Unbound Manuscripts: Numerical Schedules

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0377 UNBOUND MANUSCRIPTS: NUMERICAL SCHEDULES
Held at	: College of Arms   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/about-us/archive-and-conservation-departments ›
Full title	: Unbound Manuscripts: Numerical Schedules
Date(s)	: c1286-20th century
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 3562 items
Name of creator(s)	: College of Arms Vincent | Augustine | c 1584-1626 Glover | Robert | 1544-1588 Brooke | John Charles | 1748-1794

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

In early catalogues these manuscripts were listed without reference numbers but with descriptions which allow them to be identified as comprising part of what is now the Numerical Schedules collection. In around the 19th century they were housed in large wooden boxes / trunks, and listed according to the number of the box in which they were stored. In around 1960 Mrs V Lamb was employed to sort the unbound manuscripts found throughout the College, both those in trunks and those unboxed in various rooms, and she redesignated them as 'Numerical Schedules'. The first 12 schedules correspond to box numbers. Schedules 13-34 were created by Mrs Lamb from the other manuscripts found loose in the Muniment Room and other parts of the College. However, in literature referencing these manuscripts the 'box' numbers often persist, particularly as Sir Anthony Wagner's Catalogue of English Medieval Rolls of Arms, which describes some of these manuscripts, was published before this sorting took place

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Unbound manuscripts, mostly patents of arms and pedigree rolls, arranged into 34 series:
Schedule 1 - Grants of Arms and Supporters, 1561-1815 (26 items)
Schedule 2 - Miscellaneous papers, 1509-1904, and some undated. Includes funeral papers and Sir William Dugdale's papers, including on disputes between Officers of Arms and herald painters. Also includes: proclamations issued during the Scottish Campaign, 1547-48, by William Lord Grey of Wilton; creations of Knights of the Bath; account of wedding journey of Princess Margaret of Scotland, 1503; papers in the case of the College of Arms v Warburton; papers relating to abuses in the College of Arms, and proposals for reform, 18th century (474 items)
Schedule 3 - Manuscripts from the collection of Augustine Vincent (c1584-1626, Windsor Herald), including pedigrees, c 1286-17th century. Includes roll of the Lords of Clare, 1456, described by Wagner in A Catalogue of English Medieval Rolls of Arms (108 items)
Schedule 4 - Commissions and deputations: commissions to heralds to undertake visitations, and from heralds to others to act as their deputies. Also includes licences to arms painters, bonds, appointments of and protections of watermen, and disputes and agreements between the College of Arms and the Dean and Chapter of Westminster. c1530-1850 (90 items)
Schedule 5 - Rolls of Arms, c14th century - c18th century. Includes: the 'Fife Roll', a 14th-century copy of a lost original created in the time of Edward I; two 16th-century copies of versions of the 'Heralds' Roll' (c1270-80), and a 16th century copy of the Dering Roll (c1275) (31 items)
Schedule 6 - Rolls of processions, nobility, Parliament, etc. Includes: coronation and funeral processions; Lant's Roll of the Officers of Arms; Parliament rolls time of Henry VIII; c15th-century chronicle of the lordship of Bourne and Deeping, Lincolnshire, and of the monastery of Bourne (51 items)
Schedule 7 - Miscellaneous papers, c16th century-1927. Including: Earl Marshal's Warrants (Scotland), 1806-1815; tickets for Coronations of George III and George IV; manuscript of Segar's Baronage (93 items)
Schedule 8 - Pedigree rolls, c 1410-19th century. Includes: royal pedigree from William I to Edward IV; a group of 26 rolls by John Charles Brooke, Somerset Herald, c 1775-1794; royal genealogy, 1526, and a biblical genealogy, 1410 (90 items)
Schedule 9 - Pedigree rolls, c 14th century-1843, with some miscellaneous items. Includes royal genealogy from Henry III to Edward IV; genealogy of the Popes, Emperors and Kings of England and France, 12 July 1439; pedigree of Christ from Adam, c 14th century. Also includes plans of St Paul's Cathedral for the General Thanksgiving, 1789, and a coloured drawing of the Hanoverian Electorial Bonnet (108 items)
Schedule 10 - Papers of the Court of Chivalry [Curia Militaris], 1634-40 and 1687-1702 (1085 items)
Schedule 11 - Grants of Arms, 1494-1815 (52 items)
Schedule 12 - Pedigree rolls and some related material, c1290-19th century. Including: royal pedigree from King Harold to Edward I, c1290, 2 patents of baronetcy and the compotus roll of the Lord of Dacre, 29-30 Henry VIII (189 items)
Schedule 13 - Pedigree rolls, 1509-19th century (56 items)
Schedule 14 - Pedigree rolls, c 1620-20th century (66 items)
Schedule 15 - Pedigree rolls, c 16th century-1940 (51 items)
Schedule 16 - Pedigree rolls, c 1553-19th century (18 items)
Schedule 17 - Pedigree rolls, c 1604-1843 (23 items)
Schedule 18 - Pedigree rolls, c 1390-19th century (majority 17th century-19th century). Includes the 'Evesham World Map' (c 1390) and pedigree of Legh by Robert Glover, Somerset Herald, c 1570-1580 (30 items)
Schedule 19 - Pedigree rolls and some miscellaneous, including grants of arms and supporters, and patents of baronetcy. 1595-20th century (59 items)
Schedule 20 - Royal pedigree rolls, c 14th century - c 17th century (28 items)
Schedule 21 - Miscellaneous rolls, 1642-1920. Including: charts of the Baronetage, illustrating the work of William Playfair; plans of Westminster Abbey for the funeral of William Gladstone; plans of elements of the College of Arms, 1871 (56 items)
Schedule 22 - Grants of Arms and Supporters, 1723-1950 (87 items)
Schedule 23 - Warrants for changes of name, 1775-1914 (26 items)
Schedule 24 - Pedigree rolls, c 1623-20th century (53 items)
Schedule 25 - Pedigree rolls, 1714-1918 (18 items)
Schedule 26 - Pedigree rolls, c 17th century-1950 (95 items)
Schedule 27 - Pedigree rolls, c late 17th century-20th century (49 items)
Schedule 28 - Pedigree rolls, c 16th century-c early 20th century (49 items)
Schedule 29 - Pedigree rolls, c 18th century-c 20th century (131 items)
Schedule 30 - Pedigree rolls and some miscellaneous, including Bath Banners of John Gambier, First Baron Gambier, and Sir Robert Le Poer Trench, and illustrations of Garter Stall Plates of King Frederick VI of Denmark, King George IV, and Frederic Augustus, King of Saxony. 1692-c 1952 (36 items)
Schedule 31 - Grants of Arms, exemplifications of arms following changes of name, certificates of matriculation in the Office of Lord Lyon, etc, 1803-1938 (53 items)
Schedule 32 - Grants of Arms and Supporters, exemplifications of arms following changes of name, and a pedigree roll, 1802-1904 (37 items)
Schedule 33 - Grants of Arms, exemplifications of arms following changes of name, certificates of matriculation in the Office of Lord Lyon, etc 1797-1886 (42 items)
Schedule 34 - Grants of Arms, exemplifications of arms following changes of name, certificates of matriculation in the Office of Lord Lyon, etc 1808-1916 (39 items)

