Hard-coded id of currently selected item: . JSON version of its record is available from Blacklight on e.g. ??
Metadata associated with selected item should appear here...
Harley MS 76
- Record Id:
- 040-002045904
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002045904
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000596.0x0000f9
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 76
- Title:
- The ‘Bury Gospels’
- Scope & Content:
-
ff. 1v–5r: Jerome, Letter to Damasus (‘Novum opus’) and prologue to the Gospels.
ff. 6r–12v: Canon Tables.
ff. 13r–126v: Four Gospels (opening leaf excised).
ff. 126v–137v: Capitula to the Gospels.
The remainder of the leaves (ff. 137v–141v) were originally left blank, and filled in at a later date.
f. 137v: Narration of a dispute between Bishop Gundulf of Rochester and Sheriff Picot.
ff. 138r–139r: Charter of privilege from King Cnut to Bury (forged).
ff. 139r–140r: Bull of Pope Alexander II in favour of Bury, 1071.
ff. 140r–141r: Charter of William I to the same effect, 1081.
f. 141r: Writ of William I to Roger Bigot, declaring Abbot Baldwin of Bury to hold the church and vill of St Edmunds; Bishop Arfast has no rights in the area.
f. 141v: Note added in the 13th century, ‘Prior. sacrista. celerarius. camerarius in capitulo eligendi’.
Decoration:
12 canon tables in colours and gold, with architectural decoration, and various figures, such as Christ blessing, Peter and Paul, angels, animals, and hybrid creatures (ff. 6r–12v). Incipit page for Mark with border and initial in gold and colours with animal heads (f. 45r). Simple initials in red or green.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002045904", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 76: The ‘Bury Gospels’" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} },{ "id" : "041-002352906", "parent" : "040-002045904", "text" : "Harley MS 76, ff 1-137v: Gospels (the 'Bury Gospels')" },{ "id" : "041-002352907", "parent" : "040-002045904", "text" : "Harley MS 76, ff 137v-141v: Charters relating to the abbey of Bury St Edmunds" }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002045904 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 76 : The ‘Bury Gospels’ - Contains:
- Harley MS 76, ff 1-137v : Gospels (the 'Bury Gospels')
Harley MS 76, ff 137v-141v : Charters relating to the abbey of Bury St Edmunds
Click here to View / search full list of parts of Harley MS 76 - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[0075]/040-002045904
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
Parchment codex
- Digitised Content:
- http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_76 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1015
- End Date:
- 1035
- Date Range:
- c 1020-c 1030
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
- Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
Please request the physical items you need using the online collection item request form.
Digitised items can be viewed online by clicking the thumbnail image or digitised content link.
Readers who have registered or renewed their pass since 21 March 2024 can request physical items prior to visiting the Library by completing
this request form.
Please enter the Reference (shelfmark) above on the request form.If your Reader Pass was issued before this date, you will need to visit the Library in London or Yorkshire to renew it before you can request items online. All manuscripts and archives must be consulted at the Library in London.
This catalogue record may describe a collection of items which cannot all be requested together. Please use the hierarchy viewer to navigate to individual items. Some items may be in use or restricted for other reasons. If you would like to check the availability, contact our Reference Services team, quoting the Reference (shelfmark) above.
- User Conditions:
-
Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript.
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Dimensions: 210 × 270 mm (written area 155 × 120 mm).
Foliation: ff. 141 (+ 2 unfoliated parchment flyaleaves: 1 at the begining and 1 at the end; additional 8 unfoliated leaves are included after ff. 5, 12 (x2), 44, 66 (x2) and 102 (x2). Missing folios before ff. 13, 66, and 103.
Script: Caroline minuscule. Some hands are also in Cambridge, St John’s College, MS 73 (see Thomson 1980, p. 119).
Binding: 17th-century binding with the arms of d'Ewes.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: England (Bury or Canterbury?).
Provenance:
The abbey of Bury St Edmunds, founded 1020, consecrated 1032: additional, late 11th-century or early 12th century copies of royal and papal charters to the abbey (ff. 137v-141r).
Sir Simonds d'Ewes (b.1602, d. 1650), 1st baronet, diarist, antiquary, and friend of Sir Robert Cotton (see Wright 1972): his binding and arms.
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.
- Information About Copies:
-
Full digital coverage available for this manuscript on Digitised Manuscripts, https://bl.uk/manuscripts/.
- Publications:
-
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts, in the British Museum, 4 vols (London, 1808-12), I, no. 76.
Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Art, Word, War, ed. by Claire Breay and Joanna Story (London: The British Library, 2018), no. 135 [exhibition catalogue].
W. R. Tymms and M. D. Wyatt, The Art of Illuminating as Practised in Europe from the Earliest Times (London: Day and Sons, 1860, 1860; repr. Studio Editions, 1987), pl. XI.1.
Walter de Gray Birch and Henry Jenner, Early Drawings and Illuminations: An Introduction to the Study of Illustrated Manuscripts (London: Bagster and Sons, 1879), p. 4.
J. A. Herbert, Illuminated Manuscripts (London: Methuen, 1911), p. 130.
[J. A. Herbert], Illuminated Manuscripts and Bindings of Manuscripts Exhibited in The Grenville Library, Guide to the Exhibited Manuscripts, 3 (Oxford: British Museum, 1923), no. 15.
Eric. G. Millar, English Illuminated Manuscripts from the Xth to the XIIIth Century (Paris: Van Oest, 1926), pl. 21.
H. H. Glunz, History of the Vulgate in England from Alcuin to Roger Bacon (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1933), no. 38.
Guide to an Exhibition of English Art gathered from Various Departments and held in the Prints and Drawings Gallery (London: British Museum, 1934.), no. 79.
Theodor Klauser, Das römische capitulare evangeliorum: Texte und Untersuchungen zu seiner ältesten Geschichte, Liturgiegeschichtliche Quellen und Forschungen, 28 (Munster: Aschendorffschen, 1935), p. L, no. 164.
Hanns Swarzenski, 'The Anhalt Morgan Gospels', Art Bulletin, 31 (1949), 77-83 (p. 78 n. 12).
D. Talbot Rice, English Art 871-1100, Oxford History of English Art, 2 (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1952), p. 207.
Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books, ed. by N. R. Ker, 2nd edn, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 3 (London: Royal Historical Society, 1964), p. 20.
Andrew G. Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (London: British Museum, 1966), no. A265.
J. J. G. Alexander, Norman Illumination at Mont St Michel 966–1100 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970), p. 107 n. 1.
Elzbieta Temple, Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts 900-1066, Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, 2 (London: Harvey Miller, 1976), no. 75, pp. 23, 101 [with additional bibliography].
Rodney M. Thomson, The Archives of the Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk Records Society, 21 (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 1980), no. 1275.
The Golden Age of Anglo-Saxon Art 966-1066, ed. by Janet Backhouse, D. H. Turner, and Leslie Webster (London: British Museum, 1984), no. 58 [exhibition catalogue].
T. A. Heslop, 'The Production of De Luxe Manuscripts and the Patronage of King Cnut and Queen Emma', in Anglo-Saxon England, 19, ed. by Michael Lapidge and others (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), pp. 151-98 (p. 153).
Patrick McGurk, ‘The Disposition of Numbers in Latin Eusebian Canon Tables’, in Philologia Sacra: Biblische und patristische Studien für Hermann J. Frede und Walter Thele zu ihrem siebzigsten Geburtstag, ed. by Roger Gryson (Freiburg: Herder, 1993), pp. 242-58 (p. 255).
Richard Marsden, 'Ask What I am Called': The Anglo-Saxons and Their Bibles', in The Bible as Book: The Manuscript Tradition, ed. by John L. Sharpe III and Kimberly Van Kampen (London: British Library, 1998), pp. 145-176 (p.175).
Helmut Gneuss, Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A List of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 241 (Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2001), no. 413.
Diane Reilly, ‘French Romanesque Giant Bibles’, Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relatives aux manuscrits, 56 (2002), 294-311 (p. 294 n. 1).
Michelle P. Brown, Manuscripts from the Anglo-Saxon Age (London: British Library, 2007), p. 132, pl. 119.
T. A. Heslop, 'Manuscript Illumination at Worcester c. 1055-1065: The Origins of the Pembroke Lectionary and the Caligula Troper', The Cambridge Illuminations: The Conference Papers, ed. by Stella Panayotova (London-Turnhout: Harvey Miller, 2007), p. 69 n. 25.
Scot McKendrick and Kathleen Doyle, Bible Manuscripts: 1400 Years of Scribes and Scripture (London: British Library, 2007), pp. 10 and 56, fig. 43.
G. R. C. Davis, Medieval Cartularies of Great Britain and Ireland, rev. by Claire Breay, Julian Harrison, David M Smith (London: British Library 2010), no 122.
- Exhibitions:
- Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Art, Word, War, British Library, London, 19 October 2018 - 19 February 2019
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)