A breife relation of the famely of the Rawdons [manuscript].
1667
Items
Details
Title
A breife relation of the famely of the Rawdons [manuscript].
Created/published
Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire. Aprill An.o Doni, 1667.
Description
131 leaves
Associated name
Rawdon, Marmaduke, 1610-1669, author.
Note
This is a PRELIMINARY RECORD. It may contain incorrect information. The "FAST ACC" number is a temporary call number. Please email catalog@folger.edu for assistance.
Genre/form
Manuscripts (documents)
Place of creation/publication
Great Britain -- England.
Item Details
Call number
FAST ACC 271388 (quarto)
Folger-specific note
From dealer's description: "Folio (245 mm x 190 mm x 30 mm). 131 leaves (including some blanks) with text to both sides. 29 inset hand-drawn and painted crests and shields, large folded genealogical table in manuscript, plus 13 engraved plates by "R. White". Bordered in red throughout, text in a neat italic hand, with side-notes to margins. Contemporary calf with Marmaduke Rawdon's armorial fess between three pheons gilt-stamped to both boards. Modern reback with endpapers renewed, tear to genealogical table, repaired with cloth backing. A truly exceptional historical resource and a particularly fine example of manuscript publishing. Written in lively gossipy prose, it presents a series of biographical portraits which capture both the public personas of its subjects and reveal the personal intimacies of their private lives. It is if we were opening a series of doors into the secret lives of their occupiers. The Rawdons were a wealthy and well-connected family who spawned many prominent public figures, including successful merchants, politicians, army officers, and travellers. They counted several ardent Royalists among their number who consequently lost money and property under the Commonwealth. We read here of attempts to reverse these losses following the Restoration though apparently with little success. Travelling for both work and leisure is a continual theme throughout; they journey around England and Scotland but mostly to France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Barbados, the Canary Islands etc. and these explorations are written in often gripping prose. This manuscript was written by Marmaduke Rawdon (bap. 1610, d. 1669), a traveler and antiquarian. It is known to have been consulted by near contemporary authors. According to the ODNB "in 1712 Ralph Thoresby was permitted to inspect the collection, and extracts from some of the manuscripts are made use of in his Ducatus Leodiensis (1715)." The manuscripts passed by marriage to Thomas Bagnall, and Thomas Wotton saw in them Bagnall's collection when he was collecting materials for his Baronetage (1741). Following a brief introduction to his ancestors the, "familey of the Raudons", which relies on texts and documents, Marmaduke Rawdon moves on to individual biographies of the people he knew personally. Each biography begins with the male family member and then their wives and children follow in relation to the male subject. Rawdon's biographical portraits, with their intimate tone and his eye for the unusual, are reminiscent of John Aubrey; he seems truly at his ease immersed in the writing of these biographies and is frequently personal and revealing of their personalities. He documents members of the family's involvement in the Civil War, its after-effects on this Royalist family under Cromwell's rule, and their mixed fortunes following the Restoration. What makes these passages particularly interesting is that in taking each family member in turn, we learn how these events affected individuals differently. His entries swell in proportion to his intimate knowledge of each person. For example, in writing about his mother he relates many details that might be overlooked or undiscovered by another, less intimate narrator, e.g. "She was a constant early riser in the mournings, being neer or full 60 yeares of age, She was highly courted by Sr. Edward Paler of Thorobie a Knight Barronett for marriage, but hir virtue, the honourable respect She had to the Memory of hir deceased husband, & the Love she bore to hir Children forbad her the entertaining of any Such thoughts...". After a brief physical description of his father he says, "he did use to say that when he went to bed, he did put off his cares wth. his doublet, & not willingly think of any thing that might trouble his Night Cap." He describes both the merits of the public face and the intimacies of private man, "he was a very loving husband, a faithfull friend, & an Indulgent Father to his Children.. ..."." Ordered from Dean Byass, D9203, 2018-05-10, Battersea Bibliolater (London Book Fair 2018 catalog), item 4.
Folger accession
271388