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45-432: Robert Bruce Cotton organized his library in a room 26 feet (7.9 m) long by six feet wide filled with bookpresses , each with the bust of a figure from classical antiquity on top. Counterclockwise, these were Julius Caesar , Augustus , Cleopatra , Faustina , Tiberius , Caligula , Claudius , Nero , Galba , Otho , Vitellius , Vespasian , Titus , and Domitian . (Domitian had only one shelf, perhaps because it

90-428: A west gallery with an organ that predates the chapel. In the chancel is a monument with the white marble semi-reclining figure of Robert Shirley, Viscount Tamworth, who died in 1714. The west tower is of three stages divided by string courses and has a ring of eight bells. George I Oldfield of Nottingham cast the fourth, fifth and sixth bells in 1669 and Immanuel Halton of South Wingfield , Derbyshire cast

135-461: A considerable capacity to charm, which he displayed both before and after marrying. He spent several years, and possibly more than a decade, living with the widowed Lady Hunsdon , perhaps as her lover during an overt separation from his wife. Eventually, the Cottons patched things up. Nonetheless, a reputation as something of a playboy attached to Sir Robert until the end of his life. The Cotton library

180-514: A daughter of Francis Shirley of Staunton Harold , Leicestershire. The Cotton family originated at the manor of Cotton, Cheshire , from where they took their surname. They were prominent in Shropshire by the 16th century with centres of power at Alkington and Norton in Hales where a member of the family, Rowland Cotton , gave one of the first architectural commissions to Inigo Jones . The family

225-578: A list of thirteen works, and the locations of those volumes today, that had been lent to Seldon by Sir Robert Cotton. After another hiccup with the government, Sir Robert Cotton was forced to close the library by Charles I because the content within the library was believed to be harmful to the interests of the Royalists in 1629. In September 1630 Sir Robert Cotton and Sir Thomas Cotton, together, petitioned for renewed access to their library. One year later, in 1631, Sir Robert Cotton died without knowing what

270-451: A year after the death of Cotton's father, and helped to shore up his financial position, as Elizabeth was an heiress. Their subsequent marital history suggests that perhaps these factors outweighed personal compatibility. By Elizabeth, Cotton had a son: Sir Thomas Cotton, 2nd Baronet (1594–1662). Sir Thomas in turn married Margaret Howard, by whom he had a son, Sir John Cotton (born 1621). Sir Robert had an extensive circle of friends and

315-651: A young man, Cotton may have contracted a (possibly irregular) marriage with Frideswide Faunt, daughter of William Faunt of Foston, Leicestershire , and sister of the Jesuit theologian Arthur Faunt . The marriage was recorded by William Burton , Frideswide's nephew, but is not mentioned in Cotton's own papers. In about 1593 (the precise date is not known), he married Elizabeth Brocas, the daughter of William Brocas of Theddingworth in Leicestershire. This marriage took place about

360-633: Is found a pagan Norse charm, invoking the god Thor . fos. 25r–97r. Symeon of Durham , Liber de exordio atque procursu Dunelmensis ecclesiae , including Bede's Death Song fos. 99r–99v, Pseudo-Bede, De Quindecim Signis fos. 99v–102r, Pseudo-Augustine, De Antichristo quomodo et ubi nasci debeat (1) The first and earliest part is the Cotton-Corpus Legendary , a Worcester manuscript (1050 x 1075) which includes Byrhtferth 's Life of Oswald , his Life of Ecgwine and Lantfred of Winchester 's Translatio et Miracula S. Swithuni . (2) In

405-688: Is to have done ye best things in ye worst times And hoped them in the most callamitous. The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance. Sir Robert did not manage to have the chapel completed: the Commonwealth authorities imprisoned him in the Tower of London and he died there in 1656. After the Restoration of the Monarchy Richard Shepheard completed the chapel in 1665 for the young Sir Seymour Shirley, 5th Baronet (1647–67). The exterior of

450-560: Is understood to have had a residence in Chester : [e]arly in the 17th century, this Priory, or so much of as remained, was occupied as a dwelling-house by Sir Robert Cotton, the antiquary... there, according to tradition, he had been visited by Ben Jonson and also in London ; his wife and son remained in the country. During his father's absence Thomas Cotton studied to eventually receive his BA on 24 October 1616 from Broadgates Hall, Oxford —

495-546: Is unusual for being built during the Commonwealth era and a notable example of Gothic survival architecture . Two inscriptions commemorate Sir Robert's efforts. One is in the chancel and reads Sir Robert Shirley Baronet Founder of this church anno domini 1653 on whose soul God hath mercy. The other is over the entrance and reads When all things sacred were throughout ye nation Either demollisht or profaned Sir Robert Shirley Barronet founded this Church whose singular praise it

