This manuscript contains the ‘Eltham Ordinances’, a series of regulations made in 1526 to manage better the household of Henry VIII. The Ordinances were printed in full in 1790 in John Nichols’s A Collection of Ordinances and Regulations for the Governance of the Royal Household (pp. 134-240, RCIN 1071355) for the Society of Antiquaries from a printed source said to have been signed by Henry VIII.
This manuscript does not appear to be the one from which that printed source was made. It does not include several leaves that detail the ‘Bouche of Court’ (the food and drink allowed to courtiers) and its accompanying recipes, allotted foodstuffs and financial records, nor the king’s signature. However, page 40 of the document does bear remnants of vellum pasted to the page, perhaps formerly attached to a seal (a note in red pencil at the same point and in a similar hand as the rest of the manuscript reads 'By the Kinges Command). This document also contains as several amendments made to the Ordinances in 1540 and not included in Nichols's 1790 book.
The Ordinances cover all aspects of the management of the king’s Household and in particular detail the management of the Royal Kitchens, the Stables and the Apartments. The regulations also contain a mandate that forbade dogs at court in order to keep the King’s apartments ‘sweete, wholesome, cleane and well furnished’. A few dogs were permitted, principally ‘some of the small spaniells for Ladies’, or those selected ‘by the Kinges or Queenes commandement’.
On the verso of the final leaf of the manuscript is a table listing the number of miles permitted for the Household to travel between residences in 1550.