Royal MS 18 C XVII

'THE ARMORI OF NOBILLITI, wherin is conteyned the 5 Conquerers of England, the 7 Kinges that reigned at one tyme and the cause why ye Armes of England were so often altred . . . a brief Discourse of the right, title, clayme, disposicion and reigne, matche and issue, of all the kinges of this land : with the creations of all ye Dukes, Marquesis, Earle[s], Vicecountes and Barons', from William I to A. D. 1589. With an account of the institution of the Order of the Garter, 'with all the knightes names and their coates of armes that haue been ellected and installed since ye first institution therof'. The 'woorke was first gathered and collected by. Robert Cooke als. Clarencieulx King of Armes . . . corrected and amended by Robert Glover als. Somersett Herauld . . . and lastly augmented with Knightes of the Garter by Thomas Lant als. Portcullis Pursuivant of Armes, ano doi 1589'. A short account and the arms, imaginary or otherwise, in tincture, are given, and the arrangement is as follows.-(a) The 5 Conquerors, viz. Brutus, Julius Caesar, Hengest, Sweyn, King of Denmark, and William, Duke of Normandy. f. 2;-(b) The 7 Kings, i. e. one king of each of the heptarchic kingdoms. f. 3;-(c) The various arms of England from Edward the Confessor to Henry V. f. 5;-(d) Arms and drawings of the Sovereigns from William I to Elizabeth, with arms of the chief peerages, &c., created by each. f. 7. The names and arms of the Knights of the Garter are put at the end of each reign from f. 84 onward, the last knight given being Sir Francis Knollys (installed in 1593). Moule in his Bibliotheca Heraldica, 1822, p. 35, followed by the writer of the article 'Thomas Lant' in Dict. Nat. Biogr., records this work under Lant's name as being Sloane (i.e. Add.) MS. 4959. That MS., however, is an inferior and imperfect copy, without drawings, omitting the Knights of the Garter and ending with Henry IV.

Paper; ff. 170. Folio. 14 in. x 81/2 in. A.D. 1589-1593. Neatly written, and the arms well drawn and coloured. There are coloured drawings of each sovereign from William I to Mary, the leaf containing that of Qu. Elizabeth having been 'cutte out by reason of ye inconsiderate vnseemlynes of ye picture drawen for her Maiestye by the grauer and paynter' (see note on f. 158 b). Not in the old catalogues.