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Harley MS 838

Record Id:

040-002046667

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002046667

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000652.0x000158

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 838

Title:

Collection of heraldic and genealogical works, including Mirabilia Orientis, Mirabilia Anglie, and a Middle English translation of Christine de Pizan's Epistre d'Othéa; Annales Cambriae

Scope & Content:

This manuscript consists of two distinct parts that were copied separately and joined together at an unknown point before the manuscript reached the Harleian Library.

The first part (ff. 1r-95r) contains heraldic works, chronicles and other historical items, and one of the two extant independent Middle English translations of Christine de Pizan's Epistre d'Othéa. All these items were copied by 'Anthony Babyngton', whose name is inscribed in a colophon on f. 8v, in the 2nd half of the 15th century. The latter probably can be identified with Sir Anthony Babington of Dethick (fl. b. by 1476, d. 1536), lawyer of the Inner Temple (see Christine de Pizan's Advice for Princes in Middle English Translation, ed. by Schieberle (2020), pp. 24-26).

The second part (ff. 96r-117v) consists of Welsh annals that date to the 15th century.

The manuscript's heraldic contents share strong similarities with the mid-15th century heraldic work of Richard Strangways (d. 1488?), which survives uniquely in Harley MS 2259. Both manuscripts feature the title 'Tractatus nobilis de lege et exposicione armorum', and depict the rare attributed arms of the legendary figures Sir John Mandeville, Sir Geraint and Sir Gawain in a near-identical manner. Both Strangways and Babington were lawyers at the Inner Temple, making it possible that the latter had access to the former's manuscript at the Inn of Courts' library.

Contents:

Part 1:

ff. 1r-4r: Coats of arms of English kings and nobility (12 per page), including the attributed arms of Sir John Mandeville [f. 1v], Sir Geraint [f. 1v], Sir Gawain [f. 2r], and France [three black toads, here attributed to Charlemagne] (f. 3v) all as in Harley MS 2259; the arms of Prester John (f. 3v), and the Nine Worthies (f. 4r).

f. 5r: A heraldic tract on the marshalling of shields in English.

f. 5v: Coats of arms with lions (16 on page) with their blazons in French below.

ff. 6r-7v: A heraldic tract on cadency in Latin, beginning: 'Sicut in spinoso et campo stirili florida fragancia redolent'.

f. 8r: A heraldic bestiary, including brief descriptions of animals in English [fragmentary due to damage to the page], referring to 'Barthol.', which may be De insigniis et armis by Bartolus de Saxoferrato (b. 1313, d. 1357); followed by 17 drawings of animals in brown ink.

f. 8v: A heraldic tract in English, with the explicit: 'Tractatus nobilis de lege et expositione armorum [...] per me Antonium babyngton'.

ff. 8v-9*recto: The names of the chief captains of William the Conqueror.

f. 10r: Tree of consanguinity ('Arbor consanguineitatis').

ff. 10v-11r: A Latin heraldic tract, entitled: 'Regula nobilissima qui aurea non in merite appellata est'.

f. 11r: Descriptions of a stag deer head 'for a wodeman'.

f. 11v: Tree of affinity (entitled: 'Arbor Affinitatis').

ff. 12v-49v: A universal world chronicle from the Creation down to 1436, illustrated with medallions and genealogies, beginning: 'Considerans [...] prolixitatem nec non et difficultatem scolarum'; intersected with a Prophecy about Edward the Confessor (beginning: 'Prophecia regis Edwardi dum ageret in extremis sibi divinitus revelata') and an 'Exposicio prophecie', followed by 'Genealogia Ducum Normannie'. A comparable text appears to survive in Eton, Eton College, MS 96.

ff. 50r-55v: Chronicle of Italy and Rome until 1471; beginning: 'Anno mundi 3725 et anno Christi nativitatem 1474 inceperunt reges in Italia regnare et multociens nomina variarunt'.

ff. 55r-63v: History of the papacy until Sixtus IV, beginning: 'Post passionem Cristi anno sequenti beatus petrus apostolus filius Jhannis [sic] de prouincia galilee vico betreda tenuit cathedram sacerdotalem in partibus orientis annis quatuor ubi primam missam celebravit'.

ff. 63v-64r: Lists of bishops and cardinals of Rome.

