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Royal MS 18 D III
- Record Id:
- 040-002107555
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002105724
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000338.0x000317
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100165176929.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Royal MS 18 D III
- Title:
- The Burghley Atlas
- Scope & Content:
-
An atlas of England and Wales, made by Christopher Saxton (1542x4–1610/11), map maker, under the patronage of Thomas Seckford (1515/16–1587), lawyer and administrator. Owned by William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (1520/21-1598), royal minister, whose notes and annotations are found throughout. It is known as the Burghley Atlas after him.
Containing printed and coloured maps from drawings by Saxton, dated between 1576 and 1577. Engraved by Remigius Hogenbergius, Augustinus Ryther, Comelius Hogius, Leonaert Terwoort, Nicholas Reynoldus, Franciscus Scatterus and possibly others. With the royal arms and those of Seckford. The atlas also contains lists of Justices of Peace for each county, c. 1580-1592.
Please note: f. 21r is bound in the volume back-to-front. It is reproduced here in the correct original order; f. 75r is marked in the manuscript as f. 76r; there is no f. 87. The images of the maps span across each verso and the facing recto.
f. 1r: Brief genealogical notes of Lampton, Tempest, Bukston and Hedley, in a 17th century hand.
f. 2r: Alphabetical contents page, by place.
f. 2v: Historical and topographical notes by William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, from ‘Anno Mundi 2390, when Brutus came to Britain’.
f. 3r: Number of parsonages and vicarages, extracted from Queen Elizabeth I’s records of First Fruits and Tenths in the Exchequer. With notes by Burghley.
f. 3v: Number and names of parishes within the city, liberty and suburbs of London.
f. 4r: Posts from London, with Burghley’s calculation of their yearly costs to Holyhead, Tavistock and Bristol.
f. 4v: Distances from various cities and towns to London. Copied from the third book of the 1587 edition of Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles, where it appeared for the first time.
f. 6r: Coloured map of the counties of England, 1579.
f. 7r: List of Justices of Peace for Cornwall.
f. 8r: Coloured map of Cornwall, 1576.
f. 10r: Coloured manuscript map of the coasts of Devon and Dorset from Dartmouth to Weymouth. Pen and ink. With a description of Ottermouth Haven.
f. 11r: List of Justices of Peace for Devon.
f. 12r: Coloured map of Devon, 1575. With marginal notes on dangerous places of descent, the store of ordnance in each town, and the ordnance held by the Lieutenants.
f. 12v: Division of Devon for military purposes, including a list of officers’ names. With a record of stages for posts between London and Plymouth, 1595.
f. 13r: List of Justices of Peace for Dorset.
f. 14r: Coloured map of Dorset, 1575. With marginal notes on dangerous places of descent.
f. 16r: Coloured manuscript map of Falmouth Haven. Pen and ink.
f. 17r: Coloured manuscript map of the Isle of Wight. Pen and ink.
f. 19r: List of Justices of Peace for Southampton. With a note of the divisions and Hundreds in the county.
f. 20r: Coloured map of Southampton, 1575.
f. 20v: List of companies for the relief of the Isle of Wight. With names of captains.
f. 21r: Endorsement by Burghley: ‘Ryver of stowre betwixt sandwych and fordwych’. With an account of ‘Milton, in Saxon Midleton’ [Miltonby-Sittingbourne] in the time of King Alfred and Edward the Confessor. Also a note of post stages between the court and Portsmouth, 1595.
f. 22r: Coloured manuscript map of the North-East corner of Kent. Pen and ink.
f. 23r: List of Justices of Peace for Kent, Sussex and Surrey. With a list of governors for the liberties of London, and a list of Justices of Peace for Middlesex and ‘Shreves there without the liberties’.
f. 24r: Coloured map of Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Middlesex, 1575.
f. 24v: List of residents of Sussex, in alphabetical order of their seats. With a list of Justices of Peace for Middlesex.
f. 25r: List of Justices of Peace for Middlesex.
f. 26r: Coloured map of Somerset, 1575.
f. 27r: List of Justices of Peace for Wiltshire.
f. 28r: Coloured map of Wiltshire, 1576.
f. 29r: List of Justices of Peace for Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire.
f. 30r: Coloured map of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire, 1574.
f. 32r: Manuscript map of Berkshire. Pen and ink.
f. 33r: List of Justices of Peace for Hertfordshire.
f. 34r: Coloured map of Hertfordshire. 1577. With annotations in Burghley’s hand.
f. 35r: List of Justices of Peace for Essex. With 18 Latin rhyming verses titled ‘The title of the lawles Courte in the Honnour of Rayghle’, beginning ‘Curia de Domino Rege, dicta sine lege’. [1588]. Also a list of names of the 11 walks and walkers of the forest.
f. 36r: Coloured map of Essex, 1576. With annotations in Burghley’s hand.
f. 37r: List of Justices of Peace for Suffolk.
f. 38r: Coloured map of Suffolk, 1575.
