WILLIAM PICKERING, PUBLISHER, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.
FROM NOVEMBER MDXXIX, TO DECEMBER MDXXXII.
FROM NOVEMBER MDXXIX, TO DECEMBER MDXXXII:
WITH INTRODUCTORY REMARKS AND ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES,
BY NICHOLAS HARRIS NICOLAS, ESQ. FELLOW OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES.
LONDON: WILLIAM PICKERING, CHANCERY LANE. MDCCCXXVII.
KNIGHT OF THE MOST NOBLE ORDER OF THE GARTER,
LORD LIEUTENANT AND CUSTOS ROTULORUM OF THE COUNTY OF NOTTINGHAM,
The following pages present an account of the sums paid out of the Privy Purse of King Henry VIII. from the 17th of November, 1529, to the end of December, 1532; and as every payment, whether for the daily expenses of the Royal establishments, or for the gratification of His Majesty's wishes, is minutely noticed, it must be evident that they afford interesting information, not merely on the general customs and manners of the times, but on the personal character of that monarch, his occupations, amusements, and places of residence.
Among the materials for History, private Letters have, long since, been deemed of the utmost value; but the curious facts contained in records like those now introduced to the notice of the public, have not obtained the attention which they deserve: hence it will not perhaps be irrelevant to give a brief account of the few works of this nature which have been printed, as well as of some which still remain in Manuscript.
The first in point of time, is the "Liber Quotidianus Contrarotulatoris Garderobae, Anno Regni Regis Edwardi Primi Vicesimo Octavo: A. D. 1299 and 1300," printed in 1787 by the Society of Antiquaries, from a MS. in their library. This volume which is but partially known, abounds in highly interesting information, illustrative of the History, Manners, Expences, Army, Navy, Provisions, Costume, &c. of the thirteenth century; and as an adjunct to Historical and Antiquarian inquiries, it cannot be too highly estimated. Few MSS. have been so well edited; but amidst much ground for praise, it is to be regretted that it does not contain an Index, an omission which considerably lessens its utility. Another MS. of the same kind, of the 31st and 32nd years of Edward the First, is also extant,[1] but it has never been printed. In 1790 the Society of Antiquaries published "A Collection of Ordinances and Regulations for the Government of the Royal Household, made in divers reigns, from King Edward III. to King William and Queen Mary," and which is copiously cited in the Notes to this work. Only one more publication of the sort remains to be noticed, the Household Book of Henry Algernon Percy, Fifth Earl of Northumberland, which appeared privately in 1770, edited by Bishop Percy, and which has been recently reprinted by the Publisher of this volume.