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Harley MS 217
- Record Id:
- 040-002046045
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002046045
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000596.0x0001d2
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 217
- Title:
- Meditationes uitae Christi; Hugh of Saint-Victor, De laude caritatis
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
ff. 2r–156r: Meditationes uitae Christi.
ff. 156v–160v: Hugh of Saint-Victor, De laude caritatis.
Decoration:
Numerous large initials in blue. Text initials with some penwork decoration (ff. 2-109). Descenders and ascenders of letters alongside the writing frame often with penwork decoration, occasionally including faces (ff. 96v, 98v, 99v, 100r, 100v, 101r, 104v, 105r, 107v, 108r). Catchwords with decorated frames (ff. 2r–109v). Rubrics in red. Rough drawings in crayon of a face (f. 1*v) and an ?initial (f. 1v).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002046045", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 217: Meditationes uitae Christi; Hugh of Saint-Victor, De laude caritatis" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002046045 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 217 : Meditationes uitae Christi; Hugh of Saint-Victor, De laude caritatis - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[0216]/040-002046045
- 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:
- 1375
- End Date:
- 1424
- Date Range:
- 4th quarter 14th century-1st quarter 15th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: parchment.
Dimensions: 175 × 115 mm (written area 135 × 85 mm).
Foliation: ff. 1* + 160 (+ 5 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and 4 at the end).
Collation: Catchwords; leaf signatures (on ff. 2–109 in the form 11–41; 12–42; 13–43 etc.; on ff. 109v–160v in the form i, ii, iii, iiii).
Script: Gothic cursive. Two scribes (ff. 2–109, 109v–160v).
Binding: British Library, 1984. The manuscript's former binding is now stored separately as Harley MS 217/1.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
England.
Provenance:
The Premonstratensian abbey of St Mary, Alnwick, Northumberland: inscribed, 15th century 'Iste liber est de Almario ecclesie beate marie de alnewyke' (ff. 2r–3r, lower margins, partly erased), with another erased inscription (f. 2r, upper margin).
Henry Savile, of Banke (b. 1568, d. 1617), collector of manuscripts (see Gilson 1906–1908; Watson 1966, p. 21; Watson 1969).
Sir Simonds d'Ewes (b.1602, d. 1650), 1st baronet, diarist, antiquary, and friend of Sir Robert Cotton (see Wright 1972): added title page, inscribed with his signature (f. 1); no. A897 in his catalogue (see Watson 1966).
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 Cavendish, née 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:
-
Select digital coverage available for this manuscript: see the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts, https://bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/.
- Publications:
-
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), I (1808), no. 217.
J. P. Gilson, 'The Library of Henry Savile, of Banke', Transactions of the Bibliographical Society, 9 (1906-1908), 127-210 (p. 189 no. 156).
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. 3.
Andrew G. Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (London: British Museum, 1966), no. A897.
Andrew G. Watson, The Manuscripts of Henry Savile of Banke (London: Bibliographical Society, 1969), p. 48 (no. 156).
C. E. Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 49, 131, 298.
C. Mary Stallings-Taney, Iohannis de Caulibus Meditaciones uite Christi, olim S. Bonauenturo attributae, Corpus Christianorum, continuatio mediaevalis, 153 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1997).
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Names:
- Alnwick Abbey, Northumberland
Hugh of Saint-Victor, c 1096-1141,
see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000121201563,
see also http://viaf.org/viaf/9865788 - Related Material:
- The manuscript's former binding is now stored separately as Harley MS 217/1.