1616 King James 1 Great Seal with Vellum Document

Great Seal of King James 1 of England. Beautiful 6" seal attached to 14" x 8.75" vellum document. It is a license of alienation from John Page to John Scudamore of the manor of Edgeware and Boyes. Dated 1616. 

Edgeware and Boyes was once owned by the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem (Knights Hospitaller), a crusading order founded in the 12th century, with a chapter in England. After Henry 8th's dissolution of monasteries, "[i]n 1543 it was granted to Sir John Williams and Anthony Stringer at a rent of 20s. a year, but it was immediately alienated by them to Henry Page of Harrow. Henry's son John disposed of it to John Scudamore ... and it was sold to Thomas Coventry, Lord Coventry, in 1637. It continued in the Coventry family until 1762...." 

Protected in a red cloth covered box measuring 8" x 7.75" x 2" with gilded title: "James 1. Great Seal with Vellum Document 1616" on the front cover and on the spine. Includes the bookplate of William Foyle on inside front cover: "Ex Libris W A Foyle. Beeleigh Abbey" 

William Foyle (1885-1963) was the co-founder of Foyle's bookshop in London. "During the Second World War, Foyle bought Beeleigh Abbey, a 12th-century monastery on the River Chelmer at Maldon, Essex. Although Foyle had collected books from an early age, it was at Beeleigh Abbey that he was able to house the books properly, forming one of the largest English private libraries of the 20th century." (Wikipedia)