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540-755: The Codex Alexandrinus , a 5th-century manuscript of the Greek Bible. Cotton's house near the Palace of Westminster became the meeting-place of the Society of Antiquaries of London and of all the eminent scholars of England. The library was eventually donated to the nation by Cotton's grandson and is now housed in the British Library . The physical arrangement of Cotton's library continues to be reflected in citations to manuscripts formerly in his possession. His library

585-588: The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , and Thomas Cotton maintained his ability to "protect," "improve" and "maximize the profits" received during the civil war, as he had earlier on in his life as a result of his father's absence. Upon the death of Sir Robert Cotton on 13 May 1662, Sir Thomas Cotton obeyed the will of his father and passed down the library to his eldest son from his first marriage, Sir John Cotton. On 12 September 1702, Sir John Cotton died. Prior to his death, Sir John Cotton had arranged for

630-489: The River Trent which it joins about 4 miles (6.4 km) to the north. In the parish the brook is dammed to form a pair of small lakes. Nikolaus Pevsner (later Sir Nikolaus) described the view westwards across the lakes to Staunton Harold Hall and Holy Trinity parish church as "unsurpassed in the country – certainly as far as Englishness is concerned" . Downstream from Staunton Harold, just over 1 mile (1.6 km) over

675-446: The Cotton library to be bought for the nation of England through acts of Parliament. If the library had not been sold to the nation, despite the wish of his grandfather Sir Robert Cotton, the library would have been taken over and inherited by Sir John Cotton's two grandsons, who, unlike the rest of the college-educated Cotton family, had been illiterate and put the library at risk of getting broken up and sold to different divisions within

720-456: The Essex antiquarian John Barkham arranged to send him Roman relics. Cotton's antiquarian studies influenced many people of his time and he was often sought after by other antiquarians for ideas. Below is a letter written by fellow antiquarian Roger Dodsworth to Cotton: Honble- Sr The last recorded meeting of the Society of Antiquaries was in 1607. Cotton, however, continued collecting. As

765-731: The Society and petitioned for a permanent academy for antiquarian studies, suggesting that Cotton's collection of manuscripts be combined with the Queen's library to form a national library. The plan did not receive royal approval. The discussion of the Society in the summer of 1600 focused on ancient burial customs, probably the result of a recent visit to Hadrian's Wall by Camden and Cotton during which they collected Roman coins, monuments and fossils. The trip appears to have initiated Cotton's interest in Roman artefacts. The antiquarians Reginald Bainbridge and Lord William Howard offered Cotton Roman stones while

810-585: The boundary in Derbyshire, the brook is dammed again to form Staunton Harold Reservoir . Most of the reservoir is in the Derbyshire parish of Melbourne , but part of the upper reach of one arm of the reservoir is in Staunton Harold parish. Staunton Harold is mentioned as Stantone in the ancient hundred of Goscote in the Domesday Book of 1086. In 1346 when the wapentake was also called Goscote hundred, it

855-400: The chapel is substantially buttressed , battlemented and pinnacled . The nave has a clerestory with square-headed Perpendicular Gothic windows. It is flanked by north and south aisles with windows of an earlier 14th century style and arcades of three bays . Although the architecture is Gothic the furnishings are Jacobean, including extensive panelling, box pews , the pulpit and

900-479: The family. Staunton Harold Staunton Harold is a civil parish in North West Leicestershire about 3 miles (5 km) north of Ashby-de-la-Zouch . The parish is on the county boundary with Derbyshire and about 9 miles (14 km) south of Derby . The 2011 Census (including Lount) recorded the parish's population as 141. A brook flows from the south through the parish, heading for

945-410: The future held for his library, but wrote in his will that the library be left to his son Thomas Cotton and that it be passed down accordingly. After the death of his father, Sir Thomas Cotton married his second wife, Alice Constable, in 1640 with whom they had their son Robert Cotton in 1644. Sir Thomas Cotton's "ownership access to the Cotton library was more limited than under his father" according to

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990-729: The ground floor and Ionic on the first floor. By AD 1122 the Augustinian Priory of Breedon on the Hill had a dependent chapelry at Staunton. Breedon was a house of Nostell Priory , which surrendered all its properties to the Crown in 1539 in the Dissolution of the Monasteries . Sir Robert Shirley, 4th Baronet had the present Church of England chapel of the Holy Trinity built in 1653. It

