The Devonshire manuscript (

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

, Add
MS 17492
is a verse

miscellany A miscellany (, ) is a collection of various pieces of writing by different authors. Meaning a mixture, medley, or assortment, a miscellany can include pieces on many subjects and in a variety of different forms. In contrast to anthologies, w ...

from the 1530s and early 1540s, compiled by three women who attended the court of

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the Wives of Henry VIII, second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and execution, by beheading ...

Mary Shelton Mary Shelton (1510/15 – 1570/71) was one of the contributors to the Devonshire manuscript. Either she or her sister Madge Shelton may have been a mistress of Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII. Family Both Margaret and Mary were daught ...

, Mary Fitzroy (née Howard), and Lady

Margaret Douglas Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox (8 October 1515 – 7 March 1578), born Lady Margaret Douglas, was the daughter of the Scottish queen dowager Margaret Tudor and her second husband Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, and thus the granddau ...

. Although the manuscript contains a number of original compositions, transcriptions, fragments and extracts of verse (including some from the medieval poets

Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer ( ; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

Thomas Hoccleve Thomas Hoccleve or Occleve (1368/69–1426) was a key figure in 15th-century Middle English literature, significant for promoting Chaucer as "the father of English literature", and as a poet in his own right. His poetry, especially his longest w ...

, and Richard Roos), the majority of the verses recorded are those composed by

Sir Thomas Wyatt Sir Thomas Wyatt (150311 October 1542) was a 16th-century English politician, ambassador, and lyric poetry, lyric poet credited with introducing the sonnet to English literature. He was born at Allington Castle near Maidstone in Kent, though hi ...

, of which many are unique to the manuscript. As such, it is not only an important witness in the Canon of Wyatt's poetry, but also an artefact that reveals much about the role of women in literary production and manuscript circulation in the early

Tudor period In England and Wales, the Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603, including the Elizabethan era during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603). The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in England, which began with ...

References

* * * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Devonshire Ms 1530s books 1540s books 1530s in England 1540s in England 16th-century manuscripts British poetry collections Miscellanies Anne Boleyn