Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Baronet, of Connington
Portrait of Robert Cotton, commissioned 1626 and attributed toCornelis Janssens van Ceulen
Member of theEnglish Parliament forNewtown
In office 1601–1601 Serving with Robert Wroth
Preceded by	Sylvanus Scory Thomas Crompton
Succeeded by	Sir John Stanhope William Meux
Member of theEnglish Parliament forHuntingdonshire
In office 1604–1611 Serving with Sir Oliver Cromwell
Preceded by	Sir Gervase Clifton Oliver Cromwell
Succeeded by	Sir Robert Payne Sir Oliver Cromwell
Member of theEnglish Parliament forOld Sarum
In office 1624–1624 Serving with Michael Oldisworth
Preceded by	George Myne Thomas Brett
Succeeded by	Sir John Stradling Michael Oldisworth
Member of theEnglish Parliament forThetford
In office 1625–1625 Serving with Framlingham Gawdy
Preceded by	Framlingham Gawdy Drue Drury
Succeeded by	Framlingham Gawdy Sir John Hobart, Bt
Member of theEnglish Parliament forCastle Rising
In office 1628–1629 Serving with Sir Thomas Bancroft
Preceded by	Sir Hamon le Strange Sir Thomas Bancroft
Succeeded by	Parliament suspended until 1640
Personal details
Born	Robert Bruce Cotton 22 January 1570/1 Denton, Cambridgeshire, England
Died	(1631-05-06)6 May 1631
Children	Sir Thomas Cotton, 2nd Baronet Roland Rowland Cotton (Saltonstall) II of Derby

Sir Robert Bruce Cotton, 1st Baronet (22 January 1570/71 – 6 May 1631) of Conington Hall in the parish ofConington inHuntingdonshire, England,^[1] was aMember of Parliament and anantiquarian who founded theCotton library.

Sir Robert Cotton was born on 22 January 1571 inDenton, Huntingdonshire, the son and heir of Thomas Cotton (1544–1592) of Conington (son of Thomas Cotton of Conington,Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire in 1547^[2].) by his first wife, Elizabeth Shirley, a daughter of Francis Shirley ofStaunton Harold, Leicestershire.^[1] His family claimed descent from theBruce line of Scotland, and Cotton took considerable pride in this supposed connection with the Scottish royal line, and often styled himself as Robert Bruce Cotton.^[3]

The Cotton family originated at the manor ofCotton, Cheshire,^[4] from where they took their surname. They were prominent inShropshire by the 16th century with centres of power atAlkington^[5] andNorton in Hales where a member of the family,Rowland Cotton, gave one of the first architectural commissions toInigo Jones.^[6] The family was close to polymath and antiquarianSir Rowland Hill, publisher of theGeneva Bible.^[7]

Cotton was educated atKing's School, Peterborough andWestminster School where he was a pupil of theantiquarianWilliam Camden, under whose influence he began to study antiquarian topics. He began collecting rare manuscripts as well as collecting notes on the history of Huntingdonshire when he was seventeen.^[8] He proceeded toJesus College, Cambridge, where he graduated BA in 1585^[9] and in 1589 entered theMiddle Temple to study law. He began to amass a library in which the documents and manuscripts rivalled, then surpassed, theroyal manuscript collections. One of the most valuable documents he collected is theLindisfarne Gospels.^[10]

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Cotton was elected aMember of Parliament forNewtown, Isle of Wight in 1601^[11] and asKnight of the Shire forHuntingdonshire in 1604.

He helped to devise the institution of the title ofbaronet as a means forKing James I to raise funds: like apeerage, a baronetcy was heritable but, like aknighthood, it gave the holder no seat in theHouse of Lords.

One of his scarce monographs,Twenty-Four Arguments, proposed the bolstering of royal powers to suppress Catholic elements in England^[12] in the wake of thePopery Act 1627. His publicanti-Catholicism brought him short-lived favour with the king.

Despite this early period of goodwill with King James I, his approach to public life, based on his immersion in the study of old documents, was essentially based on that "sacred obligation of the king to put his trust in parliaments" which in 1628 was expressed in hismonographThe Dangers wherein the Kingdom now Standeth, and the Remedye.

