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Manuscript volume containing a collection of documents relating to a proposal for a Union between England and Scotland, 1604, namely 'Articles agreed by the Commissioners to be propounded to the parliaments of both kingdomes at the next sessions', 6 Dec 1604; 'Objections against the change of the name or stile of England and Scotland into the name or stile of Great Brittayne, to be moved and debated in the conference between Lords and Commons, and to that end, by the comitties of the House of Commons, collected, reviewed and reduced to order for their better instruction', [1604]; 'The arguments used by the merchants in nother house of Parliament against the Union in Commerce', initialled R.C.B., [1604]; 'An Act authorizing certain commissioners of this realm to treate with commissioners reciproque of Scotland, tuching the weale of both realmes', [1604]; a copy of the King's letter to the House of Commons relating to the proposed Union, 2 May 1604; tract beginning 'The dangers to be considered in this proposition of free commerce', [1604]; extracts from chronicles and charters illustrating Anglo-Scottish relations and royal style of rulers of England from A.D. 100 to 1460, [1604]; extracts from charters of King Edgar relating to the foundation of Worcester Cathedral dating 964, and Ely Cathedral [dating 973], giving the royal style (both are quoted as authorities for the use of the word Britain, [1604].

Volume mainly containing treatises on French financial administration, [1581-1610], namely a report by Maximilien de Béthune, Duc de Sully, Director of the Council of Finance, on the finances of France, [1607]; a paper on the Estates General of France, [1583]; a history of royal taxation in France up to the reign of King Henry III, ending with a statement of the revenue in 1581, [1581-1589]; and a paper giving instructions on the powers and authority of the officers of the French Chambre des Comptes (Chamber of Accounts), [1589-1610]. The manuscript also contains papers relating to diplomatic negotiations during the Thirty Years War, comprising a speech on a peace assembly at Cologne, Italy, [1636], and a letter from the Swedish Chancellor Count Axel Greve Oxenstierna to the English Ambassador, Sir Thomas Roe, on the alliance between England and Sweden, 1638.

Manuscript volume, c1527, containing translations into English of a collection of treatises and diplomatic documents, mostly of the fourteenth century, comprising a list of coronation claims of Richard II, [1377]; a treatise on the form and manner of holding the English Parliament; a treatise on the office of Earl Marshal, described in the table of contents as 'The Erle Marshal's Boke', with details of Henry VIII's reform of the office and its duties in time of war; a collection of documents relating to ordinances for war, [1350-1514], notably the Scottish campaigns of 1350 and 1385, the statutes of the Order of the Garter as renewed by Henry VIII in 1522, and the creation of dukes and earls, including the creation of Charles Brandon, Viscount Lisle, as Duke of Suffolk (1514); an incomplete history of the kings of England, ending with the coronation of Richard II in 1378; a collection of treaties concerning diplomatic events during the reign of Edward III, notably documents relating to the Treaty of Brétigny (October 1360), documents relating to treatises between Edward and John II, King of France (1360-1366), letters of Alfonso X, King of Castile (1254), letters of Edward concerning a treaty with Peter the Cruel, King of Castile (1369), and an indenture recording the terms of the treaty of Berwick between Edward and David II, King of Scotland (1357). A table of contents shows that the manuscript is unfinished, and that it lacks several folios.

Manuscript volume containing tracts on coinage by Leon Lee, [1628-1633], namely proposals on the coinage addressed to Richard Weston, 1st Earl of Portland and Treasurer of England, a paper outlining methods of preventing abuse of the coinage, and an explanation of the exchange. The volume also contains a [presumably unrelated] account of the reception of Princess Elizabeth of England, at Frankenthal, for her marriage to the Elector Palatine Frederick V, later King of Bohemia, Jun 1613.

Three volumes entitled Notes for H. R. H. the Prince of Wales' Visit 1925. Typescript carbon copy in three files for the Prince of Wales' visit to Argentina. The notes contain a detailed account of Argentine society and British connections with Argentina, illustrated by captioned photographs. Each volume has a table of contents.

Copy of a précis of a statement by Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, made before the Russian ambassador to Paris, Prince Alexander Borisovitch Kurakin, on 15 Aug 1811, ostensibly proposing a basis for negotiations with Alexander I, Emperor of Russia. The document refers to the battle of Rudchek between the Turks and Russians, troops in Danzig, Warsaw and Poland, the size of French armies and Russia's violation of the Tilsit agreements. The source of the copy was a dispatch of the Austrian ambassador to Paris, Karl-Philip von Schwarzenberg.

