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Add MS 39938

Record Id:
032-002059833
Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
032-002059833
MDARK:
ark:/81055/vdc_100000000039.0x000385
LARK:
SLARK:
Format:
ISAD(G)
Reference (shelfmark):
Add MS 39938
Title:

Calendar roll with English saints

Scope & Content:

Contents:

Membrane 1: A liturgical calendar, reading from left to right, with drawings of zodiac signs, one above each calendar entry. The English saints included are Thomas Becket, Botulph, Erkenwald, Alphege, Dunstan, Augustine, Alban, Etheldreda, Mildred, Osyth and Paulina. The two feasts of St. Edward the Confessor and the Deposition of St. Edmund the Archbishop are inserted in a late 13th-century hand.

Membrane 2: An added piece of parchment used as a protective wrapper contains a grant of lands in Leicestershire (Aylestone, Countesthorpe, Congerston, Normanton-le-Heath, Newton Nethercote, Ravenstone, Swepstone, Over Seal), Derbyshire (Drakelow, Church Gresley, Linton, Church Gresley, Coton-in-the-Elms, Swadlincote) and Warwickshire (Fulready, Ettington, Moreton Morrell, Oxhill, Shilton, Shuckburgh and Stivichall, Coventry) between 1408 and 1422.

The dorse of the roll is blank (dorse abbreviated as d).

Decoration:

Membrane 1: A series of 12 colour-wash drawings of the zodiac signs. Frames and KL initials for each month are in gold and the calendar is in red, blue and black. The subjects of the images are (beginning from the inner edge):

January: Aquarius with two urns of water;

February: Pisces, two fish on a line;

March: Aries, the ram;

April: Taurus, the bull;

May: Gemini, naked twins, perhaps conjoined, with their torsos partially hidden by a triangular shield;

June: Cancer, the crab;

July: Leo, the lion;

August: Virgo, the virgin, (perhaps Ceres) holding shieves of corn.

September: Libra, a cloaked figure holding a pair of scales;

October: Scorpio, the scorpion;

November: Sagittarius, the archer, as a centaur with a bow;

December: Capricorn, the goat, playing a pipe.

Collection Area:
Western Manuscripts
Project / Collection:
Additional Manuscripts
Hierarchy Tree:
[{ "id" : "032-002059833", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Add MS 39938: Calendar roll with English saints" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
Hierarchy Record Ids:
032-002059833
Is part of:
not applicable
Hierarchy:
032-002059833
Container:
not applicable
Record Type (Level):
Fonds
Extent:

1 roll

Digitised Content:
Languages:
Latin
Scripts:
Latin
Start Date:
1250
End Date:
1274
Date Range:
2nd or 3rd quarter of the 13th century
Era:
CE
Access:

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User Conditions:
Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 875 x 120 mm.

Arrangement: A long narrow parchment membrane in the form of a roll. Another parchment membrane has been cut to fit the original roll and stitched to the outer edge to form a wrapper which has a triangular edge and a tie attached. A piece of red fabric is attached to the inner edge as protection for the images.

Script: Gothic and Gothic cursive (15th century wrapper).

Custodial History:

Origin: England, perhaps the south east or London.

Provenance:

Saints in the calendar indicate an origin in south-eastern England (see Catalogue of Additions, 1933).

An added grant of land by Margaret, daughter of Roger and Isabella de Grysley (Church Gresley, Derbyshire) of lands in Warwickshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire to John and Thomas Somercotes of 'Wyflingham' (Willingham, Lincolnshire), to William Aleyn, parson of Baxterley, Warwickshire, to John Abell, of Cauldwell, Derbyshire, and to Richard Elvet, Archdeacon of Leicester (1404-1424) and Dean of the College of St. Mary the Greater in 1408 (see Dugdale, Monasticon, 1830). The date of the charter is lost but it has been dated to c. 1408-1422 from its contents.

Mrs Talbot Coke, probably Charlotte, widow of Major-General John Talbot Coke (b. 1841, d. 1912) of Trusley, Derbyshire and decorating columnist (fl. 1890-1900), bought from her by the British Museum, 13 March, 1920.

Publications:

Sir William Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum: A History of the Abbies and Other Monasteries, Hospitals, Frieries and Cathedral and Collegiate Churches [...], 2nd edn, 8 vols (London: James Bohn, 1846), VI, pt. iii (1830), p. 1397.

The British Museum Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts, 1916-1920 (London: British Museum, 1933), p. 261.

Material Type:
Archives and Manuscripts
Legal Status:
Not Public Record(s)
Related Material:

From the printed Catalogue of Additions (1933):

'Roll-calendar in red, blue, and black, including many English saints, viz., in blue, Thomas of Canterbury (Dec. 29 and July 7, the former with octave) ; in red, Botulph (june 17) and Translation of Erkenwald (Nov. 14) ; in black, Alphege (Apr. 19), Dunstan (May 19), Ethelbert (May 20), Augustine (May 26), Alban (June 22), Etheldreda (June 23), Mildred (July 13), Osyth (Oct. 7), Paulinus (Oct. 10). These names (in a decidedly meagre calendar) seem to suggest the home counties as a probable place of origin. The two feasts of St. Edward the Confessor (Jan. 5, " S. Edward Sarum," and Oct. 13) and the Deposition of St. Edmund the Archbishop (Nov. 16, canonized 1246) are inserted in a late 13th cent. hand. Vellum roll ; 23 3/4 in. x 4 5/8 in. Mid. XIII cent. Each month divided into two rectangular compartments by burnished gold bands, the upper compartments containing tinted drawings of the zodiacal signs. Attached to the outer end of the roll is a mutilated grant by Margaret, daughter of Roger and Isabella de Grysley [Church Gresley, co. Derby] to Richard Elvet, " decano ecelesie noue collegii beate Marie Leycestr[ensis] " [i.e. the college of Newark or St. Mary the greater, Leicester : see Dugdale, Monasticon, vol. vi, pt. iii (1830), p. 1397, where Richard Elveden appears as Dean in 1408], Thomas ' Somercotes of " Wyflingham " [Willingham, co. Linc.], and others, of lands in cos. Warwick, Leicester, and Derby (the names of persons and places are given in the Index). Date lost [circ. 1408-1422].'