17th century

Inventory of Thomas Tramaillier's papers

4th September 2020
It took four years and several appearances in Court for Thomas Tramallier (III) to force Pierre Carey to hand over papers concerning Thomas' grandfather, Thomas Tramallier Senior's (I) estate. Carey's wife was Thomas (I)'s cousin, the daughter of his uncle, the late William Tramallier, and an heir to her father's estate. William had been appointed Thomas Tramallier (II)'s guardian, and Carey had come into possession of the relevant papers on William's death. Carey was fined several times for non-appearance in Court; the Court had delayed sittings at his request, and grew noticeably exasperated. Eventually, on the 12 February 1719, Carey produced a set of books and documents before them. Thomas (II) had appointed his son to act for him.  These documents are listed and bound in a ledger entitled Copie de l'Inventaire de partie des Ecrits de la Succession du Sr Thomas Tramalier. 1715. [Note: the surname is written several ways in various documents: Tramallier, Tramailler, Tramaillier, even Tramalier.]

Elie Brevint on people and things

5th January 2018
More exceptionally interesting 17th-century observations from Elie Brevint. Brevint (1587-1674) was minister of Sark from 1612. His father Cosmé, also a minister, was a Huguenot refugee from Angoulême who had accompanied Helier De Carteret from Jersey in his colonisation of Sark. Transcriptions and microfilm of Elie's 14 Notebooks, which were found in a loft in Sark in the 19th century, are held in the Priaulx Library. They are written in French. The picture above is a detail from Boethius, In philosophia consolationem, Strasbourg 1501, one of the rare books in the Library’s collection.

Pierre Martin's lecture notes

29th October 2015
Students sometimes complain today about the cost of text books: Pierre Martin has to write his own. Hanc Metaphisicae Tractationem docentis ab ore D: D: Stephani Guillebert philosophiae subtilissimi professoris collegit Petrus Martin, Anglo-sarniensis. Cadomi, anno do: 1686. 'Peter Martin, Anglo-Sarnian, put together this treatise on metaphysics from lectures by his tutor Etienne Guillebert, DD, a most astute professor of philosophy. At Caen, 1686.' The volume is leather bound, and many pages remain unused.

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