Introduction: the archives

The Court of Chivalry 1634-1640: the archives

The bulk of the records of the High Court of Chivalry are deposited amongst the records and collections of the College of Arms, Queen Victoria Street, London, EC4V 4BT.

An excellent account of the extent and history of the college archives is provided by Sir Anthony Richard Wagner, The Records and Collections of the College of Arms (1952). Most of the surviving court material for the 1630s is located in the Curia Militaris boxes and bundles of loose papers, and the miscellaneous bound volumes, at the college. G.D. Squibb compiled a manuscript index to the Records of the High Court of Chivalry 1633-1640, 1682-1732, in 1958, which can now be supplemented by R.P. Cust and A.J. Hopper (eds), Cases in the High Court of Chivalry, 1634-1640 (Harleian Society, new series vol. 18, 2006). Access to the archives for the purposes of scholarly research is by arrangement with Mr Robert Yorke, Archivist.

Most of the remaining Court of Chivalry material is located amongst the Earl Marshal's papers at Arundel Castle, Arundel, West Sussex, BN18 9AB. Pioneering work on these collections was carried out by Dr Francis Steer, Archivist and Librarian to the Duke of Norfolk, and the fruits of his researches were published in F.W. Steer (ed), A Catalogue of the Earl Marshal's Papers at Arundel Castle (Harleian Society, vols. 115-16, 1963-4). The archives at Arundel are open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and access is by written appointment.