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A CONSPECTUS OF LETTERS TO AND FROM SIR HENRY SPELMAN (1563/4–1641)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2022

Peter J Lucas
Peter J Lucas*
Affiliation:
Wolfson College, Cambridge CB3 9BB, UK. Email: pjl24@cam.ac.uk
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Abstract

Sir Henry Spelman, a founding member of the Society of Antiquaries of London who may be considered the doyen of English antiquaries, made a substantial contribution through his many publications, particularly his Glossarium of 1626, his Concilia of 1639 and, together with his son John, the Psalterium Latino-Saxonicum of 1640. He pioneered the methodical study of historical documents, compiling a guide to the abbreviations and contractions found in medieval manuscripts, and, because some of the documents are in Old English, he made a plan to prepare an Anglo-Saxon grammar and established a lectureship in Anglo-Saxon at the University of Cambridge. After his death his books and papers were dispersed in stages, many of them being bought by subsequent antiquaries. The printed part of this paper surveys the history of his books and papers, with particular attention to his letters, which have never been listed or presented in an organized form despite calls for this to be done since 1930. The supplementary part (online) offers a conspectus of the letters in chronological order with indications of where they are found and of their more important contents. They throw considerable light on how he worked and on his relationship with those who helped him. Themes running through the letters include Spelman’s publications and the preparations for them, the Glossarium, the Concilia and the Anglo-Saxon Psalterium, the reading and transcription of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, the preparation of an Anglo-Saxon grammar and dictionary and various scholarly enquiries.

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Research paper
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The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 102 , September 2022 , pp. 370 - 388
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© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society of Antiquaries of London

Sir Henry Spelman (fig 1) was a founding member of the Society of Antiquaries in its earliest form; from his record and contribution he could be considered the doyen of English antiquaries. Born at Congham, near King’s Lynn, Norfolk,Footnote 1 he came from a good family, one that had a strong association with the law. He was educated at Walsingham grammar school and graduated BA from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1583. While studying law at Furnival’s Inn, and then Lincoln’s Inn, which he entered in 1586, he became interested in the history and antiquities of England. Along with men such as William Camden, Richard Carew, Sir Robert Cotton, William Lambarde, John Stow and Francis Thynne, Spelman helped to found the Elizabethan Society of Antiquaries, which met regularly between 1584–86 and 1606–08.Footnote 2

Fig 1.

Portrait of Sir Henry Spelman, after Cornelius Johnson (Cornelius Janssen van Ceulen), 17–19th century based on a work of 1628. Oil on canvas. 756 × 552mm. © NPG, image no. 962; reproduced by courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery.

Returning to Norfolk, on 18 April 1590 he married Eleanor (d. 1620), daughter and co-heir of John L’Estrange of Sedgeford, Norfolk. They had four sons, John, Henry, Francis and Clement, and four daughters, Dorothy (m. Ralph Whitfield), Anne (m. Thomas More of Shropshire), Katherine and Alice (m. John Smith of London),Footnote 3 most notable among whom were Sir John Spelman (1594–1643), the eldest son, and Clement Spelman (1598–1679), who became cursitor baron of the exchequer. Through his wife’s inheritance, Spelman secured the wardship of Hamon L’Estrange, son of Sir Nicholas L’Estrange (d. 1591/2), his wife’s cousin.Footnote 4 This allowed him to reside at the L’Estrange property of Hunstanton, Norfolk, where, living as a country gentleman, he wrote several works on subjects such as armorials and the pros and cons of political union. Knighted in 1604 he served as sheriff of Norfolk from November 1604 until February 1606Footnote 5 and as justice of the peace until 1616. His acknowledged expertise on the historical records of Norfolk (and Suffolk) was such that he wrote the description of Norfolk printed in John Speed’s Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain.Footnote 6 In 1612, when Hamon L’Estrange’s minority had ended, Spelman moved his permanent residence to Tothill Street in London.

Having been named in 1617 as a commissioner to determine unsettled titles to lands and manors in Ireland, he made three visits there. In July 1620 he suffered the death of his wife, a son and a grandson. The same year he became a member of the New England (Guiana) Company (treasurer, 1627), thereby becoming involved in legal battles with the rival Virginia Company. Beginning as an assistant to the privy councillors appointed as members of a commission set up by James I in 1622 to investigate the fees taken in civil and ecclesiastical courts, he became a full commissioner in 1623, attending meetings and writing several reports. In 1625 he was elected mp for Worcester, but relinquished the position the following year in favour of his son John.

During his residency in London, Spelman worked on a project to document all the church councils held in England. Assisted in this by the Revd Jeremy Stephens and others, he published the first part dealing with councils up to 1066 under the title Concilia in 1639.Footnote 7 Many of the documents Spelman wished to consult were in the possession of the University of Cambridge and some of them in Anglo-Saxon, so Spelman began discussions with the university about the establishment there of a lectureship in Anglo-Saxon, to which Abraham Wheelock was appointed in 1638. The lectureship was held in conjunction with the vicarage at Middleton,Footnote 8 which Spelman himself restored, having persuaded his uncle to give up the rectory at Congham on the grounds that lay rectories tended to the defrauding of the Church.Footnote 9

Spelman died on 1 October 1641 at the house in the barbican of his daughter, Dorothy, and her husband, Sir Ralph Whitfield.Footnote 10 He was buried in Westminster Abbey by the door of St Nicholas’s Chapel, opposite Camden.

