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County administration papers mainly from Caernarfonshire and occasionally elsewhere in North Wales, comprising county officials' papers, [c. 1576]-1820, assessments and taxation records, 1583-1664, [18 cent.], militia papers, [1588x1595]-1683, and election papers, 1620-1831. Documents which concerned Sir William Maurice and Sir John Owen as Deputy Lieutenant and Vice-Admiral of North Wales have been included here since the main sphere of their duties lay within the county of Caernarfon.

Original and copied Civil War and Commonwealth papers which show the effects of major national events at county level. These include accounts of maintaining military troops and of war contributions in Ardudwy, [1644x1650?]; a royal pass for an army officer going to Ireland, 1645; an agreement for the surrender of Oxford, 1646; and a report of the Sub-Committee of the Commonwealth, 1654. Other subjects of interest are Sir John Owen 's governorship of Conwy Castle, notably his dispute with Archbishop John Williams and conditions stipulated for surrender of the fortress, [1645-1646]; the treatment of Royalists at castles in North Wales; the quartering of troops in Merionethshire; the sequestered lands of Sir John Owen in Caernarfonshire, the affected estate of William Owen and a demand of £1200 on the estate of the latter 's wife, Catherine Anwyl, 1646-1660; and information against Sir John Carter in respect of his political and religious activities [c. 1659].

Letters exchanged between members of the Maurice and Owen families of Clenennau and Brogyntyn, and other correspondence from friends or associates in Wales and England, together with a number of important official documents deriving from county administration in Caernarfonshire during the Tudor and Stuart periods, 1485, 1573-1698. Many of the early letters and papers, 1580-1622, relate to the joint deputy lieutenancy in Caernarfonshire of Sir William Maurice and Sir John Wynn, showing their preoccupation with the raising and organisation of militia troops for the defence of Caernarfonshire and for despatch to Ireland. Other topics include Sir William Maurice's position as deputy vice-admiral of North Wales and the protracted civil lawsuits in which he was engaged. The collection also constitutes an important historical source for the conduct of the Civil War in North Wales. Items from that period primarily concern Sir John Owen and his brother, Col. William Owen, Royalist commanders at Conwy and Harlech respectively, and their subsequent treatment under the Commonwealth and Restoration, 1643-1666. Many of the letters from 1678 to 1698 reveal the life of Sir Robert Owen, his debts, estate business, cultural interests and attachment to the Jacobite cause, together with contemporary political news. Apart from individuals already mentioned, prominent correspondents include the Privy Council of Elizabeth I, mostly through Henry Herbert, President of the Council in the Marches of Wales, 1587-1600; Sir Henry Johnes of Abermarlais, 1605-1616; Ralph, Lord Eure, 1607-1617; members of the Brynker family, 1603-1681; the Wynn family of Glyn and Sylfaen, 1625-1697; the Anwyl family of Park, 1636-1693; Charles I, Prince Rupert and Prince Maurice, 1642-1647; Lord Byron, 1644-1648; John Williams, Archbishop of York, 1645-1646; George Twisleton, 1649-1660; the Godolphin family of Abertanat, 1658-1698; John Gadbury, 1679-1688; and Edward Lhuyd, 1696-1697.

A transcript of Lord Byron's English Bards and Scotch Reviewers: A Satire (London, 1809) in the hand of Mary Jane Ormsby Gore whose signature, dated 10 March 1816, appears on f. i verso (ff. 1-58, rectos only); together with a further transcript, of Byron's 'The Lament of Tasso', in the hand of Mrs Frances Morres Gore, whose initials, dated 23 July 1823, appear on f. 63 verso (ff. 59-63 verso).
A Civil War letter, 9 July 1645, from John Byron, 1st Baron Byron of Rochdale, to Col. Sir John Owen of Clenennau has been tipped in on f. iii, probably because its author, like the poet, was a Byron.

A volume containing a holograph copy, finished 16 January 1649/50, of an incomplete translation into Welsh by Rowland Vaughan (c. 1590-1667), Caer Gai, Llanuwchllyn, Merionethshire, of Eikon Basilike, a work attributed to King Charles I and first published a few hours after the king's execution on 30 January 1648/9.
Preceding the translation is a dedicatory epistle to Col. Sir John Owen of Clenennau, Caernarvonshire, under whom Vaughan served during the Civil War (f. 1 recto-verso), three verses on the death of Charles I and four regarding the translation (f. 2). The surviving part of the translation begins towards the end of chapter 23 (the original pagination indicates the loss of 140 pages at the beginning) and continues to the end of the work (ff. 3 23 verso); it is followed by a table of contents (ff. 23 verso-24). Vaughan translated the text at Cilgellan, Merionethshire, since his own home, Caer Gai, had been destroyed by the Parliamentarian troops. The text of the dedicatory epistle is printed in Megan Ellis, 'Pethau nas Cyhoeddwyd, 2. Cyflwyniad Rowland Vaughan, Caergai, i'w gyfieithiad o Eikon Basilike', National Library of Wales Journal, 1 (1939-40), 141-144 (pp. 143-144). See also Eikon Basilike, or the King's Book, ed. by Edward Almack (London, 1904). A negative photostat copy of the manuscript was made, [?mid-20 cent.], prior to its repairing and binding at NLW and prior to its being foliated; this copy is now Brogyntyn MS II.56a.