The King's Secretary and the Signet Office in the XV Century

Important as it is in the general political and diplomatic history of the times, the history of the office of the King's Secretary is often neglected. Miss Otway-Ruthven has therefore used the original documents and sources for her information. She traces the history of the office from 1377, the first appearance of a King's Secretary, to 1509, demonstrating its rise from the comparative unimportance of a confidential clerkship to a position worthy of the attention of a bishop and a fitting instrument of Tudor Government.