Manuscript volume containing an Order in Council, 10 Feb 1656, signed by William Jessop, Clerk of the Council, concerning the appointment of a British consul at Tetuán, now in Morocco. The Order agrees to the recommendation made in a report by the Commissioners of the Admiralty and Navy that there should not be an official Consul at Tetuán, but that Nathaniel Luke should reside there in the nature of a Providore, and that General Blake should be empowered to commission captains of the Fleet sent there to treat with the Governor or magistrates upon such articles as shall be thought necessary to maintain free commerce with England.

Copies of two letters from Charles John, later Charles XIV, King of Sweden and Norway, dated at Stralsund on 10 Jun 1813, to Alexander I, Tsar of Russia. The first letter was copied from an original in which only the signature was in Charles XIV's hand, and concerns negotiations for a concerted attack on Napoleon, giving details of Prussian and Russian troops ready to serve under Charles XIV. The second latter was copied from a letter written in Charles XIV's hand, and assures Alexander of the need to save Europe by a Russo-Swedish alliance. The copies are possibly in the hand of Alleyne Fitzherbert, Baron St Helens.

Manuscript volume, Aug 1710, containing memoirs of the latest peace negotiations held at Gertruidenberg, Brabant, between Mar and Jul that year [to attempt a peaceful settlement to the War Of the Spanish Succession], and notes regarding the means of damaging the commerce and fishing of the Dutch and English. A note in pencil on the title-page attributes this work to 'M de Torcy', though no reasoning is given for this attribution.

Copy of a memorandum presented to the States General of the United Provinces by Joseph Yorke, British ambassador, at The Hague on 26 Nov 1779, expressing the King's surprise at the silence that has followed the memorandum delivered more than four months ago, asking for 'les secours stipulés par les traités', and asking again for their co-operation.

Agreement, made at Calais on 7 Oct 1413, between Henry Chichele, Bishop of St David's, William, Lord Zouche of Haringworth, and Richard Holme, all envoys of King Henry V, and William, Castellan of Furnes, and Thierry Gherbode, envoys of John, Duke of Burgundy, redressing infringements of the truce with Flanders. The agreement bears portions of the seals of Chichele and Lord Zouche, and the complete seal of Holme, all in red wax.

Commonplace book, [1590-1620], containing contemporary transcripts of various notes, treatises and sermons. The first part of the volume comprises notes in Latin, Greek and English of a theological nature, initially organised under alphabetical headings. Among these notes is a transcript of instructions for secret agents in France, drawn up by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, for three different agents in the period 1595-1596. The copyist has copied three separate documents to form a single continuous document. The first part of the transcript is composed of the directions given by the Earl to Dr Henry Hawkyns, who was sent to Venice late in 1595 to perforn espionage and quasi-diplomatic functions for Essex and Queen Elizabeth I. The second part of the document consists of the instructions to [Anthony] Ersfield or Eversfield, who was sent to Paris to gather intelligence for Essex at the end of 1595. The third and final part of the document comprises the directions drawn up by Essex for Robert Naunton, whom the Earl sent to study under Antonio Perez in France in early 1596. Other notes from the first part of the volume include 'Of artillery' and notes on ships headed 'On shipping', the latter comprising details of the Queen's charges for maintaining large ships. There is an index to this section which omits the theological notes. The second part of the volume includes transcripts of sermons delivered on 10 Mar 1588 at Greenwich before the Queen, on 'Queene's daye', 1588, and on Christmas day 1588 and 1589; notes on what to observe when travelling abroad; notes on minerals; notes on heraldry; notes taken 'out of an ould Cronicle in Waverly Abbey'; 'The copye of the Great Turkes stile which he commonly useth'; and 'The copye of the Emperor of Russia or Muscovy his stile', taken from a letter to King Edward VI in 1553. There is a table of contents to this section.

Letter from Percy Mordaunt Barnard of 10 Dudley Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent to [Herbert Somerton] Foxwell, 15 May 1911. Covering note to the 'treaty of Oct. 7 1413', a diplomatic agreement between England and Flanders, and giving details of its provenance. Autograph, unsigned.

Manuscript copy of a response by Henry Howard, 12th Earl of Suffolk and 5th Earl of Berkshire, to the representations of the Dutch envoy, the Comte de Welderen, and entitled 'Réponse de Mylord Suffolk, par ordre du Roi, aux représentations du Comte de Welderen, Envoyé Extraordinaire de Leurs Hautes Puis[san]ces, les Etats-Généraux des Provinces-Unies'. Dated at St. James, 19 Oct 1778'.

'A discourse of the estate of Spaine' written by Sir Charles Cornwallis, 1607.