The Digital Walters is a branch of The Walters Art Museum Manuscripts Department.
The Digital Walters is a branch of The Walters Art Museum Manuscripts Department.
This book of English heraldry was completed ca. 1589. The manuscript belonged to the Spencer family, as known through inscriptions on the first few flyleaves, including the motto "Dieu defende Le Droit" (God defends the right). This motto has long been associated with the Spencer family of England, which is the family line of Princess Diana, as well as the Spencers who were among the founders of Virginia. The Spencer family's heraldry is included in the manuscript, along with the coats of arms of numerous prominent British families, including the Hasting, Gray, Beuford, and Percye families. A similar book of English heraldry in the British Library, Stowe MS 693, was also completed at the end of the sixteenth century.
Elizabethan script; descriptions of the heraldry added in a seventeenth- or eighteenth-century hand
Cataloger: Bucca, Lauren
Cataloger: Dutschke, Consuelo
Cataloger: Walters Art Museum curatorial staff and researchers since 1934
Editor: Herbert, Lynley
Copy editor: Dibble, Charles
Contributor: Bockrath, Diane
Contributor: Bucca, Lauren
Contributor: Emery, Doug
Contributor: Noel, William
Contributor: Pizzinato, Riccardo
Contributor: Tabritha, Ariel
Contributor: Toth, Michael B.
Conservator: Owen, Linda
Conservator: Quandt, Abigail
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
England
Ca. 1589 CE
book
Non-original Binding
Initially rebound in the eighteenth-century (somewhat out of order); current binding created in England, in mid-twentieth century; red leather with gilded crest of the current English monarchy on the upper cover; tooled decoration with gilt lettering on spine: "BRITISH COATS OF ARMS."
The primary language in this manuscript is English. The secondary language of this manuscript is Latin.
Likely created in England for William Spencer ca. 1589; his inscription on flyleaf iv: "William Spencer His Book;" manuscript stayed in Spencer family for some time, indicated by inscription on flyleaf v: "
Inserted eighteenth-century paper fragment discussing similar manuscript is dated and possibly initialed "8 July 1779. WW.," suggesting possible eighteenth-century ownership
Grotou and Grotou, Highland Park, FL, before 1994
Dorothy McIlvain Scott, Baltimore, acquired from Grotou and Grotou in 1994
Gift of Dorothy McIlvain Scott, 1998
England
Ca. 1589 CE
book
The primary language in this manuscript is English. The secondary language of this manuscript is Latin.
Likely created in England for William Spencer ca. 1589; his inscription on flyleaf iv: "William Spencer His Book;" manuscript stayed in Spencer family for some time, indicated by inscription on flyleaf v: "
Inserted eighteenth-century paper fragment discussing similar manuscript is dated and possibly initialed "8 July 1779. WW.," suggesting possible eighteenth-century ownership
Grotou and Grotou, Highland Park, FL, before 1994
Dorothy McIlvain Scott, Baltimore, acquired from Grotou and Grotou in 1994
Gift of Dorothy McIlvain Scott, 1998
This book of English heraldry was completed ca. 1589. The manuscript belonged to the Spencer family, as known through inscriptions on the first few flyleaves, including the motto "Dieu defende Le Droit" (God defends the right). This motto has long been associated with the Spencer family of England, which is the family line of Princess Diana, as well as the Spencers who were among the founders of Virginia. The Spencer family's heraldry is included in the manuscript, along with the coats of arms of numerous prominent British families, including the Hasting, Gray, Beuford, and Percye families. A similar book of English heraldry in the British Library, Stowe MS 693, was also completed at the end of the sixteenth century.
Elizabethan script; descriptions of the heraldry added in a seventeenth- or eighteenth-century hand
Cataloger: Bucca, Lauren
Cataloger: Dutschke, Consuelo
Cataloger: Walters Art Museum curatorial staff and researchers since 1934
Editor: Herbert, Lynley
Copy editor: Dibble, Charles
Contributor: Bockrath, Diane
Contributor: Bucca, Lauren
Contributor: Emery, Doug
Contributor: Noel, William
Contributor: Pizzinato, Riccardo
Contributor: Tabritha, Ariel
Contributor: Toth, Michael B.
Conservator: Owen, Linda
Conservator: Quandt, Abigail
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
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