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Harley MS 1607

Record Id:

040-002047437

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002047437

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000709.0x000072

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 1607

Title:

Psalter

Scope & Content:

Contents:

ff. 1r-189v: A Psalter. Preceded by a calendar (ff. 1r-6v) including saints linked to Northern France, such as Firmin (Amiens) in red and Honore (Amiens) and Angadrême (Beauvais), who also feature in the litany (ff. 180-184v) alongside Symphorien (Autun), Evroul (Normandy), Riquier (Abbeville), Bova and Doda (Rheims), Austreberte (France, N.), etc, and verses in French 'Apres la seinte agathe prime lune querons. Le samedi apres la veille des brandons' (f. 1v).

Decoration:

Large historiated initial in colours and gold of king David playing the harp combined with a full foliate bar border at the beginning of Psalm 1, and a dog pursuing a hare in the margin (f. 7r). Large historiated initials in colours and gold and partial bar borders, some with hybrid creatures or animals, at the beginning of Psalms 26r, 38r, 52r, 68r, 80r, 97r, 109r, and the Athanasian Creed, of Samuel anointing David, David pointing at his mouth, a fool, David in a boat, David playing bells, clerics singing, Christ and God, and God the Father (ff. 32r, 48r, 62v, 77r, 95v, 113r, 131r, 176r). Initials in colours and gold, including one with a fleur-de-lys (f. 13r). Smaller initials in red or blue with penwork decoration in the other colour (extending into the margin when on the last line). Line-fillers in red and blue. Capitals marked in yellow (ff. 1r-6v). Catchwords with brown penwork decoration.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002047437", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 1607: Psalter" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002047437

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 1607 : Psalter

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[1608]/040-002047437

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

French, Old
Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1300

End Date:

1349

Date Range:

1st half of the 14th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 190 x 140 mm (written space: 130 x 90 mm); (165 x 115, ff. 1-6v only)

Foliation: ff. 1* + 189 (+ 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and 1 at the end); f. 1* is a parchment leaf.

Script: Gothic.

Binding: Post-1600. Brown leather with gold fillets.

Custodial History:

Origin:

France, N. or N.E.

Provenance:

Added prayer to Julian of Le Mans, ?14th century (f. 187r-v).

Added inscriptions and entries in English in the calendar including 'Erkenwald', bishop of London (f. 2v), Dunstan (f. 3r), ?15th century (f. 2r).

Added prayers in Latin (f. 1*r), and in French, one beginning with 'Ayme dieu de tout ton coeur' (ff. 188v, 189r), ?15th century.

Numerous pen-trials and inscriptions, some effaced, post-medieval (e.g., ff. 121v, 125v, 137v, 138r, 187v-189r).

Inscribed 'Joseph', ?16th century (f. 1*r).

Nathaniel Snape, 17th century: inscribed with his name (ff. 1*r, 4v).

Henry Worsley (b. 1675, d. 1747), scholar and manuscript collector, envoy at the Court of Portugal (1714-21) and governor of Barbados (1721-31); donated by him to Robert Harley together with other manuscripts from Worsley's collection (now Harley 1585-1747, 1811, 1812) before December 1712 (see Diary 1966).

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), no. 1607.

The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by Cyril Ernest Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), I: 1715-1723, pp. xix-xx.

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. 308, 361.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Places:

France