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Harley MS 1351

Record Id:

040-002047180

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002047180

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000652.0x000359

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 1351

Title:

Alphabet of Arms

Scope & Content:

Contents:

ff. 1r-145r: An Alphabet of Arms, written in English but blazoned in French heraldic terminology, with coats of arms drawn in the outer and inner margins throughout; on f. 100*verso the note: ‘From London the xvth of June 1561’.

f. 145v: Pedigree of the family of FitzGerald.

f. 146r: A partially crossed-out pedigree.

f. 146v: Pedigree of Darcy.

f. 147r: Descent of Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, from a daughter of Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick.

f. 147r: Descent of Manners (‘Mannors’), Earl of Rutland, from Roos and Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick.

f. 147v: Descent of Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury.

f. 147v: Descent of Say.

ff. 147*verso-149v: Arms of the Irish Nobility and Gentry, both in blazon and in trick.

ff. 160r-164vr: ‘The Names of divers Gentylmen of Devonshere, Cornewall, and Somersetshere’; with spaces left for their respective arms and crests (35 per page), but none are filled up.

ff. 163r, 164r: The arms of Floyd of Brecknockshire, Pigion, and Clowes of London, tricked in brown ink.

f. 165v: A heraldic tract in English, on the ‘iij Soundery Degres: most Riche / most Fayer / Most Glittering’; and the Latin saying: ‘Divitias et opes Hon lingua Hebria vocant: Gallica gens aurum Or, indeque venit Honor’.

f. 166r: Shields of families, including Tilney; with 20 shields stamped on paper for their arms, but only two are filled in (tricked).

f. 166v: A list of the six symbols used in cadency, and the seven armorial roundels, written in English; and drawn in colours.

f. 166v: Arms of Skinner and Pointz, with quarterings.

f. 167r: Descent of Cressy.

f. 167v: Mottos used by many English families; by the house of Nassau and by the Emperor Charles V.

f. 167v: Arms of Thomas Cowper, Bishop of Winchester.

f. 167v: Warrant of [...] to William Waforde one of the Keepers of her Majesties great Parke at Eltham; requiring him to deliver to Sir Gilbert Dethick Knight, alias Garter, his 'Fee-Dooe' of that Season, 12 November 1578.

Decoration:

Coats of arms drawn in brown ink, sometimes in colours and other times tricked, about 14 to 16 per page. Two crests drawn in brown ink; once including a bird above a crown with a snake in its beak (f. 100**verso); the other an eagle with a laurel wreath in its beak (f. 164v).

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002047180", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 1351: Alphabet of Arms" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002047180

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 1351 : Alphabet of Arms

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[1351]/040-002047180

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

English
French

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1575

End Date:

1624

Date Range:

4th quarter of the 16th century-1st quarter of the 17th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Paper.

Dimensions: 220 x 150 mm [excluding guards and strips] (text space: 170 x 100 mm).

Foliation: ff. 5* + 26* + 36* + 48* + 54* + 55* + 61* + 71* + 73* + 82* + 90* + 92* + 93* + 94* + 100* + 100** + 102* + 124* + 129* + 132* + 147* + 167 (+ 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 3 at the end); various leaves have been foliated with the same number as the preceding folio, several of which, but not all, also feature an asterisk; a second leaf with the same number as a preceding leaf that does not include an asterisk is here still referred to as such in order to distinguish between the two leaves; paper tabs on ff. 26*, 36*, 43, 48*, 55*, 61*, 71, 73, 76, 82*, 86, 90*, 92, 94; a modern white paper strip of paper has been pasted to the outer margin of each paper leaf; torn pieces from ff. 1 and 6, which have been repaired with modern blank paper, cause some loss of text.

Collation: Each leaf or bifolium has been separately mounted onto a paper guard.

Script: 16th- or 17th-century script.

Binding: British Museum in-house; gold-tooled red half leather binding with the Harleian armorial stamp in gold at the centre of the outside covers; marbled endpapers.

Custodial History:

Origin:

England.

Provenance:

John Spicer: acquired from John Withie (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 311).

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), II (1808), p. 12.

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. 395.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Places:

England