St John's College L.15 (James 370)
William Sancroft, Form of the Coronation of James II. English, 1685
William Sancroft, archbishop of Canterbury (1617-93): reworking of the coronation service. The work consists of extensive notes and revisions in Sancroft's hand to an original MS 'The Manner of the Coronation of the Kings of England', drawn up for the coronation of Charles I and 'recovered from Westminster upon the suit' (fo. i v). A companion to MS L.14. Printed in Christopher Wordsworth, The manner of the coronation of King Charles I of England (London: Henry Bradshaw Soc., 1892), pp. xiv-xviii, and substantially in the main text.
175x115 mm. [xxvi]+75+[xci, all blank]. Notes in Sancroft's hand on the coronation of Charles I at pp. iii, v-vii. Inscribed by Thomas Baker at p. ii: 'This probably was the Book, that King Charles the first held in his hand at his Coronation. For which see Archbishop Sancroft's note.' The note to which this refers is at p. iii, 'I have reason to think that tis the very Book which the King held in his Hand at that great solemnity', but it is not entirely clear how Sancroft arrives at this conclusion. College bookplate (eighteenth century) inside front cover.
Paper. Tooled/Stamped black buckram binding.