COTTON, SIR ROBERT, BART.
Arms.—Quartered.
1. Az., an eagle displayed arg. Cotton.
2. Sa., a fess dancetté between 3 mullets arg. Wesenham.
3. Or, a saltire gu., a chief of the first. Bruce.
4. Three piles gu., meeting in point. Wishart; over all on an escutcheon or, a lion rampant sa., within a double tressure flory counterflory of the second. Buchanan.
5. Or, a lion rampant sa., a chief gu. Beauchamp (?).
6. Az., a cross flory between 4 martlets or. King Edward the Confessor.
[Breviary of the Diocese of Salisbury. Parisiis, 1499.]
Variety, with four quarterings only.
[Papeburg. Comment. Basileae, 1551.]
[Sir W. Worsley, Hovingham Hall, York.]
Robert Bruce Cotton (born 22nd January 1570, died 6th May 1631) was the eldest son of Thomas Cotton of Connington, Huntingdon. At an early age he began to collect manuscripts, especially English ones, and the dissolution of the monasteries in the earlier half of the sixteenth century afforded him excellent opportunity of acquiring invaluable examples. So valuable was Cotton's collections, much of it containing official documents, that twice it was sequestrated by the Government; some of it, however, was restored to him. He was made a Baronet in 1611, having previously received the honour of Knighthood. The part of the collection of manuscripts which had been retained by the Government of the day was eventually restored to his son Sir Thomas Cotton.
A grandson of Sir Robert, Sir John Cotton, desired to present the collection to the Nation, together with Cotton House, with various conditions as to name and safe custody, and after tedious negotiations the collection became National property and was deposited in Essex House, Strand; in 1730 it was moved to Ashburnham House, in Little Dean's Yard, Westminster, then the property of the Government, where also the old Royal manuscripts were kept. In 1731 a fire occurred at Ashburnham House, and a large number of manuscripts were burnt and many others badly injured. The remainder were then stored in a dormitory at Westminster School, and here they remained until they were transferred to the British Museum in 1757.
The Cottonian collection of manuscripts is now kept in the Manuscript Department at the British Museum; but there are numbers of printed books as well that are widely distributed. A member of the Cotton Family is always a Family Trustee of the British Museum. Sir Robert Cotton wrote a large number of tracts, mainly political. The Cottonian MSS. are curiously arranged under the names of the Roman Emperors.
