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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. Carte
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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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Carte Papers
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Language of title
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eng
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Creator / accumulator
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Thomas Carte
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Date note
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16th century/18th century
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Language(s)
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eng
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fra
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ita
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lat
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Extent
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30.69 linear metres (279 physical shelfmarks)
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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 papers accumulated by the historian Thomas Carte (1686-1754), chiefly related to Irish and English history from the outbreak of the Civil War to the end of the 17th century. It includes the following subcollections: Ormond papers (Irish history), containing 153 bundles of papers of the 1st Duke of Ormond (1610-88) that were delivered to Carte by the Earl of Arran (1703-73) about 1728 or 1729 (now MSS. Carte 1-29); Fitzwilliam papers (Irish history) from Sir William Fitzwilliam (1526-99) and lent to the Duke of Ormond in about 1684 (now MSS. Carte 55-58, 131); Chichester papers (Irish history, etc.), related to Sir Arthur Chichester (1563-1625)'s government of Ireland (now MSS. Carte 61-62); Sandwich papers (English history, especially of the navy), pertaining to Edward Montagu (1625-72), 1st Earl of Sandwich (now MSS. Carte 73-75, 103, 123, 274); Wharton papers (English history), chiefly composed of the collections of the 4th Lord Wharton (1613-96) (now MSS. Carte 77, 79-81, 103, 109, 113, 117, 125, 206-207, 228, 233, 239); Huntingdon papers (Irish history), derived from the Earl of Huntingdon (now MSS. Carte 76-78, 103, 128, 234); and Nairne papers, chiefly relating to the exiled Stuarts, and comprising the correspondence of Sir David Nairne (fl. 1720) and the Earl of Middleton (c.1650-1719) (now MSS. Carte 180-181, 208-212, 256-258).
This collection contains a few diplomatic letters containing information regarding Sephardic Jews and Portuguese conversos. It is the case of the following items:
MS. Carte 72, fols. 239-240: Letter from Francis Parry, of Lisbon, to Lord Chamberlain the Earl of Arlington, mentioning the offers made by the Portuguese New Christians to the Chief Ministers of State to obtain an amnesty from the Inquisition and to secure an exemption in the future from all interference of the tribunal. Lisbon, December 8/18, 1674.
MS. Carte 73, fols. 532: Letter from John Webster to the Earl of Sandwich in which he mentions António Lopes, who was sent to him by a Jew broker named Cardoze but with whom he refused to treat. Amsterdam, February 2, 1661.
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Archival history
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In 1753, Carte delivered 30 manuscript volumes to the Bodleian Library. Although a catalogue containing a list of the 1753 and 1754 donations cannot now be found, the 30 volumes certainly included MSS. Carte 55-58, 71, 99, 112, 114, 131 (9), and probably 21 out of the following 33: MSS. Carte 82-90, 92-96, 105, 107, 121-127. Possibly, MSS. Carte 101, 116, 119, and 129 were part of this first gift. By what right Carte could present the original Ormond papers to the Bodleian is not clear, but as the Earl of Arran, grandson and heir of the 1st Duke of Ormond, was Chancellor of the University at the time, the transference can hardly have taken place without his knowledge and consent.
In 1754, Carte presented 26 more volumes lettered A, B, C, etc. These are certainly MSS. Carte 1-26, but it would seem probable that MSS. Carte 27-29 accompanied them.
In 1757, four boxes came from Carte's executors, arriving from Caldecot near Abingdon. This third donation seems to have consisted of 53 volumes, namely MSS. Carte 30-54, 59-70, 72, 98, 118, 213-222, 232, 243.
In 1778, the University purchased for £50 Mr Jernegan's life interest in Carte's remaining manuscripts, and they were transferred to the Bodleian. The number of volumes received amounted probably to 169.
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(source: Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts: Carte Papers)
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Administrative / Biographical history
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Thomas Carte (1686-1754) was born at Clifton in Warwickshire, son of the Rev. Samuel Carte, M.A. of Magdalen College, Oxford. In 1698, he matriculated at University College and took his degree from Brasenose in 1702. In 1706, Carte took his M.A. degree from King's College, Cambridge. He took Holy Orders but, in 1714, refused to take the oath of allegiance. In 1722, Carte was accused of high treason and fled into France, where he adopted the name of Philips. He did not return till about 1728. During this period, he collected materials for an English edition of Jacques Auguste de Thou's Historia sui temporis, later published in London in 1733.
When Carte returned to England, he commenced his Life of James Duke of Ormonde (published in 1735-36). His History of England, to provide funds for which a Society of subscribers had been formed, was published in 1747-55.
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(source: Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts: Carte Papers)
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System of arrangement
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Carte himself arranged his papers with care but not completeness, numbering each separate paper but allowing more than one chronological arrangement in a volume. The greater part he bound, affixing signs or letters. The whole collection was uniformly re-bound in about 1860-70. The present numeration (MSS. Carte 1-276) does not indicate any natural order, either of subject or of date of presentation, and had the records of gift been sufficiently precise, an attempt would have been made to establish a historical and natural sequence.
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(source: Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts: Carte Papers)
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Finding aids
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A complete Calendar of the papers, made by Edw. Edwards in 1877-83 and arranged in a long chronological series, remains in manuscript in the library, with a shorter summary list.
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Published finding aids:
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Hardy, T. D., and J. S. Brewer. 1864. Report to the ... Master of the Rolls upon the Carte and Carew Papers in the Bodleian and Lambeth Libraries. London.
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Madan, Falconer. 1895. A Summary Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford Which Have Not Hitherto Been Catalogued in the Quarto Series, with References to the Oriental and Other Manuscripts. 7 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
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Russell, Charles William, and John P. Prendergast. 1871. The Carte Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. A Report. London: G.E. Eyre and W. Spottiswoode.
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Author of the description
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Carla Vieira, 2022
