Hard-coded id of currently selected item: . JSON version of its record is available from Blacklight on e.g. ??
Metadata associated with selected item should appear here...
Add MS 29503
- Record Id:
- 032-002021023
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002021023
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000034.0x00012b
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100172734447.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Add MS 29503
- Title:
- Genealogical roll chronicle of English kings to Henry IV
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents: A genealogical chronicle from Lud to the children of Henry IV, with a commentary in Middle English.
Membranes 1-6: A genealogical diagram of the kings of England on the left with a commentary on the right. The commentary begins, 'Here fordwith all the kynges that reigned in Ynglond sith Crist Ihesu and syth the tyme of Julius Cesar....unto the yere of owre Lorde [1396]'. This is a unique version of the genealogy and commentary in Middle English, and the only one to begin with Lud of Brittany, mythical founder of London.
The first roundel contains Lud and the early part of the genealogy includes 'Luce, the fyrst [cr]iste[n] kyng of Bretayn' (membrane 1) and 'Arthur, the noble kyng of grete Bretayne' (membrane 3). The destruction of the kingdom of the Britons under Cerdic and the founding of the new kingdom of England is emphasised. The first English king in the genealogy is Edmund the martyr (d. 869), followed by Eldred 'of Kent' and then Alfred (r. 871-899), named 'Afrede dolfins' (membrane 3). The last roundel contains Henry V (r. 1413-1422). The commentary ends with the marriage of Isabella of Valois (b. 1389, d. 1409), widow of Richard II (r. 1377-1399), to the Duke of Orleans, 'And aftyr that [she] was duches of Orlyaunce' (membrane 6).
The dorse of the roll is blank (dorse abbreviated as d).
Decoration:
Diagram with roundels and lines in red (membranes 1-6). The roundels contain rubrics or instructions for illustrators in purple. The first sentence of the commentary is in red (membrane 1). Cadels at the top line of each section of text. The decoration is unfinished. Spaces left for initials and for illustrations in the roundels have not been filled.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Additional Manuscripts
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-002021023", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Add MS 29503: Genealogical roll chronicle of English kings to Henry IV" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002021023
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-002021023
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
-
1 roll
- Digitised Content:
- https://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100172734447.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- English
English, Middle - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1400
- End Date:
- 1406
- Date Range:
- 1st quarter of the 15th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
Please request the physical items you need using the online collection item request form.
Digitised items can be viewed online by clicking the thumbnail image or digitised content link.
Readers who have registered or renewed their pass since 21 March 2024 can request physical items prior to visiting the Library by completing
this request form.
Please enter the Reference (shelfmark) above on the request form.If your Reader Pass was issued before this date, you will need to visit the Library in London or Yorkshire to renew it before you can request items online. All manuscripts and archives must be consulted at the Library in London.
This catalogue record may describe a collection of items which cannot all be requested together. Please use the hierarchy viewer to navigate to individual items. Some items may be in use or restricted for other reasons. If you would like to check the availability, contact our Reference Services team, quoting the Reference (shelfmark) above.
- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript.
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 4450 mm x 200 mm.
Arrangement: 6 unfoliated parchment membranes, stitched together end-to-end, with an added modern parchment membrane forming a wrapper.
Script: Gothic cursive (secretary).
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: England.
Provenance:
The date of composition is given as 1396 in the opening rubric but the roll was completed after 1406, as the marriage of Isabella of Valois (b. 1389, d. 1409) to Charles, Duke of Orleans (b. 1394, d. 1465), is included in the commentary (membrane 6). The roll is thought to have been made for a supporter of King Richard II, as rare details of his flight to Ireland in May 1399 are included, and it was perhaps left incomplete after Richard's deposition and the suppression of his followers (see Laborderie, Histoire (2013), pp. 224-25).
Richard Attenborough, bought from him by the British Museum in 12 July, 1873.
- Publications:
-
The British Museum Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts, 1861-1875 (London: British Museum, 1877), p. 647.
W. H. Monroe, 'Thirteenth- and Early Fourteenth-Century Illustrated Genealogical Manuscripts in Roll and Codex: Peter of Poitiers’ Compendium, Universal Histories and Chronicles of the Kings of England' (unpublished PhD thesis: University of London, 1989).
Edward Donald Kennedy, Chronicles and other historical writing, A Manual of the Writings in Middle English, 1050-1500, 8 vols (New Haven, Connecticut: Archon Books, 1989), VIII, p. 2675-76.
Olivier de Laborderie, 'Ligne de reis: Culture historique, représentation du pouvoir royal et construction de la mémoire nationale en Angleterre a travers les généalogies royales en rouleau du milieu du XIIIe siècle au début du XVe siècle' (unpublished PhD thesis: Paris EHESS, 2002), pp. 1381-82, 1508 passim).
Olivier de Laborderie, Histoire, mémoire et pouvoir: les généalogies en rouleau des rois d'Angleterre: 1250-1422 (Paris: Classiques Garnier, 2013), no. BL5, p. 502, passim.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)