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Harley MS 612
- Record Id:
- 040-002046441
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002046441
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000652.0x000076
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100161512807.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 612
- Title:
- Birgitta of Sweden, Liber Celestis Revelacionum, with tracts and documents relating to her canonisation
- Scope & Content:
-
This manuscript contains a collection of texts from and about St Birgitta of Sweden, divided into 14 books, and copied by Thomas Colyngbourn for the Bridgettine abbey of St Saviour, St Mary the Virgin and St Bridget of Syon [Syon Abbey], Isleworth, Middlesex. It is one of three surviving Latin manuscripts in England to contain the eighth book of Bridget's Liber Celestis Revelacionum [The Heavenly Book of Revelations], and the only one to feature additional revelations, collected by Peter of Alvastra, known as the 'Revelaciones extravagantes'.
Contents:
ff. 2r-133r: Birgitta of Sweden, Liber Celestis Revelacionum, Books I-VIII; including the prologues and the appendix 'ad pontifices'; with the 'Revelaciones extravagantes'.
ff. 133r-160v: Alfonso Fernández Pecha [Alfonso of Jaén], Celeste Viridarium [Heavenly Pleasure Garden]; a life of the Virgin Mary compiled from St Birgitta's revelations for meditation.
ff. 160v-169v: Birgitta of Sweden, Regula Sancti Salvatoris [The Rule of St Saviour].
ff. 169v-184r: Adam Easton, Defensoria regule et revelationum beate Birgitte [Defence of the Rule and revelations of St Bridget]; the text runs to the middle of col.709, but the following columns up to 720, though ruled, are blank.
ff. 184r-189v: Geoffrey of Byland, Defence of the rule and visions of St Birgitta.
ff. 189v-208r: Bishop Reginald, Two further Defences of St Birgitta against accusations of the Council of Basle around 1436.
ff. 208r-277r: Witnesses heard in the canonization process of St Birgitta ('Attestaciones factas pro canonizacione beate Birgitte'), divided into two sections.
ff. 277r-288v: A summary of the canonization process of St Birgitta ('Tenor sive summa abreviacionis tocius processus canonizacionis beate Birgitte de Swecia)'.
ff. 288v-291v: The Life of St Catherine of Vadstena [Catherine of Sweden].
ff. 291v-293v: The Life of Peter Olafsson of Skänninge, also known as Magister Peter, with the certification from Vadstena.
ff. 293v-302r: The Life of 'Saint' Nicholas Hermansson, Bishop of Linköping, including the Miracula, followed by the notarisation by Petrus Suenonis, clerk of Linkoeping, in slightly smaller writing on cols 1201-1202.
Decoration:
Added texts in the margins, some of which are insertions, are typically written on decorative banderols, books, hearts, and shields, but also on a tree with flowers (f. 141r), an altar (f. 165r), and a cardinal's hat (f. 208v). Some banderols are accompanied by other elements, such as a head of a human cadaver in a shroud (f. 78v), a hybrid [? fox in shell] (f. 80v), a stork (f. 157r), and the Virgin Mary (f. 207v). Marginal drawings are all in black ink, but some banderols are in blue and/or red ink. A freestanding drawing of a key in yellow ink (f. 128r).
23 large (5-10 line) initials in colours with foliate motifs (ff. 2r, 2v, 17v, 29r, 37v, 66v, 73v [featuring a monogram], 95r, 104r, 108r, 108v, 160v [featuring a demon], 169v, 170r, 184r, 189r, 196r, 208r, 277r, 287v, 291v, 294r, 295v).
Large (3-4) line initials in blue, or blue and red throughout the manuscript. 2 large (3-line) initials in blue and red with minor sprays in green (ff. 125r, 295v). Small plain 1-line initials in blue or red throughout the manuscript. Capitals (one-line) marked in yellow.