From the Court party's point of view, this was anti-royalist in nature, and the king's ministers began to fear the uses being made of Cotton's library to support pro-parliamentarian arguments. Thus it was confiscated in 1630 and returned only after his death to his heirs.

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Cotton supported the claim of KingJames VI of Scotland to succeed QueenElizabeth I on the English throne, and after the queen's death was commissioned to write a work defending James's claim to the throne, for which he was rewarded with a knighthood in 1603.^[13]

Cotton was elected to Parliament forHuntingdonshire in 1604,^[14] a constituency previously represented by his grandfather,Thomas Cotton. Cotton worked on the Committee on Grievances and in 1605–06 received the Bill pertaining to theGunpowder Plot through his work on the Committee of Privileges. In 1607 he was reappointed to the Committee of Privileges. Cotton was appointed to the joint conference with theHouse of Lords during his work on the bill pertaining to the full union between Scotland and England in 1606–07.

In 1610, Cotton was nominated in first place to the Committee of Privileges. In 1610/11 the royal revenues were low, and Cotton wroteMeans for raising the king’s estate in which he suggested the formation of thebaronetcy, a new order of social rank, higher than the knight but lower than the baron.

Cotton was not elected to the 1614 Parliament. In 1621, Cotton advised James I on the impeachment ofSir Francis Bacon concerning the respective roles of the king and Parliament. In 1624, Cotton was elected to representOld Sarum after the previous member,Sir Arthur Ingram, decided to sit forYork.^[15]

He was subsequently elected to Parliament forThetford (1625) andCastle Rising (1628).

Cotton reunited with his former schoolmasterWilliam Camden in the late 1580s as an early member of theSociety of Antiquaries. Camden was one of the greatest early antiquarians, whose 1586 workBritannia was achorographical (topographical and historical) survey of Britain.^[16]

Cotton exerted little influence in the society until after his father's death in 1592. In 1593, he was resident at the family seat ofConington Castle, which he rebuilt. He returned to London in 1598 and revived the Society and petitioned for a permanent academy for antiquarian studies, suggesting that Cotton's collection of manuscripts be combined with the Queen's library to form a national library. The plan did not receive royal approval.^[15]

The discussion of the Society in the summer of 1600 focused on ancient burial customs, probably the result of a recent visit toHadrian's Wall by Camden and Cotton during which they collected Roman coins, monuments and fossils. The trip appears to have initiated Cotton's interest in Roman artefacts. The antiquarians Reginald Bainbridge andLord William Howard offered Cotton Roman stones while the Essex antiquarianJohn Barkham arranged to send him Roman relics.^[16]

Cotton's antiquarian studies influenced many people of his time and he was often sought after by other antiquarians for ideas. Below is a letter written by fellow antiquarianRoger Dodsworth to Cotton:

Honble- Sr

With my due acknowledgement of your multiplied favours presupposed, I thought good to advertise you that, since I saw you, I have used such meanes, as my health would permitt, to enquire after such things as you desired. I have beene att Cattericke wher I was informed of 2Romaine monuments weh were found in a 1620 and are now in my Io: of Arundells keeping. I have found, a peece of a round piller, att Ribblccester, being almost half a yeard thick, and half an ell in height, with such letters, on the one side thereof, as I have figured in this paper inclosed. I saw, ther, a little table of free stone, not half a yeard square, with the portraitures of 3 armed men cutt therin, but no inscription att all theron. I saw likewise 2 other stones of the nature of slate, or thicke flaggs some yeard square, with fretted antique workes engraven on them, without any letters. I shalbe very gladd that my uttmost endeavours, might availe to requite the least of many respects you have done unto me. And do desire you to signify your pleasure, what you would have mee to doo touching the premisses, and I shall not faile to do my best in effecting thereof...

Yours faythfully

Roger Dodsworth

Hutton grange 16 February 1622.^[16]

The last recorded meeting of the Society of Antiquaries was in 1607.^[15] Cotton, however, continued collecting.

