The Digital Ark :: Walter Cope

The Digital Ark: Early Modern Collections of Curiosities in England and Scotland, 1580-1700

Walter Cope, Sir (c.1553 - 30 Jul 1614)

English government official and collector. John Stowe refers to him as his "worshipful friend" in his A Survey of London (1596, p. 306).

Hakluyt visited Cope's cabinet of curiosities in the 1580s (Mancall, 156). In his preface to the reader of his Principal Navigations (1589), Hakluyt describes his experience of viewing Cope's cabinet:

And whereas in the course of this history often mention is made of the many beastes, birds, fishes, serpents, plants, fruits, hearbes, rootes, apparell, armour, boates, and such other rare and strange curiosities, which wise men take great pleasure to reade of, but much more contentment to see: herein I my selfe to my singuler delight haue bene as it were rauished in beholding all the premisses gathered together with no small cost, and preserued with no litle diligence, in the excellent Cabinets of my very worthshipfull and learned friends M. Richard Garthe, one of the Clerkes of the pettie Bags, and M. William Cope Gentleman Vssier [Usher] to the right Honourable and most prudent Counseller (the Seneca of our common wealth,) the Lord Burleigh, high Treasourer of England.

Ironically, Hakluyt misidentifies Walter Cope as "William." Dictionary of National Biography entry: http://www.oxforddnb.com.cyber.usask.ca/view/article/6257?docPos=1 Other biography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Cope Collector (minor)
Relevant locations: Housed collection or remnant at Cope Castle, Kensington
Residence at Cope Castle, Kensington
Residence at Snecgas, London
Relationships: Walter Cope was a friend of John Stowe (1524/25 -5 Apr 1605)

Sir John Cope (-d. 11 June 1721) was a descendant of Walter Cope
Margaret Gryffith (c. 1528-fl. 1588) was a source of object(s) for Walter Cope
Richard Hakluyt (c. 1552 or 1553-23 Nov 1616) was a visitor to the collection of Walter Cope
Philipp Julius (27 Dec 1584-6 Feb 1625) was a visitor to the collection of Walter Cope
Thomas Platter (24 Jul 1574-1628) was a visitor to the collection of Walter Cope
John Pory (bap. 1572-1633) was a employed by Walter Cope
Linked manuscript items: as Author (in assoc. with a ms or print source) - "Will of Sir Walter Cope, Master of His Majesty's Court of Wards of Kensington, Middlesex," Public Records Office Prob. 11/125, Vilnius
Linked print sources: as Mentioned or referenced by - A Survey of London.
as Mentioned or referenced by - 'Believing and Not Believing': Shakespeare and the Archaeology of Wonder.
as Mentioned or referenced by - Hakluyt's Promise: An Elizabethan's Obsession for an English America.
as Mentioned or referenced by - John Pory, 1572-1636: The Life and Letters of a Man of Many Parts .
as Mentioned or referenced by - Reading Lists of Plays, Early Modern, Modernist, Postmodern.
as Mentioned or referenced by - The Collector's Voice: Critical Readings in the Practice of Collecting. Volume 2. Early Voices.
as Mentioned or referenced by - The Manuscript Collection of Sir Walter Cope (d. 1614).
as Mentioned or referenced by - The principall nauigations, voiages and discoueries of the English nation made by sea or ouer land, to the most remote and farthest distant quarters of the earth at any time within the compasse of these 1500. yeeres: deuided into three seuerall parts, according to the positions of the regions wherunto they were directed. ... Whereunto is added the last most renowmed English nauigation, round about the whole globe of the earth.
as Mentioned or referenced by - The Register of Admissions to Gray's Inn, 1521-1889, together with the Register of Marriages in Gray's Inn Chapel, 1695-1754.
as Mentioned or referenced by - The savage and modern self: North American Indians in eighteenth-century British literature and culture.
as Mentioned or referenced by - Tradescant's Rarities: Essays on the Foundation of the Ashmolean Museum, 1683, with a Catalogue of the Surviving Early Collections .
as Mentions or references - Thomas Platter's Travels in England, 1599: Rendered into English from the German.
as Mentions or references - William Camden and Early Collections of Roman Antiquities in Britain.
as Subject of/in a document - Diary of the Journey of Philip Julius, Duke of Stettin-Pomerania, through England in the year 1602.
as Subject of/in a document - Strange Things, Gross Terms, Curious Customs: The Rehearsal of Cultures in the Late Renaissance.
Linked Objects: Collector (major) - African charm
Collector (major) - arrows of fishbone
Collector (major) - axe
Collector (major) - bark paper
Collector (major) - bauble and bells
Collector (major) - bird
Collector (major) - birds
Collector (major) - books
Collector (major) - box
Collector (major) - canoe
Collector (major) - canoe, oars, planks
Collector (major) - cap
Collector (major) - chain
Collector (major) - cloak
Collector (major) - clothes
Collector (major) - coats
Collector (major) - coins
Collector (major) - corals
Collector (major) - costume
Collector (major) - crowns made of claws
Collector (major) - cymbalum
Collector (major) - dagger
Collector (major) - dishes
Collector (major) - dolphin's tail
Collector (major) - Elizabethan seal
Collector (major) - embalmed child [mummy]
Collector (major) - falcon's head
Collector (major) - fan
Collector (major) - fishes
Collector (major) - flying rhinoceros
Collector (major) - glowing flies
Collector (major) - halcyon nest
Collector (major) - horn and tail of a rhinoceros
Collector (major) - horn of a rhinoceros
Collector (major) - horn of a sea bull
Collector (major) - horn of a woman
Collector (major) - idols
Collector (major) - implement for scrathing
Collector (major) - instruments of bone
Collector (major) - leather weapons
Collector (major) - Madonna made of feathers
Collector (major) - manuscripts
Collector (major) - mirror
Collector (major) - oars
Collector (major) - ornaments
Collector (major) - paintings
Collector (major) - passport
Collector (major) - pelican beak
Collector (major) - pictures
Collector (major) - pitcher
Collector (major) - pitcher and dishes
Collector (major) - pitchers
Collector (major) - planks
Collector (major) - plants
Collector (major) - plumes
Collector (major) - porcelain
Collector (major) - reed pipes
Collector (major) - relics
Collector (major) - remora
Collector (major) - remora and torpedo
Collector (major) - saddles
Collector (major) - salamander
Collector (major) - scabbard of black wax
Collector (major) - sea mouse
Collector (major) - sea-plants
Collector (major) - sheep skins
Collector (major) - shields
Collector (major) - shoes
Collector (major) - spleen stone
Collector (major) - stone shears
Collector (major) - string instrument
Collector (major) - string instrument
Collector (major) - swords
Collector (major) - tail of a rhinoceros
Collector (major) - teeth of a sea-horse
Collector (major) - things made of fishbone
Collector (major) - thunder-bolt
Collector (major) - torpedo
Collector (major) - Turkish seal
Collector (major) - unicorn's tail
Collector (major) - weapons made of fishbone
Collector (major) - wooden and stone swords
Collector (major) - worm
Collector (major) - worms
Recipient of object(s) - Human horn
References in Documents:

Thomas Platter's travel diary (1599)

Sir Walter Cope's collection

In the ale-houses tobacco or a species of wound-wort are also obtainable for one’s money, and the powder is lit in a small pipe, the smoke sucked into the mouth, and the saliva is allowed to run freely, after which a good draught of Spanish wine follows. This they regard as a curious medicine for defluctions, and as a pleasure, and the habit is so common with them, that they always carry the instruments on them, and light up on all occasions, at the play, in the taverns or elsewhere, drinking as well as smoking together, as we sit over wine, and it makes them riotous and merry, and rather drowsy, just as if they were drunk, though the effect soon passes - and they use it so abundantly because of the pleasure it gives, that their preachers cry out on them for their self-destruction, and I am told the inside of one man’s veins after death was found to be covered in soot just like a chimney. The herb is imported from the Indies in great quantities, and some types are much stronger than others, which difference one can immediately taste; they perform queer antics when they take it. And they first learned of this medicine from the Indians, as Mr. Cope a citizen of London who has spent much time in the Indies, informed me; I visited his collection with Herr Lobelus Lobelius , a London physician, and saw the following objects.

This same Mr. Cope inhabits a fine house in the SnecgasUnidentified. Snow or Snor Hill?; he led us into an apartment, stuffed with queer foreign objects in every corner, and amongst other things I saw there, the following seemed of interest.

