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Harley MS 529

Record Id:

040-002046358

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002046358

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000652.0x000023

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 529

Title:

A collection of English statutes; Henry Bracton, De legibus et consuetudinibus Angliae

Scope & Content:

Contents:

f. 1r: An untitled legal tract in Law French, beginning: '[D]e quo warento'.

ff. 1v-2r: A table of contents for De legibus et consuetudinibus Angliae.

ff. 2v-3r: Two legal tracts in Latin, entitled 'Statutum de bigamis' and 'tractatus corone'.

ff. 3v-4r: A table of contents for the collection of English statutes, ending: 'Expliciunt statuta monete Anglye et incipiunt statua monete de la outre la mere'.

ff. 4v-5v: Short legal tracts in Latin, including 'Si uxor teneatur ex furto viri', 'Statutum de Wyndeshouere', 'De Supervenientibus', and 'De prisonibus deliberandis'.

ff. 6r-61v: A collection of English statutes, written in Latin and Law French, beginning: 'Hic incipit Magna Carta de libertatibus Anglye'.

ff. 62r-204v: De legibus et consuetudinibus Angliae; a large legal work of the 1230s with revisions by Henry Bracton [Bratton] (d. 1268), written in Law French; imperfect at the end.

The manuscript contains a few later additions:

f. 4r: Blazons of 10 coats of arms from Suffolk, including those of Blundeston, Boyton, Henstead, and Sprotton; added in the 17th century.

f. 61v: A Latin note on the value of knight's fees, beginning: 'Sciendum est quod quando magno feodo dabitur ad scutagium . xl. s. videlicet'; added in the 14th century.

Decoration:

2 large (4- and 5-line) puzzle initials in blue and red with partial (3-sided) and full borders of blue and red penwork (ff. 6r, 63r). Smaller (1- to 3-line) initials in blue with red penwork decoration and pen-flourishing throughout. Capitals (1 line) highlighted in red. Paraphs in blue or red. Added sketches of a fish and a cat in brown ink on f. 198r.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002046358", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 529: A collection of English statutes; Henry Bracton, De legibus et consuetudinibus Angliae" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002046358

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 529 : A collection of English statutes; Henry Bracton, De legibus et consuetudinibus Angliae

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[0529]/040-002046358

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

French, Middle
Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1300

End Date:

1399

Date Range:

14th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 220 x 140 mm (text space: 170 x 110 mm).

Foliation: ff. 204 (+ 5 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 4 at the end).

Script: Gothic cursive.

Binding: British Museum in-house; gold-tooled brown leather with the Harleian armorial bookplate gold-stamped on the outside covers.

Custodial History:

Origin:

England.

Provenance:

Sir Simonds D’Ewes (b. 1602, d. 1650), 1st baronet, diarist, antiquary, and friend of Sir Robert Cotton: listed in his catalogues as A.892 and B.189; at the top of f. 1r is he number '30' which corresponds with to the '30' that is written next to the entry for this manuscript in his catalogues at A.892 (see Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (1966), p. 205; 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 Additional MS 70478 (Portland Papers) [formerly Loan 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 forms 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), II (1808), no. 529.

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, p. xviii n. 3.

Andrew G. Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (London: British Museum, 1966), pp. 60, 91 n. 308, 205.

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:

Bracton, Henry, Judge and legal writer, d 1268

Places:

England