COTTON, SIR ROBERT BRUCE, (1571-1631), English antiquary, the founder of the Cottonian library, born at Denton, Huntingdonshire, on Jan. 22 1571, was a descendant, as he delighted to boast, of Robert Bruce. He was educated at Westminster school under William Camden the antiquary, and at Jesus college, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1585. His antiquarian tastes were early displayed in the collection of an cient records, charters and other manuscripts, which had been dispersed from the monastic libraries in the reign of Henry VIII. ; and throughout the whole of his life he was an energetic collector of books, manuscripts and coins from all parts of England and the continent. In 1600 he visited the north of England with Camden in search of Pictish and Roman monuments and inscrip tions. On the accession of James I. he was knighted, and in i6o8 he wrote a Memorial on Abuses in the Navy, that resulted in a navy commission, of which he was made a member. He also presented to the king an historical Inquiry into the Crown Revenues, in which he speaks freely about the expenses of the royal household, and asserts that tonnage and poundage are only to be levied in war time, and to "proceed out of good will, not of duty." In this paper he supported the creation of the order of baronets, each of whom was to pay the crown £100o; and in 161I he himself received the title.
Cotton helped John Speed in the compilation of his History of England (OW, ), and was regarded by contemporaries as the compiler of Camden's History of Elizabeth. It seems more likely that it was executed by Camden, but that Cotton exercised a general supervision, especially with regard to the story of Mary, Queen of Scots. The presentation of his mother's history was naturally important to James I., and Cotton himself took a keen interest in the matter. He had had the room in Fotheringay, where Mary was executed, transferred to his family seat at Connington. Meanwhile he was enlarging his collection of documents. In 1614 Arthur Agarde left his papers to him, and Camden's manuscripts came to him in 1 7 23. In 1615 Cotton, as the intimate of the earl of Somerset, whose innocence he always maintained, was placed in confinement on the charge of being implicated in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury ; he confessed that he had acted as in termediary between Sarmiento, the Spanish ambassador, and Somerset, and had altered the dates of Somerset's correspondence. He was released after about eight months' imprisonment without formal trial, and obtained a pardon on payment of f 5oo. From Charles I. and Buckingham Cotton received no favour; his attitude towards the court had begun to change, and he became the intimate friend of Sir John Eliot, Sir Simonds d'Ewes and John Selden. He had entered parliament in 1604 as member for Huntingdon; in 1624 he sat for Old Sarum; in 1625 for Thetford; and in 1628 for Castle Rising, Norfolk. The publica tion of his political tract entitled The Danger in which the King dom now standeth, and the circulation of another, known as the Proposition to bridle Parliament, the original of which was found in Cotton's library, led to his imprisonment in 1629 and the sealing up of his library by the king. Cotton was himself released the next month; but the library was not restored to him. He died on May 6 1631, and was buried in Connington church, Hunting donshire, where there is a monument to his memory. Many of Cotton's pamphlets were widely read in manuscript during his lifetime, but only two of his works were printed, The Reign of Henry III. (1627) and The Danger in which the Kingdom now Standeth (1628). His son, Sir Thomas 0594-1662), added con siderably to the Cottonian library; and Sir John, the fourth baronet, presented it to the nation in 17oo. In 1753 it was transferred to the British Museum.
See the article LIBRARIES, and Edwards's Lives of the Founders of the British Museum, vol. i. Several of Cotton's papers have been printed under the title Cottoni Posthuma; others were published by Thomas Hearne.