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Harley MS 447

Record Id:

040-002046275

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002046275

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000596.0x0003a0

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 447

Title:

William of Malmesbury, Gesta regum Anglorum

Scope & Content:

Contents:

ff. 1r–102r: William of Malmesbury, Gesta regum Anglorum, ending imperfectly (the B version).

ff. 103r–133v: Annals of Bury St Edmunds to 1212 (printed by Liebermann 1879).

Decoration:

Large puzzle initial in red and blue with penwork decoration (f. 1r). Initials in red with blue penwork decoration, or in blue with red penwork decoration. Initials in red. From f. 103r, paraphs in red or blue, numbers in red, and highlighting of initials in red.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002046275", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 447: William of Malmesbury, Gesta regum Anglorum" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002046275

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 447 : William of Malmesbury, Gesta regum Anglorum

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[0446]/040-002046275

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:

1212

End Date:

1249

Date Range:

1st half of the 13th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript.

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: parchment.

Dimensions: 340 × 240 mm (written space 235 × 130 mm, in two columns).

Foliation: ff. 134, foliated 1–133 (+ 2 unfoliated paper and 2 parchment flyleaves at the beginning and 3 paper flyleaves at the end). Two leaves labelled 68.

Collation: a², i–xii⁸ (ff. 1–95), xiii^8–1 (ff. 96–102; f. 102 partially trimmed away, 8th cancelled); xiv–xv⁸ (ff. 103–126), xvi^8–1 (ff. 127–133, 8th cancelled). Catchwords inked in the lower right corner of the end of most quires, often trimmed.

Script: Gothic, written above top line.

Binding: British Museum/British Library in-house.

Custodial History:

Origin:

The Benedictine abbey of St Edmund, Bury St Edmunds: inscribed ‘Liber Sancti Ædmundi regis et martiris’, with the pressmark ‘·C·49’ (f. 1r).

Provenance:

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, no. 447.

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, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts c. 700–1600 in The Department of Manuscripts: The British Library, 2 vols (London: British Library, 1979), no. 634.

William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum, The History of the English Kings, ed. by R.A. B. Mynors, R. M. Thomson, and M. Winterbottom (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998), p. xx.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Benedictine abbey of St Edmund, King and Martyr, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, 1020-1539
William of Malmesbury, historian and monk, c 1080-1143,
see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000447076272,
see also http://viaf.org/viaf/205295992