f. 39r: List of Justices of Peace for Norfolk.
f. 40r: Coloured map of Norfolk, 1574.
f. 41r: List of Justices of Peace for Northampton, Bedford, Cambridge, Huntingdon and Rutland.
f. 42r: Coloured map of Northampton, Bedford, Cambridge, Huntingdon and Rutland, 1576.
f. 42v: Brief pedigrees of Colvill of Newton, Pinchbeck of Pickworth, and Bendish of Leverington. With a list of other names.
f. 43r: List of the Hundreds of Northamptonshire.
f. 44r: Manuscript map of Northamptonshire. Pen and ink.
f. 45r: List of Knights of the Bath made at the coronation of James I, 25 July 1603. With the names of ten other Knights [Bachelor] made at Whitehall, 22 July 1603.
f. 46r: List of Justices of Peace for Staffordshire.
f. 47r: Coloured map of Staffordshire, 1577.
f. 48r: List of Justices of Peace for Warwickshire and Leicestershire.
f. 49r: Coloured map of Warwickshire and Leicestershire, 1576.
f. 50r-50v: List of towns within every Sessions of Lincolnshire.
f. 51r: List of trained and untrained men within every Sessions of Lincolnshire.
f. 52r: List of Justices of Peace for Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire.
f. 53r: Coloured map of Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, 1576.
f. 55r: Coloured map of Derbyshire, 1577.
f. 55v: List of Justices of Peace for Derbyshire.
f. 57r: Coloured map of Worcestershire, 1577.
f. 57v: List of Justices of Peace for Worcestershire.
f. 58r: Coloured manuscript map of Worcestershire. Pen and ink. With a marginal list of residents and annotations in Burghley’s hand.
f. 60r: List of Justices of Peace for Yorkshire.
f. 61r: Coloured map of Yorkshire, 1577.
f. 63r: Coloured manuscript map of the Humber river, and the seacoast from Hull to Scarborough. Pen and ink. With particulars of the tide, and a list of ‘Havens and Crickes’ on the North side of the Humber, pertaining to the Custom house of Hull.
f. 65r: Coloured manuscript map of Scarborough Castle. Pen and ink.
f. 66r: List of parks and castles in Yorkshire and Worcestershire. With a list of hamlets in the North Riding belonging to Middleham.
f. 67r: List of Justices of Peace for Durham.
f. 68r: Coloured map of Durham, 1576.
f. 70r: Manuscript map of Durham. Pen and ink. With annotations in Burghley’s hand.
f. 71r: List of Justices of Peace for Northumberland.
f. 72r: Coloured map of Northumberland. [No date]. With marginal notes in Burghley’s hand, listing the names of the principal Lords and Lordships in the Middle March.
f. 73r: List of the names and residences of the principal gentlemen in the ‘Est wardenrie of England’, the ‘middle marches of England’, the ‘Scottish Est marches’, and the ‘Scottish west marches’.
f. 74r: List of Justices of Peace for Westmorland and Cumberland. With a list of gentlemen of the Middle Marches.
f. 75*r: Coloured manuscript map of Shropshire, indicating only the principal towns. Pen and ink.
f. 75r: Coloured map of Westmorland and Cumberland, 1576. With marginal annotations in Burghley’s hand.
f. 76r-76v: Coloured manuscript map of the borders of Scotland and the West Marches of England. Pen and ink, December 1590.
ff. 77r-78v: Return drawn up by Edward Aglionby (1520–1591?), member of parliament. Concerning the division of the charge of the West borders of England and Scotland; a list of places headed ‘The governaunce of Scotland most offensive to England lyeth in two wordes in Annerdale and Lyddisdale’; a list of English borderers and their dwellings; and a list of officers in the West wardenry of England.
f. 80r: Coloured map of Lancashire, 1577.
f. 80v: List of Justices of Peace for Lancashire. Dated 14-15 November 1592. Signed ‘Ed. Phytton’, possibly Edward Fitton (1548/9–1606), administrator.
f. 82r: Coloured manuscript map of Lancashire. Pen and ink. With names of gentry and their houses.
f. 83r: List of Justices of Peace for Chester.
f. 84r: Coloured map of Chester, 1577.
f. 84v: List of posts towards Ireland in 1579, 1580 and 1581. With rates of wages.
f. 85r: List of Justices of Peace for Shropshire.
f. 86r: Coloured map of Shropshire. 1577.
f. 88r-88v: Manuscript drawing of the ‘Forresta de Morfe’, with neighbouring towns. Pen and ink.
f. 90r: Coloured manuscript map of Shrewsbury, Shropshire. Pen and ink. With annotations in Burghley’s hand.
f. 92r: Coloured manuscript map of Clun, Shropshire. Pen and ink.
f. 93r: Coloured manuscript map of Oswestry, Shropshire. Pen and ink.
f. 94r: List of Justices of Peace for Hereford. With a brief pedigree of Vaughan.
f. 95r: Coloured map of Hereford, 1577.
f. 96r: List of Justices of Peace for Gloucestershire.
