Creations, Titles and Arms ~ of Peers of England, from William I to James I, 1066 to 1602. [England, early seventeenth century].
Manuscript on paper, folio (305 × 195 mm), ff. 65, [2], (last leaf blank), f. [1] (title) watermarked GR and probably an eighteenth-century substitution, lettered to style. Besides the title, the manuscript probably in a single secretary hand with calligraphic headings and line openers, with some italics. Some light spotting and browning throughout, uncut edges a little fragile in places, with a few longer closed tears without loss. Eighteenth-century calf. Expertly rebacked to style.
This manuscript provides a chronology of English history in the form of a list of ennoblements (’Creations’) made in all the reigns from William the Conqueror to Queen Elizabeth I. It was probably written up in the final years of Elizabeth’s reign, with some small later additions at the end, adding three ennoblements made in 1597-8. Each name in the roll is accompanied by a short paragraph, sometimes with some additional biographical detail, followed by an abbreviated account of their arms, usually in italic script. This follows the pattern of numerous other manuscript lists of creations, some of which are illustrated with coats of arms. In this unillustrated version each device is instead described in the abbreviated technical terms essential for all students of heraldry and such knowledge formed the background of historical knowledge for all educated gentlemen of the Elizabethan age.
At the head of each reign a large title in italic script additionally gives a heraldic description of each monarch’s arms. Henry VII’s, for example are described as ‘Fraunce et Angli’ quaterly / Dragon, volante de ore / Grayhounde de Ar’ collere d’or’. The creations themselves provide a detailed list of the most powerful members of society in every reign. They are especially interesting in the Tudor period, when creations of title provided the background of powerbroking between the court and families rising in influence through patronage and economic success. For Henry VIII’s reign we find, among others, the ennoblement of Thomas Boleyn or ‘Bullen’ (father of Anne Boleyn); Thomas Cromwell; Arthur, illegitimate son of Edward IV, and William Parr (brother of Catherine Parr). For the reign of Edward VI we find, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (brother of Jane Seymour) and William Parr (now as Earl of Essex), and for Elizabeth, Robert Dudley and William Cecil.
Two final completed leaves contain a long note on Richard, Earl of Arundel, a list of ‘The nobilite of Englande accordinge to their Creaciones’ [a list of Elizabethan nobility]
Provenance: Sotheran’s, Catalogue of Ancient and Modern Books, 5 (1852), number 348, 12 shillings; Sir Charles George Young (1795–1869) ex dono T. R. Weeton; John Paul Rylands FSA, 1874; Harry Rylands [1847-1922]; J. Lambarde, 1928; Cecil Humphery Smith; Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Research, Canterbury.