Spelman was a remarkable scholar.Footnote 11 He correctly explained modern ‘rune’ as coming from OE ryne ‘mystery’ or ‘secret’.Footnote 12 In his Archaeologus in modum Glossarii (1626), or Glossarium, Spelman refutes the false etymology of the word ‘gospel’, wrongly supposed to be from ‘Ghost-spel’, and cites OE godspel ‘good story’ (never *gastspel) as conclusive evidence.Footnote 13 In the field of legal history his achievement was to recognize that the Norman Conquest imported continental feudal tenures into English society, and this recognition led to the imposition of periodisation, pre-feudal, feudal and post-feudal, onto English history.Footnote 14 His methodology was painstaking. To deal with the problems he had in reading medieval documents, he compiled a list of abbreviations and contractions, the Archaismus Graphicus, anticipating Capelli by nearly 300 years.Footnote 15 His Archaeologus in modum Glossarii, covering the letters A–G, which, although arranged alphabetically in the form of a glossary, was more a series of commentaries on the meaning of words for ‘usages, offices, ranks, ceremonies and rules in the medieval church and law. … Studying language for the sake of law, he approached the English past as part of the history of Europe’.Footnote 16 As is reported by his son while visiting Angers, Spelman was known in France as ‘Varro Anglicanus’, ie the English equivalent of Marcus Terrentius Varro, considered the most learned of Romans.Footnote 17 In his acknowledgements, French, German and Dutch scholars outnumber the English and Scots by twelve to seven.Footnote 18 His correspondence shows him consulting these European scholars about his work, which showed enterprise and innovation. He was genuinely a man of vision, who saw what needed to be done, and who made a real contribution towards doing it.

Back in 1930, in an impressive paper, Powicke considered Spelman ‘one of the main founders of English philological study’, someone who stood out ‘among the scholars of his time by his wise furtherance of the subject and the encouragement he gave to others’. Powicke considered that a ‘critical edition of those [letters that refer to manuscripts] would be of considerable interest’.Footnote 19 One of the reasons that so little has been done to address the needs identified by Powicke is that Spelman’s papers and library have been dispersed widely since his death, many manuscripts being divided up and sold on separately, so that finding where items are now, how they got there and how they fit together is a challenge.

After his death most of his papers were evidently kept at Hunstanton.Footnote 20 Access to them must have been granted occasionally, for example to Sir William Dugdale (1605–86; ODNB) when he revised Spelman’s Archaeologus in modum Glossarii (1626). As mentioned above, the first edition covered only the letters A–G, but Spelman left his own draft for most of the rest of the alphabet (certainly to R), so Dugdale’s work in completing it was editorial and only partly that of second author.Footnote 21 Dugdale, still a young man, met Spelman in 1637 and Spelman encouraged Dugdale by recommending him to Thomas Howard, earl of Arundel (Junius’s patron), for service of the king in the College of Arms.Footnote 22 Spelman also introduced Dugdale to his collaborator-to-be, Roger Dodsworth.Footnote 23 Dugdale’s revision of Spelman’s Glossarium was by arrangement with Charles Spelman (Sir Henry’s nephew),Footnote 24 as seen in Letter cxxxiii (19 June 1662) and the agreement signed 29 November 1662.Footnote 25 In Letter cxxxv (12 April 1664) Charles Spelman approves the dedication,Footnote 26 which was to Edward Hyde, earl of Clarendon (1609–74; ODNB). It may have been through Dugdale that a letter from Johannes de Laet to Spelman, dated 1 August 1640, together with collations of two early Anglo-Saxon laws in Lambarde’s Archaionomia (1568) with the version in the Textus RoffensisFootnote 27 came to be available to print in George Hickes’s Thesaurus (1703/5);Footnote 28 the original letter has since disappeared.Footnote 29

Another scholar who must have had access to Spelman’s study was Edmund Gibson (1669–1748; ODNB), later bishop of Lincoln (1715–23) and then London (1723–48), whose Reliquiæ Spelmannianæ: The Posthumous Works of Sir Henry Spelman Kt relating to the Laws and Antiquities of England, Publish’d from the Original Manuscripts evidently used manuscripts that have since become dispersed.Footnote 30 He could also have been the medium through whom the letter from de Laet passed to Hickes. Gibson, well known by Anglo-Saxonists for his edition of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,Footnote 31 was very much part of Hickes’s Oxford circle.

In 1702 Spelman’s papers were still in Hunstanton when Thomas Tanner (1674–1735; ODNB) wrote to Peter Le Neve (1661–1729; ODNB) asking for his good offices in gaining access to Spelman’s study.Footnote 32 Presumably Tanner was successful as his papers, now in the Bodleian Library, contain at least four copies of letters to or from Spelman. Tanner also possessed a letter from Ussher dated 6 November 1638 together with his notes on a draft of Spelman’s Concilia (1639).Footnote 33 Tanner was in the nick of time. Spelman’s books and papers were soon to be dispersed and are now ‘to be found in various libraries’.Footnote 34 By 1709 nearly 300 volumes featured in a sale by the bookseller John Harding (fl 1678–1719), of which there is a catalogue.Footnote 35 Unfortunately this catalogue is an amalgamated list of books not only from Spelman’s library but also, and apparently principally, from the library of the physician Sir Edmund King (1630–1709; ODNB), who had just died. Some items stand out as coming from Spelman, such as no. 89 on p 57, the ‘Liber Psalmorum. Ling. Lat. & Sax. [Pergam.]’, which he used for the Psalterium Davidis Latino-Saxonicum vetus ‘put forth by’ his son Sir John Spelman in 1640;Footnote 36 the item occurs again in the Walter Clavell sale of 1742 as lot 18.Footnote 37 Happily, a much more helpful ‘Catalogue of the mss in the Library of Sir Henry Spelman sold by Auction by John Harding who [had] bought them. December 20, 21, & 22. A.D. 1709’ was produced by Humfrey Wanley,Footnote 38 where 203 items are listed in Wanley’s hand.Footnote 39 They are all manuscripts (plus a few printed books) rather than collections of papers or letters. A number of these manuscripts were acquired by large collectors such as Richard Rawlinson (1690–1755; ODNB) and Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753; ODNB), who gave them to the Bodleian Library and the British Museum, respectively.Footnote 40 Others were acquired by private collectors for their own use or pleasure; for example, Thomas Thynne, the first Viscount Weymouth (1640–1714), acquired up to thirty manuscripts.Footnote 41 There were probably some letters among the collection as a whole, as Tanner’s collection includes some thirty-two letters in addition to the four copies mentioned above; these letters are found scattered in no particular order among Tanner’s collection.

