The Phillipps Charters comprise an assortment of over five hundred charters and other records which once formed part of the collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps, antiquary and bibliophile, at Middle Hill, Broadway in Worcestershire.
There are numerous medieval charters and other records relating to religious houses and bishoprics throughout France and Belgium, and deeds relating to secular estates, particularly in Tournai, Senlis, Beauvais, Lisieux, and Bordeaux. The former include papal bulls of Hadrian IV (1157), Clement III (1191), Gregory IX (1236), Alexander IV (1255), Nicholas V (1451), Paul IV (1556) and Gregory XIII (1572), and briefs of Popes Paul V (1616) and Innocent X (1650). Other notable medieval documents are: the settlement for the unrealized marriage of Isabella (1332-79), daughter of Edward III, and Louis, Count of Flanders (PHC/23, 1347); compotus rolls from West Harling and other manors in Norfolk (PHC/9-22, 1277-1576); accounts of royal silver mines near Calstock, Cornwall (PHC/1, 1317); royal wardrobe accounts (PHC/2, 1313-14); and a contemporary transcript of the acceptance by Guy de Dampierre, Count of Flanders, of the truce of Vive-Saint-Baron between Philippe IV of France and Edward I, in 1297 (PHC/146).
In addition, the collection incorporates many medieval charters, such as grants, quitclaims, agreements, bonds and letters of attorney, for numerous English counties, particularly Derbyshire (especially Ashbourne, Castleton, Swadlincote and Taddington), Durham (Stainton and Streatlam), Huntingdonshire (Stilton), Kent (Charing and Willesborough), Staffordshire (Enville and Whittington), and Yorkshire (Beswick, Lockington and Middleton near Rothwell).