The Mendham collection is almost entirely connected with the Council of Trent (the main object of which was the definitive determination of the doctrines of the Catholic Church in answer to the heresies of the Protestants) and includes letters and diaries.
Dates
- Creation: 15th-17th century
Extent
4.07 Linear metres (37 boxes)
Language of Materials
- English
- Italian
- Latin
- Spanish; Castilian
Preferred Citation
Oxford, Bodleian Libraries [followed by shelfmark and folio or page reference, e.g. MSS. Mendham 1].
Full range of shelfmarks:
MSS. Mendham 1-37
Collection ID (for staff)
CMD ID 13225
Abstract
Mendham Manuscripts, 15th-17th century, almost entirely connected with the Council of Trent.
Biographical / Historical
Rev. Joseph Mendham was the son of a London merchant, born in 1769, and came to Oxford in 1789 (St. Edmund Hall, matriculated 27 January 1789, BA 1792, MA 1795). In 1793 he took Holy Orders, and from 1836 until his death on 1 November 1856 was incumbent of Hill Chapel, Arden, Warwickshire. Among his works (written from the Protestant point of view) are the Memoirs of the Council of Trent (London, 1834), An Account of the Indexes, both Prohibitory and Expurgatory, of the Church of Rome (London, 1826), and The life and pontificate of Saint Pius the fifth (London, 1832). Further details are given in the Dictionary of National Biography.
Other Finding Aids
Falconer Madan, et al., A summary catalogue of western manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford which have not hitherto been catalogued in the Quarto series (7 vols. in 8 [vol. II in 2 parts], Oxford, 1895-1953; reprinted, with corrections in vols. I and VII, Munich, 1980), vol. V, nos. 24394-24430.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The manuscripts were bequeathed to the Library by Mendham in 1856.
- Title
- Mendham Manuscripts
- Status
- Published
- Author
- Collection Level Description by Emily Tarrant; EAD version 2020 by Pauline Soum-Paris
- Date
- EAD version 2020
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Bodleian Libraries Repository
Weston Library
Broad Street
Oxford OX1 3BG United Kingdom
specialcollections.enquiries@bodleian.ox.ac.uk