Contents: The Westminster Tournament Challenge, an invitation to the Westminster Tournament, the joust held in honour of the birth of a son, Prince Henry, to Henry VIII (r. 1509-1547) and Catherine of Aragon (b. 1485, d. 1536) on New Year's Day, 1511. The document concludes with the signatur...
John Mirfield, Breviarium Bartholomei, with glosses and recipes by John Dee
Scope & Content:
This manuscript contains the medical work of John Mirfield [Johannes de Mirfeld] (d. 1407), an ecclesiastic and medical writer, and chaplain of the hospital of St Bartholomew, Smithfield, in London. Towards the end of his life he wrote two encyclopedic works in Latin, the so-called Florarium Bar...
Contents: ff. 1r–218v: Prose Brut (Chronicle of England; extended version to 1419, in the reign of Henry V (r. 1413–22)). For an edition of the work see The Brut or the Chronicles of England, 2 vols, ed. Friedrich W.D. Brie, Early English Text Society, 131 and 136 (Oxford: 1906–8); contains tex...
Collection Area:
Western Manuscripts
Languages:
English and English, Middle
Date Range:
2nd quarter of the 15th century-3rd quarter of the 15th century
A miscellany of political papers and letters and tracts on coinage, transcribed largely by Ralph Starkey; original letters addressed to Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine, and Sir Simonds D'Ewes, 1642-1648; A Licence to travayle for Francis Davison and Edward Smith granted by Queen Elizabeth I, 1595
Scope & Content:
This manuscript mostly contains 17th-century English letters and transcripts of 16th-century documents. It also features an original licence on parchment to travel outside of England for three years granted to a ‘Francis Davison’ and ‘Edward Smith’, signed by Queen Elizabeth I and with her wax s...
Guido delle Colonne, Historia destructionis Troiae; Jacobus Palladinus de Theramo, Consolatio peccatorum
Scope & Content:
Contents: ff. 3r-105v: Guido delle Colonne ['de Columnis' or 'de Columna'], Historia destructionis Troiae (A History of the Destruction of Troy) or Historia troiana, in 35 books with a prologue, epilogue and colophon. Prologue begins, ‘Licet cotidie vetera recentibus obruent nonnulla tamen iamd...
Contents: ff. 1r-63v: A large collection of tracts, letters, and notes in English and French concerning court affairs and entertainment, jousting and the bearing of coats of arms, known as ‘The booke of certaine triumphes’. Decoration: Full-, half-, and quarter-page drawings of knights joust...
Collection Area:
Western Manuscripts
Languages:
English and French
Date Range:
4th quarter of the 16th century-1st quarter of the 17th century
An English miscellany containing texts relating to naval matters
Scope & Content:
Contents: ff. 1r-202v: A large collection of tracts and letters, primarily concerning naval matters. The manuscript contains documents on the victualling of ships, navigating, shipments, prices of goods, the custom system (taxes for good exported and imported through ports). The manuscript feat...
Collection Area:
Western Manuscripts
Languages:
English, French, and Spanish
Date Range:
4th quarter of the 16th century-1st quarter of the 17th century
This manuscript contains three texts of the Ars Notoria, including a set of prayers, holy and angelic names, diagrams and rituals used to gain knowledge and understanding by supernatural revelation, apparently as revealed by God to Solomon. Contents: ff. 1r-17v: Ars Memorativa, beginning: 'Yf ...
Collection of scientific, historical, and theological works, including Johann Lichtenberger, Prognosticatio; Pseudo-Aristotele, Problemata; John Lydgate, Testament; Meditations on the Supper; Honorius of Autun, Imago Mundi; Sextus Aurelius Victor, De viris illustribus; Jerome of Hereford's predictions for 1472; Commentary on the Ten Commandments; Treatise on the Computus
Scope & Content:
This manuscript is a composite miscellany consisting of eight different parts that were produced at different times. Parts 1 (ff. 2-49), 2 (ff. 50-51), and 5 (ff. 122-146) were all printed in the late 15th century. Part 3 (ff. 52-103) and 6 (ff. 147-158) were written by different 15th-century ha...
Odo of Cheriton, Fabulae; a selection of tales from the Gesta Romanorum; Libre du gouvernement des roys et des princes, an anonymous French translation of the Secretum Secretorum; Christine de Pizan, Épistre de Othéa a Hector; glossary of terms in French, Latin, and Middle English
Scope & Content:
This manuscript is a composite miscellany, made up of three parts (ff. 1-79; ff. 80-105 plus blanks; and ff. 106-153). It contains copies of the Fabulae (Fables) of the English preacher Odo of Cheriton (b. 1180/90, d. 1256/7), a selection of tales from the Gesta Romanorum (Deeds of the Romans), ...
Collection Area:
Western Manuscripts
Languages:
English, English, Middle, French, and Latin
Date Range:
2nd quarter of the 15th century-3rd quarter of the 15th century