Special Collections

Milton S. Eisenhower Library

The Johns Hopkins University

3400 N. Charles St.

Baltimore, MD 21218

(410) 516-8348

Notes on Sir Thomas Overbury

(1616)

Ms. 334

Size:               1 volume

Processed:          July 1992

By:                 Joan Grattan

Provenance:         The volume was transferred to the

                    Manuscripts Department June, 1992

Access:             Access to the collection is unrestricted.

Permission:         Permission to publish material from this

                    collection must be requested in writing

                    from the Manuscripts Librarian at the

                    address above.

Citation:           Notes on Sir Thomas Overbury Ms. 334        

                    Special Collections,

                    Milton S. Eisenhower Library,

                    The Johns Hopkins University

                  Notes on Sir Thomas Overbury

                             (1616)

                             Ms. 334

Provenance

The collection was part of the library of Edward Revere Osler and

was later given to the University and cataloged in 1923 as part of

the Tudor and Stuart Club Collection.  The Accession Number was

177,651.  In June 1992, the volume was transferred to the

Manuscripts Department.  The Manuscripts Accession Number

is 91-92.46.

Biographical Note

Thomas Overbury, poet and member of the court of James I (1566-

1625), was born in Gloucestershire in 1581.  He graduated from

Queen's College, Oxford in 1598 and later traveled to Edinburgh

where he became friends with Robert Carr, Viscount Rochester, later

the Earl of Somerset.  Overbury was knighted in 1608 and quickly

rose to an eminent position at court because of his friendship with

Carr, a particular favorite of King James.  Overbury became a

victim of court intrigue when he opposed the marriage of his friend

Carr to Frances Howard, the divorced wife of Robert Devereux, the

Earl of Essex.  Several members of the court, including Frances

Howard, conspired to have Overbury imprisoned in the Tower of

London.  He was removed to the tower, April 26, 1613 and died there

of poisoning, September 15, 1613.   The Earl of Somerset, Robert

Carr, married Frances Howard December 26, 1613.  In 1616, murder

charges were brought against the Earl and the Countess of Somerset

and several accomplices.  Four persons were executed for the murder

of Sir Overbury, but the Somersets were pardoned by King James and

released from the Tower in 1621.

Scope and Content Note

The collection consists of one bound holographic manuscript

written in 1616.  The author is unknown.  (There is a dedication

"from a poor country man" to Sir Thomas Bromley, possibly the

English judge (1530-1587) who presided over the trial (1586) of

Mary, Queen of Scots.  The manuscript was written during the reign

of James I who was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots.)  Printed on

the spine is the title, "Great Oyer of Poysoning & Overbury MS

1616."  The name of Henry Strode and the year, 1679, is written on

page iv.

Two related events, parts of a seventeenth-century mystery, are

described in the manuscript.  The first narration is an account of

the divorce proceedings (1613) between Lady Frances Howard and her

first husband, Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex.  The second

narration is an account of the trials (November 1615 to May 1616)

of the persons implicated in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury.

Called to trial were Richard Weston, Ann Turner, Sir Gervase

Helwys, James Franklin, Sir Thomas Monson, and the Earl and

Countess of Somerset.

Of historical interest is the third section of the manuscript which

is titled, "Sir Thomas Overbury his Observations of the Low

Countries and Kingdome of France."  It is known that Sir Overbury

traveled to the Low Countries in 1609 during a period when he was

expected to accept the offer of a diplomatic position from King

James I.  In the biographical sketch of Overbury in the Dictionary

of National Biography, there is a reference to Overbury's

"Observations," the suggestion being that the existence of such a

document was never authenticated.  The quote is: He (Overbury) paid

a visit to the Low Countries in 1609, and he is said to have

written some valuable 'Observations upon the State of the Seventeen

Provinces.'

The last part of the manuscript is a prose account of the life of

John the Baptist.  The work is in a handwriting different from the

previous pages related to Thomas Overbury.