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Cotton MS Faustina C I

Record Id:

040-001103912

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

032-001101582

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000001273.0x00005f

LARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100165157888.0x000001

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Cotton MS Faustina C I

Title:

Cartulary of Huntingdon Priory; Rhigyfarch ap Sulien, Planctus Ricemarch; Cicero, In Somnium Scipionis; Macrobius, Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis; Rhigyfarch ap Sulien, De messe infelici; Chronicle of World History, AM 1–AD 750; The Rule of St Benedict

Scope & Content:

This composite manuscript consists of three independent parts that were joined together in the 17th century,

The first part (ff. 2r-65r) contains a late 14th-century cartulary of Huntingdon Priory, featuring texts in Latin and Anglo-Norman French.

The second part (ff. 66r-93v), written at the clas of Llanbadarn Fawr, contains an early 12th-century copy of the poem Planctus Ricemarch (The Lament of Rhygfarch), a lament by Rhygyfarch [Ricemarchus] ap Sulien (b. 1056/1057, d. 1099) on the destruction of Ceredigion and Dyfed by the Normans in 1093; Cicero, Somnium Scipionis (Sleep of Scipio) followed by Macrobius, Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis. The abbreviation marks, syntax marks, and an animal head (f. 74r) match the practice of Llanbadarn Fawr, Ceredigion, Wales. An additional four-line poem by Rhigyfarch, entitled De messe infelici (On the unfortunate harvest), is written above the text of Macrobius' Commentary on f. 80r.

The third part (ff. 94r-123r) contains an early 12th-century copy of the Rule of St Benedict from England.

Contents:

Part 1

ff. 2r-65r: Cartulary of Huntingdon Priory; with later (15th-century) additions.

Part 2

f. 66r: Rhigyfarch [Ricemarchus] ap Sulien (b. 11056/1057, d. 1099), Planctus Ricemarch (The Lament of Rhygfarch).

f. 66v: A note on Cicero's De re publica.

ff. 67r-68r: Cicero, In Somnium Scipionis [excerpted from his De re publica].

ff. 68r-93r: Macrobius, Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis.

f. 80r: Rhigyfarch [Ricemarchus] ap Sulien, De messe infelici.

ff. 93r-93v: Chronicle of World History, AM 1–AD 750.

Part 3

ff. 94r-123r: The Rule of St Benedict.

The manuscript contains a later addition:

f. 1r: Cotton’s shelfmark and a table of contents, listing only the cartulary, Macrobius’s Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis, and the Rule of St Benedict ('Admonitio'); written in the (?) 17th century.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Cotton Collection

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-001101582
040-001103912

Is part of:

Cotton MS : Cotton Manuscripts

Cotton MS Faustina C I : Cartulary of Huntingdon Priory; Rhigyfarch ap Sulien, Planctus Ricemarch; Cicero, In Somnium Scipionis; Macrobius,…

Contains:

Cotton MS Faustina C I, ff 2–65 : Cartulary of Huntingdon Priory
Cotton MS Faustina C I, ff 66–93 : Rhigyfarch ap Sulien, Planctus; Cicero, In Somnium Scipionis; Macrobius, Commentarii in Somnium…
Cotton MS Faustina C I, ff 94–123 : The Rule of St Benedict

Click here to View / search full list of parts of Cotton MS Faustina C I

Hierarchy:

032-001101582[1247]/040-001103912

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_100165157888.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)

Thumbnail:

Languages:

Anglo-Norman
Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1100

End Date:

1470

Date Range:

1st half of the 12th century-Mid 15th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript

Physical Characteristics:

Condition: Outer edges of leaves damaged by fire in 1731.

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: Approximately 305 × 205 mm.

Foliation: ff. 123 (+ 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 2 at the end); 1 unfoliated torn parchment leaf between f. 116 and f. 117; a tear in f. 96 has been stitched with blue thread; 1 unfoliated paper pastedown on f. [i]recto (bibliographical notes).

Script: Gothic cursive (ff. 2r-65r); Protogothic (ff. 66r-123r).

Binding: Post-1600. Brown half leather binding with Robert Cotton’s armorial bookplate gold-stamped on the outsides of the upper and lower covers; re-bound in 1937.

Custodial History:

Origin:

Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, East of England (Part 1); Llanbadarn Fawr, Ceredigion, Wales (Part 2); England (Part 3).

Provenance:

Sir Robert Bruce Cotton (b. 1571, d. 1631), 1st baronet, antiquary and politician: not recorded in his catalogues (see Tite, The Early Records (2003), p. 222); his bookplates gold-stamped on the upper and lower covers; his shelfmark ink-stamped on f. [i]recto; written in 17th-century script on f.[i]recto; and gold-stamped on the modern spine (probably replicating an inscription on the original spine); the table of contents on f. 1r was perhaps added in his library (not listed in Tite, The Early Records (2003), pp. 248-53 [‘Annex 3: Contents-tables’].

Cotton’s collection was augmented by his son, Sir Thomas Cotton (b. 1594, d. 1662), 2nd baronet, and his grandson, Sir John Cotton.

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:

Colin G. C. Tite, The Early Records of Sir Robert Cotton’s Library: Formation, Cataloguing, Use (London: The British Library, 2003), p. 222.

Daniel Huws, A Repertory of Welsh Manuscripts and Sources c.800-c.1800, 3 vols (Aberystwyth: The National Library of Wales and University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, 2022), I, p. 756.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)