Letter from divines to Archbishop Parker, Edmund Grindal, Bishop of London, Robert...

Signed by the following: Miles Coverdale, 'quondam episcopus'; William Whittingham, Dean of Durham; Thomas Sampson, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford; Laurence Humphrey, President of Magdalen College, Oxford; Thomas Cole, Archdeacon of Essex; Richard Alvey, Master of the Temple; Perceval Wiburn, Canon of Westminster; John Foxe, martyrologist; Edmund Freke, Archdeacon of Canterbury, and (1584) Bishop of Worcester; Richard Alan, clerk; John Philpott, former Vicar of St. Christopher-Le-Stock, London; John Mullyns, Archdeacon of London; James Calfhill, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, Oxford; Thomas Lever, Canon of Durham; Alexander Nowell, Dean of St. Paul's; John Gough, Rector of St. Peter's, Cornhill; Robert Crowley, Prebendary of St. Paul's; Richard Laugher, Vicar of St. Mary, Cole-church; Nicolas Kervile (or Carvil), clerk; William Porrige (or Porrage), clerk.

The text of the letter, but without the signatures, is printed by Strype, Parker, ed. 1821, iii, app. XXX (ff. 1-2).

Account of a debate in the House of Commons, 27-8 February 1592/3, concerning the Court of High Commission and a Bill against recusants, apparently written by an eye-witness for Archbishop Whitgift, by whom there are pencil annotations (f. 4rv). The main items are the speech by James Morice, attorney in the Court of Wards, and the message from Queen Elizabeth I conveyed by the Speaker. Summaries are also given of speeches by James Dalton, Sir John Wolley, Dr. William Lewin, Sir Francis Knollys, [Richard] Stevens, Henry Finch, Sir Robert Cecil, Nathaniel Bacon.

A photograph of Whitgift's pencil notes is included.

For the importance of this document see J. E. Neale, Elizabeth and her Parliaments, 1584-1601, 1957, 267-75 (ff. 3-5v)