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.