William Laud, History of My Troubles (London, 1641–1645)
In William Laud’s own hand, written during his imprisonment in the Tower of London
William Laud (1573–1645), Archbishop of Canterbury and protégé of Charles I of England, a former Fellow and President of St John’s College, created Canterbury Quad and today’s Laudian Library at the height of his career in the 1630s. Scarcely five years after William Laud celebrated the completion of his building project with the king and queen at a lavish feast in 1636, he was
imprisoned for high treason in the Tower of London in 1641 at the behest of the Long Parliament.
During his confinement in the Tower, William Laud composed an account of his political and religious struggles in his own defence. It opens with his impeachment in December 1640 and closes with an entry dated 3 January 1645 — just seven days before his execution on Tower Hill. Laud managed to convey his manuscript to his executor, Richard Baylie, President of St John’s
College from 1633 to 1648, who deposited it at the College. In the 20th century, the manuscript received its luxurious binding with the splendidly decorated spine, which is divided into six compartments exhibiting extensive gilt ornamentation and incorporating a bishop’s mitre in each compartment.
Part memoir and part defence, the manuscript offers a rare first-hand account of the political and religious turmoil that preceded the Civil War. Its survival — carried from the Tower and preserved at St John’s — ties one of the College’s most prominent figures directly to those events.
A full digitization of this volume is available at the Digital Bodleian.