LR61 - Centre for Kentish Studies - Sackville Papers, U269/1 OW24

There are two copies of this record among the Cranfield Papers, both catalogued under the same reference, and with no indication as to which is the original, although both the transcriber and an archivist at the Centre for Kentish Studies shared the instinct that the copy transcribed here is the earlier. The two copies differ only in very slight details: the copy not transcribed here includes a date at the top, possibly '31st Martii 1620', deletes a word preceding '1620' in the superscription, probably 'next', and does not include the 'Summa totalis' in the bottom line. It reverses 'heralds' and 'officers of the garter' in line 19, and has some minor differences in spelling. Most entries have 'A' in the left margin, presumably recording a completed transaction. Perhaps more significantly, some of the monetary amounts are different: in the copy, the 'officers of the tents and pavilions' are paid £68, rather than £90, the 'secretaries' £205, not £255, the 'clerk of the council' £150, not £250, and the 'master of ceremonies and other his assistants' £320, not £270. The total of the amounts paid in the document transcribed is in fact £22321, rather than £22301, which is given as the total in both copies. In addition, it adds to the £1510 paid to the 'huntsmen, falconers, musicians etc' 'with one Thowsand poundes by advance'. It could perhaps be argued from this, as well as from the deletion of 'next' in the superscription of the copy not transcribed here, as well as the altered amounts, that the copy text here records projected payments, and the other copy the payments actually made. Since the Jonson entry does not change, the differences are largely immaterial in this context.

Cranfield was a originally a London merchant who, initially through the patronage of the Howards, enjoyed a meteoric rise at court. He was knighted in 1613 and became, successively, surveyor-general of customs (1613), master of requests (1616), master of the court of wards and liveries, and chief commissioner of the navy (1619). He was also master of the wardrobe. In 1621 (following the fall of Bacon) he became Baron Cranfield and lord high treasurer, and in September 1622 he was created first earl of Middlesex . Shortly after this, however, largely because of the enmity of Buckingham and Prince Charles , he was stripped of all his titles, and he was eventually (1624) impeached on charges of corruption. Although he was found guilty, he was imprisoned for only a few days, and he was later pardoned. He took his seat in the Lords again in 1640 and died in 1645.

The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Ben Jonson

LR61 - Centre for Kentish Studies - Sackville Papers, U269/1 OW24