BS/1/10/6
Reference code
BS/1/10/6
Level of description
File
Title
Congé d'Élire of William and Mary
Original Title
A Congé d'Élire granted to the Dean & Chapter of Salisbury to elect their Bishop
Date
11 Mar 1689
Quantity & Format
1 sheet
Description
Congé d'Élire of William and Mary for the appointment of a Bishop of Salisbury following the death of Seth Ward on 6 January 1689.
The document includes ornamented initial capitals, the large "G" of "Gulielmus" incorporating a head and shoulders portrait of William, and elaborate heraldic decoration and other flourishes. (There is no portrait of Mary).
The (broken) seal is attached with intertwined gold and silver thread.
The date of the document, 11 March 1689, is less than one month after the Declaration of Right of 13 February, by which Parliament had offered the throne to William and Mary jointly, James II being deemed to have abdicated when he fled to France on 23 December 1688. William and Mary were crowned one month later, on 11 April, by Henry Compton, Bishop of London, because the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Sancroft, refused to recognise James II's abdication.
Language
Latin
Physical Characteristics
Material: parchment, thread, wax.