Catalogue description Exchequer: King's Remembrancer: Original Letters Patent etc

This series of original letters patent is a 20th century creation; it is a collection of illuminated and decorated letters patent under the Great Seal, mostly relating to the jointures of Henrietta Maria and Catherine of Braganza; and an accumulation of letters patent and other instruments under the Great Seal, the Exchequer Seal, the Seal of the Common Bench and other official seals. This collection includes warrants and other documents from administrative files of the Exchequer, monastic and other forfeit deeds, commissions returnable in the courts of common law, and much miscellanea of unknown origin.

The documents include letters of obligation, mostly to foreign merchant bankers, promising repayment of loans or debts incurred on behalf of the Crown; commissions to make an enquiry; commissions for purveyance of victuals; letters patent and other documents relating to Pembroke; deeds of the Knights Templar; and strays from religious houses, such as Pershore, seized after their dissolution.

Several of the letters patent are illuminated with portraits of both the monarch and his consort, heraldic insignia, and heavy use of gilding. The survival of seals is variable, and examples range from fragments to complete seals in good condition. A few private seals are included.

A few of the original storage boxes, fragments of the same, and scraps of wallpaper which once lined the boxes, have been preserved with the documents in this series.

Similar records relating to the jointure of Catherine of Braganza are in SC 4