CopePlat00010" type="object">1. An African charm made of teeth. CopePlat00020" type="objectGroup">2. Many CopePlat00023" type="objectGroup">weapons, CopePlat00025" type="objectGroup">arrows and CopePlat00027" type="objectGroup">other things made of fishbone. CopePlat00030" type="objectGroup">3. CopePlat00033" type="objectGroup">Beautiful Indian plumes, CopePlat00035" type="objectGroup">ornaments CopePlat00037" type="objectGroup">and clothes from China. CopePlat00040" type="object">4. A handsome cap made out of goosefoots from China. CopePlat00050" type="object">5. A curious Javanese costume. CopePlat00060" type="object">6. A felt cloak from Arabia. CopePlat00070" type="objectGroup">7. Shoes from many strange lands. CopePlat00080" type="object">8. An Indian stone axe, like a thunder-bolt. CopePlat00090" type="objectGroup">9. Beautiful coats from Arabia. CopePlat00100" type="object">10. A string instrument with but one string. CopePlat00110" type="object">11. Another string instrument from Arabia. CopePlat00120" type="objectGroup">12. CopePlat00123" type="object">The horn and CopePlat00125" type="object">tail of a rhinoceros, is a large animal like an elephant. CopePlat00130" type="object">13. A fan made out of a single leaf. CopePlat00140" type="objectGroup">14. Curious wooden and stone swords. CopePlat00150" type="object">15. The twisted horn of a bull seal. CopePlat00160" type="object">16. A round horn which had grown on an English woman’s forehead. CopePlat00170" type="object">17. An embalmed child (Mumia). CopePlat00180" type="objectGroup">18. Leathern weapons. CopePlat00190" type="objectSet">19. The bauble and bells of Henry VIII’s fool. CopePlat00200" type="object">20. A unicorn’s tail. CopePlat00210" type="object">21. Inscribed paper made of bark. CopePlat00220" type="object">22. Indian stone shears. CopePlat00230" type="object">23. A thunder-bolt dug out of a mast which was hit at sea during a storm; resembles the Judas stone. CopePlat00240" type="object">24. A stone against spleen disorders. CopePlat00250" type="object">25. Artful little Chinese box. CopePlat00260" type="objectGroup">26. Earthen pitchers from China. CopePlat00270" type="object">27. Flying rhinoceros. CopePlat00280" type="object">28. (Caterpillar) Hairy worm, sidopendra. CopePlat00290" type="objectGroup">29. Flies which glow at night in Virginia instead of lights, since there is often no day there for over a month. CopePlat00300" type="object">30. A small bone implement used in India for scratching oneself. CopePlat00310" type="object">31. The Queen of England’s seal. CopePlat00320" type="object">32. Turkish Emperor’s golden seal. CopePlat00330" type="object">33. Porcelain from China. CopePlat00340" type="object">34. Falcon’s head made of fine feathers. CopePlat00350" type="objectGroup">35. Many holy relics from a Spanish ship which he helped to capture. CopePlat00360" type="object">36. A Madonna made of Indian feathers. CopePlat00370" type="objectGroup">37. CopePlat00373" type="object">A Turkish pitcher and CopePlat00375" type="objectGroup">dishes. CopePlat00380" type="object">38. An Indian chain made of monkey teeth. CopePlat00390" type="object">39. A sea-halcyon’s nest, sign of a calm sea. CopePlat00400" type="object">40. A pelican’s beak, the Egyptian bird that kills its young, and afterward tears open its breast and bathes them in its own blood, until they have come to life. CopePlat00410" type="object">41. A mirror which both reflects and multiplies objects. CopePlat00420" type="objectGroup">42. Crowns made of claws (ungulis). CopePlat00430" type="objectGroup">43. Heathen idols. CopePlat00440" type="objectGroup">44. Saddles from many strange lands; they were placed round the top on stands. CopePlat00450" type="objectGroup">45. Two beautifully dyed Indian sheepskins with silken sheen. CopePlat00460" type="objectGroup">46. CopePlat00463" type="object">Remora. A little fish which holds up or hinders boats from sailing when it touches them, CopePlat00465" type="object">likewise another species called ‘torpedo’ which petrifies and numbs the crews’ hands if it so much as touches the oars. CopePlat00470" type="object">47. A sea mouse (mus marinus). CopePlat00480" type="objectGroup">48. Numerous bone instruments. CopePlat00490" type="object">49. Reed pipes like those played by Pan. CopePlat00500" type="objectGroup">50. CopePlat00503" type="object">A long narrow Indian canoe, CopePlat00505" type="object">with the oars CopePlat00507" type="object">and sliding planks, hung from the ceiling of this room.

He possessed besides many old CopePlat00510" type="objectGroup">heathen coins, CopePlat00520" type="objectGroup">fine pictures, all kinds of CopePlat00530" type="objectGroup">corals and CopePlat00540" type="objectGroup">sea-plants in abundance. There are also other people in London interested in curios, but this gentleman is superior to them all for strange objects, because of the Indian voyage he carried out with such zeal. In one house on the Thames bridge I also beheld a large CopePlat00550" type="object">live camel.

This city of London is not only brimful of curiosities, but so populous also that one simply cannot walk along the streets for the crowd.