SIR ROBERT BRUCE COTTON (1571–1631) was an antiquarian and Member of Parliament in Elizabethan and Jacobean England. Today, he is best known for his remarkable collection of over 1,400 medieval manuscripts that served as the founding collection of the British Museum (now the British Library.) Cotton was introduced to antiquarian endeavours during his education at the Westminster School in London. At Westminster, Cotton was taught by notable antiquary William Camden (1551–1623) who is remembered for his work Britannia, the first comprehensive geographical survey of Great Britain, for which Camden toured all of Great Britain and Ireland, mapping the topography and illustrating how traces of the Roman past could be seen in the landscape. While at Westminster, Cotton befriended classmate Ben Johnson (1572–1637) who would become the famed poet and playwright. After his education at Westminster, Cotton attended Cambridge University, graduating with his BA in 1585 before entering the Middle Temple to study law. Camden and Cotton remained lifelong friends. In 1586, Cotton and Camden, along with James Ley and Henry Spelman, founded the Society of Antiquaries, a group of gentlemen who met most Fridays during law terms to discuss matters such as philology, historical currency and seals, and the antiquity of certain legal practices.

It was around this same time that Cotton began collecting books and building out his library. At its greatest extent, the library numbered over two thousand volumes, growing by purchases and donations even after Cotton's death while in the care of his son Sir Thomas Cotton and later his grandson Sir John Cotton. In 1702, John Cotton arranged the purchase of the collection by the state, a transaction that formed the foundation of the British Museum Library and subsequently the British Library.