Manuscript, on parchment, in a single hand, of a version of Peter of Ickham's chronicle of English history. The narrative in this copy ends with 1301; this is followed by several brief entries in the same hand for events dated between 1287 and 1305
Description:
In Latin., Scribal explicit: "hic pennam fixi penitet me si male dixi.", Ownership inscription on front paper flyleaf: "Brudenell de Deen d[omi]nusque de Stonton.", Some marginal annotations, particularly in lower margins. Some of these have been trimmed; three leaves containing lower margin annotations have been left untrimmed and folded back, apparently in an effort to preserve the annotations (13r; 22r; 59r)., Two leaves bound in at the end of the volume contain passages from the Doctrinale of Alexander de Villa Dei. Ownership inscription on 1r in a later, (early seventeenth-century?) hand: "Mistresse Leucey Brudenell.", Layout: single columns of 34 lines., Script: rounded gothic script., Decoration: Rubricated., and Binding: seventeenth-century full calf, with the arms of the Brudenell family in gilt on the covers.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut, New Haven., and Great Britain
Subject (Name):
Peter, of Ickham, active 1290.
Subject (Topic):
Manuscripts, Medieval, Latin prose literature, Medieval and modern, Great Britain, History, and Kings and rulers
This manuscript, a unique specimen of dramatic composition by Queen Elizabeth, represents the only surviving piece of stage property from the Elizabethan theater. It was passed from player to player during the great Theobalds Entertainment of 1591, and it is the only surviving original manuscript of any part of that Entertainment., Elizabeth was entertained by her Lord High Treasurer, Lord Burghley, at his Hertfordshire house, Theobalds, between 10 and 20 May 1591. In a contemporary manuscript text of the entertainments at Theobalds (British Library, Egerton MS. 2623), there is preserved a fanciful speech by a "Hermit," delivered to the Queen on Burghley's behalf, in which, pleading for royal permission to retire from public life, he requests her to restore to him his "cell," namely, Theobalds. The present document was prepared as an answer to Burghley's request and grants the "Hermit," her "woorthely belooved Coounceloour," the right to retire to his "cave," his "own houus," with "full & pacifik possession of all & every part thearof," and to be henceforth free from public duties if he so wishes., The text of the "charter" was printed in John Strype's Annals of the Reformation (1709), where it is described as having been "drawn up by the queen herself in a facetious style, to cheer the said treasurer." A highly characteristic example of Elizabethan wit, it has the form of a formal charter, certified and signed by Lord Chancellor Hatton, who is known to have taken part in a number of court entertainments. It bears the Great Seal and was no doubt read out and presented to Burghley, or to an actor representing him as a hermit. Instead of giving a simple answer to Burghley's request to retire from public life, Elizabeth evidently chose to enter into the spirit of the Hermit's request and frame her reply accordingly having this charter drawn up by one of her chancery scribes and passed by Hatton under the Great Seal, as part of a prearranged performance for the amusement of the court on the first day of her visit to Theobalds., The entertainment at Theobalds are described by E.K. Chambers in The Elizabethan Stage (II:247-248), Sir Walter Greg in the Review of English Studies (I[1924]:452-454), John Payne Collier in his History of English Dramatic Poetry (I:276), Alexander Dyce in The Works of George Peele (III:161-169), and John Nichols in his account of The Progress and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth (III:74)., and Purchased 1985.
Manuscript on paper of a collection of material copied primarily by William Camden, antiquary and historian (1551-1623), from documents, 14th-16th centuries, that were in the Tower of London and in the College of Arms. Some selections are from official records, others are from private papers that were deposited in the Office of Arms. The manuscript is composed of four parts, the first two of which are laid in.
Description:
In English and Latin., Watermarks: unidentified design, Part I; Briquet Lion 10555 and similar to Briquet Pot 12736, Part II; unidentified grapes and Briquet Lion 10555, Parts III, IV., Script: Written primarily by William Camden in several styles of cursive., Edges of some leaves crumbled and torn, with loss of text., and Binding: Date? Broken limp vellum case.