| Description | Letter from Archbishop Grindal to 'My verie goode L[ord]', 13 July 1577, asking to be released from confinement (draft) (f. 1).
Letter from Archbishop Whitgift to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, 7 March 1592/3, seeking support in moving the Queen to confirm the incorporation of cathedral churches and colleges erected since the suppression of the monasteries (f. 2).
Letter from Archbishop Whitgift to Thomas Sackville, Baron Buckhurst, and (1604) 1st Earl of Dorset, 10 March 1592/3, stating that the clergy will offer the Queen a further subsidy in addition to that granted by the last Parliament. All bishoprics, vicarages, etc. and many parsonages are over-valued in the Queen's Book, and the clergy pay 6 shillings in the pound against 4 shillings paid by the laity. His own contribution to the subsidy will be over £1,900 (copy by Whitgift) (f. 3).
Letter from Archbishop Whitgift to Richard Fletcher, Bishop of London, 3 December 1595, sending a copy of a letter from the Privy Council for the bishops requiring a certificate of recusants (copy by Whitgift) (f. 4).
Letter from Archbishop Whitgift to Thomas Nevil, Dean of Canterbury, and Charles Fotherby, Archdeacon of Canterbury, 4 December 1595, requiring a return of 'popishe' and of 'sectarie' recusants in the diocese (copy by Whitgift) (f. 4).
Letter from Archbishop Whitgift to Grivell [? Sir Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brook (1621)], c.1598, protesting about attacks on the clergy by Puritans in Parliament and asking him to intercede with the Queen to prevent them (copy by Whitgift) (f. 5).
Letter from Francis Holliock [Holyoake], 1exicographer, to -- Moone, of Banbury, [21 November 1592], rejoicing that the papists have lost a protector by the death of the Lord Chancellor [Sir Christopher Hatton]. Papists, including the Archbishop's launderer, have been arrested at an 'open mass' near Holborn. The Saints of God are comforted by the death of evil men such as [Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of] Essex. Whitgift reported to be seeking the appointment of Buckhurst as Chancellor of Oxford (copy) (f. 7).
Letter from John Coldwell, Bishop of Salisbury, to Archbishop Whitgift, 12 May [1593], about a dispute over the use of wafers in Communion. Explains why he has suspended one Skynner, Vicar of Kynberie [Kintbury], Berks. (f. 8).
Examination on oath of John Richardson, D.D., Master of Trinity College, Cambridge (1615), concerning a sermon preached at St. Paul's Cross, 18 November 1599, with licence under bond to visit his benefice but not to preach (copy) (ff. 9-10).
Letter from Archbishop Whitgift to Queen Elizabeth I, n.d., stating that despite prohibition by the Lord Keeper the House of Commons deals with ecclesiastical causes (draft by Whitgift) (f. 11).
Letter from Archbishop Whitgift to Queen Elizabeth I, 19 November 1601, against a Bill to abolish pluralities, and enclosing notes of absurdities in the Bill (draft by Whitgift) (f. 12).
Paper entitled 'Reasons in defence of Pluralities', [1584]. In Whitgift's hand is added 'as they are now used pluralities are not against anie parte of the holie scriptures'. Endorsed '13' (ff. 14-15v).
Paper entitled 'Whether pluralitie of benefices may be dispensed withall in the state of England', annotated by Whitgift. Endorsed, 'Dr. Cariar' [Benjamin Charior, Prebendary of Canterbury] [1601] (ff. 17-18).
Two drafts of reasons by Whitgift against the Bill to abolish pluralities, [1601]. See MS. 2002, ff. 67, 81 (ff. 19-21).
'Reasons against the bill exhibited in the lower howse of parlayment against pluralityes of benefices &c.', [1601] (ff. 22-3).
'Against the Bill propownded in Parlament Anno 1601 November 12° for disanulling of Dispensations for Pluralities of Beneficees'. See also MS. 2002, ff. 68-69v (ff. 24-5).
Account of £933: 5: 0 paid to the Queen by the Faculty Office [for dispensations for pluralities], 1597-1601 (f. 27).
Further arguments against the Bill for abolishing pluralities, [1601] (f. 28).
Licence to William Overton, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, to hold two livings in commendam, 22 March 1582/3 (copy) (f. 29).
Arguments by the Master of the Faculties [Michael Murgatroid] against the abolition of pluralities, [1601] (f. 31).
Reasons by Whitgift against the abolition of pluralities, [1601] (f. 32r-v).
Account of 'Inconveniences arising by the bill agaynst pluralities', [1601] (f. 33).
Objections against specific clauses in the Bill for abolishing pluralities, [1601] (ff. 35-6).
Letter from R. Pers. [Robert Parsons, the Jesuit] to Jhon Ben[--], 19 May 1601, concerning dispute between the Jesuits and English Roman Catholics, and the appeal to the Pope by the latter (f. 37).
Letter from William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, to Archbishop Whitgift, 16 March 1589/90, concerning draft conditions by Whitgift for the surrender of recusants (f. 38).
