Order regarding diplomacy at Tetuán (Morocco)

Manuscript volume containing an Order in Council, 10 Feb 1656, signed by William Jessop, Clerk of the Council, concerning the appointment of a British consul at Tetuán, now in Morocco. The Order agrees to the recommendation made in a report by the Commissioners of the Admiralty and Navy that there should not be an official Consul at Tetuán, but that Nathaniel Luke should reside there in the nature of a Providore, and that General Blake should be empowered to commission captains of the Fleet sent there to treat with the Governor or magistrates upon such articles as shall be thought necessary to maintain free commerce with England.

The Council of State was set up by Parliamentary ordinance on 13 February 1649 as a successor to the Derby House Committee which had taken over much of the Privy Council's executive role in the State. It was annually renewed by Parliament and insisted on choosing its own President. From May 1649 it was housed at Whitehall. Membership was reduced from 41 to 15 in 1653 when it became the Protector's Council. By 1656 it was being styled the Privy Council. After Richard Cromwell's abdication in 1659 the Council of State was revived and remodelled twice before it relapsed into a Privy Council. It spawned committees, both standing and ad hoc; the former included the Admiralty Committee, set up in 1649.

Single item.

Access to this collection is unrestricted for the purpose of private study and personal research within the supervised environment and restrictions of the Library's Palaeography Room. Uncatalogued material may not be seen. Please contact the University Archivist for details.

Part of the Goldsmith's Library of Economic Literature, initially collected by Herbert Somerton Foxwell and presented by the Goldsmith's Company to the University of London in 1903.

Collection level description.

Manuscript folio. Bound in half-morocco.

Compiled by Sarah Smith as part of the RSLP AIM25 Project.

The Public Record Office, London, holds papers relating to the decisions reached regarding a Consul at Tetuán Ref: SP 71).

Copies may be made, subject to the condition of the original. Copying must be undertaken by the Palaeography Room staff, who will need a minimum of 24 hours to process requests.

See Calendar of State Papers: Domestic Series, 1656-1657, 273-5.