The Revd Cox Macro (1683–1767; ODNB), antiquary and Church of England clergyman of Little Haugh Hall, Norton (Sf),Footnote 42 owned several Spelman manuscripts, and they were inherited by his daughter Mary, who allowed some dispersal before the final sale in 1820. Eighteen folio volumes from Spelman’s library are listed in the Macro sale catalogue, including three volumes of ‘Epistolæ Miscellaneæ’, the first containing 142 letters including Spelman’s correspondence with Peiresc, Wormius, Rigault, Meursius, Ussher, Camden and others, and the second 193 articles including Spelman’s correspondence with Jeremy Stephens, Ussher, Wheelock, De Laet and many others. The third volume contained 180 letters, but they were not necessarily correspondence with Spelman.Footnote 43

Later in the nineteenth century many of Spelman’s books and papers were in the collection of Hudson Gurney, antiquary, banker and verse-writer of Keswick Hall, Norfolk (1775–1864; ODNB), and so appear in the sale catalogue made for the dispersal of books by his son, John Henry Gurney, where 125 manuscripts are cited.Footnote 44 Others, particularly the letters, were bought by Dawson Turner (1815–58; ODNB), antiquary, banker and botanist, who shared Gurney’s interest in antiquarian books and corresponded with him. After the death of his first wife in 1850 he auctioned off many of his volumes in a sale of 1853, with a final sale in April, May and June of 1859.Footnote 45 For example, lot 8 in this sale, containing some of Spelman’s material on Anglo-Saxon grammar, subsequently became item 21538 in the collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792–1872). It was sold as lot 1090 in one of the Phillipps sales in 1899 to the British Museum. Four volumes of Spelman’s papers and letters that were item 442 in the sale of June 1859 (pp 188–9) came to the British Museum in 1863 and 1894.Footnote 46 According to the sale catalogue entry, these volumes included correspondence with Méric Casaubon, but only one letter survives from Méric Casaubon to Spelman (6 May 1636) and it is now in Edinburgh. It is possible that this letter became detached from the volumes now in the British Library. The collection of David Laing (1793–1878; ODNB), now at University of Edinburgh Library, contains five other letters besides the one from Casaubon.Footnote 47 As for the collections of letters between Spelman and Wheelock in Cambridge University Library, it is not known whence they came into the library.Footnote 48

The letters to and from Sir Henry Spelman that survive can be only a fraction of those written. From what follows it will be evident that many are replies to other letters that do not survive; and the letters listed only start in 1600, when Spelman was already about thirty-six years of age. This conspectus records all those that I have found (over 300);Footnote 49 no doubt more may turn up. The letters are given in chronological order; a few where the date is uncertain are assigned a probable date in the sequence. First the sender and recipient are noted, then the date, then the address of the sender and recipient if recorded on the letter, and finally the manuscript and the folio/page therein where it is found; in the few cases where the letter has been printed, reference is given to the relevant edition.Footnote 50 The beginning of each letter is transcribed usually omitting the form of address (as this is often somewhat long) so that the letter is clearly distinguishable from any other, a necessary precaution because some letters exist in more than one version, and with varying dates;Footnote 51 in these transcriptions a vertical stroke signifies a line | division. A brief indication of the contents is given where feasible or useful,Footnote 52 although usually not for letters that have been printed.

Even from the incipits, the character of the writers emerges. Spelman is always courteous but could be quite firm, as when he writes to Sir Simonds D’Ewes saying that his own proposed Anglo-Saxon dictionary is more advanced and superior to the one D’Ewes is proposing (17 April 1640). He could be legally precise, as on the subject of tithes (10 April 1624). His editorial assistant, Jeremy Stephens, is absolutely devoted to supporting Spelman and even encouraging him, and much concerned with matters of health, usually Spelman’s, but on one occasion he reports that he himself is having to take ‘physick’. Abraham Wheelock, his lecturer in Anglo-Saxon at Cambridge, is equally devoted but in a more obsequious way, hardly ever demurring except when Spelman suggests he should travel (27 May 1640), an activity that did not stir his enthusiasm.Footnote 53 Most of the family letters are to and from his eldest and evidently favourite son, John, and show paternal care and concern blended with practical advice and humour. Themes running through the letters, apart from family and business matters, include Spelman’s publications and the preparations for them, the Glossarium (1626), the Concilia (1639) and the Anglo-Saxon Psalterium (1640), the reading and transcription of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, the preparation of an Anglo-Saxon grammar and dictionary and various scholarly enquiries.

THE LETTERS

Language: English except as otherwise stated.

Status:

  • o = original

  • a = original written by an amanuensis

  • d = draft

  • c = copy

  • s = summary

  • p = printed (by)

  • t = translated (by), translation

Document: [Institution,] class-mark, fol nos (art no.).

