002052133
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002052133
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000899.0x000280
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 6285
- Title:
-
George Puttenham, A defence of Queen Elizabeth I's actions in executing Mary Queen of Scots
- Scope & Content:
-
This justification of the execution of Mary Queen of Scots (8 Feb 1587) here appears with neither title nor author. It begins, "There hath not happened sithence the memorie of man nor peradventure in any age beyond so straunge a case on very behalf to be considered as this of that unfortunate Lady the late Scottishe Queene."
The author is George Puttenham (1529-1590/91), writer and literary critic. The attribution comes from two other copies of this tract in the British Library. Robert Beale, Clerk of the Privy Council, attributed the authorship of "A discourse touching the Just Execution of the Scottish Queen" to Puttenham (Add MS 48027, ff. 451r-476r). The same attribution is made for "An apology or true defence of her Majesties honor and true renowne" (Harley MS 831). The tract was obviously written as part of the response to the execution, so dates to 1587-1588. The date of this copy is much less certain, and from the hand is probably late 16th century but could be early 17th century.
Twelve other copies of this tract are known, four of which (including a mid-17th century copy) are in the British Library and three in the Bodleian. They are listed in Beal, Catalogue of English Literary Manuscripts, http://www.celm-ms.org.uk/authors/puttenhamgeorge.html [accessed 21 Feb 2019]
ff. 1r-12v: The tract.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002052133", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 6285: George Puttenham, A defence of Queen Elizabeth I's actions in executing Mary Queen of Scots" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002052133 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 6285 : George Puttenham, A defence of Queen Elizabeth I's actions in executing Mary Queen of Scots - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[6289]/040-002052133
- 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:
- 1587
- End Date:
- 1625
- Date Range:
- 1587-c 1620
- Era:
- CE
- Place of Origin:
- England.
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Paper.
Dimensions: 310mm x 210mm (writing area: 290mm x 190mm).
Foliation: ff. 12 (plus 3 modern flyleaves and 1 unfoliated contemporary leaf at the front; 1contemporary unfoliated leaf and 40 modern flyleaves at the back).
Script: late 16th or early 17 century secretary hand.
Binding: British Museum (rebound 20 Sep 1966). Earlier covers, post-1600. brown leather with gold tooling and stamping, have been pasted to the insides of the current upper and lower covers.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
England.
Provenance:
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.
- Information About Copies:
-
‘A Justification of Queene Elizabeth in relation to the Affaire of Mary Queene of Scottes’, in Accounts and Papers relating to Mary Queen of Scots, ed. by Allan J. Crosby and John Bruce, Camden Society, [Old Series] 93 (1867), 67–134. Edited from a manuscript then held by Sir Thomas Winnington, now held by Robert S. Pirie, New York, collated with British Library, Cotton MS Caligula D I, ff. 37r-84v, and is mid-17th copy, Harley MS 4647, ff. 143v-163v].
"George Puttenham, Justification (extracts) [c. 1587]", ed. by Catherine Lisak in Breaking the Silence on the Succession: A Sourcebook of Manuscripts and Rare Elizabethan Texts (c. 1587-1603), ed. by Jean-Christophe Mayer, 37-68, Astraea Texts no 1 (Montpellier; France: Universite Paul-Valery Montpellier, 2003). From Bodleian MS Additional c 83.
- Publications:
-
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, ed. by Robert Nares and others, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808–12), no. 6285,
Peter Beal, "George Puttenham", Catalogue of English Literary Manuscripts, 1450-1700, online http://www.celm-ms.org.uk/authors/puttenhamgeorge.html [accessed 21 Feb 2019]
Steven W. May, "Puttenham, George (1529–1590/91), writer and literary critic." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. January 03, 2008. Oxford University Press,. Date of access 20 Feb. 2019,
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Names:
- Elizabeth I, Queen of England and Ireland, 1533-1603,
see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000121446237
Mary, Queen of Scots, 1542-1587,
see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000121035913,
see also http://viaf.org/viaf/104722318
Puttenham, George, writer and literary critic, 1529-1590/91 - Related Archive Descriptions:
- Harley MS 831