As a young man, Cotton may have contracted a (possibly irregular) marriage with Frideswide Faunt, daughter ofWilliam Faunt ofFoston, Leicestershire, and sister of theJesuit theologianArthur Faunt. The marriage was recorded byWilliam Burton, Frideswide's nephew, but is not mentioned in Cotton's own papers.^[17]

In about 1593 (the precise date is not known), he married Elizabeth Brocas, the daughter of William Brocas ofTheddingworth in Leicestershire. This marriage took place about a year after the death of Cotton's father, and helped to shore up his financial position, as Elizabeth was an heiress. Their subsequent marital history suggests that perhaps these factors outweighed personal compatibility.^[18]

By Elizabeth, Cotton had a son:Sir Thomas Cotton, 2nd Baronet (1594–1662). Sir Thomas in turn married Margaret Howard, by whom he had a son, Sir John Cotton (born 1621).^[15]

Sir Robert had an extensive circle of friends and a considerable capacity to charm, which he displayed both before and after marrying. He spent several years, and possibly more than a decade, living with the widowedLady Hunsdon, perhaps as her lover during an overt separation from his wife. Eventually, the Cottons patched things up. Nonetheless, a reputation as something of a playboy attached to Sir Robert until the end of his life.^[19]

The Cotton library was the richest private collection ofmanuscripts ever amassed.^[20] Of secular libraries, it outranked the Royal Library, the collections of theInns of Court and theCollege of Arms. Cotton's collection included several rare and old texts, including the original codex bound manuscript ofBeowulf, written around the year 1000; theLindisfarne Gospels, written in the 7th or 8th century; and theCodex Alexandrinus, a 5th-century manuscript of the Greek Bible.^[21] Cotton's house near thePalace of Westminster became the meeting-place of the Society of Antiquaries of London and of all the eminent scholars of England.^[22] The library was eventually donated to the nation by Cotton's grandson and is now housed in theBritish Library.^[23]

The physical arrangement of Cotton's library continues to be reflected in citations to manuscripts formerly in his possession. His library was housed in a room 26 feet (7.9 m) long by six feet wide filled withbookpresses, each surmounted by the bust of a figure fromclassical antiquity.^[21] Counterclockwise, these were catalogued asJulius,Augustus,Cleopatra,Faustina,Tiberius,Caligula,Claudius,Nero,Galba,Otho,Vitellius,Vespasian,Titus, andDomitian. (Domitian had only one shelf, perhaps because it was over the door). Manuscripts are today designated by library, bookpress, and number: for example, the manuscript ofBeowulf is designatedCotton Vitellius A.xv, and the manuscript ofPearl isCotton Nero A.x.

Sir Robert Cotton began developing the works and manuscripts into a collection for his library shortly after the birth of his son in 1594.^[15] From the period 1609 to 1614 the deaths of various people (including Lord Lumley, Earl of Salisbury, Prince Henry, William Dethick and Northampton) all contributed to Sir Robert Cotton's purchase of works for his library.^[15]

Sir Robert Cotton is understood to have had a residence inChester:

[e]arly in the 17th century, this Priory, or so much of as remained, was occupied as a dwelling-house by Sir Robert Cotton, the antiquary... there, according to tradition, he had been visited byBen Jonson^[24]

and also inLondon; his wife and son remained in the country.^[15]

During his father's absence Thomas Cotton studied to eventually receive his BA on 24 October 1616 fromBroadgates Hall, Oxford — the same year that Sir Robert Cotton returned to his wife Elizabeth and family (a result of a hiccup with the law involving the death of earl of Somerset).^[15] At that point, Sir Thomas Cotton had taken the responsibilities of the home and the library into his own hands.^[15]

In 1620, Thomas Cotton married Margaret Howard with whom he had his first son,Sir John Cotton, just one year later in 1621.^[15] Margaret Howard died in 1621-1622. In 1622 Thomas Cotton's father, Sir Robert Cotton, permanently moved residence to Cotton House, Westminster, along with the library which remained in Cotton House until Sir Robert Cotton's death in 1631.^[15] The relocation of the library and residence to Cotton House gave members of Parliament and government workers better access to the matter within the library to be used as resources for their work.^[15]

The Cotton library offered important and valuable sources of reference and knowledge to many people, such as John Selden, "a frequent borrower from the library, and probably its protector during the civil wars" as stated in theOxford Dictionary of National Biography.^[15] Selden, in 1623 said of Cotton: “his kindness and willingness to make them [his collection of books and manuscripts] available to students of good literature and affairs of state".^[25][15] In keeping with the notion that John Selden was a common presence in the Cotton library, The British Library holds a list of thirteen works, and the locations of those volumes today, that had been lent to Seldon by Sir Robert Cotton.^[26]

