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Cotton MS Cleopatra D VII
- Record Id:
- 040-001103812
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-001101582
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000001273.0x00003b
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100193730590.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Cotton MS Cleopatra D VII
- Title:
- John of Hildesheim, Historia Trium Regum; Des grantz geanz; Brut Chronicle (Short Version); Lamentation of Our Lady; four minor works by Geoffrey Chaucer
- Scope & Content:
-
This manuscript contains a collection of works in Latin, Middle English and Anglo-Norman French. The core of the manuscript (ff. 80-189) dates to the middle of the 14th century, with subsequent additions up to the 3rd quarter of the 15th century. The contents include the Historia Trium Regum, a Latin history of the Three Magi by John of Hildesheim (b. 1310/20, d. 1375); an Anglo-Norman French work known as Des grantz geantz; the 'Short Version' of the Anglo-Norman French Brut Chronicle; a Middle English prose work known as the Lamentation of Our Lady; and a set of four Middle English poems attributed to Geoffrey Chaucer (b. c. 1340s, d. 1400).
It has been suggested that the manuscript once featured a Latin document concerning the shrine built at Ashridge Priory in Hertfordshire, to house a relic given by the monastery's founder, Edmund of Almain (b. 1249, d. 1300), 2nd Earl of Cornwall. The document was apparently inscribed on the manuscript's binding, when it was housed at the Bodleian Library in Oxford ('Ad calcem libri MS. de vita trium magorum in bibl. Bodleiana'), and was there transcribed by the English antiquary Sir William Dugdale (b. 1605, d. 1686) and later published in his Monasticon Anglicanum (see Monasticon Anglicanum (1849),VI, p. 517; Vincent, The Holy Blood (2001), p. 139 n. 8). The binding was subsequently removed and the manuscript rebound when it became part of the Cotton library.
Contents:
f. 1v: An added list of the manuscript's contents, written in Latin in the hand of Sir William Dugdale, English antiquary and herald.
ff. 2r-5r, 190r-192v: Order for the coronation of the Kings of England, with prayers and ceremonials, written in Latin.
ff. 5v-11v: Calendar.
ff. 12r-75r: John of Hildesheim, Historia Trium Regum, written in Latin prose and beginning with a list of contents (ff. 12r-15r), the text beginning, 'Cum venerandissimorum trium magorum...'
ff. 76r-79v: Des grantz geanz, written in Anglo-Norman French verse and followed by a short Latin summary (f. 79); the text beginning, 'Ci put home sauer coment...' (Dean, A Guide to Anglo-Norman French Literature (1999), no. 37).
ff. 80r-182v: Brut Chronicle, known as the 'Short Version', written in Anglo-Norman French prose with interpolated passages, including additional material on King Arthur interrupting the account of Gormund (ff. 119r-120v); an account of the progress of Edward III from La Hogue to Crécy and his return to England in 1346/47 (ff. 178v-180v); and a short extract on Cadwalader from the 'Long Version' of the Brut Chronicle, all added in 15th-century hands; the text beginning, 'Celi qe vodra saver coment Brut vint primes en Engletere…' (Dean, A Guide to Anglo-Norman French Literature (1999), no. 36).
ff. 183r-187v: Lamentation of Our Lady, written in Middle English prose, beginning, 'Whan I Marie the moder...'
ff. 187v-188v: The Six Masters on Tribulation, a treatise written in Middle English prose, beginning, 'Here begynneth a litell shorte tretys that telleth how there were vi maistres assembled...'
f. 188v: Geoffrey Chaucer, 'Gentilesse', written in Middle English verse, beginning, 'The firste stock fader of gentilnesse...' (DIMEV 5277).
ff. 188v-189r: Geoffrey Chaucer, 'Lak of Stedfastnesse', written in Middle English verse, beginning, 'Sumtyme the worlde was so stedfast and stable...' (DIMEV 4990).
f. 189r-v: Geoffrey Chaucer, 'Truth' or 'Balade de bon conseyl', written in Middle English verse, beginning, 'Flee fro the prees and dwell with sothfasnesse...' (DIMEV 1326).
f. 189v: 'Against Women Inconstant', attributed to Geoffrey Chaucer and written in Middle English verse, beginning, 'Madame for your newe fangelnesse...' (DIMEV 3312).
ff. 1r and 75v are blank.
Decoration:
Large puzzle initials in blue with red pen-flourishing. or red with blue pen-flourishing.
