Talbot Papers

Acquisition of the papers of the Talbot family, Earls of Shrewsbury, one of the most influential families of the Tudor period. They owned immense estates in Yorkshire and the surrounding counties, and virtually ruled the North of England on behalf of the Crown. The archive comprises over 2,500 letters and papers, including letters from Elizabeth I, Mary Tudor, Henry VIII, Thomas Cranmer and the most notable political figures of the time. Towards the end of the 17th century the papers were split. The 6th Duke of Norfolk, who had inherited the Talbot estates, deposited 15 volumes of the papers in the College of Arms. 18 volumes were acquired by Lambeth Palace Library in about 1696, where they still remain. The College of Arms decided in 1983 to sell their portion of the papers, and this acquisition re-unites the archive.