Egerton MS 3142

CHRONICLES, ETC., OF ENGLAND, compiled mainly at the Benedictine Abbey of St Benet at Hulme, co. Norf.; late 13th cent. (after 1294). Latin. The MS. is described, and artt. 2-4 printed, in Chronica Johannis de Oxenedes, ed. Sir Henry Ellis, Rolls ser., 1859, pp. xxxvi-xxxviii, 403-439. See also Brit. Mus. Quart., xii, 1937-1938, pp. 80-81. Contents:-

(1) Historia Regum Britanniae, by Geoffrey of Monmouth. Headed 'Incipit liber de gestis bruti editus a magistro Waltero Oxi[ne]f[ordensi] archid [iacono]'. The text, which is written continuously with partial division into chapters by coloured initials, follows substantially that printed by J. A. Giles, Galfredi Monumetensis Historia Britonum, Caxton Soc., 1844. The books occur as follows:-I (including the usual prologue, and introductory chapter 'Britannia insularum optima'). f. 1;-II. f. 9, col. 2;-III. f. 14, col. 2;-IV. f. 20b, col. 1;-V. f. 27, col. 1;-VI. f. 33b, col. 1;-VII. f. 41b, col. 1;-VIII. f. 46b, col. 1;-IX. f. 55b, col. 1;-X. f. 63b, Col. 2;-XI. f. 71, col. 2;-XII. f. 74b, col. 1. For other MSS. of the work in the British Museum, see H. L. D. Ward, Cat. of Romances, i, 1883, pp. 203-250, Add. MSS. 33371, ff. 28b-39b (fragm.), 35295, ff. 136b-228b. Interpolated at the end of Bk. VII (ff. 46-46b), but subsequently struck out by the scribe with the note 'Vacat', is a copy of the text of a letter [of Pope Innocent III to Master Aimon, canon of St Andrews, Poitiers, dat. Ferentino, xv kal. Nov. anno pontif. XI = 18 Oct. 1208] beg. 'Super literis quae ab aliquibus ex malicia et a nonnullis ex ignorancia'; cf. Migne, Patr. Lat., ccxv, cols. 1471-1472. ff. 1-80b.

(2) Description of England, of its division in the Saxon Heptarchy, and of the number and names of its shires and bishoprics. Beg. 'Anglia que quondam dicebatur britannia'. Printed in Ellis, op. cit., pp. 412-414. ff. 81-82b.

(3) List of Benedictine houses in the province of Canterbury. Printed in Ellis, op. cit., pp. 414-417. ff. 82b-83b.

(4) Annals from the Nativity to 1294 (f. 101b), with entries added by a succession of mid 14th-16th-cent. hands for years between 653 and 1503, passim. The original compilation, to which the now fragmentary annals in Cotton MS. Nero D. ii, ff. 215-216 (printed by Ellis, ibid., pp. 300-315) appear to have borne a close resemblance, includes obits of abbots of St Benet at Hulme 1125-1275. The additions include notes rel. to the succession of priors, etc., at the Augustinian priory of St Osyth, co. Essex, 1120-1145, and its daughter house Hickling Priory, co. Norf., 1185-1503. Printed in Ellis, op. cit., pp. 417-439. ff. 83b-104b.

(5) Chronicle of England, from the coming of the Saxons to 1293, compiled at the abbey of St Benet at Hulme, and commonly attributed to John of Oxnead. Beg. 'A principio mundi usque ad diluuium'. Edited from Cotton MS. Nero D. ii, ff. 217-237, by Ellis, op. cit., where the present MS. (which came to light after the edition was completed) is collated, . 403-411. Cf. T. D. Hardy, Cat. of Materials rel. to the History of Great Britain and Ireland, iii, 1871, pp. 241-242, no. 431. Added 15th-cent. marginalia on ff. 121b, 128b, relate to the foundation of St Osyth's and Hickling priories respectively, cf. Ellis, ibid, pp. 432 n, 433 n, and art. 4 above. ff. 105- 200b. Vellum (except ff. i-viii, paper); ff. viii + 204. 245 mm. x 160 mm. Late XIII cent. (after 1294). Executed apparently at the Abbey of St Benet at Hulme. Gatherings of eight (i-vii, xviii) and twelve (viii-xvii, xix) leaves, except the last xx1O (9, 10 cancelled), mainly with catchwords. Ff. 2O1-204 are blank leaves. Written in double columns Of 36 lines, with rubrics and red and blue flourished initials, etc., the latter sometimes incorporating grotesques, etc. (ff. 1, 9, 14, 81, 83b, 105). Art. 1 has a few rough pen-drawn figures added in the margins, ff. 18b-62b passim. Artt. 2-4 are written continuously. Belonged, 14th-16th centt., to Hickling Priory, see artt. 4 and 5 above. Miscellancous scribbles on the blank end leaves include the names 'Thomas Gregory's and 'Thoma Dene', 15th cent. (f. 204b). Owned, 18th cent., by Philip Carteret Webb, notes in whose hand on the volume's contents are bound in as ff. iii-iv (Baker and Leigh sale-cat., 25 Feb. 1771, lot 2831); to William Herbert (signature as owner, 1771, f. 1; Arrowsmith and Bowley sale-cat. 21 Nov. 1798, lot 840); and to John Towneley (armorial bookplate, f. i; Evans's sale-cat. 8 June 1814, lot 905). A note in the hand of Henry Pelham-Clinton, 4th Duke of Newcastle, dated 19 March 1828 (f. ivb), records its purchase at the last-named sale by Robert Triphook, the bookseller, and subsequently by Sir Gregory Osborne Page-Turner, 4th Bart., at whose sale, 18-26 March 1828, he had himself acquired it (armorial gilt book stamp on the front and back covers of a 19th cent. blind tooled brown morocco binding by Francis Bedford). Sotheby's sale-cat., 14-16 Feb. 1938, lot 1202 and plate 99 (f. 1 reproduced).