'KL' initials in blue with red pen-flourishing (ff. 6r-11v). Blank spaces left for initials (ff. 2r-5r, 190r-192r).
2 marginal drawings of hybrid figures (ff. 80r, 128r). 1 decorative tailpiece (f. 75r).
Line-fillers in red and/or blue. Paraph marks in alternating red or blue (ff. 80r-189v).
Highlighting of initials and brackets in red. Rubrics.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Cotton Collection
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-001101582
040-001103812 - Is part of:
- Cotton MS : Cotton Manuscripts
Cotton MS Cleopatra D VII : John of Hildesheim, Historia Trium Regum; Des grantz geanz; Brut Chronicle (Short Version); Lamentation of Our Lady;… - Hierarchy:
- 032-001101582[1211]/040-001103812
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Cotton MS
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- 1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100193730590.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Anglo-Norman
English, Middle
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1330
- End Date:
- 1474
- Date Range:
- Middle of the 14th century-3rd quarter of the 15th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Material: Parchment.
Condition: Intact.
Dimensions: Approximately 265 × 175 mm (written space varies: 175-200 x 105-125 mm).
Foliation: ff. 192 (+ 4 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 1 unfoliated parchment leaf after f. 11 + 4 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the end).
Horizontal catchwords.
Script: Gothic cursive.
Binding: British Museum in-house (1865). Brown leather, blind-stamped and tooled in gold, with the Cottonian arms gold-stamped on the upper and lower covers.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
England.
Provenance:
Thomas Allen (b. 1542, d. 1632), English mathematician and astrologer: listed in the 1622 catalogue of his collection, partly written in the hand of Brian Twyne ('4o 11a-c, e'), now Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Wood F 26 , f. 11r (Watson, 'Allen of Oxford' (1978), p. 209).
Sir Robert Bruce Cotton (b. 1571, d. 1631), 1st baronet, antiquary and politician, or his son, Sir Thomas Cotton (b. 1594, d. 1662), 2nd baronet: listed in the catalogues of the Cotton library (Add MS 36789, f. 142v; Add MS 36682); a list of the manuscript's contents, written in the hand of Sir William Dugdale (b. 1605, d. 1686), English antiquary (f. 1v); annotations in the hand of Richard James (b. 1592, d. 1638), first librarian of the Cotton library (ff. 85v, 122r).
Sir John Cotton (b. 1621, d. 1702), 3rd baronet: bequeathed the entire Cotton collection of books and manuscripts to trustees ‘for Publick Use and Advantage’, 12 and 13 William III, c. 7.
Formed one of the foundation collections of the British Museum in 1753.
- Publications:
-
Boffey, Julia, 'The Reputation and Circulation of Chaucer's Lyrics in the Fifteenth Century', in Writing after Chaucer: Essential Readings in Chaucer and the Fifteenth Century, ed. by Daniel J. Pinti (London: Garland Publishing, 1998), pp. 127-44 (p. 136).
Boffey, Julia and A. S. G. Edwards, 'Manuscripts and Audience', in A Concise Companion to Chaucer, ed. by Corinne Saunders (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006), pp. 34-50 (p. 46).
Cox, D. C., 'The French Chronicle of London', Medium Ævum, 45 (1976), 201-08 (pp. 202-03, 206).
Dean, Ruth J., & Maureen B. M. Boulton, Anglo-Norman Literature: A Guide to Texts and Manuscripts, Anglo-Norman Text Society, Occasional Publications Series, 3 (London: Anglo-Norman Text Society, 1999), nos. 36, 37.
Marvin, Julia, The Construction of Vernacular History in the Anglo-Norman Prose Brut Chronicle: The Manuscript Culture of Late Medieval England (Woodbridge: York Medieval Press, in association with The Boydell Press, 2017), pp. 9 n. 25, 102, 161, 167-68, 174.
Planta, Joseph, ed., A Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Cottonian Library Deposited in the British Museum (London: Hansard, 1802), p. 583.
Tite, Colin G. C., The Early Records of Sir Robert Cotton's Library: Formation, Cataloguing, Use (London: The British Library, 2003), p. 215.
Vincent, Nicholas, The Holy Blood: King Henry III and the Westminster Blood Relic (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), p. 139 n. 8.
Watson, Andrew G., 'Thomas Allen of Oxford and his manuscripts', in Medieval Scribes, Manuscripts and Libraries: Essays presented to N. R. Ker, ed. by M. B. Parkes and Andrew G. Watson (London: Scolar Press, 1978), pp. 279-314 (p. 309).
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)