Day 15 – Prince William Was Here

“In a good bookroom you feel in some mysterious way that you are absorbing the wisdom contained in all the books through your skin, without even opening them.” –Mark Twain

Middle Temple Law Library – https://www.middletemple.org.uk/library-and-archive/library

At the Middle Temple Law Library, we had the pleasure of meeting with Reneé.  She began working at this library in 2006.  She currently runs one of the Inns Library which deals with the 4 Inns of Court.  They each have their own library and two also have their own chapel.  The other two share the Middle Temple Church which is the second oldest church in London.  The Middle Temple Law Library was founded in 1641.  Robert Ashley, the founder, had 3,800 books when he passed away.  Although he admitted he was a poor lawyer, he still assisted the library to the best of his ability.  Thankfully, after the end of the Civil War the collection of books improved.  Today the library has around 50,000 titles and a quarter of a million volumes. 

After viewing the library, we had the opportunity to tour a few different rooms.  One was a space where Masters of the Bench meet.  “The Masters of the Bench, or Benchers, are responsible for the governance of the Inn.  Masters are elected by their peers from the Inn’s members who have been Called to the Bar.  The majority of the Inn’s Benchers are Queen’s Counsel or senior members of the judiciary.”1  There is currently one royal member: His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge (aka Prince William).  However, he is not the first royal to serve on this bench.

1: https://www.middletemple.org.uk/members/masters-of-the-bench

The library and adjacent rooms were so beautiful.  I liked the fact that the library also had two globes.  One was a celestial globe and the other was terrestrial.  They were made in the 16^th century and updated in the 17^th.  It was such a cozy, inviting library and I hated leaving it.  However, it was the perfect end to our 3 weeks of library touring.