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Harley MS 5

Record Id:

040-002045833

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002045833

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000596.0x00009e

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 5

Title:

Registrum brevium

Scope & Content:

Registrum brevium; the manuscript includes copies of writs from the beginning of the reign of Henry VI (r. 1422-1461).

Includes an added list of contents (ff. 3r-3v).

ff. 53v-56v, 71v-76v, 107r-111v, and 281r are ruled and unwritten. Numerous spaces are also left blank in between sections.

Decoration:

Historiated initial in colours and gold of king Henry VI combined with a partial foliate border (f. 4r). Initials in blue with red pen-flourishing. Paraphs in red with purple or blue-grey pen-flourishing or in blue with red pen-flourishing.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002045833", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 5: Registrum brevium" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002045833

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 5 : Registrum brevium

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[7681]/040-002045833

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1425

End Date:

1445

Date Range:

c 1430-c 1440

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 285 x 215 mm (text space: 180 x 120 mm).

Foliation: ff. 289 (+ 5 unfoliated flyleaves: 2 paper leaves at the beginning and 2 at the end, 1 parchment leaf at the end; 1 ruled unfoliated leaf after f. 3). Original foliation. Quire marks (Roman numerals on the verso of the last folio).

Script: Gothic cursive.

Binding: British Museum.

Custodial History:

Origin:

England.

Provenance:

Sir Simonds d'Ewes (b. 1602, d. 1650), 1st Baronet, diarist, antiquary, and friend of Sir Robert Cotton (see Wright 1972): signed Greek inscription in his hand which can be translated as 'God grant me humility and that I may be faithful. Symondes D'Ewes' (f. 1v), added title-page 'REGISTRVM BREVIVM' in yellow, red and blue (f. 2r).

Sir Simonds D’Ewes (d. 1722), 3rd Baronet and grandson of the former: inherited and later sold the D’Ewes library to Robert Harley on 4 October 1705 for £450 (see Watson 1966).

The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts.

Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta, née Cavendish Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d. 1785), Duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library.

Administrative Context:

England.

Information About Copies:

Select digital coverage available for this manuscript, see Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/welcome.htm.

Publications:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), I (1808), no. 5.

Andrew G. Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (London: British Museum, 1966), no. A323i.

The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by Cyril Ernest Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), I: 1715-1723, pp. xviii-xix.

Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), p. 131.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Bentinck, Margaret Cavendish, duchess of Portland, née Harley, collector of art and natural history specimens and patron of arts and sciences, 11 Feb 1715-17 Jul 1785,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000115857160,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/2356861
D'Ewes, Simonds, 3rd Baronet, grandson of the Antiquary, c 1670-1722
D’Ewes, Simonds, 1st Baronet, diarist and antiquary, 1602-1650,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000083393524,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/12656415
Harley, Edward, second earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts, 2 Jun 1689-16 Jun 1741,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000108078249,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/160524259
Harley, Henrietta Cavendish, Countess of Oxford and Mortimer, née Holles, patron of architecture, 4 Feb 1694-9 Dec 1755,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000030125833,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/6045563
Harley, Robert, first Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, 5 Dec 1661-21 May 1724,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000083423906

Related Material:

OCR-generated record (may contain errors) from A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London, Eyre and Strahan, 1808-1812), I (1808):

Codex Membranaceus, et bonae Notae, in fol. quo continetur,

Registrum Brevium, cum Indice ad frontem Codicis scripto.