Historical and Literary Tracts

Scope and Content

MS copies of Thomas Legge's Latin verse tragedy Solymitana Clades (The Destruction of Jerusalem) of circa 1580; George Ruggles's Cambridge play Ignoramus (1615); William Roper, The Life and Death of Sir Thomas More, written in 1535; George Cavendish, The Life of Cardinal Wolsey, completed 1557; Sir Philip Sidney's letter to his brother Robert on foreign travel, written circa 1578-1579; and other tracts, the latest being an exchange of letters between James I and the University of Cambridge, dated 1616. The MS was compiled originally at Cambridge in the early seventeeth century, and has the ownership inscription 'Josephus Diggins me possidet' on a back endleaf.

Access Information

Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

Acquisition Information

Purchased 1974.

Other Finding Aids

A catalogue of the collection can be found on ArchiveSearch.