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Harley MS 1297

Record Id:

040-002047126

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002047126

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000652.0x000323

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 1297

Title:

Bible, including the Interpretation of Hebrew Names

Scope & Content:

Contents:

ff. 1r-465r: Vulgate Bible, including the Book of Psalms, Gallican version, entitled: 'Liber Hymnorum vel Soliloquiorum Prophete de Christo'. The Book of Maccabees is preceded by two letters by Hrabanus Maurus with his commentary on I and II Maccabees (ff. 356r-356v).

ff. 465v-507v: Interpretation of Hebrew Names.

The manuscript contains several later additions:

f. [iii]recto: 'Harl. 1297 Qu. if this is not from St Augustines Canterbury "Biblia Will. Sellyng" sec. fol. in prolog. David see no. 43 in M.R. James cat.'; added in the 20th century.

f. [iv]verso: An erased medieval inscription.

f. 465v: A note in brown ink: 'fol. xxiij'.

f. 508r: A note on the Essei, Saducei, Parisei, Publicani, beginning: 'Essei fuerunt religiosi de nactione iudeos'; added in the 15th century.

f. 509r: A tract on the Seven Deadly Sins; written in the 13th century.

ff. 509v-510r: Erased memorandi, featuring the name 'Johannes Robertus' [2x].

f. 510v: An untranscribed note; added in the 13th century.

Decoration:

79 historiated initials featuring author portraits (apostles, prophets, and other biblical figures) in colours with foliate decoration and animal heads (ff. 1r, 4r, 24r, 40v, 67v, 81v, 91r, 101r, 102r, 115v, 126r, 139r, 151r, 162r, 176r, 180r, 185r, 190v, 194v, 199v, 204v, 214r, 217v, 219v, 221v [2x], 224r, 226v, 229r, 231v, 237r, 245r, 248r, 249r, 270v, 288r, 308v, 310v, 313r, 331r, 338v, 341v, 342v, 345r, 345v, 349r, 350r, 351r, 352r, 355r, 356v, 367v, 375v, 387r, 394v, 407r, 416r, 420v, 425r, 428r, 429v, 431r, 432v, 433v, 434v, 435r, 436r, 437r, 437v [2x], 441v, 453v, 455r, 456r, 457r, 458 [2x], 458v, 459r). One 5-line puzzle initial in red and blue with flourishing in same colours (f. 3v). Numerous large initials in colours (small amount of gold on ff. 288r and 394r for example) with foliate scrolls, interlaced beasts, dragons, animal heads, bird heads (ff. 51v, 81r, 101r, 150v, 161v, 175v, 190v, 194v, 199r, 204v, 245r, 249r, 270r, 288r, 313r, 330v, 338v [2x], 341 [2x], 342v [3x], 344v, 345r, 345v, 346r, 347v, 348v, 349v, 350v, 351v, 355r, 356r [2x], 356v, 375v [2x], 387r, 394r [2x], 406v, 416r, 420v, 425r, 428r, 429v, 431r, 432r, 433v, 434r, etc.). Larger initial of this type on f. 466r. The decorated initials are attributed to the St. Louis Group, and the Aurifaber atelier by Branner, Manuscript Painting in Paris (1977), pp. 112, 232, fig. 321, pl. XVII. The large decorated initials tend to be used for the prologues whereas the historiated initials introduce the books and important psalms. Numerous red and blue initials with pen flourishing in the same colours. Running titles in blue and red. Words omitted in the text added in the margin and framed in red and blue with pen-flourishing. Manicules in brown ink added to ff. 355r [2x] and 355v [2x].

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002047126", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 1297: Bible, including the Interpretation of Hebrew Names" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002047126

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 1297 : Bible, including the Interpretation of Hebrew Names

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[1297]/040-002047126

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:

1299

Date Range:

2nd half of the 13th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 245 x 165 mm (text space: 155 x 110 mm, in 2 columns).

Foliation: ff. 101* + 510 (+ 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves and 4 unfoliated parchment flyleaves at the beginning + 1 unfoliated parchment flyleaf that has been pasted against an unfoliated paper flyleaf and 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the end); f. 101* is a parchment leaf; 1 unfoliated parchment leaf after f. 507; 1 unfoliated paper pastedown on f. [iii]recto (provenance note); and 1 on f. [514]recto (note of repair); tears in the margin have been repaired with white sewing thread (f. 10) or blank paper strips: ff. 14r, 89v, 153r, 249v, 270r, 281v, 363r, 389r, 393r, 401v, 414v, 420v); a tear in f. 244 is unrepaired.

Script: Gothic, written below the top line.

Binding: British Museum in-house: red half leather binding with the Harleian arms gold-stamped on the outside covers; re-bound on 29 June 1962.

Custodial History:

Origin:

Central France (Paris).

Provenance:

An unknown (?) monastic library: their late medieval pressmark 'A 14' inscribed on f. [vii]verso; and a possible older pressmark 'A .XI.' inscribed on f. 1r (lower margin).

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, p. 651 (no. 1297).

Robert Branner, Manuscript Painting in Paris During the Reign of Saint Louis: A Study of Styles (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977), pp. 112, 232, fig. 321, pl. XVII.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Hrabanus Maurus, Archbishop of Mainz, c 780-856,
see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000121441065,
see also http://viaf.org/viaf/95147534

Places:

Paris, France