Add MS 15732

This manuscript contains a Latin copy of the Historia Regum Brittaniae ('The History of the Kings of Britain') by Geoffrey of Monmouth (d. 1154/55), bishop of St Asaph and historian. The work presents a pseudo-historical account of the kings of Britain; it opens with a legend that tells of how Brutus, a descendant of Aeneas, travelled to an island named Albion after the Trojan War. After defeating a host of giants, he renamed the island after himself ('Britain'). It also includes the prophecies of Merlin concerning the future King Arthur and tells a legendary history of his reign. Geoffrey claims to have translated the Historia from an old British book he had received from Walter, archdeacon of Oxford.

Geoffrey finished his work at some point between 1123 and 1139. It soon became popular and was widely disseminated in England, the Low Countries and Northern France, especially among aristocratic and monastic audiences; out of the 217 extant manuscripts listed by Julia C. Crick, at least fifty-eight copies were produced in the twelfth century (see Crick, The Historia Regum Britannie, IV (1991), pp. 196-217).

This manuscript testifies to the long-lasting popularity of the Historia on the Continent; while the larger part of its copy of the Historia, books 1-9, originates from the second half of the twelfth century, its final books, part of book 10, and book 11, were written in the fifteenth century in the Low Countries or France.

Contents:

ff. 1r-85r: Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia Regum Brittaniae, beginning ‘Cum mecum multa et de multis sepius animo revolvens in historiam regum britannie inciderem. in mirum contuli quod infra mentionem quam dominis gildas & beda luculento tractatu fecerant nichil de regibus qui ante incarnationem Christi inhabitauerant . nichil omne de arturo ceterisque compluribus qui post incarnationem succeserunt repperissem . cum et gesta eorum digna eternitatis laude constarent & a multis populis quasi inscripta iocunde & memoriter predicarentur [etc.]’; ff. 73r-85v, containing part of book 10, and book 11, have been added by a scribe writing in a 15th-century French script (Bâtarde).

f. [ii] recto contains an 18th- or 19th-century French description of the manuscript.

Decoration:

Large initials in red, blue or red and blue throughout the manuscript, some with penwork decoration in red or blue. Small initials in red and green throughout the manuscript. Some manicules in the margins.