Hard-coded id of currently selected item: . JSON version of its record is available from Blacklight on e.g. ??

Metadata associated with selected item should appear here...

Harley MS 992

Record Id:

040-002046821

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002046821

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000652.0x0001f2

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 992

Title:

A collection of heraldic texts and drawings

Scope & Content:

This composite manuscript contains heraldic texts and drawings from the 2nd half of the 15th century and 1st half of the 16th century in Middle English, Middle French and Latin.

Contents:

ff. 1r-8r: Drawings of arms of aristocratic families, several in colours; with family names in English.

ff. 9r-10r: A list of ‘The names of al the Kinges of Englonde sithe the conquest the wyche was by king wylliam conqueroure and how long they Reygnet and where they were beryed’.

f. 10v: A list of ‘Al the Cresten Kynges names [and] bestes’.

f. 11r: A list of ‘the Emperors and Kinges under the gret turke’; with a drawing of 'The Castell of sant Petre'.

f. 11v: Nine drawings of castles with the title ‘This is undyr the gret Master of Rode and thes Castelles folloyng ys the Castelles in the se betwhen the gret turke and the solden’.

ff. 12r-17v: An untitled heraldic treatise, beginning ‘Here begynnyth a tretys of armes ye shall understonde atte Seege of Troye there fyrste began worship kynge pryamus’.

ff. 17v-56r: Drawings of coats of arms, mostly in colours; with blazons in English.

f. 56v: Four badges of the royal family.

ff. 57r-60v: Heraldic rules in Middle French.

ff. 61r-65r: Catalogi Regum Trojanorum, Latinorum, et Francorum.

f. 65v: Blazons of Kentish knights in French.

f. 66v: Arms of Wodehouse; with the family name in French.

f. 67r: ‘The names of the lordships within the bageon longyng to the Duc of Yorc’.

ff. 68r-87r: A collection of arms of aristocratic families, mostly in colours; with family names in English.

ff. 87v-88v: Blazons in French.

f. 89v: Drawings of coats of arms in brown ink.

ff. 94v-101v: Heraldic motifs for badges or crests, some in colours.

Decoration:

Numerous heraldic arms and motifs for badges and crests throughout the manuscript, in colours or in brown ink. Drawings of 10 castles in brown ink (ff. 11r-11v)

1 large calligraphically decorated initial with green, red, and yellow.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002046821", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 992: A collection of heraldic texts and drawings" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002046821

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 992 : A collection of heraldic texts and drawings

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[0992]/040-002046821

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:

1599

Date Range:

15th century-16th century

Era:

Access:

Please request the physical items you need using the online collection item request form.

Digitised items can be viewed online by clicking the thumbnail image or digitised content link.

Readers who have registered or renewed their pass since 21 March 2024 can request physical items prior to visiting the Library by completing
this request form.
Please enter the Reference (shelfmark) above on the request form.

If your Reader Pass was issued before this date, you will need to visit the Library in London or Yorkshire to renew it before you can request items online. All manuscripts and archives must be consulted at the Library in London.

This catalogue record may describe a collection of items which cannot all be requested together. Please use the hierarchy viewer to navigate to individual items. Some items may be in use or restricted for other reasons. If you would like to check the availability, contact our Reference Services team, quoting the Reference (shelfmark) above.

User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Paper.

Dimensions: 155 x 110 mm.

Foliation: ff. 101 (+ 5 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 4 at the end); 1 unfoliated paper leaf between f. 65 and f. 66; 1 unfoliated paper pastedown on f. [iv]recto (note on sequence of folios).

Script: 16th-century script.

Binding: British Museum in-house.

Custodial History:

Origin: England.

Provenance:

Thomas Cole (fl. mid 17th century), of the Court of Wards and Liveries, and of the Inner Temple: his stamp and motto (‘Deum Cole’) on f. 60v; not listed in Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 108, where Cole is identified as owner of Harley MSS 410, 411, 752, 756-760, 782, 807, 834, 845, 891, 892, 895, 899 and 983; several include the same motto.

Edward Stillingfleet (b. 1635, d. 1699), bishop of Worcester and theologian: bought by Edward Harley in 1707 (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. 501.

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. 389.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)