1035-603: The institution of the title of baronet as a means for King James I to raise funds: like a peerage , a baronetcy was heritable but, like a knighthood , it gave the holder no seat in the House of Lords . One of his scarce monographs, Twenty-Four Arguments , proposed the bolstering of royal powers to suppress Catholic elements in England in the wake of the Popery Act 1627 . His public anti-Catholicism brought him short-lived favour with

1080-550: The king. Despite this early period of goodwill with King James I, his approach to public life, based on his immersion in the study of old documents, was essentially based on that "sacred obligation of the king to put his trust in parliaments" which in 1628 was expressed in his monograph The Dangers wherein the Kingdom now Standeth, and the Remedye . From the Court party's point of view, this

1125-509: The knight but lower than the baron. Cotton was not elected to the 1614 Parliament. In 1621, Cotton advised James I on the impeachment of Sir Francis Bacon concerning the respective roles of the king and Parliament. In 1624, Cotton was elected to represent Old Sarum after the previous member, Sir Arthur Ingram , decided to sit for York . He was subsequently elected to Parliament for Thetford (1625) and Castle Rising (1628). Cotton reunited with his former schoolmaster William Camden in

1170-486: The late 1580s as an early member of the Society of Antiquaries . Camden was one of the greatest early antiquarians, whose 1586 work Britannia was a chorographical (topographical and historical) survey of Britain. Cotton exerted little influence in the society until after his father's death in 1592. In 1593, he was resident at the family seat of Conington Castle , which he rebuilt. He returned to London in 1598 and revived

1215-487: The library which remained in Cotton House until Sir Robert Cotton's death in 1631. The relocation of the library and residence to Cotton House gave members of Parliament and government workers better access to the matter within the library to be used as resources for their work. The Cotton library offered important and valuable sources of reference and knowledge to many people, such as John Selden, "a frequent borrower from

1260-481: The library, and probably its protector during the civil wars" as stated in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Selden, in 1623 said of Cotton: “his kindness and willingness to make them [his collection of books and manuscripts] available to students of good literature and affairs of state". In keeping with the notion that John Selden was a common presence in the Cotton library, The British Library holds

1305-501: The manuscript of Pearl is Cotton MS Nero A.x . (1) fos. 3-117, 8th and 9th-century material from France, which had arrived in England by the 9th or 10th century (2) fos. 120–53, once part of BL Egerton 3314, belonging to the 11th century. It consists of two parts: fos. 120–41, part A, computistical texts; annals of Christ Church, Canterbury ; Old English and Latin prognostications and charms fos. 142–53, excerpts from Bede , De temporibus anni , with additional notes. At f. 123v

1350-563: The parish of Conington in Huntingdonshire , England, was a Member of Parliament and an antiquarian who founded the Cotton library . Sir Robert Cotton was born on 22 January 1571 in Denton , Huntingdonshire, the son and heir of Thomas Cotton (1544–1592) of Conington (son of Thomas Cotton of Conington, Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire in 1547 ) by his first wife, Elizabeth Shirley,

1395-554: The same year that Sir Robert Cotton returned to his wife Elizabeth and family (a result of a hiccup with the law involving the death of earl of Somerset). At that point, Sir Thomas Cotton had taken the responsibilities of the home and the library into his own hands. In 1620, Thomas Cotton married Margaret Howard with whom he had his first son, Sir John Cotton , just one year later in 1621. Margaret Howard died in 1621-1622. In 1622 Thomas Cotton's father, Sir Robert Cotton, permanently moved residence to Cotton House, Westminster, along with

List of manuscripts in the Cotton library - Misplaced Pages Continue

1440-698: The second part, various texts with dates ranging between the 10th and 13th century are bound together. These include the Oswald Cartulary and IV Edgar (a law-code belonging to King Edgar , r. 959–975). Folios 182 and 183 of Cotton Nero E.i, pt.2 (Worcester cartulary), are now bound separately as London, BL, MS. Add. 46204. Old English Lapidary Item 1 – Worcester Chronicle ( Anglo-Saxon Chronicle D) includes Anglian collection of royal genealogies and Anglo-Saxon Cotton world map Robert Bruce Cotton Sir Robert Bruce Cotton, 1st Baronet (22 January 1570/71 – 6 May 1631) of Conington Hall in

1485-408: The shelf letter was left out of the press-mark. The British Museum retained Cotton's press-marks when the Cotton collection became one of the foundational collections of its library, so manuscripts are still designated by library, bookpress, shelf, and number (even though they are no longer stored in that fashion). For example, the manuscript of Beowulf is designated Cotton MS Vitellius A.xv , and

1530-570: The third in 1717. Thomas I Mears of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the treble, second, seventh and tenor bells in 1831. For technical reasons the bells are currently unringable. In 1953 John Betjeman, later Sir John Betjeman , recorded on gramophone records, a talk broadcast by BBC Radio on 30 December 1953. It celebrated the Tercentenary of the founding of the Church. While extolling

