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Harley MS 1498
- Record Id:
- 040-002047328
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002047328
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000709.0x000005
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 1498
- Title:
- Quadripartite Indenture for Henry VII's Chapel at Westminster Abbey
- Scope & Content:
-
Content:
ff. 1-129v: The manuscript preserves a series of four agreements (indentures) made on 16 July 1504 between Henry VII and the abbot and monks of Westminster Abbey concerning the King’s new burial chapel that was designed to replace an earlier structure at the east end of the church.
The present manuscript is the part intended for Westminster Abbey. The King’s part, now London, the National Archives, E 33/1, was originally housed in the Exchequer Treasury of Receipt.
The top edge of each page has been trimmed in a wavy line along their top like a chirograph and shows remnants of letters that have been partially cut away. The shape of the trimmed pages maches the edges of pages in the King's copy.
Decoration:
4 historiated initials in colours and gold with full bar borders of red roses on a gold ground, with a gold portcullis on a blue ground with gold, and England's arms on a gold ground (ff. 1r, 59r, 76r, 98r), at the beginning of each indenture. 'Champ' initials in colours and gold at the beginning of each section.
The subjects of miniatures are:
f. 1r: 'T'(his) of Henry VII giving the manuscript to a group of monks.
f. 59r: 'T'(his) of Henry VII giving the manuscript to the monks of Westminster and John Islip, Abbot of Westminster.
f. 76r: 'T'(his) of the manuscript in use at a ceremony.
f. 98r: 'T'(his) of Henry VII giving the manuscript to the monks of Westminster.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
Royal Manuscripts Digitisation Project - Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002047328", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 1498: Quadripartite Indenture for Henry VII's Chapel at Westminster Abbey" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002047328 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 1498 : Quadripartite Indenture for Henry VII's Chapel at Westminster Abbey - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[1499]/040-002047328
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
1 volume.
- Digitised Content:
- http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_1498 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- English
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1504
- End Date:
- 1504
- Date Range:
- 1504
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
- Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 370 x 255 mm (text space: 180 x 140 mm).
Foliation: ff. i + 129 (+ 3 unfoliated parchment flyleaves: 1 at the beginning and 2 at the end).
f. i is a parchment flyleaf.
Collation: Gatherings of 8.
Layout: Written in one column of 25 lines.
Script: Gothic cursive.
Binding: The original chemise binding is of burgundy velvet (outside) and pinkish gold damask (inside). One large tassel remains on the top left corner in gold and burgundy thread. Two fore-edge clasps with gold buckles featuring a Tudor rose topped by an angel and attached with embroidered straps. There are five painted enamel badges on the front and back covers: four badges (one in each corner) in green and white, each with a portcullis, and a larger badge in the middle with England's arms. The chemise binding hangs beyond the manuscript to protect the five royal seals that are each attached to the manuscript with gold ropes. The green wax seals show on one side Henry VII on his throne, and on the other the king on horseback. Each seal is protected by a silver case with a crowned rose on the front and a crowned portcullis on the other. Fore-edge tabs with knotted gold thread mark each new indenture.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: London, England.
Provenance:
The Benedictine abbey of St Peter, Westminster, agreement between Henry VII (b. 1457, d. 1509), king of England and lord of Ireland, and John Islipp, Abbot of Westminster Abbey, and the monks of Westminster Abbey, made on 16 July 1504: the beginning of the text reads: 'This indenture made betwebe the moost cristen and moste excellent Prince kynge Henry the seventh by the grace of God Kyng of Englande and of France and Lord of Irelande the xvi daye of July the vyntene yere of his moost noble reigne and John Islipp Abbot of the monastery of Saynt Petre of Westm. and the prioure and convent of the same monaster' (f. 1r).
Henry VIII (b. 1491, d. 1547), king of England and Ireland; probably removed to the Westminster palace after the dissolution of the monastery in 1540. Stored in the little study next to the king's old bed chamber: listed as 'Item a booke of Kynge Henry the viith his foundacion of his chappell at Westminster' in the post-mortem inventory of Henry VIII's palaces of 1547-50, under the heading 'The Guarderobe at Westminstre in the chaedge of John Reede' (see Carley, Books (2004)).
Sir Thomas Hoby, 3rd baronet of Bisham (b. 1685, d. 1730); given by him to Harley (see Wright, Fontes (1972)).
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, née Cavendish 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.
- Information About Copies:
-
Select digital coverage available for this manuscript, see Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/welcome.htm.
Full digital coverage available, see http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_1498&index=0.
- Publications:
-
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), III (1808), no. 1498.
Calendar of the Close Rolls Preserved in the Public Record Office: Henry VII, 2 vols (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1963), II (1500-1509), no. 389, pp. 138-51 [contains text of indenture].
C. E. Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), p. 191.
Michelle P. Brown, Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts: A Guide to Technical Terms (London: British Library, 1994), pl. on p. 38.
Jan Storm Van Leeuwen, 'The Well-shirted Bookbinding: On Chemise Binds and Hülleneinbände,' in Theatrum Orbis Librorum: Liber Amicorum presented to Nico Israel on the occasion of his seventieth birthday (Utrecht: HES Publishers, 1989), pp. 277-305 (pp. 293-94).
The Libraries of King Henry VIII, ed. by James P. Carley, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 7 (London: British Library, 2000), p. 285.
Kathleen Scott, 'The Illustration and Decoration of the Register of the Fraternity of the Holy Trinity at Luton Church, 1475-1546', in The English Medieval Book: Studies in Memory of Jeremy Griffiths, ed. by A. S. G. Edwards, Vincent Gillespie and Ralph Hanna (London: British Library, 2000), pp. 155-83 (p. 183 n. 58).
Margaret Condon, ‘God Save the King! Piety, Propaganda, and the Perpetual Memorial’, in Westminster Abbey: The Lady Chapel of Henry VII, ed. by Tim Tatton-Brown and Richard Mortimer (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2003), pp. 59-97 (pp. 76-78).
James P. Carley, The Books of King Henry VIII and His Wives, preface by David Starkey (London: British Library, 2004), pl. 25.
Scot McKendrick, John Lowden, Kathleen Doyle, Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination (London: British Library, 2011), no. 41 [exhibition catalogue].
Margit J. Smith, The Medieval Girdle Book (New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2017), pp. 6-7.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)