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Harley MS 616

Record Id:

040-002046445

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002046445

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000652.0x00007a

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 616

Title:

Bible (Genesis-Psalms)

Scope & Content:

First volume of the Bible (Genesis-Psalms), incipit: 'Cist livres est apelez Genesis por ce que il est de la generation du ciel et de la terre'; ends imperfectly in Psalm 109, explicit: 'De ci a tant que je aie miste ennemis souz les...'.

The second volume, containing Proverbs-Revelation, is now Yates Thompson MS 9 (formerly Add MS 41751). This two-volume Bible is one of the three extant manuscripts of the French translation of the Bible, known as the 'Bible du XIIIe siècle' (see Sneddon 1979 p. 130).

The manuscript includes 14th-century Latin annotations glossing particular words (see Sneddon 1979), and numerous corrections of the French text of the Psalms. It also includes three sets of corrections of the wrong sequence of folios which resulted from folding the three bifolia in a reversed order when forming a quire (ff. 177-178: should be 178-177; ff. 264-265: should be 265-264; and ff. 266-267: should be 267-266). The corrections employ a system of instructions and signs as follows:

f. 176v: a note 'Quere in secundo folio sequenti duo capituli que deficiunt hic' and a sign of a half-cross referring to f. 178r where a second half-cross and a note 'hic est' are inscribed.

f. 177r: a sign of an arc over a row of dots and the same sign repeated at the last line of f. 178v which contains the preceding text.

f. 177v: a sign of a cross and the same sign repeated on f. 179r which contains the following text.

f. 263v: a sign of a cross, a catchword 'toutes' and a note 'verte in secundo folio' referring to f. 265r where a similar cross is inserted.

f. 264v: a sign of a cross, a catchword 'prestre' and a note 'post duo folia' referring to f. 267r where a similar cross is inserted.

f. 265v: a sign '+' a catchword 'il oi' and a note 'verte retro duo folia' referring to f. 264r where a similar sign is inserted.

f. 266v: a sign '+', a catchword 'pouples' and a note 'verte unum folium' referring to f. 268r.

f. 267v: a catchword 'devant ici' and a note 'retro due folia' referring to f. 266r.

Decoration:

22 large miniatures in colours and gold at the beginning of books (ff. 1r, 53r, 69v, 81v, 101r, 118r, 143r, 161r, 163r, 177r, 190r, 204v, 218v, 230v, 246r, 249r, 253v, 259r, 263v, 268v, 274r, 286r). Small drawings in brown ink as guides to the illuminator (ff. 81v, 143r, 246r). 9 large historiated initials in colours and gold at the beginning of Genesis and the divisions of Psalms, usually with a 1-sided bar border in colours and gold (ff. 1r, 286v, 291r, 294r, 297r, 299v, 303r, 306r, 309v). Large initials in colours and gold with foliate decoration, a few also with dragons, masks, or hybrid creatures, at the beginning of some books or prologues (ff. 53r, 69v, 81v, 101r, 117r, 118r, 143r, 161r, 163r, 177r, 190r, 204v, 218v, 230v, 245r, 246r, 249r, 253v, 259r, 263v, 268v, 274r). Partial bar border with leaves in colours and gold, with figures and animals (f. 1r). Small initials in combinations of red, blue, pink, white, and gold with small extensions, at the beginning of chapters, a few with or of a dragon or hybrid (e.g., ff. 47v, 73r, 76v). Chapter numbers in red and blue. Running headers of letters in blue with red penwork decoration, and in red with blue penwork decoration.

Subjects of miniatures and historiated initials are:

f. 1r: Six-part miniature of the days of Creation: Creationo f the earth, seas, sun and moon, birds and animals, fishes, and Adam and Eve; Initial 'C'(ist) of God in Majesty, and on the bar border, a drummer and animals, including dogs chasing a stag, a bird, and a rabbit (Genesis).

f. 53r: Moses and the Israelites (Exodus).

f. 69v: Levites offering a ram at an altar (Leviticus).

f. 81v, Moses talking to God (Numbers).

f. 101r: Moses placing the Tables of the Law in the Ark (Deuteronomy).

f. 118r: Joshua praying before God (Joshua).

f. 143r: Two Israelites praying to God (Judges).

f. 161r: Elimelech and Naomi with two children (Ruth).

f. 163r: Elkanah and Hannah praying for a child (Kings 1).

f. 177r: David ordering the execution of the Amalekite (Kings 2).

f. 190r: David and Abisag (Kings 3).

f. 204v: Ahaziah (Ochozias) falling from the tower (Kings 4).

f. 218v: Tribes of Israel (Chronicles 1).

f. 230v: Solomon making an offering (Chronicles 2).

f. 246r: Prophet Esdras (Esdras 1).

f. 249r: Nehemiah giving a cup to Artaxerxes, king of Persia (Esdras 2).

f. 253v: Hosea consecrating an altar (Hosea).

f. 259r: Tobit being blinded by the swallow (Tobias).

f. 263v: Judith beheading Holofernes (Judith).

f. 268v: Esther and Ahasuerus enthroned and Haman hanging nearby (Ester).

f. 274r: Job talking to his wife (Job).

f. 286v: David and Goliath; initial 'B'(eneurez) of David playing the harp (Psalm 1).

f. 291r: Initial 'N'(ostre) of David pointing at his eyes (Psalm 26).

f. 294r: Initial 'D'(e) of David pointing at his mouth (Psalm 38).

f. 297r: Initial 'C'(il) of the fool (Psalm 52).

f. 299v: Initial 'D'(ieux) of David in waters (Psalm 68).

f. 303r: Initial 'E'(fleesciez) of David playing the bells (Psalm 80).

f. 306r: Initial 'C'(hantez) of clerics singing (Psalm 97).

f. 309v: Initial 'N'(ostre) of the Trinity (Psalm 109).

