Beschreibung:

HERALDRY.] -- ARMS OF THE NOBILITY OF ENGLAND by Ralph Brooke (c.1553-1625), herald, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
HERALDRY.] -- ARMS OF THE NOBILITY OF ENGLAND by Ralph Brooke (c.1553-1625), herald, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [England, 1580-1585] 220 x 180mm. 68 leaves, contemporary foliation, ILLUMINATED ACHIEVEMENTS OF ARMS ON 66 LEAVES, 17th-century index at end on 5 leaves, paper. 18th-century green vellum, titled in gilt on spine, black slip case. PROVENANCE: 1. Ralph Brooke (c.1553-1625): the manuscript presumably post-dates Brooke's joining the College of Arms in 1580, and presumably pre-dates the suicide in 1585 of Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland, whose arms appear on f.5. Such a highly finished manuscript would not have been produced for a herald's personal use, and the fact that it remained in Brooke's possession is anomalous: it may have been a commission rejected because of its expense or on other grounds; or it may have been retained as a model for future commissions. The fact that it subsequently passed through the hands of two other heralds indicate a high level of esteem for its craftsmanship. Brooke's early apprenticeship in the Painter-Stainers' Company no doubt contributed to the masterful execution of the illuminations in the present volume, but his career was marked as much by his disputatious character. He is best known for having challenged the grant of arms made to Shakespeare's father by William Dethick in 1596, on the grounds that they too closely resembled those of Lord Mauley, but this was but one of a battery of accusations against his fellow heralds of 'profiting from false or incorrect arms, of withholding fees due to him, of violent or ungentlemanly behaviour, and of other abuses of office' (ODNB): his finest hour was perhaps the perpetration of an elaborate hoax upon the Garter herald in 1616 which led to him granting the arms of Aragon and Brabant to the London hangman. One of his causes cèlèbres was his dispute with William Camden over the genealogies of the British nobility published in his celebrated Britannia (1594), culminating in his A catalogue and succession of the kings, princes, dukes, marquesses, earles and viscounts of this realme of England (1619, with a second edition in 1622). The present dazzling display of the herald's skill also focuses on the nobility of rank. 2. Thomas Thompson Lancaster Herald: his signed inscription facing f.1 'This Booke of the armes and quarterings of the Nobilitie of England was made in the time of Queene Elizabeth by Raph [ sic ] Brooke then Yorke Herlad, written & Painted w[i]th his owne hand & Now it belngeth to Thomas Thompson Lancaster Herald, 1637'. 3. George Owen (c.1598-1665): his signature as York herald, 1646, facing f.1. Owen managed the impressive feat of remaining York herald under Charles I, both Cromwells (assisting at the funeral of Oliver and probably at the installation of Richard) and Charles II (at whose coronation banquet he proclaimed the champion's challenge). 4. John Perceval 2nd Earl of Egmont (1711-1770): his signature facing f.1, undated, but after his succession as earl in May 1748. Egmont was an important reforming First Lord of the Admiralty in the Grenville and Rockingham administrations, 1763-66. 5. Charles George Perceval, Baron Arden (1756-1840), eldest son of the above by his second marriage: his signature facing f.1, undated but after 1784 when he succeeded his mother as Baron Arden. Arden was a close supporter of William Pitt the Younger, who granted him the reversionary sinecure of registrar of the court of Admiralty, which was to make him a very wealthy man, but also the object of repeated attacks in the Commons. His youngest brother, Spencer Perceval, was prime minister from 1809 until his assassination in 1812. CONTENT: Ownership inscriptions f.iv; Arms of Queen Elizabeth f.1; Arms of the nobility of England, beginning with the Marquess of Winchester, the senior peer, and proceeding in order with the 20 earls, two viscounts and 42 barons, the arms on recto and the list of quarterings on facing verso (lac