Graphical version

College of Arms

B Series


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0377 B SERIES

Held at: College of Arms

Title: B Series

Date(s): c early 13th century-early 17th century

Level of description: Collection

Extent: 31 items (37 manuscripts, some bound together)

Name of creator(s): Bowyer | William | died 1569-1570 | public servant and antiquary
Bowyer | Robert | died 1622 | public servant
Povey | Sir | Thomas | Knight | 1613-c 1702, colonial entrepreneur and administrator

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Collection donated to the College by Thomas Povey, colonial entrepreneur and administrator, 1669. Louise Campbell, in A Catalogue of Manuscripts in the College of Arms: Collections, vol 1 (1988), shows that at least six manuscripts, and probably another three, were written by William Bowyer, Keeper of the Records in the Tower of London from 1563, and that more manuscripts were added to the collection by his son, Robert Bowyer, Keeper of the Records in the Tower of London from 1604.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Armorials: B. 18-23, B. 28-29. Particularly significant medieval rolls of arms are in B. 29, B. 22 and B. 23.
B. 29 contains three medieval painted rolls of arms: Povey's Roll (time of Edward II); the Heralds' Roll (c 1270-1280), the surviving portion (195 shields) of a larger original (a 15th copy in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, contains 697 shields); Talbot banners (c 1442). Both Povey's Roll and the Heralds' Roll were painted on vellum but the shields have been cut out and mounted on paper.
B. 22 contains three mid to late medieval rolls of arms: Bowyer's Book (c 1440); Collingborne's Book (late 15th century), and Basynge's Book (c 1395).
B. 23 is an early 15th-century German roll of arms.
B. 19 includes the Mandeville Roll, c 1460.
B. 20 consists of 16th century copies of originals including an enlarged version of the c 1312 Parliamentary Roll and the 1308 first Dunstable Roll. For descriptions of the rolls in B. 22 and B. 29, see Wagner, A Catalogue of English Medieval Rolls of Arms (1950).

Original records of the Court of the Exchequer: B. 13, B. 25-26, B. 32-33. B. 33, B. 25 and B. 26 are accounts relating to payments out of the Exchequer of pensions and fees, B. 33 in the time of King Philip and Queen Mary II and B. 25-26 in 1603. B. 13 and B. 32 are lists of crown leases for the years 1558 to 1570. Some extraneous material has been bound into B. 32 after it left official custody.

Extracts from records: B. 1-12, B. 14-17, B. 24, B.30-31, B. 34 (late 15th century to early 17th century). Extracts from medieval records including Parliament rolls, patent rolls, charter rolls, close rolls, summonses to Parliament, lists of escheats, lists of grantees of lands by the Crown and tenants-in-chief, foreign rolls, and the red book of the Exchequer.

Original documents: B. 27, grant of subsidy for the archdiocese of York (1601); B. 35, location index of monastic muniments, St Augustine's Canterbury (15th century); and B. 36, the Roger Cartulary (15th-16th century)

B. 20bis, an early 16th century historical and heraldic commonplace book mostly in the hand of Sir Richard St George (died 1635 as Clarenceux King of Arms), does not form part of Povey's donation and in 1700 was in the possession of Sir Henry St George (Clarenceux King of Arms, later Garter King of Arms).

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: Latin; English

System of arrangement:

B. 9 and B.10 bound together; B. 16, B. 26, B. 30 and B. 31 bound together; B. 32, B. 33 and B. 34 bound together

Conditions governing access:

By appointment with the archivist. A letter of introduction and an item of photographic ID are required and a daily research fee of £10 is payable.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Permission of the Chapter of College of Arms is required. A reproduction fee may be payable.

Finding aids:

L Campbell and F Steer, A Catalogue of Manuscripts in the College of Arms: Collections, Volume 1 (London, 1988). The present listing on AIM25 is an abridged version of this more detailed published volume br/>See also A R Wagner, A Catalogue of English Medieval Rolls of Arms (Oxford, 1950) for rolls of arms in M. 1bis, M. 3, M. 9bis, M.10, M. 14bis, M. 16 and M. 16bis, and the other copies and versions of these which exist. See also his corrections to CEMRA, published in Aspilogia II, Harleian Society vols 113-114 (1967).

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Sir Thomas Povey, 1669

ALLIED MATERIALS

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Archivist's note: The present listing on AIM25 is an abridged version created by Lynsey Darby, archivist, of the more detailed published volume by L Campbell and F Steer, A Catalogue of Manuscripts in the College of Arms: Collections, Volume 1 (London, 1988).

Rules or conventions: NCA rules for construction of personal, place and corporate names (1997) and ISAD(G), second edition.

Date(s) of descriptions: 8 March 2017 from Catalogue published 1988


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Medieval history | Historical periods
Parliamentary history | History
Heraldry

Personal names

Corporate names
Court of Exchequer

Places