Letter from Sir Francis Walsingham to Archbishop Whitgift, 17 March 1589/90, stating that Sir Henry Gray [Grey] is prevented by attending the funeral of the Countess of Lincoln from informing Whitgift that John Gage of Leyton, Essex, is unable to appear before Whitgift owing to gout (f. 39).
Letter from Lord Burghley to Archbishop Whitgift, 28 August 1590, asking for the temporary release of Edward Rookwood, recusant, a prisoner in the Fleet, to enable him to raise funds to pay a debt to the Queen (f. 40).
Letter from Sir John Wolley, Secretary to Queen Elizabeth I, to Archbishop Whitgift, 22 August 1592, stating that the Queen at the suit of the Countess of Warwick desires that Thomas Throgmorton [Throckmorton] be not imprisoned for recusancy, being not disaffected to the state (f. 41).
Letter from Lord Burghley to Archbishop Whitgift, 31 August 1592, sending a request from the Earl of Shrewsbury on behalf of his kinsman John Talbot of Grafton that the latter might have leave to attend to lawsuits (f. 42).
Letter from Lord Burghley to Archbishop Whitgift, 8 September 1592, stating that the Queen respites the imprisonment of Sir Thomas Tresham and John Gage owing to sickness, and of other recusants the summer being past (f. 43).
Letter from Lord Burghley to Archbishop Whitgift, 20 September 1592, mentioning Tresham and Talbot, and the confinement of recusants. Offers to supply information from his own recollection, particularly concerning Philip II of Spain, Mary Queen of Scots, the Low Countries, and France, for the refutation of slanderous books. Most books in defence of the Queen have passed through his hands (f. 44).
Letter from Lord Burghley to Archbishop Whitgift, 14 February 1592/3, proposing that four recusants be imprisoned at Ely in addition to eight already there in order to enable the keeper to meet the cost of diet (f. 46).
Letter from James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh, to Henry Bourchier, 5th Earl of Bath, 28 May 1638, alluding to the delay in publishing Britannicarum ecclesiarum antiquitates because the printer, a Scot, ran away. Discusses the loan of MSS. from Sir Thomas Cotton, 2nd Bart., and the publication of the works of Matthew Paris, historian (f. 47).
Arguments, perhaps on behalf of Thomas Cartwright and others, against the oath ex officio, [1590]. Entitled, 'Touching the proceadinge against the ministers' (ff. 49-59).
Paper on the oath ex officio by Dr. [Thomas] Legge, [Master of Caius College, Cambridge], c. 1590 (Latin) (ff. 60-61v).
'About the ministring of oathes by ecclesiasticall Judges in causes determinable in their courts', c. 1590 (ff. 63-4).
Memorandum by civilians on 'Oathes in ecclesiastical courtes', c. 1590. Signed by William Aubrey, Thomas Byng, Edward Stanhope, Kt. (1603), Richard Cosin, Daniel Dun, Kt. (1604), Robert Forthe, William Lewin, John Lloyd, Nicholas Stywarde [Steward]. Strype, Whitgift, 1822, iii, 232-5 (f. 65r-v).
Case and opinion concerning a sermon at Cambridge and examination by the oath ex officio, with judgement in favour of the oath by Bartholomew Clerke, William Aubrey, William Drury, Henry Jones, John Lloyde, Edward Stanhope, Robert Forthe, c. 1580s (copy) (ff. 66-71v, 76).
'A collection of some reasons used againste the takinge of oathes by ecclesiasticall iudges ex officio mero', c. 1590 (ff. 72-5).
Extracts from printed books tending to show the illegality of the oath ex officio, c. 1590. Endorsed, 'Defensiones Anglopuritanorum' (ff. 77-78v). Memorandum on oaths, c. 1590 (Latin) (ff. 79-80v).
Further memorandum on oaths, c. 1590 (f. 81r-v).
Reasons by [Humphrey] Fen, Puritan divine, for not taking oaths, [1590] (f. 83r-v).
Reasons for not taking oaths, c. 1590 (f. 84r-v).
Reasons by [Edmund] Snape, Puritan divine, 'to prove that the oath ex officio ought to bee refused', [1590] (ff. 85-7).
'Arguments and reasons against the oath urged on clergymen by the Bishops to establish their authority, and settle it for ever by a divine right as they would have it', 1640 (f. 89r-v).
Correspondence of Archbishop Bancroft concerning the manner of raising musters of the clergy, 1608. It comprises letters to him from James Montague, Bishop of Bath and Wells, and (1616) Winchester, 28 August 1608 (f. 90); Henry Parry, Bishop of Gloucester, and (1610) Worcester, 1 September 1608 (f. 92); William Barlow, Bishop of Lincoln, September 1608 (f. 94); the Privy Council, 18 September 1608 (f. 96); Francis Barrington and others, 21 September 1608 (f. 104). Also copies of letters from Archbishop Bancroft to the Bishops of Bath and Wells and of Gloucester, 6 September 1608 (ff. 98-100); to an unnamed correspondent, 11 September 1608 (f. 102); to the Deputy-Lieutenants, 23 September 1608 (f. 106).
Return by Nicholas Kempe, Registrar of Faculties, of licences to eat meat, 25 December 1619-25 March 1620. See also MS. 2006, ff. 153-167v (ff. 109-31). |