Egerton MS 3047

CHARTULARY of Ely Benedictine Cathedral Priory; late 15th cent. (temp. Edw. IV?). Latin and, occasionally, French. Contains copies of royal, episcopal and private charters, etc., mainly of the 13th and 14th centt., and a few papal bulls (listed, save that on f. 241b, by W. Holtzmann, Papsturkunden in England, iii, 1952, pp. 97-98). The manuscript constitutes the first and major part of a compilation of which the remainder now forms Bodleian MS. Ashmole 801, ff. 74-143. The latest dated entry (f. 243b) is of 8 Aug., 9 Edw. IV [1469], but the Oxford section contains an entry of 1473. The places referred to are mainly in co. Cambr. (including the cities of Ely and Cambridge), but include some in cos. Hunt. (ff. 124b-132), Suff. (ff. 215b-238b), and Hertf. (ff. 246b-248b), and in the cities of London (ff. 249b-253) and Norwich (ff. 253, 253b). A group of deeds in part associated with the precentor includes (ff. 122-124b passim) some entries relating to Littlebury, co. Essex. The arrangement is mainly by places, to some extent following that of the chests ('cistae') in which the deeds were kept, and which were numbered I-VI, with sub-divisions into 'scrinia' or, in two cases, 'cophini'. The order of the press-marks ran: Cista I, Scrinia A. i-v, B. i-ii; Cista II, Scrinia a-e; Cista III, Scrinia f-m; Cista IV, Scrinia n-t; Cista V, Cophini v, x; Cista VI, Cophini IY, 2y. Chest I contained royal and episcopal charters (copied in the present MS. at ff. 1-39) and the remainder, bundles of numbered documents relating mainly to single places, apart from an overflow into Chest V, Cophinus x, and into some scrinia of Chest IV, of further royal and episcopal charters (copied at ff. iii-ii5b, 238b-240). Most Of the entries have the number of the chest, scrinium or cophinum, and individual deed, written against them in the margin. Many of the original deeds remain in the possession of the Dean and Chapter at Ely (see Hist. MSS. Comm., 12th Report, App. ix, pp. 389-90), as do some of the original chests. A photograph of Chest 1, with explanatory letter, 1937, from [the Rev.] Seiriol [John Arthur] Evans [F.S.A., Dean of Gloucester 1953], is MS. Facs. Suppl. VI (m). See also Brit. Mus. Quart., v, 1930-1931, pp. 113- 114. Other registers of Ely Prioryare Cotton MSS. Tiberius A.vi, ff.36-120; Vespasian A. vi, ff. 90-133; Vespasian A. xix, ff. 61-102; Titus A. i, ff. 3-56; Add. MS. 9822; and Add. MS. 41612 (see p. 83 above). Paper (various watermarks); ff. iii + 256. 11½ in. x 8¾ in. Late xv cent. Gatherings mainly of 16 leaves with occasional catch-words (iv wants is, 16; x²⁰; xv¹⁸ wants 15, 16; xvi[last]14 wants 14). Gathering x (ff. 143-162) should follow vii (ff. 95-110), cf. a 15th cent. note at f. 110b. A contemporary arabic foliation in ink, duplicating the numbers 97-112 (ff. 79-110), shows 16 leaves (81-96) to be wanting after f. 78. In this foliation, the Bodleian MS. contains 260, 261 (wanting in the present MS. after f. 240) and, with a few deficiencies, 278-349. Written without decoration in several late 15th cent. hands. Subsequent annotations include a memorandum (f. 218) by E. Lustewarde of the discovery, 1 Dec. 1588, of the original of the assize there transcribed 'in the tresorye at Westm[inster] among the records of thassisses taken in the tyme of king Richard the second'. At the end, an added leaf (f. 256) from an early 15th cent. register, contains copies of commissions from Bishops of Ely to their commissaries, 136-137. Bound in at the back (f. iii) is a leaf from a 16th cent. copy of the revised statutes (temp. Edw. VI) of Peterhouse, Cambridge, printed in Documents relating to the University and Colleges of Cambridge, 1850, ii, pp. 57-96. The front fly-leaf (f. i) bears

two notes recording the production of the manuscript in the Court of the Exchequer, the first signed Tho[mas] Bury, [Baron of the Exchequer 1701- 1716, Chief Baron 1716-1722], the second dated 1804; with, in addition, the impression of a 19th cent. signet bearing the letters 'EFS' in monogram. Stamped binding, late 17th cent., in reversed leather, with the letter 'L' branded on the front cover, suggesting that the MS. was once in the possession of the Bishops of Ely, cf. S. J. A. Evans, Ely Chapter Ordinances (Camden Miscellany xvii, 1940), p. xviii. Purchased from Messrs James Wilson, booksellers, of Birmingham, who stated that it was acquired, circ. 1902, With the library of Mr Beale J.P. of Bengeworth' [near Evesham, co. Worcs.]'. From the Farnborough Fund.