1575-588: The throne, for which he was rewarded with a knighthood in 1603. Cotton was elected to Parliament for Huntingdonshire in 1604, a constituency previously represented by his grandfather, Thomas Cotton . Cotton worked on the Committee on Grievances and in 1605–06 received the Bill pertaining to the Gunpowder Plot through his work on the Committee of Privileges. In 1607 he was reappointed to the Committee of Privileges. Cotton

1620-481: Was anti-royalist in nature, and the king's ministers began to fear the uses being made of Cotton's library to support pro-parliamentarian arguments. Thus it was confiscated in 1630 and returned only after his death to his heirs. Cotton supported the claim of King James VI of Scotland to succeed Queen Elizabeth I on the English throne, and after the queen's death was commissioned to write a work defending James's claim to

1665-431: Was appointed to the joint conference with the House of Lords during his work on the bill pertaining to the full union between Scotland and England in 1606–07. In 1610, Cotton was nominated in first place to the Committee of Privileges. In 1610/11 the royal revenues were low, and Cotton wrote Means for raising the king’s estate in which he suggested the formation of the baronetcy , a new order of social rank, higher than

1710-453: Was close to polymath and antiquarian Sir Rowland Hill , publisher of the Geneva Bible . Cotton was educated at King's School, Peterborough and Westminster School where he was a pupil of the antiquarian William Camden , under whose influence he began to study antiquarian topics. He began collecting rare manuscripts as well as collecting notes on the history of Huntingdonshire when he

1755-477: Was created 14th Baron Ferrers of Chartley in 1677 and 1st Earl Ferrers in 1711. Staunton Harold Hall is a country house that was originally Jacobean , but the 13th Baron had it enlarged in about 1700. Washington Shirley, 5th Earl Ferrers had the present Palladian east front added in 1763. It is of two storeys and eleven bays , eight of which are red brick. The three central bays are ashlar and pedimented , with engaged columns of two orders: Tuscan on

1800-516: Was divided into the hundred of East Goscote and the hundred of West Goscote. Staunton Harold (then in the parish of Breedon) and nearby Ashby-de-la-Zouch were two of the communities that were in West Goscote hundred. The estate was the seat of the Shirley family beginning about the late 15th century. George Shirley (1559–1622) was created 1st Baronet in 1611. Sir Robert Shirley, 5th Baronet (1650–1717)

1845-410: Was housed in a room 26 feet (7.9 m) long by six feet wide filled with bookpresses , each surmounted by the bust of a figure from classical antiquity . Counterclockwise, these were catalogued as Julius , Augustus , Cleopatra , Faustina , Tiberius , Caligula , Claudius , Nero , Galba , Otho , Vitellius , Vespasian , Titus , and Domitian . (Domitian had only one shelf, perhaps because it

List of manuscripts in the Cotton library - Misplaced Pages Continue

1890-508: Was over the door). In each press, each shelf was assigned a letter; manuscripts were identified by the bust over the press, the shelf letter, and the position of the manuscript (in Roman numerals) counting from the left side of the shelf. Thus, the Lindisfarne Gospels, Nero B.iv, was the fourth manuscript from the left on the second shelf (shelf B) of the press under the bust of Nero. For Domitian and Augustus, which had only one shelf each,

1935-611: Was over the door). Manuscripts are today designated by library, bookpress, and number: for example, the manuscript of Beowulf is designated Cotton Vitellius A.xv , and the manuscript of Pearl is Cotton Nero A.x . Sir Robert Cotton began developing the works and manuscripts into a collection for his library shortly after the birth of his son in 1594. From the period 1609 to 1614 the deaths of various people (including Lord Lumley, Earl of Salisbury, Prince Henry, William Dethick and Northampton) all contributed to Sir Robert Cotton's purchase of works for his library. Sir Robert Cotton

1980-525: Was seventeen. He proceeded to Jesus College, Cambridge , where he graduated BA in 1585 and in 1589 entered the Middle Temple to study law. He began to amass a library in which the documents rivalled, then surpassed, the royal manuscript collections . Cotton was elected a Member of Parliament for Newtown, Isle of Wight in 1601 and as Knight of the Shire for Huntingdonshire in 1604. He helped to devise

2025-611: Was the richest private collection of manuscripts ever amassed. Of secular libraries, it outranked the Royal Library, the collections of the Inns of Court and the College of Arms . Cotton's collection included several rare and old texts, including the original codex bound manuscript of Beowulf , written around the year 1000; the Lindisfarne Gospels , written in the 7th or 8th century; and

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