Illumination is attributed to Richard de Verdun, son-in-law of Master Honoré; and related to the Master of the Méliacin.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002046445", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 616: Bible (Genesis-Psalms)" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002046445

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 616 : Bible (Genesis-Psalms)

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[0616]/040-002046445

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

French, Old

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1275

End Date:

1299

Date Range:

4th quarter of the 13th century

Era:

Access:

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Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 400 x 290 mm (text space: 250 x 190 mm).

Foliation: ff. i + 309 (+ 1 unfoliated parchment leaf after f. i, and 6 unfoliated parchment flyleaves at the end).

Collation: i-ii⁸ (ff. 1-16), iii⁵ (ff. 17-21), iv-xxxviii⁸ (ff. 22-309).

Script: Gothic.

Binding: Post-1600. 1644 parchment binding over pasteboard with 2 metalwork clasps; Simonds d' Ewes's arms in the centre of the outer covers, added together with the clasps in 1644 for 2s.

Custodial History:

Origin:

France (Paris).

Provenance:

Sir Simonds d'Ewes (b.1602, d. 1650), 1st Baronet, diarist, antiquary, and friend of Sir Robert Cotton (see Wright 1972): his binding and arms, bought in 1644 from Bee for £2 (see Watson 1966, no. A308).

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.

Administrative Context:

France (Paris).

Information About Copies:

Select digital coverage available for this manuscript, see Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/welcome.htm.

Publications:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts, in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: [n. pub.], 1808-1812), I, no. 606.

Samuel Berger, La Bible francaise au Moyen-Age: étude sur les plus anciennes versions de la Bible écrites en prose et en langue d'Oil (Paris: Champion, 1884), p. 398.

Montague Rhodes James, A Descriptive Catalogue of Fifty Manuscripts from the Collection of Henry Yates Thompson (Cambridge: University Press, 1898), pp. 207-08.

Georg Graf Vitzthum, Die Pariser Miniaturmalerei: von der Zeit des hl. Ludwig bis zu Philipp von Valois und ihr Verhältnis zur Malerei in Nordwesteuropa (Leipzig: Quelle & Meyer, 1907), p. 165.

Francis Wormald, 'The Yates Thompson Manuscripts', British Museum Quarterly, 16 (1951), 4-6.

Carl Nordenfalk, 'Maître Honoré and Maître Pucelle', Apollo, 79 (1964), 356-64 (p. 358).

C. A. Robson, 'Vernacular Scriptures in France', in The Cambridge History of the Bible, 3 vols (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1963-70), II (1969), pp. 436-52, p. 530.

Andrew G. Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (London: British Museum, 1966), no. A308.

Clive R. Sneddon, ‘'The Bible du XIIIe Siècle': Its Medieval Public in the Light of its Manuscript Tradition', in The Bible and Medieval Culture, Mediaevalia Lovaniensia, Series 1, 7 (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1979), pp. 127-40 (pp. 130 n. 11, 136).

Michel Quereuil, La Bible française du XIIIe siècle: édition critique de la Genèse, Publications romanes et françaises, 183 (Genève: Droz, 1988), pp. 37-52 [as 'L'].

Jonathan J. G. Alexander, Medieval Illuminators and Their Methods of Work (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1992), p. 185.

L'art au temps des rois maudits: Philippe le Bel et ses fils (1285-1328) (Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1998), p. 266.

John Lowden, The Making of the Bibles Moralisées, 2 vols (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000), II: The Book of Ruth, II, p. 56 n. 17, 257 n. 4.

Clive Sneddon, 'On the Creation of the Old French Bible', Nottingham Medieval Studies, 46 (2002), 25-44 (p. 28 n. 11).

Scot McKendrick and Kathleen Doyle, Bible Manuscripts: 1400 Years of Scribes and Scripture (London: British Library, 2007), p. 117, fig. 104.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Bentinck, Margaret Cavendish, duchess of Portland, née Harley, collector of art and natural history specimens and patron of arts and sciences, 11 Feb 1715-17 Jul 1785,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000115857160,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/2356861
D'Ewes, Simonds, 3rd Baronet, grandson of the Antiquary, c 1670-1722
D’Ewes, Simonds, 1st Baronet, diarist and antiquary, 1602-1650,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000083393524,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/12656415
Harley, Edward, second earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts, 2 Jun 1689-16 Jun 1741,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000108078249,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/160524259
Harley, Henrietta Cavendish, Countess of Oxford and Mortimer, née Holles, patron of architecture, 4 Feb 1694-9 Dec 1755,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000030125833,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/6045563
Harley, Robert, first Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, 5 Dec 1661-21 May 1724,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000083423906

Related Archive Descriptions:

Yates Thompson MS 9