Family:

  • Spelman, Sir Henry (1563/4–1641); ODNB

  • Spelman, Clement, son, cursitor baron of the exchequer (1598–1679); ODNB

  • Spelman, Henry, nephew (1595–1623)

  • Spelman, Sir John, eldest son (1594–1643); ODNB

  • Spelman, Roger, grandson (1625–78)

Correspondents:

  • Andrewes, Eusebius (1606–50), barrister, secretary to Arthur, 1st Baron Capell of Hadham; ODNB

  • Barkham, John (1571/2–1642), antiquary, rector and dean of Bocking (E); ODNB

  • Barret, William (fl 1624), of Wells-next-the-Sea (Nf)

  • Bedford, see Russell

  • Bignon, Jérôme (1589–1656), French lawyer and author, French royal librarian (1642–56)

  • Borough (Burhuh), Sir John (d. 1643), antiquary and herald; ODNB

  • Boswell, Sir William (d. 1650), ambassador to the Netherlands at The Hague; ODNB

  • Bray, William (d. 1643), chaplain to Archbishop Laud (responsible for licensing S’s Concilia of 1639); ODNB

  • Camden, William (1551–1623), historian and herald; ODNB Footnote 54

  • Carey, Henry (1580–1666), 1st earl of Dover; CP iv.445–6

  • Casaubon, Isaac (1559–1614), classical scholar from Geneva, came to England 1610; ODNB Footnote 55

  • Casaubon, Méric (1599–1671), son of Isaac, French/English classical scholar based in Canterbury; ODNB

  • Collins, Samuel (1576–1651), DD, provost KCC, prebendary at Ely; ODNB

  • Cornwallis, Sir Charles (c 1555–1629), courtier and diplomat; ODNB

  • Cotton, Sir Thomas (1594–1662), clerk of the process of Star Chamber, son of Sir Robert Cotton

  • Coventry, Sir Thomas (1578–1640), lord keeper, 1st Baron Coventry of Aylesborough (Worcs), who in 1625 settled a case in chancery relating to property leases acquired by S; ODNB; CP iii.476–7

  • D’Ewes, Sir Simonds (1602–50), antiquary and politician (MP 1640–8); ODNB

  • Dover, see Carey

  • Drury, Sir Anthony (c 1576–1638), of Besthorpe (Nf), sheriff (Nf) 1617–18, MP (Nf) 1625

  • Eden, Thomas (d. 1645), master THC, chancellor of the diocese of Ely; ODNB

  • Ferrour, John (1578–?), of Gressenhall (Nf)

  • Flick, Nathaniel (1594–1658), rector of Creeting St Peter (Sf);Footnote 56 Venn, ii.151

  • Foulke, Robert (1579–1650), rector of St Clement and prebendary of Norwich cathedral

  • Fuller, William (c 1580–1659), dean of Ely; ODNB

  • Gawdy, Sir Bassingbourne (1560–1606), of West Harling (Nf); ODNB

  • Goad, Matthew (1575–1638), son of Roger Goad, provost KCC (1570–1610); Venn, ii.225

  • Hakewill, William (1574–1655), lawyer and politician; ODNB

  • Harcourt, Francis, of Middle Temple, brother of Sir Simon Harcourt (1603–42)

  • Hare, Sir Ralph (c 1566–1623), lawyer of Stow Bardolph (Nf), sheriff 1605–6

  • Hares, Thomas (1573–1635), rector of Gaywood (Nf) 1598–?; Venn, ii.306

  • Howard, Henry (1540–1614), courtier and author, earl of Northampton; ODNB

  • Justel, Christophe (1580–1649), Secretary to Henri iv of France; BU, xxi: 361

  • Laet, Johannes de (1581–1649), Dutch merchant and scholar; ODNB Footnote 57

  • Le Marchant, Tussanus of La Rochelle (fl 1640–60)

  • L’Estrange, Sir Hamon (S’s ward; 1583–1654), of Hunstanton; ODNB; Venn, iii.76

  • L’Estrange, Sir Thomas (?1608–55), (?)nephew of Sir Hamon, of Castlestrange, Co Roscommon

  • Lindenbrog, Friedrich (1573–1648), German scholar of older Germanic languages and lawsFootnote 58

  • Lisle, William (1569–1637), antiquary, cousin to S; ODNB

  • Lydiat (Lydyate), Thomas (1572–1646), chronologist, rector of Alkerton (Oxon); ODNB Footnote 59

  • Maundeford (Moundeford), Edward, DD (1550–1630), rector clerk of Congham (Nf)

  • Meursius (van Meurs), Johannes (1579–1639), Dutch classical scholar and antiquary at Leiden, in Denmark from 1625Footnote 60

  • Montagu, Edward (1562/3–1644), 1st Baron Montagu of Boughton (Nth); ODNB; CP ix.104–5

  • Montague, Richard (1575–1641), bishop of Chichester 1628–38; ODNB

  • More, Richard (c 1575–1643), of Linley, Shropshire, S’s brother-in-law; ODNB

  • Morris, John (d. 1658), antiquary; ODNB Footnote 61

  • North, Roger (1588–1652/3), soldier on Amazon expeditions; ODNB

  • Northampton, see Howard

  • Palgrave, S (fl 1624), unidentified

  • Palmer, Edward (c 1555–1624), antiquary and numismatist; ODNB

  • Peake, Thomas, minister at Westhorpe (Sf) 1644/5Footnote 62

  • Peiresc, Nicolas-Claude Fabri, Seigneur de (1580–1637), Conseiller du Roi au Parlement de Provence (at Aix);Footnote 63 BU, xxxii: 374–8

  • Rigault, Nicolas (1577–1654), French classical scholar, librarian to Louis xiii; BU, xxxvi: 26–7

  • Risdorff, Dom. à, agent of the Elector Palatine in England

  • Rosencrantz, Palemon (Palle Axelsen, 1587–1642),Footnote 64 Danish envoy in London

  • Russell, Francis (1587–1641), 4th earl of Bedford; ODNB; CP ii.78–9

  • Sarson, Laurence (fl 1628–45), fellow of ECC

  • Schort, Johannes Jacobus (fl 1630–6), Dutch cartographer

  • Scott, Sir Edmund (?), of Rattlesden (Sf) (1562–1642)