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
Latin, English, French

System of arrangement:

Mrs V Lamb, the compiler of the c 1960 typed lists, writes: "The present arrangement attempts as far as possible to preserve the Schedules 1-12 as they appear in the earlier list. The bundles appear to have been contained in boxes, and these boxes are often given in references. Unfortunately the boxes had disappeared before this present list was begun, and the bundles were loose on the shelves in the Muniment Room. It has been possible to identify some of the contents of these boxes and where this has proved possible the box numbers have been noted in this list and on each box. A blue cross has been put on each box containing Schedules 1-12 for easier identification. Schedules 13-23 consist of documents which were loose on the shelves, and not capable of identification by Box numbers. All of these papers were found in the Muniment Room. Schedules 24-34 consist of documents, mostly pedigree rolls, which have come to light in other parts of the College, principally in the East and West attics. All have been numbered on the wrapping for easier identification and are indexed separately."

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:

Some rolls of arms are described in A R Wagner, 'A Catalogue of English Mediaeval Rolls of Arms' (Oxford, 1950), although the box numbers listed have since been substituted for Schedule numbers. Almost all Court of Chivalry papers are described in Richard P Cust and Andrew J Hopper (eds), Cases in the High Court of Chivalry 1634-1640 (London, The Publications of the Harleian Society, New Series Volume 18, 2006)

Archival Information

Archival history:

Some individual manuscripts, particularly pedigree rolls, are listed in catalogues of the late 17th and 18th centuries, without reference to their provenance. Items in Schedule 3 are endorsed as having been bequeathed in 1684, in a contemporary hand. Schedule 10 (papers of the Court of Chivalry) were probably acquired through Dr Robert Plot (1641-1696) who was appointed Registrar of the Court of Chivalry by the Earl Marshal and in 1690 given a small room in the College of Arms in which to store his records (see Anthony R Wagner, Records and Collections of the College of Arms). Many draft pedigrees in the collection would have been created by an Officer of Arms in the course of his work; some would have been given to an Officer by a client of his genealogical practice for use in research into the family history. Instances of the acquisition of a few individual manuscripts are recorded in Chapter minutes

Immediate source of acquisition:

Schedule 3: bequeathed to the College of Arms by [Raphe] Ralph Sheldon of Beoley, Worcestershire, in 1684, with the rest of the Vincent Collection (see separate entry).

Allied Materials

Related material:

Vincent Collection

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Information in this Catalogue taken from that created by Mrs V Lamb, c 1960, the descriptions enhanced by Lynsey Darby, archivist, in 2015-2017.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:

2015-2017