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Harley MS 7395

Record Id:

040-002053249

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002053249

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000935.0x00039d

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 7395

Title:

Transcripts of documents and letters relating to Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots

Scope & Content:

This manuscript contains a large number of 17th-century transcripts of documents and letters relating to Elizabeth I, Queen of England, and Mary, Queen of Scots, particularly the latter's execution in 1587. These contents originally seem to have been divided over five separate volumes, and bound together at the Harleian Library.

Contents:

ff. 2r-13v: Instructions by King James VI to his ambassador in England, 1583, entitled: 'Instructions to our Right trustie and welbeloved Coll. William Steuard our Ambassador directed by us with advice of our privy council to our dearest Cousine and Sister the Qween of England at Hallyrood house the day of 1583 in the 16 yeare of oure Reigne'.

ff. 14r-16v: 'A Memoriall of Certaine Special matters Recommended by her Majestie unto Corronell Steward and Mr Colvill Ambassadors from the King of Scots'; dated May 1583.

ff. 18r-37r: 'Instructions to the Right Honorable and our thrusty Counsellor Robert Commendator of Dunfermling and one of our Sovereain Lord's Privy Council, Ambassador presently directed towards the Queen's Majestie of England at Kelso, October 5 1569'.

ff. 38r-47v: A discourse about the troubles between Mary Queen of Scots and her nobility, entitled: 'Like marginal notes of a Discourse, containing a perfect account given to the most Vertuous and excellent Princess Mary Queen of Scots and her nobility, by John Bishop of Ross Ambassador for Her Highness towards the Queen of England of his whole Charge and Procedeedings during the time of his Embassage, from his entry into England in September 1568 to November 26 1573'.

ff. 48r-54r: 'Here follows the Contents of the Discourse of the Proceedings of the Queen of Scots's Affairs in England since the April 11. 1571 to March 26. 1572'.

ff. 56r-93v: Documents relating to Mary, Queen of Scots, beginning: 'Certaine Heads to be considered off by her Majesty and weighed according to the importance they Carry with them'; dated May 1583; and including 'A Brief Discourse of the Negociations of Thomas Randolph Esquire with the King and Council of Scotland, being sent thither by Her Majestie the 6th of January 1580'.

ff. 95r-136v: Documents relating to the troubles of Mary, Queen of Scots, beginning: 'A Discourse of the Late Trouble happen'd in Scotland between the Queen's Majestie and His King her Husband, and certain of the Nobility'.

ff. 138r-174v: Documents relating to the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots.

ff. 175r-192v: William Davison's account of the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, entitled: 'A true Narration of the Execution of Mary Qween of Scotland within the Castle of Fotheringhaie the eight of ffebruary Anno Domini One thousand five hundred and Eightie and Six'.

ff. 194r-218r: Copies of letters concerning Mary, Queen of Scots, including the negotiations of George Seton, 7th Lord Seton, for her marriage.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002053249", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 7395: Transcripts of documents and letters relating to Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002053249

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 7395 : Transcripts of documents and letters relating to Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[7405]/040-002053249

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

French

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1600

End Date:

1699

Date Range:

17th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Paper.

Dimensions: 295 x 175 mm (text space: 250 x 130 mm).

Foliation: ff. 248 (+ 1 unfoliated blank paper flyleaf at the beginning + 3 at the end); 1 unfoliated blank paper leaf between f. 174 and f. 175; paper pastedowns with the Harleian shelfmark '7395' and title inscriptions in pencil on ff. 1r, 17, 55r, and 193r.

Script: Gothic cursive.

Binding: British Museum in-house: brown mottled letter with the initials 'M. B.' [Museum Brittanicum] gold stamped on the upper cover. Marbled endpapers.

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.

Publications:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), III (1808), pp. 529-30.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Places:

England