  • Smith, unidentifiedFootnote 65

  • Spratt, Edward (fl 1631), of Ingoldisthorpe (Nf)

  • Stephens, Jeremy (1591–1665), rector of Wotton (Nth); ODNB

  • Stephens, Philemon, bookseller (fl 1622–65), brother of Jeremy

  • Thorowgood, Thomas (1595–1669), rector of Grimston (Nf) 1625–69Footnote 66

  • Tompson, John, unidentifiedFootnote 67

  • Ussher, James (1581–1656), archbishop of Armagh; ODNB Footnote 68

  • Walden, John, S’s factotum

  • Watts, William (c 1590–1649), author, vicar of Barwick (Nf); ODNB

  • Wheelock, Abraham (c 1593–1653), S’s lecturer in Anglo-Saxon at Cambridge; ODNB

  • Worm, Ole (Olaus Wormius) (1588–1655), Danish physician and antiquaryFootnote 69

Locations for S:

  • Barbican Sir Ralph Whitfield’s house (S’s son-in-law) in London

  • Congham Congham, nr King’s Lynn (Nf)

  • Hunstanton The L’Estrange residence at Hunstanton (Nf)

  • Middleton Middleton, nr King’s Lynn (Nf)

  • Narborough Narborough, nr King’s Lynn (Nf)

LETTERS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

Available in the online supplementary material.

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL

All material relating to the letters themselves, text (incipits, sketch summaries, etc), manuscript location, whether printed and if so where, is to be found in the online supplementary material at 10.1017/S0003581522000026.

ABBREVIATIONS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abbreviations

Add

Additional

BL

British Library, London

Bodleian

Bodleian Library, Oxford

BU

Biographie Universelle ancienne et moderne, ed J F Michaud, 45 vols (repr Bad Feinbach, 1998)

Concilia

Spelman Reference Spelman1639

CP

Cokayne Reference Cokayne1910–59 [rev Gibbs et al]

CUL

Cambridge University Library

DD

Doctor of Divinity

ECC

Emmanuel College, Cambridge

EMLO

Early Modern Letters Online (Bodleian website)

EUL

University of Edinburgh Library

Glossarium

Spelman Reference Spelman1626

KCC

King’s College, Cambridge

L

Latin

ML

Morgan Library (formerly Pierpont Morgan Library), New York

MP

Member of Parliament

Nf

Norfolk

Nth

Northamptonshire

ODNB

Matthew and Harrison Reference Matthew and Harrison2004: cited to indicate an entry for the relevant name

OE

Old English

QCO

Queen’s College, Oxford

Oxon

Oxfordshire

Psalterium

Spelman Reference Spelman1640

RCL

Rochester Cathedral Library

RIA

Royal Irish Academy, Dublin

s

saecula, as in s xvii = seventeenth century

S

(Sir Henry) Spelman (1563/4–1641)

SAL

Society of Antiquaries of London

SC

Madan et al Reference Madan1895–1953

Sf

Suffolk

s.n.

sub nomine

STC

Pollard and Redgrave Reference Pollard and Redgrave1976–91

THC

Trinity Hall, Cambridge

Venn

Venn and Venn Reference Venn and Venn1922–54

Wing

Wing Reference Wing1982–98

Worcs

Worcestershire

ManuscriptsFootnote 70

Letters

  • Bibliothèque Inguimbertine Municipale, Carpentras (Vaucluse), 1876, fols 204r–210v, contains copies of ten letters by Peiresc to Spelman dated 11/09/1619 to 25/06/1625Footnote 71

  • Bibliothèque Méjanes, Aix-en-Provence, 212 (vol 12 of mss 201–15 being copies of Peiresc’s correspondence)Footnote 72

  • Bodleian, Add ms C.301 (SC 30283), fols 23–48 (Ussher’s notes on Concilia and his accompanying letter)

  • BL, Add ms 25384, Letters 1619–38 acquired 1863, originally part of what is now Add ms 34599–34601

  • BL, Add ms 34599–34601, Three volumes forming the core evidence of Spelman’s correspondence, part of the Dawson Turner collection, partly subject to rearrangement

Others

  • Bodleian, Rawlinson poet 118, John Capgrave, ‘Life of St Katharine’ (s xv)

  • BL, Harley ms 7055, fols 232–8, Catalogue of Spelman book sale in the hand of Humfrey Wanley, 1709

  • BL, ms Stowe 2, L/OE Psalter, formerly owned by Spelman

  • Kent County Archives Office, Strood, Rochester, DRc/R1 (formerly RCL, A.3.5), Textus Roffensis

  • Norfolk Record Office, Norwich, 7198 (formerly Gurney xxii(1)), fol 65, List of members of the Elizabethan Society of Antiquaries

APPENDIX: OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS NOT DIRECTLY CITED IN THIS PAPER

Manuscripts

Letters

  • Bodleian, Bodley 307 (SC 27683), fol 166 (Letter to S from L Andrews)

  • Bodleian, Eng. misc.c.107 (SC 43552), (Miscellaneous letters & papers)

  • Bodleian, Rawlinson letters 89 (SC 14977), fol 36 (Letter from S to Ussher)

  • Bodleian, Rawlinson letters 104 (SC 14992)

  • Bodleian, Smith 31 (SC 15638), (Miscellaneous letters & papers)

  • Bodleian, Tanner 65 (SC 9890), (Miscellaneous letters & papers)

  • Bodleian, Tanner 66 (SC 9891), (Miscellaneous letters & papers)

  • Bodleian, Tanner 67 (SC 9892), (Miscellaneous letters & papers)

  • Bodleian, Tanner 69 (SC 9894), (Miscellaneous letters & papers)

  • Bodleian, Tanner 70 (SC 9895), (Miscellaneous letters & papers)

  • Bodleian, Tanner 71 (SC 9896), (Miscellaneous letters & papers)

