Harley MS 1288

Origin:

England.

Provenance:

‘John’, owned in the 15th or 16th century: his name inscribed on f. 18v;

‘Johannis Pet[r]e[u]s’, owned in the late 16th century: his name inscribed on f. 1r

A member of the Hill family of (?) London, owned in the 16th century: The name of Roger Hill inscribed on f. 60v: ‘To his lovinge ffather Roger Hill’; and in a bond on f. 61r: ‘Rogerus Hill queret[ur] de Christoffero Cage’; the bond is located to ‘London’.

‘Robert Rice’, owned in the 16th century: his name inscribed on f. 61v: ‘Robart Rice son off the toun off Lynkecoun’; Martyn F. Wakelin suggests that 'Lynkecoun'; possibly Lincoln.

‘Robertus’ of (?) Somersett, owned in 1561: ‘Per me Rob[er]tu[m] [.]ll [in] Le[m][...]re’; also added the words ‘Somersett’ [3x] to f. 61r; also added a draft for a bond dated to 1561 on f. 61v (‘A[nno] tho[usand] and five houndred thre score and one’); and another dated to the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (r. 1558-1603) on f. 62r (‘Elizabeth Dei Gracia Anglie ffraunce et Hibernie Regine Fidei defens[or]').

‘francis yerburghe’: his name inscribed in a 16th-century hand on f. 82v.

Peter Le Neve (b. 1661, d. 1729): bought from him by Edward Harley; Humfrey Wanley inscribed his name in pencil (‘Mr Le Neve’) on f. 1r.

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.