Harley MS 641

This composite manuscript consists of two different parts (ff. 1-115 and ff. 118-206) that were bound together for Sir Simonds d'Ewes (b. 1602, d. 1650) in 1645.

The first part of the manuscript (ff. 1-115) was written between the 2nd and 3rd quarters of the 14th century, and contains De bello Troiana, a history of the Trojan War attributed to Dares Phrygius, and the Flores Historiarum (Flowers of History), a Latin chronicle running from Creation to 1326, attributed to John Bever (d. 1311), a chronicler and monk at Westminster Abbey.

The second part of the manuscript (ff. 118-206) was written in the 1st quarter of the 15th century, and contains the Chronica pontificum et imperatorum, a popular medieval chronicle of popes and emperors by Martin of Troppau (d. 1278). This copy of the text features a set of additions, possibly by John Merylynch (fl. 1406-1411), a Benedictine monk of Glastonbury, and an account of the trial of Lady Alice Kyteler (b. 1263, d. after 1325), her son William Outlaw, and her servant Petronilla de Meath (b. c. 1300, d. 1324) for witchcraft in Ireland in 1324, made by Richard de Ledrede (d. 1360/61), Bishop of Ossory.

It is possible that the second part of the manuscript was originally part of a contemporary historiographical volume (now Oxford, Queen's College, MS 304), together with an index to Martin of Troppau's Chronicle (now Harley MS 651, ff. 185r-191v), and a twenty-seven-leaf fragment containing a work by William of Malmesbury, dated 1411 and now in private hands (Luxford, The Art and Architecture of English Benedictine Monasteries (2005), pp. 108-09; Parkes. Their Hands before our Eyes (2008), p. 21 n. 45).

Contents:

f. 1*r: An added note by Thomas Hearne (b. 1678, d. 1735), English diarist and antiquary, recording his loan of the manuscript from Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd Earl of Oxford, on 9 March 1733, and a list of the manuscript's contents.

ff. 1r-8r: Pseudo-Dares Phrygius, De bello Troiano, written in Latin, beginning, 'Peleus rex in pelopensio esonem fratrem…'

ff. 8v-115v: Flores Historiarum, attributed to John Bever, written in Latin and beginning with a table of contents (f. 8v); the text beginning, 'Aeneas cum Ascanio, filio suo...'

f. 117r: An added title page for Martin of Troppau's Chronica, written in the hand of Sir Simonds D'Ewes.

ff. 118r-206v: Martin of Troppau, Chronica pontificum et imperatorum, written in Latin, beginning, 'Quoniam scire tempora summorum pontificum Romanorum...'. The text also contains the following:

ff. 174v-186v: Additions to the Chronica, possibly made by John Merylynch.

ff. 186v-206v: Richard de Ledrede, Rerum Hibernicarum quarundam pracipue ecclesiasticarum descriptio, an account of the proceedings against Lady Alice Kyteler for witchcraft in 1324, written in Latin, beginning, 'Tempore huius papae contigerunt in Hybernia...'

ff. 1*v, 116r-v and 117v are blank; the rectos from ff. 169r-205r are ruled but unwritten.

Decoration:

The decoration of the second part of the manuscript (ff. 118r-206v) has been attributed to the Oriel Master, named after an early 15th-century Missal they decorated, now Oxford, Oriel College, MS 75 (Scott, Later Gothic Manuscripts (1996), II, pp. 125-26).

ff. 1r-115v:

Sketch of an initial 'A' added in lead point (f. 38v). Dedicated space for initials left blank.

Rubrics.

ff. 118r-206v:

A historiated initial of Martin of Troppau writing his Chronica, with a partial bar and spray border, in colours and gold (f. 118r).

Two initials with foliate decoration, and partial bar and spay borders, in colours and gold (ff. 125v, 126r).

Initials in blue with pen-flourishing extending into the margins in red.

Rubrics and running titles in red. Paraphs and line fillers in red and blue.

Cadels with grotesque features in ink.