February 1647: Ordinance to grant Archbishop Bancroft's Books to Cambridge University.

February, 1647

[15 February, 1646/7.]

Whereas Richard Bancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, did by his last Will and Testament, bearing Date the 28th Day of October, in the Year of our Lord 1610, give and bequeath all the Books in his Study over the Cloisters in Lambeth House unto his Successors the Archbishops of Canterbury successively for ever, if his next Successor would yield to such Assurances as should be devised by such Learned Counsel as his Supervisor and Executor should make Choice of, for the Continuance of all the said Books unto the said Archbishops successively; otherwise he bequeathed them all to His Majesty's College to be erected at Chelsey, if it were erected within Six years; or otherwise he gave them all to the Public Library of the University of Cambridge: And whereas, by Authority of Parliament, the Jurisdiction, Power, and Authority of Archbishops and Bishops are totally abolished and taken away, and their Houses, Lands, and Possessions, to be disposed of as the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled shall think fit and appoint; and for that no such College at Chelsey hath been erected: Be it therehereby Ordered, Ordained, and Declared, by the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled, That all the said Books belonging to the said Richard Bancroft Archbishop of Canterbury, bequeathed as aforesaid, shall be, and are hereby, given, granted, and confirmed, to the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars, of the University of Cambridge, and their Successors for ever, to remain in the Public Library of the University of Cambridge, for Public Use, according to the true Intent and meaning of the Testator, expressed in the said last Will and Testament.