Showing 2 results

Notes and extracts, [c. 1565]-1574, from manuscripts and archives, by several hands, the main one being that of Thomas Talbot, the antiquary, clerk of the records in the Tower, who according to personal memoranda on f. 75 was deprived of his living in April 1560 and apparently lived near Clitheroe, Lancashire, in 1563. The notes were compiled on loose bifolia which were later gathered haphazardly into four large quires stitched into two bifolia of a 14th century noted missal (ff. 1-2, 140-1); this arrangement results in wide separation of related matter on the two leaves of some bifolia.
The matter mostly relates to early English history: pedigrees of Anglo-Saxon, Norman and Angevin royal and noble lines, extracts from records in the Tower (e.g. patent rolls, ff. 26-8 verso), chronicles (e.g. Geoffrey Baker, f. 31 verso, Nicholas Trivet, f. 78 verso, Walter Hemingford, f. 109, William of Jumieges, f. 114, John Pyke, f. 118). Other items include a working list of records in the Tower in 1572 [William Bowyer was then Keeper] which gives the numbers of rolls or bundles in each class for each reign from John to Edward IV (ff. 101-2 and 139): a list of forty-nine evidently manuscript books and fragments, mostly connected with English history and by Northern writers, at least one in Anglo-Saxon (ff. 24, 29 verso) [cf. Talbot's list of MSS printed by A.G. Watson, The manuscripts of Henry Savile of Banke (London, 1969), pp. 78-81]; arms blazoned and in trick, including blazon of arms in 'Mr. Boldes Hall' in Salisbury (f. 6); part of a martyrology for England and Wales (f. 51 recto-verso); pedigree of Sir Ralph Eure compiled by Thomas Pickeringe, precentor of Whitby Abbey in 1458 (ff. 86-7), and, among contemporaries, of Elys ap Howell ap Day ap Ithel [of Tegeingl, co. Flint], in Welsh (f. 110 recto-verso), the Hagerth family, 1571 (ff. 120 verso-121) and the Doyley family (f. 132); an inquisition from Lancashire Quarter Sessions, 1568 (f. 3 recto-verso); poetry in English, apparently original and autograph (ff. 15, 23, 75, 119, 124 verso, 133) and in Latin (f. 111, Walther 3934); the order of burial of Sir Thomas Chaloner, 1565, with a list of personal expenses in London at that time (f. 52 recto-verso); f. 112 was first used to begin a draft deed to which Thomas Heneage, esq., was party, 1574 [Sir Thomas Heneage succeeded Bowyer as Keeper of the Queen's Records in the Tower].

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.