  • Bodleian, Tanner 72 (SC 9897), (Miscellaneous letters & papers)

  • Bodleian, Tanner 73 (SC 9899), (Miscellaneous letters & papers)

  • Bodleian, Tanner 74 (SC 9900), (Miscellaneous letters & papers)

  • Bodleian, Tanner 75 (SC 9901), (Miscellaneous letters & papers)

  • Bodleian, Tanner 89 (SC 9915), (Miscellaneous letters & papers)

  • Bodleian, Tanner 101 (SC 9927), (Miscellaneous letters & papers)

  • Bodleian, Tanner 114 (SC 9940), (Miscellaneous letters & papers)

  • Bodleian, Tanner 283 (SC 10110), (Miscellaneous letters & papers)

  • Bodleian, Tanner 289 (SC 10116), (Miscellaneous letters & papers)

  • Bodleian, Tanner 290 (SC 10117), (Miscellaneous letters & papers)

  • BL, Add ms 26053, Miscellaneous letters & papers, fols 5, 7

  • BL, Add ms 27457, Miscellaneous letters & papers, fols 48–50

  • BL, Add ms 28104, Miscellaneous letters & papers, fol 1

  • BL, Add ms 28105, Miscellaneous letters & papers, fol 8

  • BL, Burney 366, Letters to Isaac Casaubon (one from S on fol 194)

  • BL, Cotton Julius C.v, Camden correspondence

  • BL, Egerton 26, Miscellaneous letters & papers, fol 144

  • BL, Harley 1823, Miscellaneous letters & papers, fol 21 (Letters to and from Sir John Borough)

  • BL, Harley 7001, Miscellaneous letters & papers, fols 70, 83 (Letters from Jeremy Stephens to S)

  • BL, Harley 7003, Miscellaneous letters & papers, fol 376 (Letter from Jeremy Stephens to S)

  • BL, Harley 7041, Letters copied by Thomas Baker

  • CUL, Dd.3.12, Letters s xvii, mainly to Wheelock

  • CUL, Dd.3.63, Letters s xvii, mainly from Henry Howard, earl of Northampton

  • CUL, Dd.3.64, Miscellaneous letters and papers, s xvii

  • EUL, La.II.423, Miscellaneous letters & papers

  • EUL, La.II.645, Miscellaneous letters & papers

  • EUL, La.II.653, Miscellaneous letters & papers

  • Kongelige Bibliotek, Copenhagen, GKS 3119, 4o a, 151–2, 153, 168, 172, 203, 218, 224, 236, 183, 184, b 79 (Wormius)

  • Kongelige Bibliotek, Copenhagen, GKS 3119, 4o d (Spelman)

  • Kongelige Bibliotek, Copenhagen, Rostgaard 99, 2o nos 10–11 (Meursius)

  • ML, MA2162 (Ussher to S 14 Aug 1639)

  • QCO 280, Miscellaneous papers, fols 280–2 (Letter from S to Jeremy Stephens)

  • RIA, SR 3 D8/30 (olim 3192) Ussher to S 15 Jun 1638

Spelman’s Archaismus Graphicus

  • Bodleian, Douce 251 (SC 21825)

  • Bodleian, Douce 289 (SC 21863)

  • Bodleian, Eng.misc.f.419 (SC 45925)

  • Bodleian, Rawlinson B.462 (SC 11810)

  • Bodleian, Rawlinson C.155 (SC 12019)

  • BL, Harley 3929

  • BL, Harley 6353

  • BL, Lansdowne 207 (e), 785

  • BL, Sloane 1059

  • BL, Stowe 1059, a copy made for Charles i when Prince of Wales

  • Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 238, a fair copy given by the author to the college

  • CUL, Mm.5.25,

  • Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, 189, copied by John Walden from next, given by Charles Spelman, Sir Henry’s grandson

  • Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, 415, a copy given by Charles Spelman, Sir Henry’s grandson

  • Dorset Record Office, Dorchester, Fox-Strangways (Ilchester) Archive D.124

  • EUL, La.III.565

  • SAL, 65–6

  • Yale University, New Haven, Beinecke Library, Osborn Fb 1, dated 1606

Others

  • CUL, Ff.1.23, L/OE Psalter

  • CUL, Hh.1.10, Ælfric’s Grammar

  • Trinity College, Cambridge, R.17.1, L/OE Psalter

Early printed sources

  • Minsheu, J 1617. HΓEMΩN EIΣ TÀΣ ΓΛΩΣΣAΣ [HEGEMON EIS TAS GLOSSAS], id est, Ductor in Linguas, The Gvide Into Tongves. Cum illarum harmonia, & Etymologijs, Originationibus, Rationibus, & Deriuationibus in omnibus his vndecim Linguis, [Eliot’s Court Press, completed by William Stansby, sigs A–S printed by Melchisidec Bradwood at ECP, sigs T–2Z printed by Stansby, probably after 1615, subsidiary sig. 2A-N printed by another (unidentified), and all finished by Stansby, who added the preliminaries] for John Brown 2, London; STC 17944

  • Spelman, H 1613. De non temerandis ecclesiis, J Beale, London; STC 23067, 23067.2, 23067.4

  • Ussher, J 1639. Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates, Stationers’ Society, Dublin; STC 24548a

  • Wormius O 1636. [Runir] seu Danica literatura antiquissima, vulgò Gothica dicta / luci reddita opera Olai Wormii D. Medicinae in Academia Hafniensi profess. p. Cui accessit De priscâ Danorum poesi dissertatio, Mechior Martzan, Copenhagen

Footnotes

1. For a pedigree of the Spelman family, see St George Reference St George1883, 257. For a pedigree of the Spelman family of Congham and Holme beginning with Sir Henry, see Bysshe Reference Bysshe1934, 204. For a pedigree of the Spelman family beginning with Sir John Spelman (d. 1546), see Baker Reference Baker1977–8, i, xvi. The following brief summary of Spelman’s life and career draws on the account by Stuart Handley in the ODNB (Handley Reference Handley2005), but some new points are added.