After another hiccup with the government, Sir Robert Cotton was forced to close the library byCharles I because the content within the library was believed to be harmful to the interests of the Royalists in 1629.^[27][15] In September 1630 Sir Robert Cotton and Sir Thomas Cotton, together, petitioned for renewed access to their library.^[15] One year later, in 1631, Sir Robert Cotton died without knowing what the future held for his library, but wrote in his will that the library be left to his son Thomas Cotton and that it be passed down accordingly.^[15] After the death of his father, Sir Thomas Cotton married his second wife, Alice Constable, in 1640 with whom they had their son Robert Cotton in 1644.^[15] Sir Thomas Cotton's "ownership access to the Cotton library was more limited than under his father" according to theOxford Dictionary of National Biography, and Thomas Cotton maintained his ability to "protect," "improve" and "maximize the profits" received during the civil war, as he had earlier on in his life as a result of his father's absence.^[15] Upon the death of Sir Robert Cotton on 13 May 1662, Sir Thomas Cotton obeyed the will of his father and passed down the library to his eldest son from his first marriage, Sir John Cotton.^[15]

On 12 September 1702, Sir John Cotton died.^[15] Prior to his death, Sir John Cotton had arranged for the Cotton library to be bought for the nation of England through acts of Parliament.^[15] The Library is considered one of the foundations of theBritish Museum, which consists of 958 manuscripts of the most prominent collection ever aggregated by an individual in Briton history.^[28] If the library had not been sold to the nation, despite the wish of his grandfather Sir Robert Cotton, the library would have been taken over and inherited by Sir John Cotton's two grandsons, who, unlike the rest of the college-educated Cotton family, had been illiterate and put the library at risk of getting broken up and sold to different divisions within the family.^[15]

• Cotton Julius A.xOld English Martyrology
• Cotton Augustus II.106Magna Carta:Exemplification of 1215
• Cotton Cleopatra A.iiLife of St Modwenna
• Cotton Faustina A.xAdditional Glosses to the Glossary inÆlfric's Grammar
• Cotton Tiberius B.vLabours of the Months
• Cotton Caligula A.ii "A Pistil of Susan" (frag.)
• Cotton Claudius B.ivGenesis
• Cotton Nero A.x.Pearl,Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
• Cotton Nero D.ivLindisfarne Gospels
• Cotton Galba A.xviiiAthelstan Psalter
• Cotton Otho C.iÆlfric'sDe creatore et creatura
• Cotton Vitellius A.xvBeowulf,Judith
• Cotton Vespasian D.xivÆlfric'sDe duodecim abusivis
• Cotton Titus D.xxviÆlfwine's Prayerbook
• Cotton Domitian A.viiiAnglo-Saxon Chronicle (version E)

• Anglo-Saxon literature

• Sharpe, Kevin (1979).Sir Robert Cotton, 1586–1631: History and Politics in Early Modern England. Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN 019821877X.
• Tite, Colin G.C. (1994).The Manuscript Library of Sir Robert Cotton. London: British Library.ISBN 0712303596.
• Wright, C. J., ed. (1997).Sir Robert Cotton as Collector: essays on an early Stuart courtier and his legacy. London: British Library.ISBN 978-0-7123-0358-3.
• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911)."Cotton, Sir Robert Bruce" .Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
• Kyle, Chris; Sgroi, Rosemary (2010). "Cotton, Sir Robert Bruce (1571–1631), of Blackfriars, London; New Exchange, The Strand; Cotton House, Westminster and Conington Hall, Hunts.". In Thrush, Andrew; Ferris, John P. (eds.).History of Parliament: House of Commons 1604–1629. Vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 9781107002210 – viaHistory of Parliament.

• Sir Robert Bruce Cotton
• "Archival material relating to Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Baronet, of Connington".UK National Archives.
• Portraits of Sir Robert Bruce Cotton, 1st Bt at theNational Portrait Gallery, London
• 3D Scan of the Sir Robert Cotton portrait bust at the British Museum on sketchfab.com

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