ff. 64v-65r: Abbreviation of the Old and New Testament with a history of the World, beginning: 'in principio creavit deus celum et terram et omnia que in eis sunt'.

ff. 65r-65v: Mirabilia Orientis (Wonders of the East) [here untitled]; beginning: 'Revera admirabile est nomen Domini'.

ff. 65v-66r: 'Mirabilia anglie' (Wonders of England); ending with the story of 'Quidam homo in Hibernia Ruanus nomine quem sanctus patricius baptizavit vixit 1500 annis unde isto dicitur illud oldruanus'.

ff. 67r-91v: Middle English translation of Christine de Pizan's Epistre d'Othéa ['Lytil Bibell of Knyghthod'].

ff. 92r-93v: Prophecy of Merlin from Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia regum Britannie, beginning: 'Nam impetum cursus sui in ulteriorem Hispaniam protendet'.

f. 93v: Prophecy of Merlin from Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia regum Britannie, beginning: 'Cum igitur hec et alia prophetasset Merlinus, ambiguetate verborum suorum astantes in admirationem commovit'

f. 95r: History of the counts of Anjou, entitled: 'De Andegavensium Consulibus'.

Part 1 contains several later textual additions:

f. 49*verso: Words of prayer in Latin ('Est amen [etc.]'), written upsidedown; added in the (?) 15th or 16th century.

ff. 94r-94v: Coats of arms and blazons of the kings of Araby, Trebizond, France, and England; added in the (?) 15th or 16th century.

f. 95r*: Sketches of coats of arms in brown ink and pencil, with the names 'Edgard Athlinge', 'Abraham Rogers'; added in the 17th century.

Part 2:

ff. 96r-114r: Annales Cambriae ('B' text, derived from TNA, E 164/1, compiled at Neath Abbey).

ff. 114v-117v: Short annals from 1066 to 1298 (also derived from TNA, E 164/1).

Decoration:

Part 1 contains drawings of heraldic shields outlined in brown ink painted in colours (ff. 1r-4r); or yellow and black (ff. 5r-6r). Sketches in brown ink of heraldic beasts, including legendary creatures such as the griffin, unicorn, and 'Pollig[er]' (f. 8r). Trees of consanguinity (f. 10r) and affinity (f. 11v) in brown ink. Two stags' heads in brown ink (f. 11r). Occasional marginal drawings in red ink on the versos of ff. 12v-49v, featuring the universal world chronicle, illustrate, for example, two comets which reportedly appeared around the sun in the third year of the reign of Æthelheard, king of Wessex (f. 33v), a fiery dragon which was sighted in the year 793 (f. 33v), and the figures of Guy of Warwick and Colbrand the giant (f. 34v). Genealogical diagrams in brown ink on each recto throughout ff. 12v-49v; these feature roundels with drawings of kings and queens, from Adam and Eve to Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville (ff. 13r-48r), with one roundel showing the Nativity (f. 26r).

Various added drawings: genealogical drawings on f. 48r, perhaps added in the 17th century; a drawing of a (?) man with a hat in plummet on f. 49v, added in the (?) 17th century; coats of arms on ff. 94r-94v, and 95r, added in the (?) 17th century; sketches of a man with a a hat, a (?) soldier with a knife, and a flower in black ink on f. 94*recto, added in the (?) 17th century.

Plain large and small initials in red ink throughout, with 1 large initial in brown ink featuring a human face (f. 50r). Capitals highlighted in red. Paraphs in red. Underlining in red.

Part 2 contains only minor decoration: cadels in brown ink featuring fish on f. 97r.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002046667", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 838: Collection of heraldic and genealogical works, including Mirabilia Orientis, Mirabilia Anglie, and a Middle English translation of…" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002046667

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 838 : Collection of heraldic and genealogical works, including Mirabilia Orientis, Mirabilia Anglie, and a Middle English translation…

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[0838]/040-002046667

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

English
English, Middle
French, Middle
Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1400

End Date:

1499

Date Range:

15th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Paper.

Dimensions: 300 x 220 mm (text space in various dimensions; written in 3 columns on ff. 96r-117v).

