Robert Bruce Cotton

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Portrait of Robert Cottons, 1626

Sir Robert Bruce Cotton, 1st Baronet ( January 22, 1570 - May 6, 1631 ) was an English politician and founder of the Cotton Library .

Life

Cotton came from the English county of Huntingdonshire . He attended Westminster School and Jesus College in Cambridge . William Camden made Cotton interested in antiquarian studies and began to build a library . He was a member of the English Parliament several times , 1601 for Newtown , 1604 to 1611 for Huntingdonshire, 1624 to 1625 for Old Sarum , 1625 to Thetford and 1628 to 1629 for Castle Rising . He helped the introduction of the title Baronet as a source of money for King I. Jacob to design. Despite an early phase in which Cotton enjoyed the benevolence of Jacob I and in which he was raised to Baronet , of Connington in the County of Southampton on June 29, 1611 , Cotton developed anti-royalist views and the authorities feared the usefulness of his library, which was therefore confiscated in 1630. His heirs got the book collection back after Cottons death. His title of nobility inherited on his death in 1631 his son, the member of parliament Thomas Cotton (1594–1662).

The Cotton Library, the largest private collection of manuscripts , was eventually donated to the nation by Cotton's grandsons and is now in the British Library .

Cotton's library was in an eight by two meter room with bookshelves. A bust of an ancient person was attached to each shelf . They are cataloged counterclockwise as follows: Julius Caesar , Augustus , Cleopatra VII , Faustina , Tiberius , Caligula , Claudius , Nero , Galba , Otho , Vitellius , Vespasian , Titus and Domitian (Domitian only had one shelf, possibly because it was over the door). The manuscripts are determined according to the criteria library , shelf and number . For example, the Beowulf manuscript is denoted by Cotton Vitellius A.xv , and the Pearl manuscript is denoted by Cotton Nero Ax .

Some selected manuscripts

Cotton Nero Ax
  • Codex Cottonianus
  • Cotton Julius Ax Old English Martyrology
  • Cotton Augustus II.106 Magna Carta : Exemplification of 1215
  • Cotton Cleopatra A.ii Life of St Modwenna
  • Cotton Faustina Ax Additional Glosses to the Glossary in Ælfric ’s Grammar
  • Cotton Tiberius BV Labor of the Months
  • Cotton Caligula A.ii A Pistil of Susan
  • Cotton Claudius B. iv Genesis
  • Cotton Nero Ax Pearl
  • Cotton Nero D.iv Lindisfarne Gospels
  • Cotton Galba A.xviii Athelstan Psalter
  • Cotton Otho Ci Ælfric’s De creatore et creatura
  • Cotton Vitellius A. xv Beowulf , Judith
  • Cotton Vespasian D.xiv Ælfric’s De duodecim abusivis
  • Cotton Titus D.xxvi Ælfwine's Prayerbook
  • Cotton Domitian A.viii Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Version E)

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Baronetage: COTTON of Connington, Hants at Leigh Rayment's Peerage
predecessor Office successor
New title created Baronet (of Connington)
1611-1631 		Thomas Cotton
personal data
SURNAME Cotton, Robert Bruce
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cotton, Sir Robert, 1st Baronet
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English politician and founder of the Cotton library
DATE OF BIRTH January 22, 1570
DATE OF DEATH May 6, 1631