Graphical version

College of Arms

A Series

IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0377 A SERIES

Held at: College of Arms

Title: A Series

Date(s): late 15th century-18th century

Level of description: Collection (fonds)

Extent: 12 vols

Name of creator(s): Evesham | Alexander Benolt | Thomas Wriothesley | Sir | Thomas | Knight Cooke | Robert Milles | Thomas Glover | Robert Brooke | Ralph Dethick | William

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Manuscripts housed in the former press A, no longer extant. Louise Campbell (Campbell and Steer, A Catalogue of Manuscripts in the College of Arms, vol 1: Collections, 1988) speculates that at around the time the system of pressmarks was being rearranged (c 1675-1680) 'A' was used as 'an open classification into which new acquisitions of one or a few volumes could be fed'.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Volumes numbered 8, 9, 17, 18, 19, 20 (2 vols and an index), 22, 24, 25, and 31:
A. 8 - Extracts from public records relating to Yorkshire (late 16th - early 17th century)
A. 9 - Arms of Nobility (1585). Includes barons of England from the Conquest onwards, miscellaneous essays on heraldic and military subjects, copies of documents relating to heralds.
A. 17 - Armorial (late 15th - 16th century). Includes painted arms of knights created by Henry VII, and names of persons buried in Westminster Abbey and in churches mostly in the city of London.
A. 18 - Ordinary of Arms in colour (early 16th century). Workshop of Sir Thomas Wriothesley (died 1534).
A. 19 - Flores Historiarum, English version (copy c 1600 of chronicle formerly attributed to the imaginary Matthew of Westminster).
A. 20 [i] - Pedigrees (c 1590). By Robert Cooke (died 1593 when Clarenceux King of Arms), with additions by Richard Lee (died 1597 when Clarenceux King of Arms) and Ralph Brooke (died 1625 when York Herald).
A. 20 [ii] - Pedigrees of Barons (1592). By Robert Cooke (died 1593 when Clarenceux King of Arms).
A. 20 [iii] - Index. Indexes to volumes is series marked A and B, but do not correspond to present series A and B. Last 3 folios have indexes to College of Arms MSS Vincent 423 and 53.
A. 22 - printed book, Thomas Milles, The Catalogue of Honor (1610)
A. 24 - Pedigrees (c 1577-1619). Predominantly of peers and knights, with many of Welsh families. Partly in the hand of Robert Glover (died 1588 when Somerset Herald), continued in the hand of Ralph Brooke (died 1625 when York Herald).
A. 25 - Tenants in Chief (late 16th century). List of names of tenants in chief of the king, time of Henry III to Edward IV.
A. 31 - Funerals (1586-1590). Thought to be in the hand of William Dethick (died 1612 when Garter King of Arms).

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English, Latin

System of arrangement:

No apparent arrangement

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 the College of Arms is required.

Finding aids:

L Campbell and F Steer, A Catalogue of Manuscripts in the College of Arms: Collections, volume 1, 1988
Some listed in Francis Jones, Report on the Welsh Manuscripts contained in the muniments of the College of Arms, 1957
Some manuscripts described in A R Wagner, Heralds and Heraldry in the middle ages, Oxford, 1939, 2nd edition, 1956

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Various, mostly unknown although some created by an Officer of Arms can be seen to have passed through the hands of subsequent Officers before finally being deposited in the College library. A. 8: Henry Slingsby of Kippax, Yorkshire (1668); A. 20 [i]: Justinian Paget, official in the Court of King's Bench (13 February 1677 [1678]); A. 25: Justinian Paget (19 November 1677).

ALLIED MATERIALS

Related material:

The two volumes known collectively as Glover's Collections were donated to the College of Arms by Henry Slingsby of Kippax, Yorkshire, along with volume A. 8 and the original manuscript of Robert Glover's Visitation of Yorkshire, 1584-1585

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Archivist's note: Information extracted from Catalogue of Manuscripts in the College of Arms, 1988, by Lynsey Darby (archivist) in 2017