The Arundel Manuscripts are a collection of manuscripts purchased by the British Museum

British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

 in 1831 which are now part of the manuscript collection of the British Library

British Library

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...

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The manuscripts were collected by Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel. In 1666, his grandson, Henry Howard, divided the collection between the College of Arms

College of Arms

The College of Arms, or Heralds’ College, is an office regulating heraldry and granting new armorial bearings for England, Wales and Northern Ireland...

 and the Royal Society

Royal Society

The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...

and in 1831, the manuscripts held by the Royal Society were purchased by the British Museum.

Further reading

Catalogue of Manuscripts in the British Museum, New Series, vol. I, part 1, The Arundel Manuscripts. London, 1834.