18 July 2025
Cataloguing the Campbell charters
A new project is underway to examine an important collection of charters and rolls housed at the British Library. The Campbell charters are being catalogued as part of the British Library’s Hidden Collections initiative. This collection of around 560 charters and rolls was presented to the British Museum Library in 1814 by Lord Frederick Campbell (b. 1729, d. 1816), Lord Clerk Register of Scotland, having formerly belonged to Thomas Astle (b. 1735, d. 1803), Keeper of Records of the Tower of London, where much of the government’s archives were stored before the creation of the Public Record Office in 1838.
A portrait of Lord Frederick Campbell (b. 1729, d. 1816) by the Scottish artist Henry Raeburn, c. 1810: National Records of Scotland, PCF52
The Campbell collection features a huge variety of medieval documents, including unique chronicles of English history, cartularies, genealogies and rent-rolls, letters, grants, wills, royal pardons, inquisitions, indentures, accounts, certificates, and family papers, which collectively provide a window into the world of medieval Britain. Original royal charters and seals feature prominently, among them the earliest surviving seal of a pre-Conquest king, that of Edward the Confessor (LFC Ch XXI 5), documents issued by Norman, Plantagenet and Tudor monarchs, and a series of items relating to the conflict between the Lancastrians and the Yorkists during the Wars of the Roses. Many items in the collection also illustrate the power and influence of major monastic institutions throughout the country during this period, from Canterbury Cathedral and Battle Abbey to Flixton Priory.
The seal of Edward the Confessor: LFC Ch XXI 5
A royal pardon issued to Richard, Duke of York, following his rebellion against the crown in 1452: LFC Ch VI 10
The rolls in the collection mostly contain financial accounts that reveal the inner workings of English manors and other landholdings across England, but there are also rare survivals, including a chronicle of Thornton Abbey in Lincolnshire (LFC Roll XXI 4), a treatise on calculating the probabilities of dice (LFC Roll XXI 2), and a genealogical roll of the Duchy of Lancaster (LFC Roll XXVIII 11), illustrated with small portraits of each family member within the descent.
An illuminated genealogical roll of the Duchy of Lancaster: LFC Roll XXVIII 11
The last thirty charters in the collection are a unique set of Scottish documents, many of them royal grants issued by Scotland’s kings from David I (r. 1124-53) to Robert III (r. 1390-1406) and even a rare 1334 charter of Edward Balliol (b. c. 1283, d. 1364), who attempted to claim the throne with the help of the English during the Second War of Scottish Independence (LFC Ch XXX 11).
Charter of Edward Balliol, self-styled King of Scots: LFC Ch XXX 11
Our project will provide modern descriptions of the Campbell charters and will enable them to be studied to their full extent for the first time. Until now, we have been largely dependent for our knowledge of the collection on a handwritten calendar compiled by Sir Henry Ellis (b. 1777, d. 1869), the British Museum’s principal librarian, when the charters were acquired in 1814, a copy of which is available in our Manuscripts Reading Room.
The seal of Margaret de Lacy (b. c. 1206, d. 1266), Countess of Lincoln and Pembroke, 1245-1247: LFC Ch V 4
We will continue to provide updates on the project and highlight other interesting documents and discoveries from the collection on this Blog. To learn more about our Hidden Collections cataloguing work, read our previous posts on our projects to catalogue the Cotton charters and rolls and the Harley collection.
Rory MacLellan