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Harley MS 485

Record Id:

040-002046313

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002046313

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000596.0x0003c6

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 485

Title:

Collection of theological works, including the Speculum peccatoris; Anselm of Canterbury, Proslogion; Hugh of Saint-Victor, De laude caritatis, De sacramentis christianae fidei, and De virtute orandi; Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermon on Canticle of Canticles; John Chrystostom, Sermo de poenitentia; Peter of Blois, De duodecim utilitatibus tribulationis; Guigo II, Scala claustralium; Legend of Pachomius; Tripoli Prophecy

Scope & Content:

Contents:

ff. 1r-8r: Speculum peccatoris.

ff. 8v-16r: Anselm of Canterbury, Proslogion.

ff. 16r-22r: Hugh of Saint-Victor, De laude caritatis.

ff. 22r-24r: Hugh of Saint-Victor, De sacramentis christianae fidei.

ff. 24r-26v: Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermo super illum locum in Cantico: 'Ecce venit is saliens in montibus transiliens colles'.

ff. 26v-35r: Hugh of Saint-Victor, De virtute orandi.

ff. 35r-45v: Passion meditations for the canonical hours, entitled: 'Consideracio devotissima dominice passionis per horas diei canonicas', beginning: 'Sepcies [sic] in die laudem dixi tibi Rogasti me ut aliquem modum'.

ff. 45v-52v: John Chrystostom, Sermo de poenitentia.

ff. 52v-53r: Extract from St Augustine on the charity of God.

ff. 53-71r: St Augustine, admonition to his mother ('Ammonicio sancti Augustini episcopi et doctoris ad matrem suam de laude caritatis et quomodo cunctis virtutibus prefertur').

f. 71r: Note on the Passion, beginning: 'Quod passio Christi fuit in se acerbissima'.

f. 71v: Poem on the Lord's Prayer, entitled: 'Commendacio oracionis dominice'; beginning: 'Hec oracio archaturifera'.

ff. 71v-72v: Collation of Roman and Arabic numerals, ending 'Anno domini M. cc. lxxxx. viij'.

ff. 73r-88r: Peter of Blois, De duodecim utilitatibus tribulationis.

ff. 88r-93r: Guigo II, Scala claustralium, Chapters I-IX.

f. 93r: Prayer to Christ, beginning: 'O dulcis ihesu memoria sola summe consolatoria'.

ff. 93v-95r: The legend of Pachomius.

ff. 95r-96r: A theological tract, citing John Chrysostom, Jerome, Augustine and Peter Comestor.

ff. 96r-96v: A theological tract, beginning: 'negociatores sumus spirituales'.

f. 97v: Three short diagram-tracts, entitled: 'Crucis signum imprimenda est'; 'Benedicimamus deo'; and 'Oracio ad deum'.

f. 97v: Excerpt from Cassiodorus ('De institutione monachorum').

ff. 97v-98v: A theological tract, beginning: 'Ut dicut beatus Johannes canere debent Sacerdotes'.

ff. 98v-99r: Description of a miraculous vision in Tripoli in 1287; the so-called 'Tripoli Prophecy'.

f. 99r: Note on sin, beginning: 'Nota quod nemo potest sine peccato veniali vivere'.

f. 99r: Note on the nine signs of God's love, beginning: 'Novem sunt signa dileccionis dei'.

f. 99v: Faded religious tract in Latin.

f. 99v: Middle English poem on the uncertainty of life [partially illegible], beginning: 'We wone in þis world as weded for [...]' [DIMEV 6178-1].

f. 99v: Middle English poem on three sorrowful things, beginning: 'Thre thinges þar ern þat done me sigh sore' [edited by Heffernan, 'The Three Sorrowful Things' (1982), p. 33; see also DIMEV 5905-1].

f. 99v: Middle English poem on practical counsel [partially illegible], beginning: 'If þow be stalworth fayl yow [...]' [DIMEV 2399-1].

The manuscript contains a few additions:

f. 71r: Instructions for confession, beginning: 'Ordo ad dandam penitenciam Cum venerit penitens ad sacerdotem: Primo inquiratur de peccatis et credulitate sua et si vult dimittere illis qui in se peccaverunt'; added in the (?) 14th century.

f. 97r: Saying attributed to Aristotle: 'Aristotell: Nescientes virtutes vocabulorum facilie decipiuntur'; added in the (?) 16th century.

Decoration:

Plain initials in red or blue, some large, some small. Capitals marked in red or yellow. Cadels.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002046313", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 485: Collection of theological works, including the Speculum peccatoris; Anselm of Canterbury, Proslogion; Hugh of Saint-Victor, De laude…" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002046313

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 485 : Collection of theological works, including the Speculum peccatoris; Anselm of Canterbury, Proslogion; Hugh of Saint-Victor, De…

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[0484]/040-002046313

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

English, Middle
Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1350

End Date:

1399

Date Range:

2nd half of the 14th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 165 x 120 mm (text space: 130 x 90 mm).

Foliation: ff. 99 (+ 4 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 4 at the end); 1 unfoliated parchment stub before f. 93; and 1 after 95; ff. 97-99 have parchment binding strips attached to them (3 per folio).

Collation: Each quire has been mounted separately onto a paper guard.

Script: Gothic cursive; written by more than one scribe.

Binding: British Museum in-house; rebound in 1968. The blind-stamped brown leather covers of a previous binding are pasted inside the present ones.

Custodial History:

Origin:

England.

Provenance:

Henry Savile, of Banke (b. 1568, d. 1617), collector of manuscripts: his numbers '3' and '68' on f. 1r; no. 162 in his library catalogue (see Gilson, 'The Library of Henry Savile, of Banke' (1906), pp. 190-91 (no. 162); Watson, The Manuscripts of Henry Savile of Banke (1969), p. 49 [no. 162]; Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 298).

Sir Simonds D’Ewes (b. 1602, d. 1650), 1st baronet, diarist, antiquary, and friend of Sir Robert Cotton: listed in his catalogues as E.34 (see Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (1966), p. 274; Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 131).

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; according to a receipt in Add MS 70478 (Portland Papers) [formerly Loan MS 29/254 packet 2] (see Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D’Ewes (1966), pp. 60, 91 n. 308; Diary, ed. by Wright and Wright (1966), I, p. xviii n. 3).

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.

Publications:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), I (1808), pp. 325-26 [no. 485].

J. P. Gilson, 'The Library of Henry Savile, of Banke', Transactions of the Bibliographical Society, 9:1 (1906), 127-210 (pp. 190-91 [no. 162]).

The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by C. E. Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), I: 1715-1723, p. xviii n. 3.

Andrew G. Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (London: British Museum, 1966), pp. 60, 91 n. 308, 274.

Andrew G. Watson, The Manuscripts of Henry Savile of Banke (London: The Bibliographical Society, 1969), p. 49 [no. 162].

Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 131, 298.

Johannes Divjak-Franz Römer, 'Ergänzungen zur Bibliotheca Hieronymiana Manuscripta, 1 Teil: Dänemark, Grossbritannien, Irland, Italien, Polen, Portugal, Schweden, Spanien, Vatikan', Scriptorium: Revue internationale des Études relatives aux manuscrits, 30 (1976), 85-113 (p. 107).

Thomas J. Heffernan, 'Unpublished Middle English Verses on 'The Three Sorrowful Things'', Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 83 (1982), 31-33 (p. 33).

'London, British Library Harley 485', in The Digital Index of Middle English Verse [=DIMEV] [accessed 2 November 2021].

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Places:

England