Cadels in black and red ink, some with human faces (f. 127r) or fish (f. 140r). Running headers in red with numerals in blue and red. Rubrics in red. Paraphs alternating between red and blue. Underlining in red. Catchwords in decorative banderols, one accompanied by a monkey wearing a crown (f. 137v).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
Medieval and Renaissance Women - Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002046441", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 612: Birgitta of Sweden, Liber Celestis Revelacionum, with tracts and documents relating to her canonisation" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002046441 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 612 : Birgitta of Sweden, Liber Celestis Revelacionum, with tracts and documents relating to her canonisation - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[0612]/040-002046441
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- 1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100161512807.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1435
- End Date:
- 1457
- Date Range:
- between 1435 and 1457
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 550 x 390 mm (text space: 385 x 260 mm, in 2 columns).
Foliation: ff. 302 (+ 3 unfoliated paper and 2 parchment flyleaves at the beginning + 1 unfoliated parchment flyleaf and 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the end); 1 unfoliated parchment stub before the first parchment flyleaf at the beginning (f. [iv]); 1 unfoliated paper pastedown on f. [v]recto (bibliographical notes); 2 unfoliated parchment pastedowns on f. 1r (15th-century content descriptions); 1 unfoliated paper leaf between f. 1 and f. 2; 2 unfoliated ruled parchment leaves after f. 302 (ff. [303]-[304]); 1 unfoliated parchment stub with ruling after f. [304]; and 1 unfoliated blank parchment stub after the unfoliated parchment flyleaf at the end (f. [305]); parchment tabs on ff. 1, 18, 29, 37, 66, 73, 95, 108, 125, 133, 160, 169, 189, 196, 208, 288, 294. Contemporary numbering above each columns from 1-1202.
Collation: Indicated by catchwords in decorative banderols and leaf signatures.
Script: Gothic cursive, in the hand of Thomas Colyngbourn.
Binding: British Library in-house: brown half leather binding; re-bound in 2009 (inscription on inside lower cover).
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
South-East England or Vadstena, Sweden.
Scribe:
Written by Thomas Colyngbourn for the Bridgettine abbey of St Saviour, St Mary the Virgin and St Bridget of Syon, Isleworth, Middlesex between 1435 and 1457: written in his hand (see Gillespie, Syon Abbey (2001), p. 241). A colophon on f. 302r in which the manuscript's contents are verified for two brothers of Syon Abbey is dated to 1427. The colophon, however, seems to be a copy from an earlier work. The manuscript's inclusion of Geoffrey of Byland's defence suggests that it was produced after 1435, and a reference to the manuscript in Thomas Gascoigne (d. 1458), Liber Citivitatum, written between 1433 and 1457, provides a terminus ante quem of 1457 (see Hagan Gilroy, The Reception of Bridget of Sweden's Revelations (1999), pp. 32-33).
Provenance:
The Bridgettine abbey of St Saviour, St Mary the Virgin and St Bridget of Syon, Isleworth, Middlesex, founded by King Henry V in 1415 and dissolved in 1539: two strips from the Syon binding, containing the manuscript's title, have been pasted on f. 1r; featuring a colophon on f. 302r in which Peter, notary public of Linköping, certifies that the text is an accurate copy of the original manuscript in the monastery of Vadstena for John Hartman, and Robert Bell and Thomas Stevinton, two brothers at Syon Abbey who were visiting Vadstena; recorded in its catalogue as 'M.64' (see Bateson, Catalogue of the Library of Syon Monastery (1898), pp. 107-108 [M.64]; Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (1966), p. 191 [A.789]; and Gillespie, Syon Abbey (2001), pp. 240-241 [M.64]).
Sir Simonds D’Ewes (b. 1602, d. 1650), 1st baronet, diarist, antiquary, and friend of Sir Robert Cotton, acquired around 1626: wrote his number '83' at the top of f. 2r; listed in his catalogues as A.789 ['St Bugett'] and B.75 ['Liber immensae magnitudinis'] (see Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (1966), pp. 191 and 292; 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 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), 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), p. 389 (no. 612).
