biography
| name: |
Cotton, Sir Robert Bruce
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1571–1631)
|
| biography:
| Antiquary, born in Denton, Northamptonshire, C England, UK. He studied at Cambridge, and at Cotton House in Westminster accumulated books, manuscripts, and coins dispersed by the dissolution of the monasteries. James I created him a baronet in 1611, and frequently consulted him. He was returned to parliament in 1604, and from c.1620 identified himself with the constitutional opposition to the crown, writing several critical political tracts. In 1629 he was imprisoned and had his library impounded, but was released on the occasion of the birth of an heir to the throne (1630). His son, Sir Thomas Cotton (1594–1662), had the books restored to him and greatly increased the library; and his great-grandson, Sir John Cotton (1679–1731), bestowed them on the nation in 1700. |
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