Add MS 5762

LEGAL TRACTS; late 13th cent. Latin and French. Origin: England. For current bibliographical information on many of these texts see Baker and Ringrose (1996), which has an index of manuscripts. A number of the items also appear in Add. 5761, where they are more fully described. A gathering is missing at the beginning, with loss of text. Colophon: Pfnnb prscpr skstf qxpnkbm lkbfr explkckt kstf (Penna precor siste quoniam liber explicit iste), f. 139v. The name 'Thomas Herbate' appears in a 16th cent. hand, f. 34. Some 18th cent. notes and marginals occur in a hand that is also found in Add. 5761 (see ff. 38, 95, and Add. 5761, ff. 76v, 81). An 18th? cent. ex libris or pressmark is excised on the front fly-leaf (f. 1*). Purchased in Nov. 1800 at the same time as Add. 5761, see Add. 5015, f. 146v. A note in the present MS. states that it was purchased at Samuel Pegge's sale in Nov. 1800, but the item cannot be traced in the sale-cat., Leigh, Sotheby, 12 Nov. 1800.

Vellum; ff. i+139. 215 x 150mm. Gatherings: i (lacking), fly-leaf, ii12 (lacks 1), iii12, iv10, v8, vi10(lacks 4), vii-xiii12, xiv irregular. The condition of the front fly-leaf is good, compared to the damaged state of the first extant quire, and may have been taken from the end of the MS., possibly in the British Museum. Catchwords regular ff. 11v-135v, some trimmed. Quires ii-xiii marked with roman numerals at foot of first folio recto and last folio verso. Signatures: roman numerals, quires v, vii-x, xii (ff. 35-37, 52-55, 63-68, 75-80, 88-92, 112-117). Single columns. One documentary cursive script throughout. Headings in red, initials and penwork in red and blue. Penwork grotesques, ff. 32v, 65v, 71, 87, 111, 127. The volume has suffered from damp and rodent damage (ff. 1-11). Some initials and borders have also been cut out (ff. 32v, 60, 89, 96-98, 131, 136).

Contents:

1. ff. 1-32. Registrum brevium, beginning with 'de recto'. Latin. Imperfect at beginning, and on ff. 2, 4 and 32. Apparently compiled in the reign of Edward I, after 4 May 1284 (dated item, f. 32). For description see Add. 5761, art. 1.

2. ff. 32v-44v. 'Fet asaver'. French. Imperfect at beginning. Beg. '[Fet] a sauoer ke a comencement'. For description see Add. 5761, art. 2.

3. ff. 45-60. 'Summa Magna' of Ralph de Hengham. Latin. Text imperfect,

f. 60. Beg. 'Patet ordo placitandi'. For description see Add. 5761, art. 3.

4. ff. 60-65v. 'Cadit assisa'. Latin. Preceded by form of writ, imperfect at beginning (f. 60). Beg. 'Cadit assisa si petatur'. For description see Add. 5761, art. 15.

5. ff. 65v-70v. 'Judicium Essoniorum'. Latin. Beg. 'Primum capitulum essoniorum iudicandum'. For description see Add. 5761, art. 4.

6. ff. 70v-71. 'Calumpnia essoniorum'. Latin. Beg. 'Essonium non iacet quia terra'. For description see Add. 5761, art. 6.

7. ff. 71v-78v. 'Summa Parva' of Ralph de Hengham. Latin. Beg. 'Notandum quod quinque sunt essonia'. For description see Add. 5761, art. 3.

8. ff. 78v-83. 'Modus componendi brevia', ascribed to Ralph de Hengham. Latin. Beg. 'Cum sit necessarium'. For description see Add. 5761, art. 10.

9. ff. 83-87. 'De Bastardia'. Latin. Beg. 'Nota quod si bastardus clamando se'. See Add. 5761, art. 21.

10. ff. 87-89. 'Tractatus Corone'. Latin. Imperfect at end (f. 89). Beg. 'Eodem modo quo quis feloniam'. Printed as an appendix in Placita Corone, ed.

J. M. Kaye, Selden Soc., Supplementary Series, iv (1966), pp. 34-38 from Harley 1120.

11. ff. 89-92. 'Placita Corone'. French. Imperfect at beginning (f. 89). The shorter version of this text, of the same type as Harley 1690, ff. 66v-68v. Printed in Kaye, op. cit., pp. 25-31: the present volume is not listed among the MSS. of the text discussed in this edition.

12. ff. 92-96v. 'Articuli in narrando' or 'Narrationes brevium'. Latin. Beg. 'Hic incipiunt articuli qui narrando'. See Add. 5761, art. 12.

13. ff. 96v-101v. 'Exceptiones contra brevia'. Latin. Beg. 'Exceptiones generales ad breve'. For another version, where the material is arranged in a different order, see Add. 5761, art. 13.

14. ff. 102-111. 'Curia Baronis', a 13th cent. set of precedents for use in a seignorial court. French. Part I of the text only. Beg. 'Ici poet home saver e trouer'. Printed from the present MS., among others, in The Court Baron, ed. F. W. Maitland and W. P. Baildon, Selden Soc., iv (1891), pp. 19-49. The text is discussed and the manuscripts listed in the introduction to this edition.

15. ff. 111-125v. 'Brevia Placitata', a 13th cent. tract of precedents for pleading in the King's courts. French. Beg. [Commentary] 'E fet asauer ke ceo bref deit'. The present MS. is used as the main text in the printed edition, Brevia Placitata, ed. G. J. Turner and T. F. T. Plucknett, Selden Soc. (1951), where the text and the MSS. are fully discussed.

16. ff. 126-131. 'Casus Brevium' or 'Casus Placitorum', a collection of notes on pleas and cases, compiled circa 1250-1270. French. Imperfect at the end (f. 131). Beg. 'Si un home donne ove sa fille'. Printed from the present MS. as Addendum B in Casus Placitorum, ed. W. H. Dunham, Selden Soc. (1952), which uses Harley 1208, ff. 241-249 for its main text.

17. ff. 131v-136. 'Seneschaucie', an anonymous tract on estate management, compiled circa 1260-1270. French. Imperfect at the beginning, f. 131v. Printed from various manuscripts in D. Oschinsky, Walter of Henley and other treatises on estate management and accounting (1971), pp. 261-305; MSS. of the text are fully discussed in this edition (pp. 10-24). See also Walter of Henley's Husbandry, ed. E. Lamond (1890), pp. 83-119.

18. ff. 136-139v. 'Composicio Manerii', the 'Rules' of Robert Grosseteste, compiled circa 1240-1242 for Margaret, Countess of Lincoln. French. Printed, with discussion of MSS. of the text, in Oschinsky, op. cit., pp. 10-24, 387-415. See also Lamond, op. cit., pp. 121-145.