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Lansdowne MS 813
- Record Id:
- 040-002077657
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002077657
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000001257.0x000366
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100152158932.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Lansdowne MS 813
- Title:
- Lord Henry Howard (later Earl of Northampton), 'A dutiful defence of the lawful regiment of women'
- Scope & Content:
-
Lord Henry Howard (later Earl of Northampton), 'A dutifull defence of the lawfull Regiment of Weomen devided into three books. The first conteyneth reasons and examples grownded on the lawe of nature. The second reasons and examples grownded on the Civile lawes. The third reasons and examples grounded on the sacred lawes of god, with an awnswer to all false and frivolous obiections which have bene most unjustlie countenaunced with deceitfull coulores forced oute of their lawes in disgrace of their approved and sufficient aucthorytie'.
Evidence internal to the dedication to Queen Elizabeth (ff. 2r-27r) places the final version to 1590. There he states that it was some thirteen years ago that he was encouraged to write it 'by an honorable privy Counsellor' (f. 2r) in response to (though he does not directly name) John Knox's First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women (1558), although over the years the work came to respond to other works on Queenship. The privy councillor may have been William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, or alternatively Thomas Radcliffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex (Caney, 'Patronage, Public Spheres and the Problem of Female Rule', pp. 54-55).
A presentation copy, given by Howard to either Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon (1526-1596), or to George Hunsdon, 2nd Baron Hunsdon (1548-1603): the heraldic display on f. 1v of the arms of the Barons Hunsdon includes the insignia of the Garter, to which the 1st Baron was nominated in 1561 and the 2nd Baron in 1597. Above and below the arms are Latin verses in Howard's own hand. The title-page (f. 1r) includes four lines in Latin from Daniel 13:57 in Howard's hand. The dedication to the Queen is a scribe's italic script, with two lines of verse added in Howard's own hand at f. 16v and his signing off (as 'Your Maiesties most loyall and humble subject and servant till death' at f. 27r.). The rest of the volume is in secretary hand, and has been identified as in the hand of the same amanuensis as wrote the dedicatory epistle. Books 2 and 3 have separate title-pages.
One of a number of presentation copies, of which seven survive, including copies given to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burleigh, and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex. For these, early drafts and later partial copies and extracts, see the online Catalogue of Early English Manuscripts, 1550-1700, ed. Beal, HoH 68-HoH 87, http://www.celm-ms.org.uk/authors/howardhenryearlofnorthampton.html [accessed 1 Oct 2019] and Caney, 'Patronage, Public Spheres and the Problem of Female Rule', pp. 88-89, 130-31, 162-66.
Contents:
f. 1r: Title page.
f. 1v: Frontispiece, with arms of the Barons Hunsdons and verse in Latin in the hand of Lord Henry Howard.
ff. 2r-27r: Dedicatory epistle: 'To the Queenes Most Excellent Maiestie'.
ff. 28r-124v: Book 1.
ff. 125r-155v: Book 2: 'The second booke conteyning a dutifull defence of the lawfull Regiment of Weomen by Warrante of the Civile lawes and the practise of the Romayne Empire which aucthorises those lawes ...'.
ff. 156r-231v: Book 3: 'The third booke conteyning a dutifull defence of the lawfull Regiment of Weomen by warraunt of the sacred lawes of god ...'.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Lansdowne Collection
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002077657", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Lansdowne MS 813: Lord Henry Howard (later Earl of Northampton), 'A dutiful defence of the lawful regiment of women'" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002060013
040-002077657 - Is part of:
- Lansdowne MS 1-1245 : Lansdowne Manuscripts
Lansdowne MS 813 : Lord Henry Howard (later Earl of Northampton), 'A dutiful defence of the lawful regiment of women' - Hierarchy:
- 032-002060013[0645]/040-002077657
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Lansdowne MS 1-1245
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- 1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100152158932.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- English
Greek, Ancient
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1590
- End Date:
- 1603
- Date Range:
- 1590-1603
- Era:
- CE
- Place of Origin:
- England.
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Paper.
Dimensions: 320mm x 220mm (writing area: 240mm x 140mm).
Foliation: 231 ff (+ 1 modern and 4 contemporary flyleaves at the front and 1 modern and 1 contemporary flyleaf at the back).
Scripts: Late 16th-century italic and secretary hands.
Binding: British Museum 1970.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
England.
Provenance:
A presentation copy, given by Lord Henry Howard to either Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon (1526-1596), or to George Hunsdon, 2nd Baron Hunsdon (1548-1603): the heraldic display on f. 1v of the arms of the Barons Hunsdon includes the insignia of the Garter, to which the 1st Baron was nominated in 1561 and the 2nd Baron in 1597.
William Petty, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne (1737-1805).
Purchased by the British Museum in 1807 by parliamentary grant.
- Former External References:
- No. 858
- Publications:
-
A Catalogue of the Lansdowne Manuscripts in the British Museum, ed. by Henry Ellis and Francis Douce (London: Taylor, 1820).
Catalogue of Early English Manuscripts, 1550-1700, ed. by Peter Beal, HoH 68-HoH 87, http://www.celm-ms.org.uk/authors/howardhenryearlofnorthampton.html [accessed 1 Oct 2019]
Anna Christine Caney, 'Patronage, Public Spheres and the Problem of Female Rule: Henry Howard and the Politics of Writing in Sixteenth Century England' (Florida State University PhD dissertation, 2013).
Dennis Moore, 'Dutifully Defending Elizabeth: Lord Henry Howard and the Question of Queenship' in Political Power, Rhetoric and Renaissance Women, ed. by Carole Levin and Patricia A. Sullivan (New York: State University of New York Press, 1995), pp. 113-38.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)