Mary Bateson, Catalogue of the Library of Syon Monastery, Isleworth (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1898), pp. 107-108 [M. 64].
Acta et processus canonizacionis beate Birgitte: efter cod. A. 14 Holm., cod. Ottob. Lat. 90 o. cod. Harl. 612, ed. by Isak Collijn, 2 vols, Samlingar Utgivna Av Svenska Fornskriftsällskapet, Serie 2, Latinska skrifter, 1 (Uppsala: Almqvist and Wiksell, 1924-1931), I, pp. i-xiv.
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. 185.
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. 191 [A.789] and 292 [B.75].
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, 322-23.
Sancta Birgitta: Revelationes Book 1, with Magister Mathias' Prologue, ed. by Carl-Gustaf Undhagen, Samlingar utgivna av Svenska Fornskriftsällskapet, Latinska Skrifter, Serie 2, 7:1 (Stockholm: Almqvist, 1977), pp. 182-186.
Roger Ellis, 'Flores ad fabricandum … coronam': An Investigation into the Uses of the Revelations of St Bridget of Sweden in Fifteenth-Century England', Medium Ævum, 51:2 (1982), 163-186 (pp. 165, 166, 167-169) [as 'L'].
Anders Frömark, Mirakler och helgonkult: Linköpings biskopsdöme under senmedeltiden, Acta universitatis upsalensis/Studia historica upsaliensia, 171 (Stockholm: Almqvist and Wiksell, 1992), pp. 51-53, 148-50.
Kathleen L. Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts 1390-1490, A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, 6, 2 vols (London: Harvey Miller, 1996), I, 13, 108; II, 79, 159.
St. Bridget's Revelations to the Popes: An Edition of the So-Called Tractatus de summis pontificibus, ed. by Arne Jönsson, Studia Graeca et Latina Lundensia, 6 (Lund: Lund University Press, 1997), as 'L'; see [accessed 27 September 2021].
William F. Pollard and Robert Boening, Mysticism and Spirituality in Medieval England (Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 1997), p. 238.
Jane I. Hagan Gilroy, The Reception of Bridget of Sweden’s Revelations in Late Medieval and Early Renaissance England (unpublished doctoral thesis, Fordham University, 1999), pp. 32-33.
Jürgen Beyer, 'On the Transformation of Apparition Stories in Scandinavia and Germany, c. 1350-1700', Folklore, 100 (1999), 39-47 (pp. 40 n. 3, 46).
James Hogg, ‘Middle English Translations of the Birgittine Rule’, in The Translation of the Works of St Birgitta into the Medieval European Vernaculars, ed, by Bridget Morris and Veronica O' Mara, The Medieval Translator, 7 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2000), pp. 152-69 (pp. 161-62 [no. 7])
Syon Abbey, ed. by Vincent Gillespie [With: The Libraries of the Carthusians, ed. by A. Ian Doyle], Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 9 (London: British Library, 2001), pp. 240-41, 676.
James Hogg, The Rewyll of Seynt Sauioure and A Ladder of Foure Ronges by the which Men Mowe Clyme to Heven: Edited from the MSS. Cambridge University Library Ff. 6. 33 and London Guildhall 25524, Analecta Cartusian, 183 (Salzburg,: Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, Universität Salzburg, 2003), pp. xiv; xxiv, xxv.
Kathleen L. Scott, Tradition and Innovation in Later Medieval English Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2007), p. 116.
Domenico Pezzini, The Translation of Religious Texts in the Middle Ages: Tracts and Rules, Hymns and Saints' Lives, Studies in Language and Communication, 69 (Oxford: Lang, 2008) p. 325, n. 11.
Alexander Russell, Conciliarism and Heresy in Fifteenth-Century England: Collective Authority in the Age of the General Councils, Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought, 4th Series, 105 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017), pp. 74-81.
'Revelations, Books 1-8 (BL, Harley MS 612)', in Digital Birgitta [under construction - test site] [accessed 28 September 2021].
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)