Important as it is in the general political and diplomatic history of the times, the history of the office of the King's Secretary is often neglected. Miss Otway-Ruthven has therefore used the original documents and sources for her information. She traces the history of the office from 1377, the first appearance of a King's Secretary, to 1509, demonstrating its rise from the comparative unimportance of a confidential clerkship to a position worthy of the attention of a bishop and a fitting instrument of Tudor Government.