The Lambeth Library Losses Restored

BBC History Magazine features this story in its April 2013 issue and the BBC News website also covers the news: the Lambeth Palace Library staff noticed quite a few losses from the stacks starting in 1975--and they thought about 60 books had been stolen. As the Lambeth Palace Library website tells the story:

Early in 1975 the Lambeth Palace Librarian noticed a troubling gap on the shelves where some important books had been kept. The books could not be found and a search of the rest of the Library showed that this gap was not unique. On examining the card catalogue it was discovered that the catalogue cards for the missing items had also been removed. This made it difficult to ascertain exactly what was missing but it was thought that around sixty items had been removed from the Library. The police were informed and the bookselling community notified. None of the books was recovered, however, and the trail went cold.

Over thirty-five years later, in February 2011, the newly appointed Librarian, Giles Mandelbrote, was contacted by a solicitor who was dealing with the estate of the culprit, who had recently died. The solicitor had received a letter containing a full confession and giving the location of the books. In a London attic the Librarian and a colleague discovered not 60 books but around 1,400 individual titles. The recovered books included numerous rare and important volumes, many of which were beautifully illustrated. A large proportion of the books had belonged to the libraries of the Elizabethan and Jacobean archbishops John Whitgift, Richard Bancroft and George Abbot and had been part of the Library’s original foundation collection in 1610.

This important group of books has come back to Lambeth Palace Library where it is being catalogued and where our team of conservators are repairing the damage that had been done in trying to remove all traces of the original provenance of the books. They will soon be available for consultation by scholars.

That penultimate sentence indicates that the thief must have hoped to sell the books -- and indeed might have succeeded in selling some of the books he or she stole -- because one of notes in the BBC History Magazine is that "booksellers across Britain and beyond" cooperated in the search for the missing books.

As the BBC History Magazine also notes, the recovery of these books and their eventual return to the catalog may be important for further study of of the reigns of these three Archbishops of Canterbury. John Whitgift was Elizabeth I's last Archbishop of Canterbury and at least they agreed upon their dislike of Puritans in the Church of England. Richard Bancroft succeeded Whitgift during the reign of James I and many of the books stolen had been from his reign. George Abbot was a fierce opponent of Catholics and it was during his tenure that many martyrs died during James I's reign.

Another Tudor Portrait Discovery

Thanks to Elena Maria Vidal at Tea at Trianon:

Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon are once more side by side and at Lambeth Palace, of all places. Apparently many people thought for years and years that the above painting was supposed to be Katherine Parr, although the clothes are obviously from decades before Henry married her. I knew it was Katherine of Aragon. 

The Mail online summarizes the discovery:

For years it was assumed by staff at Lambeth Palace that the oil painting hanging in a private sitting room was of Catherine Parr, Henry VIII's sixth wife.

But when experts from the National Portrait Gallery went to the Palace - the official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury - to research a portrait of an earlier archbishop, they were able to shed new light on the matter.

First, the portrait was in a frame that pre-dated the rotund monarch's sixth wife, second; her clothes were from an earlier period, and third, well, the woman also bore a startling resemblance to Henry's first wife, Catherine of Aragon.

Tests soon showed that they were right, and now the gallery has hung the portrait of the devoutly Catholic queen rather mischievously, side by side with a portrait of Henry, whose desperation to divorce her was the catalyst for England's schism with the Catholic church.

The 'exciting discovery' about the picture was made when researchers from the National Portrait Gallery went to Lambeth Palace to find out more about William Warham, the Archbishop of Canterbury who married Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, in 1509.

The researchers, who were working on a project called Making Art In Tudor Britain, noticed the painting on the wall of a private sitting room, where it has hung since at least the 19th century but probably longer, under the assumption it depicted Catherine Parr.

The paper even includes this biographical sketch of Queen Katherine of Aragon:

DEVOTED TIL THE END: THE FIRST WIFE OF KING HENRY VIII

Henry VIII's first wife was the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon, who had been previously been married to his older brother Arthur.

When Arthur died, six months after their marriage, his younger brother Henry married her in 1509 and Catherine was crowned Queen of England in a joint coronation ceremony with her husband.

Shortly after their marriage Catherine became pregnant but gave birth to a stillborn daughter in January 1510. A subsequent pregnancy resulted in the birth of Prince Henry in 1511 and there were great celebrations, but he died aged 52 days.

Catherine then had a miscarriage, followed by another short-lived son, but in February 1516, she gave birth to a healthy daughter, Mary, and the child lived.

Henry still loved his wife but became frustrated by the lack of a male heir and took several mistresses, among them Mary Boleyn, sister of Anne.

Anne refused to become Henry's mistress but he pursued her until she succumbed, as his desperation for a son grew.

His worry was all the greater because he had read in Leviticus that if a man married his brother's wife, they would remain childless. Despite having a daughter, Henry still felt himself 'childless' for not having a son.

The King petitioned the Pope for his marriage to be annulled and when Catherine - a devout Catholic - heard of this, she was so upset that she, too, directly appealed to the Pope on her side.

Catherine's argument was that as she and Arthur had never consummated their marriage, they were not truly husband and wife.

The argument and machinations continued for six years and things came to a head in 1533 when Anne Boleyn became pregnant and Henry decided that the only way to marry her would be to reject the power of the Pope in England and have Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, annul the marriage.

Catherine had to renounce her title as Queen and be known as the Princess Dowager of Wales, which she rejected for the rest of her life.

Catherine and her daughter Mary were separated and she was forced to leave the royal court, living in dank manor houses and castles with just a handful of servants. She was said to suffer ill-health but never complained, and spent much of her time praying.

Catherine and Henry's daughter became Queen Mary I of England in 1553 and was known for her brutal persecution of Protestants - earning her the nickname 'Bloody Mary'.

"Henry and Catherine Reunited"--with Anne Boleyn nearby-- is on display in Room 1 of the National Portrait Gallery.