2. There is a list of members of the Elizabethan Society of Antiquaries in Norwich: Norfolk Record Office, ms 7198 (formerly Gurney xxii(1)), fol 65.

3. Family sizes among the gentry tended to be larger than among the populace at large: see Oestmann Reference Oestmann1994, 170–3.

4. For a pedigree of the L’Estranges of Hunstanton, see Oestmann Reference Oestmann1994, 13 (for the position of Hamon as a minor, cf p 26). See also the pedigree in Harvey Reference Harvey1891, 271–3. For a pedigree beginning with Sir Hamon Le Strange, see Bysshe Reference Bysshe1934, 122–3.

5. Le Strange Reference Le Strange1890, 21.

6. Speed Reference Speed1611. See Lucas Reference Lucas2018, 225–7. All other English county descriptions in Speed’s work were derived from Camden Reference Camden1607, or from the English translation, Camden Reference Camden1610.

7. Spelman Reference Spelman1639.

8. On the church and parish, including Wheelock’s incumbency, see Blomefield and Parkin Reference Blomefield and Parkin1805–10, ix, 30–2.

9. As noted by Wade-Jones Reference Wade-Jones1994, 62.

10. For a pedigree of the Whitfield family, see St George Reference St George1883, 348.

11. For some account of Spelman’s contribution to scholarship, see Powicke Reference Powicke1930, and Parry Reference Parry1995, 157–81.

12. See Seaton Reference Seaton1935, 225–7.

13. Spelman Reference Spelman1626, sig. 2D3r (p 319).

14. Pocock Reference Pocock1987, 119.

15. For copies of Spelman’s work on abbreviations, see the Bibliography below under Manuscripts; cp Capelli Reference Capelli1899.

16. Pocock Reference Pocock1987, 95.

17. See Supplementary Material, letter dated 15 Mar 1630/31.

18. As noted by Pocock Reference Pocock1987, 95.

19. Powicke Reference Powicke1930, 364, 366, 375.

20. For some remarks on what happened to Spelman’s books and papers, see the article by Powicke Reference Powicke1930, plus Collins Reference Collins1937 and Wright Reference Wright1972, 310. For much pertinent information, see Keynes Reference Keynes1989, 234–5; I am most grateful to Professor Keynes for passing on further pertinent information. According to Lyons (Reference Lyons1987), the library at Swaffham includes a copy of Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica, published at Cologne in 1601, annotated by Sir Henry. Swaffham received the books of Clement Spelman, a relative of Sir Henry but a different person from Sir Henry’s son Clement.

21. Spelman, ed Dugdale, Reference Spelman1664. On Dugdale, see Douglas Reference Douglas1939, 31–59.

22. See Hamper Reference Hamper1827, 9–11, also Letter xi (5 June 1637) on p 166. On Howard, see Richard Ovenden in Baker and Womack Reference Baker and Womack1999, 155–63.

23. Evans Reference Evans1956, 23.

24. Charles Spelman’s books were sold on 23 May 1728 by D Browne without the Black Swan (Browne Reference Browne1728). However, he left some books/manuscripts to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.

25. In Hamper Reference Hamper1827, 358–61.

26. Hamper Reference Hamper1827, 363.

27. Kent County Archive, DRc/R1, fols 1–5.

28. Lambarde Reference Lambarde1568; Hickes Reference Hickes1703/5: De Laet’s letter appears in the ‘Dissertatio Epistolaris’, which is dated 13 Aug 1701. For Lambarde’s use of the Textus Roffensis, see Bremmer Reference Bremmer, Hall and Scragg2008, 154. See further the entry for this letter at 1 Aug 1640.

29. Dugdale’s papers were left to the Bodleian, so if he was the conduit he presumably handed over the letter to Hickes or one of his associates and it was not returned.

30. Spelman, ed Gibson, Reference Spelman1698.

31. Gibson Reference Gibson1692.

32. Nichols Reference Nichols1817–58, iii, 412–13.

33. Bodleian, Add ms C.301, fols 48–51. As noted by Powicke (Reference Powicke1930, 371), these pages would appear to belong in Add ms 34600 after fol 133.

34. Ricci Reference Ricci1930, 17 and n. 1. These libraries include BL; Bodleian; CUL; Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC; Harvard Law School Library, Cambridge MA; John Rylands University Library, Manchester; Norfolk Record Office, Norwich; Suffolk Record Office, Ipswich; University of Kansas Kenneth Spencer Research Library, Lawrence KS; University of Texas Library, Austin TX; Yale University Beinecke Library, New Haven CT. Details of the movement of some manuscripts formerly in the Gurney collection to their present whereabouts are given in Anon 1982, 28, sn Gurney. Of course, not all the Gurney manuscripts were from Spelman’s library. The history of these manuscripts is complicated because many of them were broken up into separate lots that then went to different destinations: an example is described by Beadle Reference Beadle2016.

35. King/Spelman Sale 1709. This catalogue contains printed books and manuscripts, but apparently no letters.

36. The manuscript, now ms Stowe 2, was used for Spelman Reference Spelman1640 (STC 2369).

37. Clavell Sale 1742, 83.

38. Now BL, Harley ms 7055, fols 232–8.

39. This catalogue deserves to be edited and published.

40. For example, item 135 is ‘The Life of St Catherine, in English Verse, by John Capgrave. Paper’, now Bodleian, Rawlinson poet 118, where on fol x there is an autograph preface by Spelman. On this manuscript, see Lucas Reference Lucas1997, 141–65.

