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State Papers Online: The complete collection

 “Few resources stand out as ‘game changers’, but State Papers Online will surely be one of them. It is a technological marvel, and its completion will help to open up entirely new avenues of scholarship. State Papers Online will make researchers’ lives a great deal easier, enrich the studies of generations of students, and ultimately transform the field of early modern studies”.


Dr Jason Peacey, Senior Lecturer in Early Modern British History, University College London

State Papers Online, 1509 -1714, published in four seamless Parts, offers researchers a ground-breaking online resource for understanding two hundred years of British and European history, from the reign of Henry VIII to the end of the reign of Queen Anne. The largest digital manuscript archive of its kind, State Papers Online gathers together 16th- and 17th- century British State Papers and links these rare historical manuscripts to their fully text-searchable Calendars. As such, it radically transforms and simplifies the process of research, offering Early Modern scholars unprecedented access to the behind the scenes workings of the Tudor and Stuart governments.

Latest News

Don't miss out on the forthcoming talk in March 2012 by Dr Adrian Ailes and Dr Katy Muir on the State Papers at
The National Archives, Kew, UK
Click here for details


All four parts of the collection are now available:


Almost 3 million documents

State Papers Online contains almost 3 million pages of “domestic” and “foreign” papers – the equivalent of today’s documents from the Home and Foreign Offices and the Royal Archives. These everyday working papers of the royal government reveal Tudor and Stuart society and government, religion and politics in all its drama allowing scholars to trace the remarkable – and frequently violent – transformations of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Reuniting the manuscripts

State Papers Online overcomes the fragmented experience of previous research on the Tudor and Stuart periods by re-uniting State Papers Domestic, Foreign, Borders, Scotland, and Ireland with the Registers of the Privy Council in the National Archives, Kew, and other State Papers now housed in the Cotton, Harley and Lansdowne collections in the British Library.By searching across thousands of documents in one integrated environment researchers can, for the first time, apprehend the sheer scale, range and priorities of the Tudor and Stuart governments' activities and concerns.

Only State Papers Online offers:

  • Facsimile images of almost 3 million State Papers documents
  • Direct linking between the facsimile images of the manuscripts and their individual Calendar entries
  • Hyperlinking between all references in the Calendar Indexes and the Calendar entries
  • The Irish Manuscript Commission series of Calendars of State Papers Ireland
  • The manuscripts collections of Sir William Cecil (Lord Burghley), and his successor, Robert Burghley from The National Archives and the British Library (Lansdowne Collection) as well as the complete 24 volumes of the Calendars of the Cecil Papers in Hatfi eld House and the Haynes/Murdin transcriptions


An international resource

The global reach of the series offers researchers the scope to explore documents covering Britain's diplomatic relations and trade with its European neighbours, the Ottoman Empire, Russia, Asia, Africa and the Americas. Users can read letters from Popes, Cardinals and bishops, Holy Roman Emperors, the Kings of France and Spain as well as rulers, diplomats, counselors and agents from every other country in Europe. By digitising little studied volumes State Papers Online represents enormous potential for new research.

As well as general volumes of manuscripts devoted to "Foreign" affairs and volumes on Barbary, Denmark, Poland and Saxony, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey, State Papers Online includes:

  • 412 volumes on Ireland

  • 187 volumes on Scotland and the Borders

  • 340 volumes on Holland and Flanders

  • 112 volumes on France

  • 164 volumes on the German territories and Holy Roman Empire

  • 136 volumes on Italy

  • 84 volumes on Spain

These volumes have been relatively little studied and represent an enormous potential for new research.

Who is it for?

State Papers Online is a core resource for any student or researcher studying and publishing in the following areas:
  • Early Modern British and European history:diplomatic, political, social, cultural, local, legal, religious, kingship and queenship, exploration, travel and trade and early empire

  • Early Modern literature

  • Renaissance and Reformation Studies

  • Tudor and Stuart Studies


Please note: State Papers Online is available for trial and purchase by institutions. It is not available at this stage for individual purchase or subscription.