AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships (CDP) – CDP4 Cohort 2026/27. Call for HEI Partners/Academic Supervisors.
Research theme: The Dispersal of Manuscripts from the Cotton Collection
British Library Co-Supervisors:
- Julian Harrison (Lead Curator, Medieval Historical and Literary Manuscripts)
- Dr Andrea Clarke (Lead Curator, Medieval and Early Moden Manuscripts)
Context and summary
The Cotton collection has been described by one scholar as ‘arguably the most important collection of manuscripts ever assembled in Britain by a private individual’ (Wright, 1997). Created by Sir Robert Cotton (d. 1631) and his immediate successors, the library comprises more than 2,000 medieval and early modern manuscripts, charters and rolls, including many items of national and international heritage significance, such as Magna Carta, Beowulf, the Lindisfarne Gospels, and the correspondence of British monarchs. It is the first library to be gifted to the nation (1702), a foundation collection of the British Museum Library (1753), and is inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World UK Register.
During the collection’s formative years (c. 1588–1702), before being acquired by the nation, many manuscripts were dispersed from the library, for reasons that are often unclear. Some manuscripts were loaned and never returned, others were presented to other collectors, and some Cottonian manuscripts were exchanged for items held in other early collections. Among the contemporary collections that have connections with the Cotton library are those of Sir Thomas Bodley (d. 1613), Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel (d. 1646), Sir Simonds D’Ewes (d. 1650), and the Royal library.
This project will analyse the Cotton family’s collecting priorities and ambitions for the library and investigate why they may have been willing to alienate specific items. It will centre the shaping of the collection within its contemporary political context and will question how the Cotton library may have contributed towards perceptions of British national identity. One outcome of this process may be the identification of other manuscripts that were once in the Cotton collection but are now found in other British Library collections or at other institutions, using evidence such as inscriptions, book-bindings, and early catalogues and lending lists.
Research areas
This project will build upon the research of Colin Tite (d. 2017) and others, who have studied the Cotton collection as a whole or individual items within the library. Tite’s chief publications relating to this topic are:
‘“Lost, stolen or strayed”: a survey of manuscripts formerly in the Cotton library’, in Sir Robert Cotton as Collector: Essays on an Early Stuart Courtier and his Legacy, ed. C.J. Wright (London: The British Library, 1997), pp. 262–306
The Early Records of Sir Robert Cotton’s Library: Formation, Cataloguing, Use (London: The British Library, 2003), pp. 231–42, listing possible Cottonian manuscripts that are mentioned in the seventeenth-century lending lists.
Tite’s unpublished notes are held in the departmental archives at the British Library, and they will be available to the student for this project.
Potential themes and research questions for this project include:
- Why did Sir Robert Cotton choose to give away certain of his manuscripts and to retain others?
- What were Cotton’s collecting principles and motivations, as revealed by manuscripts that were deliberately alienated from the collection?
- Were there political, intellectual, religious, financial or practical considerations for keeping some manuscripts and disposing of others?
- How influential were the Cotton family’s patrons (such as Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, d. 1614) in shaping the collection?
- Was the collection the work primarily of a single individual or was it presided over by a group of scholars with common interests?
- To what extent was the dispersal of certain manuscripts from the collection, and the retention of others, determined by Sir Robert Cotton’s involvement in government and Parliament?
- What was the impact of early modern users on the growth and re-alignment of the library? (Among the hundreds of individuals identified as accessing the Cotton collection in the seventeenth century were courtiers, MPs, antiquarians, international scholars, and churchmen.)
- Was the growth of the Cotton collection, and the decision to disperse of some manuscripts in favour of others, influenced by other contemporary collections, such as those of Thomas Bodley, Simonds D’Ewes and John Selden (d. 1654)?
- How does the formation of the Cotton collection in the late sixteenth century and the seventeenth century relate to notions of national identity and nationhood?
- How have the manuscripts that remained in the Cotton collection shaped modern perceptions and our knowledge of medieval and early modern British history, culture and literature?
We are keen to develop these research themes in collaboration with the co-supervisors, and to draw upon their expertise in all aspects of collecting history and related fields. This topic is of direct relevance to the following research fields: library history, history of collecting, antiquarian studies, intellectual history, political history and the history of Parliament, cultural history.
Benefits and training opportunities for the CDP student
The student will have privileged access to the Cotton manuscripts held at the British Library, to manuscripts in other BL collections (including the Harley, Arundel and Royal collections), and to the general research collection as a whole. They will benefit from our curatorial expertise and understanding of the Cotton library, and we can provide them with training in palaeography and book history. Other training opportunities can be provided, for example, by the courses held at the London Rare Books School (Institute of English Studies, University of London).
We are open to the possibility of seeking a placement for the student at another UK institution, especially one that holds other manuscripts from the Cotton collection.
Previous CDP students co-supervised by the British Library have often expressed interest in undertaking careers in the heritage sector. Our studentships give them exposure to a wide range of issues, such as accessibility, preservation and public engagement, which broadens their professional development and increases their options to work in academia or in cultural organisations.
Application deadline
Friday 28 November 2025, 17.00
Application guidance
Further information and details of how to apply.
Contact for queries
British Library Research Development Office – Postgraduate inbox pgr@bl.uk
and
Julian Harrison (Lead Curator, Medieval Historical and Literary Manuscripts) Julian.Harrison@bl.uk