Foliation: ff. 1* + 9* + 49* + 94* + 95* + 117 (+ 2 paper flyleaves at the beginning + 2 at the end); 1 unfoliated paper pastedown on f. [ii]recto (bibliographical notes); f. 1* is a paper leaf that originally served as a flyleaf; f. 9* is a paper fragment (featuring fragmentary texts) that has been supplemented with blank early modern paper; ff. 49*, 94*, 95* are paper leaves; stubs of excised leaves after ff. 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, featuring fragments of images and texts which suggest that their subsequent leaves are replacements with the same materials.

Collation: Indicated by catchwords; each leaf has been mounted separately onto a paper guard.

Script: Gothic cursive.

Binding: British Museum in-house: brown half leather binding with the Harleian arms gold-stamped on the outside covers; rebound on 29 November 1966.

Custodial History:

Origin:

England (Part 1); [?] Wales (Part 2).

Provenance:

Sir Anthony Babyngton of Dethick (fl. c. 1477-1536), lawyer of the Inner Temple, father of Henry Babyngton [below]: most likely his colophon on f. 8v: 'per me Antonium Babyngton'; and wrote ff. 1r-95r (see Christine de Pizan's Advice for Princes in Middle English Translation, ed. by Schieberle (2020), pp. 24-26).

Sir Henry Babyngton (b. 1530, d. 1570), of Dethick, Derby, father of Anthony Babyngton [below]: inscribed, '1550. Henry babyngton h[av]ethe thys boke' on f. 1*recto, and 'Henry babyngton h[av]ethe thys boke 1549' with his initials 'H. B.' on f. 12r; his name 'Henry Babyngton' [2x] and 'Henry Babyngton [wrethe] this booke' are also inscribed on f. 1*recto (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 58; Christine de Pizan's Advice for Princes in Middle English Translation, ed. by Schieberle (2020), pp. 24-26).

Sir Anthony Babyngton (b. 1561, d. 1586), the consiprator, executed 19 September, son of Henry Babyngton: inscribed with his name 'Anthony Babyngton' two times in green (?) ink and once in brown ink on f. 1*recto (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 58; Christine de Pizan's Advice for Princes in Middle English Translation, ed. by Schieberle (2020), pp. 24-26).

Daniell Hills, owned in 1594: his ownership inscription on f.12r: 'Danyell Hills owethe this booke anno 1594' (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 190).

Edward Stillingfleet (b. 1635, d. 1699), bishop of Worcester and theologian (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 316).

Edward Stillingfleet (b. 1661, d. 1708), physician and Church of England clergyman, son of the former; in 1707 acquired by Robert Harley (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 316).

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. 454 [no. 838].

John Williams [Ab Ithel], Annalex Cambriae, Rerum Britannicarum medii aevi scriptores; or Chronicles and memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle Ages [= Rolls Series], 20 (London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1860), as 'B'.

Henry Noble MacCracken, 'An Unknown Middle English Translation of L'Épitre d' Othea', Modern Language Notes, 24 (1909), pp. 122-123.

James D. Gordon, The Epistle of Othea to Hector: a "Lytil Bibell of Knyghthod." Edited from Harleian MS 838 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1942).

Sydney Anglo, 'The British history in Early Tudor Propaganda: With an Appendix of Manuscript Pedigrees of the Kings of England, Henry VI to Henry VIII', Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, 44 (1961), 17-48 (p. 46).

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. 58, 190, 316.

L. D. Ward and J. A. Herbert, Catalogue of Romances in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum, 3 vols (London: British Museum, 1883-1910), I, p. 302.

Curt F. Bühler, ‘Christine de Pisan and a Saying attributed to Socrates’, Philological Quarterly, 33 (1954), 418-20 (p. 420).

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, 75 n. 54.

Christine de Pizan's Advice for Princes in Middle English Translation: Stephen Scrope's The Epistle of Othea and the Anonymous Lytel Bibell of Knyghthod, ed. by Misty Schieberle (Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Press, 2020).

Daniel Huws, A Repertory of Welsh Manuscripts and Sources c.800-c.1800, 3 vols (Aberystwyth: The National Library of Wales and University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, 2022), I, pp. 672-73.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Christine de Pizan [da Pizzano], 1364-c 1430,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000121033731
Geoffrey of Monmouth, historian and Bishop of St Asaph, c 1100-c 1154,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000123212370,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/89028232

Places:

England
Wales