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Harley MS 1118

Record Id:

040-002046947

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002046947

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000652.0x000270

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 1118

Title:

Registrum brevium

Scope & Content:

Contents:

ff. 1r-218v, 220v-289r: Registrum brevium. Including a list of contents (ff. 1r-10r); beginning on f. 13r: 'Edwardus dei gracia Rex Anglie Dominus Hibernie Dux Aquitanie Ballivis suis Lincolniensis salutem precipimus vobis quod sine dilatione plenum rectum teneatis Ade de Cerleton. de uno mesuagio cum pertin. in lincolniensis quod clamat tenere de nobis per liberum servicium unius denarij per annum pro omni servicio quod Wilhelmus de Burgh. ei deforc. ne nisi feceritis vicar. lincolniensis fac. ne amplius inde clamorem audiamus pro defectu recti etcaetera'.

The manuscript contains various additions:

ff. 10v-12r: An alphabetical subject index; added in a 15th-century hand.

f. 13r: Inscribed 'Nova'; added in the 15th century.

ff. 156v, 157r, [290a]verso: Erased inscriptions, possibly including notes on payments and ownership information.

ff. 219r-219v: A list, entitled: 'ffynes to be made in the kynges Chauncery', ending with: 'Also to have vij nobilles of the Clerk of the pety bagge'; added in the (?) late 15th or early 16th century.

ff. 289v-290r: Latin entries, entitled: 'Brevia deliberand.'; added in the (?) late 15th or early 16th century.

f. 290v: A petition of the masters and clerks in chancery to John Stratford, archbishop of Canterbury, then lord Chancellor (1330-1334), referring to an act made in the 4th year of Edward III's reign (r. 1327-1377) with English introduction; beginning: 'To the most Reverent ffather in god John Cardynall Archibusshop of Caunterbury and Chauncel of England'; followed by the text in Law French; added in the (?) late 15th or early 16th century.

f. 291r: Notes on subjects with folio references; added in the (?) late 15th or early 16th century.

Decoration:

1 large (7-line) historiated initial in blue with a red and gold background, featuring a bishop kneeling before king Edward III and presenting him a book (perhaps representing this manuscript), combined with a foliate 3-sided bar border (f. 14r). Numerous smaller (3-line) initials, either in blue or pink with a gold background and foliate decoration in blue, gold, pink, and red; or in gold and against a blue and purple background (champ initials). Small (1-line) capitals in blue and red (f. 14r). Paraphs in alternating red or blue.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002046947", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 1118: Registrum brevium" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002046947

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 1118 : Registrum brevium

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[1118]/040-002046947

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

English, Middle
French, Middle
Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1375

End Date:

1424

Date Range:

4th quarter of the 14th century-1st quarter of the 15th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 250 x 180 mm (text space: 185 x 115).

Foliation: ff. 1* + 291 (+ 3 unfoliated modern paper leaves at the beginning + 4 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the end); 1 unfoliated ruled unwritten parchment leaf after f. 89, 2 after f. 219; 1 after f. 290; f. 1* is a parchment leaf that originally served as a flyleaf; f. 291 is a former pastedown; 15th-century foliation in Roman numerals throughout (alongside the modern foliation that is followed here).

Collation: Mainly in quires of 8; indicated by catchwords, quire and leaf signatures; each quire has been mounted separately onto a paper guard.

Script: Gothic cursive.

Binding: British Museum in-house: red half leather binding with the Harleian armorial bookplate goldstamped on the outside covers. Rebound on 6 May 1966.

Custodial History:

Origin:

England (? South-East).

Provenance:

An unknown 15th- or 16th-century owner: their effaced ownership inscription on f. 1*recto.

George P[...]tt, 16th or 17th century: their (?) name inscribed on f. 12v: 'Geo P[...]tt'.

John Anstis the elder (b. 1669, d. 1744), herald and antiquary, gift to Robert Harley (prior to 1724) together with other manuscripts: according to an inscription on f. 1*recto: 'Viro Amplissimo et Praenobili Roberto Harley. DD. J. Anstis' (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), pp. 50-52).

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. 556 (no. 1118).

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. 50-52.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Places:

England
Southeastern England