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Harley MS 1034

Record Id:

040-002046863

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002046863

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000652.0x00021c

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 1034

Title:

Bible (Vulgate), without the Psalms

Scope & Content:

Contents:

ff. 1r-542r: Bible (Vulgate), without the Psalms; with 13th- or 14th-century marginal annotations, mostly featuring commentary by Alexander Neckam, in Latin throughout.

ff. 1*recto-1*verso, 2*verso, 542v-544r: Biblical commentary added in the 13th or 14th century.

Decoration:

Large puzzle initials in blue and red with pen flourishing in the same colours, marking the beginning of each book (ff. 1r, 4r, 28v, 49r, 64r, 84v, 101v, 113r, 125r, 126v, 127v, 144r, 157v, 174r, 190r, 204v, 223r, 223v, 228v, 235v [x2], 240v [x2], 247r, 253v, 266r, 277r, 281v, 283v, 291v, 310v, 311r, 324 [x2], 359v, 362r [x2], 365r [2x], 386v, 387r, 396r [x2], 399r [x2], 400r, 400v, 402v, 403r, 403v, 404r, 405v, 406r, 406v, 407r, 408r, 409r, 412v, 413v [x2], 426v, 436r [x2], 449v [x2], 458r, 458v, 474r, 474v, 486r, 486v, 487r, 492v [x2], 498r [x2], 501r [x2], 503r [x2], 505r [x2], 506r [x2], 507v, 508v, 509r [x2], 510v, 512r, 512v, 513r, 517r, 529v, 531r, 533v, 535r, 536r). Numerous initials alternately red or blue with penwork decoration in the other colour. Some initials are accompanied by a flourished band in red ink as line-fillers; others feature fish in red ink (ff. 400r, 436r, 487r, 498 [x2], 501r, 503r, 505r, 508v, 517r, 529v, 531r [x2], 533v, 535r [x2]). Some one-line capitals of first and last lines on a page extend into the margin with simple brown ink flourishing (ff. 454r, 462r, 462v, 466r, 469r, 469v, 471v, 472r, 475v, 477r, 499r, 502v, 503r, etc.). Among the added marginal annotations are various drawings in brown ink, including manicules and swords, a diagram of Noah's Ark drawn (f. 5v), a coat of arms (f. 418v), the head of a two-horned demon (ff. 173r and 212r), and that of a high priest (f. 513r).

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002046863", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 1034: Bible (Vulgate), without the Psalms" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002046863

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 1034 : Bible (Vulgate), without the Psalms

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[1034]/040-002046863

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1250

End Date:

1274

Date Range:

2nd or 3rd quarter of the 13th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 225 x 160 mm (150 x 100 mm, in 2 columns).

Foliation: ff. 1*-2*+ 544 (+ 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 3 at the end); 1 unfoliated parchment stub between f. 3 and f. 4; each quire has been mounted onto a paper guard.

Collation: i-ii¹⁶ (ff. 1-35), iii¹⁴ (ff. 36-49), iv¹⁶ (ff. 50-65), v¹⁰ (ff. 66-75), vi-viii¹⁶ (ff. 76-123), ix¹⁴ (ff. 124-137), x¹⁶ (ff. 138-149), xi¹² (ff. 150-161), xii-xx¹² (ff. 162-269), xxi¹⁴ (ff. 270-293; initials marked in green in quire xviii), xxii¹⁰ (ff. 294-303), xxiii¹⁸ (ff. 304-321), xxiv¹⁶ (ff. 322-337), xxv-xxvi¹² (ff. 338-361), xxvii¹⁰ (ff. 362-371), xxviii-xxx¹² (ff. 372-405), xxxi¹⁶ (ff. 406-421) xxxii¹⁴ (ff. 422-435), xxxiii-xxxvi¹² (ff. 436-447), xxxvii¹⁸ (ff. 484-491), xxxviii-xl¹⁶ (ff. 492-539), xli^4-1 (ff. 540-542), xlii² (ff. 543-544).

Script: Gothic (written below the top line).

Binding: British Museum in-house; re-bound on 26 May 1965.

Custodial History:

Origin:

England.

Provenance:

Johannes, vicar of Elmham, Norfolk, owned in the 13th century: an inscription on f. 2*verso records his gift of this manuscript to the Norwich Franciscans for the use of ‘Herveo de Berewyk’ (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 205).

‘Herveo de Berewyk’, friar of the Franciscan convent at Norwich, 13th century: according to an inscription on f. 2*verso [see above] (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 71).

Norwich Franciscans, owned the manuscript from the 13th century to the first half of the 16th century: owned the manuscript after ‘Herveo de Berewyk’; their pressmark ('Biblia .M.') on f. 1r (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 259); Herveo or another friar added the 13th- or 14th-century annotations based on commentaries from various sources including some by Alexander Nequam (b. 1157, d. 1217). The manuscript was still in Norwich when John Leland did his tour of England, c. 1534-1536 (see Leland, Collectanea (1774), p. 28) and probably remained there until the house's dissolution in 1539.

Richard Caldwall, possibly Richard Caldwall (b. c. 1515, d. 1584), English physician, owned in the 16th century: his name inscribed on f. 1*verso [‘R Caldwallus’] and f. 2*recto [‘Ricardus Caldwallus’] (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 92).

'Liber Biblioth[e]ca Beveregeanæ', 17th century: ownership inscription inscribed on f. 2*recto (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 72)

Edward Stillingfleet (b. 1635, d. 1699), Bishop of Worcester: according to Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 316.

Edward Stillingfleet (b. 1661, d. 1708), physician and Church of England clergyman, son of the former; inherited his father’s collection; his manuscripts were bought for £175 in 1707 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:

John Leland, J. Lelandi antiquarii De rebus Britannicis Collectanea, ed. by T. Hearne, 6 vols (London: B. White, 1774; repr. Farnborough: Gregg International Publishing, 1970), IV, p. 28.

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), I, p. 515.

Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books, ed. by N. R. Ker, 2nd edn, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 3 (London: Royal Historical Society, 1964), p. 139.

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. 71, 72, 92, 205, 259, 316, 390.

Christopher de Hamel, The Book: A History of the Bible (London: Phaidon, 2001), p. 129.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Places:

England