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Harley MS 624

Record Id:

040-002046453

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002046453

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000652.0x000082

LARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100066415306.0x000001

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 624

Title:

Chronicles; Passionale (Lives of Saints); Historica collectanea

Scope & Content:

This manuscript contains three different parts gathered by Sir Simonds d'Ewes (b. 1602, d. 1650), 1st baronet, diarist and antiquary. Two of these parts were written and compiled by him between c. 1639-1643, they consist of chronicles related to the history of Britain (ff. 1v-83r; 145r-217r). An imperfect Passionale written at the Benedictine cathedral priory of Christ Church, Canterbury (1st half of the 12th century), has been inserted between the modern texts (ff. 84r-123v).

Contents:

f. 2r: A title-page.

f. 2v: A table of contents.

ff. 4r-20v: Anonymous, Chronica de veteribus Brittanis et Anglo-Saxonibus (Chronicle on the Old Britons and Anglo-Saxons).

ff. 21r-35v: Chronica monasterii de Pipwell (Chronicle of the Monastery of Pipewell).

ff. 36r-53r: Pseudo-Nennius, Historia Brittonum (History of the Britons).

ff. 53v-64v: Gildas (fl. early 6th century), De gestis Brittonum (On the Deeds of the Britons).

ff. 64v-67v: Henry of Huntington (b. 1084, d. 1155), Historia Anglorum (History of the English).

ff. 68r-68v: Anonymous, De regibus regnis et episcopatibus totius Angliae historia brevis (A Short History of the Kings of the Kingdoms and Bishoprics of the Whole of England).

ff. 69r-71v: Anonymous, De regibus Brittanorum Historia (History of the Kings of Britain).

ff. 71v-74r: Anonymous, Cronicum de regibus Francorum (Chronicle of the Kings of France).

ff. 74r-82r: Gerald of Wales (b. 1146, d. 1226), De vita Davidis Menevensis Episcopi Historia (A History of the Life of David, Bishop of Menevia).

f. 83 is a modern page-title added by Sir Simonds d'Ewes (see Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (1966), no. E72).

ff. 84v-143v: Passionale (Saints Lives).

ff. 144r-144v: A Latin inscription followed by a fragment from a letter in English referring to the inhabitants of Dalham, 17th century.

f. 145r: A drawing of king William the Conqueror followed by a short bibliographical text.

ff. 146-147: Two coloured drawings (see decoration).

ff. 148r-160r: Rotulus de viduis pueris et puellis.

ff. 161r-217r: Collectanea Historica with Simon d'Ewes's signature.

[ff. 1r, [2a]r, [2a]v, 3v, [20a]r, [20a]v, [35a]r, [35a]v, 82v, [114a]r, [114a]v, [144a]r, [144a]v, [144b]r, [144b]v, 145v, 146r, 147v, 160v, [160a]r, [160a]v, [205a]r, [205a]v, and 217v are blank].

Decoration:

See the separate descriptions for Harley MS 624 ff. 1v-83r; 84r-123v; 145r-217r.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

England and France 700-1200 Project
Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002046453", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 624: Chronicles; Passionale (Lives of Saints); Historica collectanea" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} },{ "id" : "041-003316524", "parent" : "040-002046453", "text" : "Harley MS 624, ff 84-143v: Passionale (Lives of Saints), imperfect" },{ "id" : "041-003316526", "parent" : "040-002046453", "text" : "Harley MS 624, ff 1v-83: Chronicles" },{ "id" : "041-003316527", "parent" : "040-002046453", "text" : "Harley MS 624, ff 144-217: Chronicles" }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002046453

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 624 : Chronicles; Passionale (Lives of Saints); Historica collectanea

Contains:

Harley MS 624, ff 84-143v : Passionale (Lives of Saints), imperfect
Harley MS 624, ff 1v-83 : Chronicles
Harley MS 624, ff 144-217 : Chronicles

Click here to View / search full list of parts of Harley MS 624

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[0624]/040-002046453

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_100066415306.0x000001

Thumbnail:

Languages:

Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1100

End Date:

1643

Date Range:

1100-1643

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment and paper.

Dimensions: varies.