f. 97r: Coloured map of Gloucestershire, 1577.
f. 99r-99v: Coloured map of Wales [no date]. Titled ‘Cambriae Typus auctore Humfredo Lhuydo [d. 1568] Denbigiense Cambrobritanno’.
f. 100r: Coloured map of Monmouthshire, 1577.
f. 101v: List of Justices of Peace for Monmouthshire. With a list of landowners, in Burghley’s hand.
f. 103r: Brief list of castles, parks and forests in Monmouthshire.
f. 104r: List of Justices of Peace for Glamorganshire.
f. 105r: Coloured map of Glamorganshire, 1578.
f. 107r: Coloured map of Radnorshire, Brecknockshire, Cardiganshire and Carmarthenshire, 1578.
f. 107v: List of Justices of Peace for Radnorshire, Brecknockshire, Cardiganshire and Carmarthenshire.
f. 108r: List of castles, parks and forests in Carmarthenshire, Radnorshire and Brecknockshire.
f. 109r: List of Justices of Peace for Pembrokeshire.
f. 110r: Coloured map of Pembrokeshire, 1578.
f. 112r: Coloured map of Montgomeryshire and Merionethshire, 1578.
f. 112v List of Justices of Peace for Montgomeryshire and Merionethshire.
f. 113r Brief list of castles, parks and forests in Montgomeryshire.
f. 114r List of Justices of Peace for Denbighshire and Flintshire.
f. 115r Coloured map of Denbighshire and Flintshire. 1577.
f. 117r Coloured map of Anglesey and Caernarvonshire. 1577.
f. 118r List of Justices of Peace for Anglesey and Caernarvonshire. With a brief list of castles, parks and forests in Caernarvonshire.
ff. 119r-120r Coloured manuscript map of the Haven of Jersey. Pen and ink.
f. 122r Map of Scotland. Titled ‘La vraye et entiere description du tresancien royaume pays et isles d’escosse’. An enlargement of the map which accompanies John Leslie’s De origine, moribus, et rebus gestis Scotorum libri decem (Rome, 1578). With a dedication to King James VI of Scotland, Rouen, 26 August 1586. French. Also a brief description of Scotland, also in French.
f. 123r Table of distances from the Thames to St. Nicholas, to Vologda and Moscow.
f. 124r Coloured manuscript map of the coasts of Norway, Lapland and North West Russia. Pen and ink. By William Borough (bap. 1536, d. 1598), explorer and naval administrator.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Royal Collection
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002105724
040-002107555 - Is part of:
- Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X : Royal Manuscripts
Royal MS 18 D III : The Burghley Atlas - Hierarchy:
- 032-002105724[1706]/040-002107555
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100165176929.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- English
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1574
- End Date:
- 1592
- Date Range:
- 1574-1592
- Era:
- CE
- Place of Origin:
- England.
- Access:
- Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to consult this manuscript.
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Paper, parchment.
Dimensions: 420 x 290 mm.
Foliation: ff. 124.
Binding: Post-1600. British Museum.
Script: Secretary, italic.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
England. Made by Christopher Saxton (1542x1544–1610/11), map maker, under the patronage of Thomas Seckford (1515/16–1587), lawyer and administrator.
Provenance:
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (1520/21-1598), royal minister: former owner and annotator.
Presented to the British Museum by George II, King of Great Britain and Ireland (reigned 1727–1760), as part of the Old Royal Library, in 1757.
- Publications:
-
George F. Warner and Julius P. Gilson, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Old Royal and King’s Collections, 4 vols (London: British Museum, 1921), II, pp. 310-11.
Peter Barber, 'England II: Monarchs, Ministers, and Maps, 1550-1625', in Monarchs, Ministers and Maps, ed. David Buisseret (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992), pp. 57-98.
G. de Boer and R. A. Skelton, ‘The earliest English chart with soundings’, Imago Mundi, vol. 23 (1969), pp. 9-16.
G. de Boer and A. P. Carr, ‘Early Maps as Historical Evidence for Coastal Change’, The Geographical Journal, vol. 135 (1869), pp. 17-39.
Ifor M. Evans and Heather Lawrence, Christopher Saxton: Elizabethan Map-Maker (Wakefield: Wakefield Historical Publications, 1979).
Richard Gough, British Topography. Or, An Historical Account of what Has Been Done for Illustrating the Topographical Antiquities of Great Britain and Ireland, 2 vols (1780), I, pp. 88-89.
Raphael Holinshed, Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 3 vols (London, 1587).
John Leslie, De origine, moribus, et rebus gestis Scotorum libri decem (Rome, 1578).
William Shannon and Michael Winstanley, ‘Lord Burghley's Map of Lancashire Revisited, c.1576–1590’, Imago Mundi, vol. 15 (2007), pp. 24-42.
W. A. Shaw, The Knights of England, 2 vols (London: Sherratt and Hughes, 1906).
- Exhibitions:
- Picturing places, (online), 27 April 2017-
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)