Tanner Manuscripts
Item
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Country
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GB
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Language of name of institution
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eng
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Contact information: postal address
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Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BG
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Contact information: phone number
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0044 1865 277162 (reader services)
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0044 (0)1865 277150 (special collections)
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Contact information: email
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reader.services@bodleian.ox.ac.uk (reader services)
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specialcollections.bookings@bodleian.ox.ac.uk (special collections)
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Reference number
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MSS. Tanner
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Type of reference number
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Archival reference number
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Title (official language of the state)
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Tanner Manuscripts
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Language of title
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eng
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Creator / accumulator
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Thomas Tanner
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Date note
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10th century/18th century
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Language(s)
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dut
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eng
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fra
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gre
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heb
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ita
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lat
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por
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rus
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spa
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Extent
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56.87 linear metres (517 boxes)
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Type of material
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Textual Material
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Scope and content
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This collection comprises manuscripts gathered by Thomas Tanner (1674-1735) and later bequeathed to the Bodleian Library. Most of its holdings are related to the 17th-century Church, including correspondence of successive Archbishops of Canterbury, Gilbert Sheldon (1663-77) and William Sancroft (1677-90), and the Civil War and Interregnum period.
Among its manuscripts is a volume containing a collection of letters and papers from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (MS. Tanner 79), which includes a letter in cipher from Francis Walsingham (c. 1532-90), secretary to the Queen, to William Harborne (c.1542–1617), the English ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, on June 24, 1587, mentioning the Portuguese Jew Álvaro Mendes, Duke of Mytilene, who stood for the interests of England in Turkey (fols. 125, 127). In this letter, Walsingham recommends Mendes' intelligence services.
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Archival history
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By his will, Tanner's manuscripts passed to the Bodleian Library. They were received in 1736, about three months after his death.
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Administrative / Biographical history
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Thomas Tanner (1674-1735) was an English antiquary and prelate. He was born at Market Lavington in Wiltshire and matriculated at Queen's College, Oxford, in 1689, taking holy orders in 1694. In 1697, he became a fellow of All Souls College and, a few years later, private chaplain to John Moore (1646-1714), bishop of Norwich, and afterwards of Ely, who appointed him chancellor of the diocese of Norwich. From 1713 to 1723, Tanner was the prebendary of Ely. He became archdeacon of Norfolk in 1721, and canon of Christ Church in 1724. In 1732, he was made bishop of St. Asaph. He died in Oxford, where he had passed most of his life.
His chief work was Notitia Monastica (Oxford, 1695), a short account of all the religious houses in England and Wales. Tanner is also the author of Bibliotheca Britannico-Hibernica, a dictionary of English, Scottish and Irish authors prior to the 17th century, which was posthumously published, in 1748. Tanner's book and manuscript collection resulted from research for the composition of his works.
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(source: Encyclopædia Britannica)
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Author of the description
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Carla Vieira, 2022
