Arundel Manuscripts.

About Arundel Manuscripts

The Arundel Manuscripts are the manuscripts collected by Thomas Howard (1585–1646), earl of Arundel and courtier during the reigns of James I and Charles I of England. Following the Great Fire of London in 1666, his grandson Henry Howard permitted the Royal Society to convene at Arundel House and allowed its fellows to access his library. By 1669, he had agreed to John Evelyn's request that the works be given to the Society but they remained at Arundel House until after he succeeded to the Duchy of Norfolk, by which point he had also been made Earl Marshal of England. He allowed Evelyn to begin removing books for the Society to be held by Gresham College in 1678 but set apart a large number of manuscripts to be kept by the College of Arms overseen by the Earl Marshal.