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Harley MS 961
- Record Id:
- 040-002046790
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002046790
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000652.0x0001d3
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 961
- Title:
- Writs from the reigns of Edward I and Edward II
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
ff. 1r-152v: Writs from the reigns of Edward I and Edward II; written in Law French and Latin.
The manuscript contains a few later additions:
f. 153r: List of contents, beginning: 'Breve de recto patens'; added in the 14th century.
f. 153v: List of (?) items, beginning: 'Novem. 15'; added in the (?) late 16th or early 17th century.
f. 155r: Verses in English (see Provenance); added in the (?) late 16th or early 17th century.
f. 155v: List of expenses, including '1 handkercheff'; added in the (?) 17th century.
f. 156r: Memorandum dated 1421, beginning: 'Memorandum quod deliberamus pastor de Soburton [? Soberton, Hampshire] die M[...] xx ante festum Nativitatis Anno R.R. H. vti post conquestum Nono CCC xxiij (?)ones. Et pastori de Colle die Jovis xx post festum Sancti Thome Martiris Anno praedicte CC iiij (?)ones'.
Decoration:
1 large initial in blue with red penwork decoration (f. 1r). Added drawing of a human figure holding two (?) swords in black ink (f. 154v).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002046790", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 961: Writs from the reigns of Edward I and Edward II" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002046790 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 961 : Writs from the reigns of Edward I and Edward II - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[0961]/040-002046790
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- 1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- Languages:
- English
French, Middle
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1325
- End Date:
- 1349
- Date Range:
- 2nd quarter of the 14th century or 3rd quarter of the 14th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 150 x 105 mm (text space: 115 x 70 mm).
Foliation: ff. 156 (+ 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves and 1 parchment flyleaf at the beginning + 1 unfoliated parchment flyleaf nad 4 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the end); ff. 153-156 are parchment leaves that originally served as flyleaves; f. [157] is a short leaf that may originally have served as an endleaf; 1 unfoliated parchment stub with the remains of text between f. 125 and f. 126; 1 unfoliated parchment stub after ff. 12 [attached to an inserted flyleaf], 134 [excised leaf], and 152 [excised leaf]; 1 unfoliated paper pastedown on f. [157]verso (with the number '23').
Collation: Indicated by occasional catchwords (mostly cropped off); Each quire has been mounted separately onto a paper guard.
Script: Gothic cursive.
Binding: British Museum in-house; red half leather with the Harleian arms gold stamped on the outside covers; rebound in 1967.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
England.
Provenance:
'Thomas', 16th century: his name inscribed twice (perhaps with an erased ownership inscription) on f. [iv]recto.
'William Thorne', 16th century: his name inscribed on f. 154r: 'I the sayd William Thorne'(?) (f. 154).
George Wither(s), 16th or 17th century: his name 'Withers' in an erased (?)ownership inscription on f. [iv]verso; his name 'Withers' in an erased (?)ownership inscription on f. 154v, followed by the inscription: 'Geourggious Withers Commandment' and f. 155r: 'Georg with' with a verse, begininng: 'Happe is he whome other mens harmes [...]'; perhaps George Withers (b. c. 1525, d. 1605) of Essex, Puritan clergyman, or George Wither (b. 1588, d. 1667), poet, pamphleteer, satirist and writer of hymns.
'Joseph [...]', 17th century: his name inscribed on f. 156v.
An unknown owner, (?) 17th century: their (?) pressmark ('23') inscribed on a paper pastedown on the parchment flyleaf after f. 156 (f. [157]verso).
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. 484 (no. 961).
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Places:
- England