CHANCERY OF ELIZABETH I (r. 17 November 1558–24 March 1603)
Single parchment sheet with Common Recovery under the Great Seal of Elizabeth I, involving lands in Suffolk, in Latin, manuscript on parchment [London, Court of King’s Bench, Trinity Term, 21 Elizabeth, 1579]

Issued by the Chancery of Elizabeth I and bearing her First Great Seal, this document offers a vivid testament to Elizabethan property law and royal authority.

430 × 740 mm (parchment); ca. 135 mm diameter (seal). A single large legal document on parchment, written in nineteen lines of text in brown ink in a formal chancery script, and authenticated by the first Great Seal of Elizabeth I, cast in brown wax, and originally suspended from a parchment tongue, with the obverse showing the enthroned Queen holding orb and scepter, and the reverse the quarterly royal arms of England and France, surmounted by a crown and flanked by a collared greyhound (dexter) and a Tudor dragon (sinister), with portion of original legend “ELIZABETHA DEI GRACIA” visible on obverse. Parchment shows wear from its original folding pattern, having been creased vertically and horizontally into sixths, resulting in two tears along the central axis with partial loss of text, along with additional localized browning and minor discoloration, particularly along the folds and edges, FIRST GREAT SEAL broken free of parchment tongue, with cracking around the perimeter of the seal and chipping to the outer edge, and loss to most of the legend both the obverse and reverse, figure and heraldry retain definition with most of the iconography clearly visible.

This legal document was issued in 1579 by the Chancery of Elizabeth I and bears her First Great Seal, likely engraved by Nicholas Brigham (active under Henry VIII and Mary I) and in use from 1558 to 1586. The seal is notable for its retention of late-Gothic style, cast from a two-sided engraved matrix in metal—probably latten or silver—and impressed into a wax-resin mixture to form a large circular seal. It was affixed to parchment documents either by silk cords or, more commonly, by a parchment tongue (as here) cut from the lower margin of the deed. The First Great Seal was created early in Elizabeth’s reign to validate royal documents such as charters, pardons, land grants, and Common Recoveries. Surviving impressions are comparatively rare, but examples are preserved in the National Archives and other institutional collections.

The present document records a Common Recovery—a formal legal fiction employed to convert entailed property into a freely alienable estate—heard in the Court of King’s Bench during Trinity Term in the 21st regnal year of Elizabeth I (summer 1579). The case involves multiple parcels of land located in Alderton, Bawdsey, Ramsholt, Shottisham, and Sutton, all in Suffolk, England. Although the specific estates are not named, the principal parties are identified in the standard legal formula as Robert Crane and Thomas Golding: “inter Robertum Crane et Thomam Golding.” Despite its highly formulaic structure, the common recovery was central to the evolution of English land law, enabling the dissolution of restrictive feudal entails. Exemplifications of such judgments, like this one, served as conclusive legal instruments and were often preserved in manorial or family archives. This example stands out for its completeness and state of preservation, offering a vivid testament to the mechanisms of property transfer, legal ritual, and royal jurisdiction in the Elizabethan era.

Provenance
(1) Suffolk, England, with identified parcels of land in Alderton, Bawdsey, Ramsholt, Shottisham, and Sutton. Three persons are named in the document: Robert Crane, the demandant or plaintiff in the common recovery, who initiates the lawsuit to recover the land and thereby break the entail. Thomas Golding, the tenant in tail and defendant who agrees to suffer the recovery, allowing the entail on his Suffolk lands to be legally dissolved. John Carter, the vouchee, a nominal third-party defendant brought in to uphold title but who intentionally defaults, enabling judgment in favor of Crane and completing the legal fiction. An inheritance dispute over some of this land is also recorded in The National Archives, Kew, Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Wills, PROB 11/32/177.

(2) Private Collection.

LITERATURE
Unpublished; Related literature: Walter C. Richardson (ed.), Tudor Royal Proclamations: Volume II: The Later Tudors (1553–1587), New Haven, 1969; J. S. Cockburn A History of English Assizes, 1558–1714, Cambridge, 1972; P. D.A. Harvey and Andrew McGuinness, A Guide to British Medieval Seals, London, 1996; Elizabeth A. New, Seals and Sealing Practices, London, 2010.

We thank Senior Consultant Sandra Hindman and Peter Bovenmyer for their assistance in preparing this sale.

This lot is located in Chicago.

To request further details about this lot, please email [email protected]

Please contact the Auction Specialist for details.

Christopher Brink

Associate Vice President, Head of Sale, Senior Specialist, Books & Manuscripts

[email protected]312.334.4217

Darren Winston

SVP, Head of Department, Books and Manuscripts, Philadelphia

[email protected]267.414.1247

Darren Winston, Senior Vice President at Freeman’s, has served as Head of Department for Books & Manuscripts, Philadelphia, since 2018. He has been a trustee of the Rosenbach Museum and Library since 2022, is a member of The Manuscript Society, The Bibliographical Society of America, and Philadelphia’s Philobiblon Club.

Raised in northern New Jersey, Darren moved to New York City in 1988 and began his career there as a bookseller in 1995. He spent the next 18 years selling to private clients and at East Coast book fairs. In 2003 he moved with his young family to Sharon, Connecticut where, in 2009, he opened his own bookshop. Darren Winston, Bookseller offered rare and vintage books, prints, fine art, and more, and hosted over 50 book signings and art shows. He was a trustee and, later, Board President, of the Sharon Historical Society, and for six years a trustee of Indian Mountain School in Lakeville, Connecticut.

Darren has hosted the radio program "Darren Winston's Book Report" for NPR-affiliate WHDD since 2009, appeared in the 2014 book-themed documentary The Paper Trail, and in 2024 he joined Antiques Roadshow as a books and manuscripts appraiser. From 1999 to 2005, Darren was the buyer and consultant to the Fine and Rare Books Department at Asprey, the British luxury goods company, at its New York headquarters. While there he spearheaded various in-store events including readings by Salman Rushdie and Dominick Dunne.

In 1993, Darren was hired as a Creative Consultant to Columbia Records, where he assisted in the repackaging of their 12-record Aerosmith back catalogue. He later sold his extensive collection of Aerosmith memorabilia, which he began amassing at the age of 14, directly to the band.

Darren now lives on the Main Line, outside Philadelphia, with his wife, two children, and dog. The family travels frequently to his wife's native England and Scotland. When not bookselling, he plays guitar in Pumped, an Aerosmith tribute band. Darren also appears on the top-rated PBS television program Antiques Roadshow.

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Western Manuscripts and Miniatures

CHANCERY OF ELIZABETH I (r. 17 November 1558–24 March 1603)
Single parchment sheet with Common Recovery under the Great Seal of Elizabeth I, involving lands in Suffolk, in Latin, manuscript on parchment [London, Court of King’s Bench, Trinity Term, 21 Elizabeth, 1579]

Western Manuscripts and Miniatures

CHANCERY OF ELIZABETH I (r. 17 November 1558–24 March 1603)Single parchment sheet with Common Recovery under the Great Seal of Elizabeth I, involving lands in Suffolk, in Latin, manuscript on parchment [London, Court of King’s Bench, Trinity Term, 21 Elizabeth, 1579]

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CHANCERY OF ELIZABETH I (r. 17 November 1558–24 March 1603)
Single parchment sheet with Common Recovery under the Great Seal of Elizabeth I, involving lands in Suffolk, in Latin, manuscript on parchment [London, Court of King’s Bench, Trinity Term, 21 Elizabeth, 1579]