Edward IV, Royal Letters Patent

Type: Royal Letters Patent

Date: 1482

Setting: Court

Produced By/For: King Edward IV

Contents: Stall entitlement London

Shelf Mark: Doc.Brown.6

Location: Drawer MD 22 (Acc. 1992-044, Item #3)

Description by Brooke Isherwood, in collaboration with Dr. Adrienne Williams Boyarin (ENGL), December 2015

Confirmation of entitlement from Chief Baron of the Exchequer (William Nottingham), in the name of King Edward IV, England (London) 24 April 1482

700 x 953mm large oblong folio, 51 lines in Latin on parchment. Ruled in pencil with visible pricking on left and right edges. Elaborate first line, with high flourished ascenders and initial letter E (of “Edwardus”) decorated with strapwork and Yorkist roses. Records confirmation of a decision made by the Barons of the Exchequer against Edward IV, regarding entitlement to a tanner’s stall in the Parish of St. Mary le Bow in London, citing a series of decisions in the rolls of Henry VI. Signed at line 51 by a chancery scribe (“Fforde”). Remnants of original Exchequer seal still attached to parchment tongue. Generally in good condition, with some small holes and wear at fold lines that minimally affect text; parchment has been repaired on bottom left side (at fold), but with no apparent loss of text. Additions in Latin and English describe content: at the left margin between lines 20 and 21 (“liberum burgage”) and on the dorse side (see below), both in an early modern hand (mid-sixteenth-century?). Additional material related to content and provenance is housed with the document.

Transcription* by Brooke Isherwood, in collaboration with Dr. Adrienne Williams Boyarin (ENGL), as part of coursework for her manuscript studies class, December 2015, available here.

* Transcription conventions follow Raymond Clemens and Timothy Graham, Introduction to Manuscript Studies (Ithaca, 2007), pp. 75-77.

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