St John's College W.3 (part) (James 609)

John Williams, Copy of his censure by the Privy Council. English, 1637


‘An exact copie of the censure passed by the Lords and others of his Majesties most honourable Privy Councell’ on John Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, later Archbishop of York, and one-time Fellow of St John’s College (1582-1650), in Star Chamber, 11 July 1637. Printed with slight variations in John Rushworth, Historical Collections. As was customary, the most junior privy counsellor spoke first, the judgments thereafter progressing up the list of seniority and concluding with that of the lord keeper.

Manuscript extra information

305x205mm. 37 fos. With a letter from Robert Forsyth Scott, Master of the College, to the Librarian Charles Previté-Orton, Jan. 1933, presenting the MS to the Library. Scott states that he had, ‘some time ago’, picked up the document ‘from the catalogue of a second hand dealer’.

A single contemporary secretary hand – a clean copy. Plain paper, worn on the first and last folios, stitched into a contemporary paper book with surviving traces of a leather cover.