Foliation: ff. 217 + 99* (+ 4 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and 39 unfoliated and blank leaves at the end); f. 99* is a parchment strip between f. 99 and f. 100; 1 unfoliated leaf between f. 2 and f. 3 (f. [2a]); f. 20 and f. 21 (f. [20a]); f. 35 and f. 36 (f. [35a]); f. 114 and f. 115 (f. 114a]); f. 160 and f. 161 (f. [160a]); f. 205 and f. 206 (f. [205a]); and 2 between f. 144 and f. 145 (ff. [144a] and [144b]); f. 84 is half a parchment leaf; f. 144 is a strip of paper.

Binding: Post-1600. Brown leather with the arms of D'Ewes in gold in the centre of each cover; remains of metal clasps; rebacked in 1967.

Custodial History:

Provenance:

Sir Simonds d'Ewes (b.1602, d. 1650), 1st baronet, diarist and antiquary (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani 1972): inscribed 'Simonds D'Ewes' (ff. 1v, 161, 217), his binding and arms, his added texts (ff. 1-82, 99* and ff. 145-217); (a date of 1639 on f. 145 and 1643 on f. 217), a strip of parchment added by Sir Simonds d'Ewes on which the capital letters 'PAS' (probably for Passionale) have been written in blue and red inks (f. 99*r) (see Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds d'Ewes (1966)).

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, The Library of Sir Simonds d'Ewes (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.

Information About Copies:

Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk.manuscripts/.

Publications:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), I, no. 624.

Meyer Schapiro, 'From Mozarabic to Romanesque in Silo', Art Bulletin, 21 (1939), 313-74 (p. 328 n. 33).

Neil R. Ker, 'Membra Disiecta, Second Series', British Museum Quarterly, 14 (1939-40), 79-86 (pp. 83-85).

Charles R. Dodwell, The Canterbury School of Illumination 1066-1200 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1954), pp. 28, 41, 51, 65, 67, 72, 74-5, 79, 121, pls. 17b, 17c, 29a, 37h, 40d, 40f, 45a.

Felix's Life of Saint Cuthlac, ed. by Bertram Colgrave (Cambridge: University Press, 1956), p. 32.

T. S. R. Boase, English Art 1100-1216, Oxford History of English Art, 2 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957), pp. 43, 46, pls 11b, 13a.

Andrew G. Watson, 'An Identification of some Manuscripts owned by Dr. John Dee and Sir Simonds D'Ewes', The Library, 5th series, 13 (1958), 194-98 (p. 195).

Otto Pächt, C. R. Dodwell, and Francis Wormald, The St. Albans Psalter (Albani Psalter) (London: Warburg Institute, 1960), p. 134.

The Life of St Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury by Eadmer, ed. by R. W. Southern (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962), p. xxiii.

Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books, ed. by Neil R. Ker, 2nd edn, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 3 (London: Royal Historical Society, 1964), p. 36.

Andrew G. Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (London: British Museum, 1966), no. A465 (ff. 1-82), E72 (ff. 83-143), A465 (ff. 145-217).

Cyril E. Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 91, 95, 127, 131.

C. M. Kauffmann, Romanesque Manuscripts 1066-1190 Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, 3 (London: Miller, 1975), no. 22, figs 53-54.

François Avril and Patricia Danz Stirnemann, Manuscrits enluminés d’origine insulaire VIIe-XXe siècle (Paris: Bibliothèque nationale, 1987), p. 23.

Deborah Kahn, Canterbury Cathedral and its Romanesque Sculpture (London: Miller, 1991), p. 52, pls 64, 115.

Richard Gameson, 'The Romanesque Crypt Capitals of Canterbury Cathedral', Archaeologia Cantiana, 110 (1992), 17-48 (p. 34 n. 27, pl. 8).

Richard Gameson, The Earliest Books of Canterbury Cathedral: Manuscripts and Fragments to c. 1200 (London: Bibliographical Society, 2008), pp. 227-47.

Richard Sharpe, James Willoughby and others, Medieval Libraries of Great Britain (Oxford: Bodleian Libraries, 2015) «http://mlgb3.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/mlgb/book/1263/?search_term=harley%20624&page_size=500»[accessed 18 July 2016].

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Notes:

This manuscript is part of The Polonsky Foundation England and France Project: Manuscripts from the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, 700-1200.