41. See Harris Reference Harris, Edwards, Gillespie and Hanna2000, 237–8.

42. On Macro, see Beadle Reference Beadle2016: for Spelman’s manuscripts, see esp 68–9.

43. Macro Sale 1820, esp 8–12, nos 104–21.

44. There is a notice in Gurney Sale 1936, 135.

45. Turner Sale 1859. The catalogue entry also occurs in Waller Reference Waller1859, vi. See also McKitterick Reference McKitterick and Goodman2007. Many papers in Turner’s collection were removed by William Fitch while they were in Helmingham Hall or Ham House: see Freeman Reference Freeman1997.

46. Now BL, Add ms 25384 (1863) and BL, Add mss 34599–34601 (1894).

47. EUL also possesses a copy of Spelman’s ‘Archaicus Graphicus An 1606’, previously lot 39 in the sale of the Lauderdale library: Lauderdale Sale 1836. David Laing was one of the editors of The Bannatyne Miscellany.

48. I am grateful to Dr James Freeman, medieval manuscripts specialist at CUL, for this information.

49. For 42 of his letters or those to him preserved in the Bodleian, see the EMLO website: http://www.emlo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk. The EMLO entry also includes two letters not to or from Spelman but containing reference to him (accessed 1 Dec 2017).

50. A few letters occur in printed form, but I have not found them in any of the manuscripts. They may be preserved in manuscripts that survive abroad in Copenhagen (Olé Worm), Dublin (Ussher) or France (Peiresc).

51. I follow the convention in Lem and Rademaker Reference Lem and Rademaker1993, although they limit the incipit to just five words.

52. For these I have been able to draw where possible on those provided by the Catalogue of the Manuscripts in CUL (Anon 1856–67) and by EMLO (which availed of card entries made earlier by Colin B Hunt, as I am kindly informed by Miranda Lewis, digital editor of EMLO).

53. Cf. Lucas Reference Lucas2003/4, 341–2.

54. See Smith Reference Smith1691.

55. Casaubon’s letters are collected in van Almeloveen Reference Almeloveen1709; with selected letters of Méric Casaubon.

56. See Matthews Reference Matthews1988, 267.

57. See Bekkers Reference Bekkers1970, xv–xxvii: Bremmer and Hoftijzer Reference Bremmer and Hoftijzer1998.

58. See Hetherington Reference Hetherington1980, 77–9.

59. See also Boran Reference Boran2015, iii, 1180–1.

60. See Meursius, ed Lami, 1741–63; the letters are printed in vol 11 (1762).

61. See Bekkers Reference Bekkers1970, xii–xv.

62. Matthews Reference Matthews1988, 343.

63. See Gassendus Reference Gassendus1657, Delisle Reference Delisle1889, and Gravit Reference Gravit1950, with a catalogue of Peiresc manuscripts at pp 31–55. See also Van Norden Reference Van Norden1948–9, and Lindsay Reference Lindsay1979.

64. See Bech Reference Bech1979–84, s.n. Rosenkrantz, Palle.

65. If a local squire, one possibility is Richard Smith of Brampton (d. 1657). Another possibility is John Smith, his son-in-law.

66. For a pedigree of the Thorowgood family, see Bysshe Reference Bysshe1934, 220, where Thomas Thorowgood, BD, appears as the second son of William Thorowgood (d. 1625).

67. For many of this name, see Venn and Venn Reference Venn and Venn1922–54, iv, 225. There was also a bookseller of this name: see Plomer Reference Plomer1968, 178.

68. See Ussher 1847–64, and Parr Reference Parr1686; the letters printed in this book are a selection. Some Ussher letters (and a few by Spelman) are printed in Thibaudeau Reference Thibaudeau1883–92. For a comprehensive edition of Ussher’s letters, see Boran Reference Boran2015.

69. See Worm Reference Worm1751. See also Schepelern Reference Schepelern and Johansen1965–8, where the letters are translated into Danish.

70. For CUL manuscripts, see Anon 1856–67, esp vol i, where brief summaries of each letter are given. For BL manuscripts, see Anon 1849. For manuscripts in the Bodleian, see Madan et al Reference Madan1895–1953 [SC]; for the manuscripts of Thomas Tanner (1674–1735), see Hackman Reference Hackman1860. For her expertise in deciphering a few particularly difficult readings, I am most grateful to the late Dr Frances Willmoth (Cambridge). For his expertise in checking the correctness of the Latin in the relevant letters, I am most grateful to Dr Raymond Astbury (Dublin). I am solely responsible for any errors.

71. See Liabastres Reference Liabastres1902; for his assistance regarding these materials at the Bibliothèque Inguimbertine, Carpentras, I am most grateful to Jean-François Delmas, conservateur général. Six of the ten letters are found among Spelman’s papers in London and Oxford: 11 Sept 1619, 24 Dec 1619, 13 Aug 1620, 14 Oct 1620, 21 Dec 1622, 25 June 1624. Spelman’s letters to Peiresc span the period 11 June 1619 to 23 May 1628: Bibliothèque Inguimbertine Municipale 1876. The copies in Carpentras are extremely difficult to decipher, sometimes impossible.

72. See Albanés Reference Albanés1894, 126. An index of mss 201–15 was made by Etienne Rouard (former conservateur at Aix), now Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, fonds français, nouv acq 1147, but this is superseded by website access: http://www.ecorpus.org/search/search.php?search=search&page=1&q=Spelman&search=Rechercher. For his assistance regarding materials at the Bibliothèque Méjanes. Aix-en-Provence, I am most grateful to Philippe Ferrand, conservateur du fonds ancien.

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Figure 0

Fig 1. Portrait of Sir Henry Spelman, after Cornelius Johnson (Cornelius Janssen van Ceulen), 17–19th century based on a work of 1628. Oil on canvas. 756 × 552mm. © NPG, image no. 962; reproduced by courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery.

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