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Harley MS 622
- Record Id:
- 040-002046451
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002046451
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000652.0x000080
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 622
- Title:
-
Roman Gradual
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
ff. 1r-1v: Lections for Easter Thursday and Easter Friday, imperfect.
ff. 2r-231v: Roman Gradual.
The manuscript contains several later additions:
f. 156v: The hymn Sanctus, added by a 16th-century hand.
Numerous marginal additions for feasts (e.g. for St Edmund and St Edward the Confessor), biblical citations, and other inscriptions throughout the manuscript, for example:
ff. 1r, 24r: A citation of Ecclesiasticus 13:23: ‘When the riche man speketh / Everye man holdeth his tong and what he said etcaetera', added in the 16th century.
ff. 1r (3x), 1v, 4v, 23v (2x), 231v: A 16th-century verse ‘Written by me namles because I wold be blamles’.
Decoration:
11 large and medium puzzle initial with filigree penwork decoration in blue and red (ff. 1r, 90r, 111v, 116v, 157r, 162r, 174r, 176v, 187v, 193v, 228r), the first featuring a depiction of Christ on the Cross inside the letter; 1 partial (three-sided) border in red and blue (f. 1r); Medium blue and red initials with filigree penwork decoration; music notation on red music bards throughout the manuscript.
The manuscript features numerous marginal drawings that were added in brown ink in the 16th century; these include anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, floral and geometric figures, including a man with sword and shield, and a dragon [? St George] (f. 16r); a Tudor or Yorkshire rose; IHS monogram; and fleur-de-lis (f. 40r); ? a demon (f. 57r); a woman with crown holding flower [? the Virgin Mary] (f. 125r).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002046451", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 622: Roman Gradual" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002046451 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 622 : Roman Gradual - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[0622]/040-002046451
- 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:
- 1200
- End Date:
- 1299
- Date Range:
- 13th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 295 x 210 mm.
Foliation: ff. 231 (+ 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 3 at the end); f. 1 is a fragmentary leaf that has been mounted onto a paper frame.
Script: Gothic.
Binding: British Museum in-house.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
Ranton Priory.
Provenance:
The Augustinian Priory of Ranton, Staffordshire, owned up to 1537: according to a note on f. 157r (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 281).
Thomas Corveser, Abbot of the Augustinian abbey of Haughmond, Shropshire, owned in 1537: acquired the manuscript from Ranton Priory on the latter’s dissolution according to his inscription on f. 157r ‘Haghmond Anno domini millesimo quingentesimo tricesimo septimo Thomas abbas acquisivit istum librum huic monasterio qui aliquando fuit prioratus de Ronton widelicet ante suppressionem eiusdem que eodem anno facta est per actum parliamenti’ (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 112).
John Sewell, owned in the early 16th century: his name inscribed on f. 156r: ‘per me Johannem Sewell’ (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 303).
‘Thomas Mawnsell’, owned in the 16th century: his name inscribed on f. 1r (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 236).
Robert Parkar, owned in the 16th century: his ownership inscription on f. 1r: ‘Roberte parkar owe this boke’ (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 267).
? ‘Rychard Hygginson’, owned in the 16th century: his name inscribed, alongside other partially legible names on f. 108v.
Unknown 16th-century owners: various inscriptions throughout the manuscript may refer to owners, including f. 28r (‘William Broholl John Morris with other mo [...]’), f. 80v (‘Thomas Goo’), and f. 86v (‘Maister thomas bromley’).
Sir Simonds D’Ewes (b. 1602, d. 1650), 1st baronet, diarist, antiquary, and friend of Sir Robert Cotton (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 131): recorded in his catalogues as A.313 or A.922.
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.
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. 390.
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. 383.
Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books, ed. by Neil Ripley Ker, 2nd edn, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 3 (London: Royal Historical Society, 1964), pp. 154, 267.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)