Harley MS 2256

Origin: England.

Provenance:

John Awdeley: inscribed, 15th century, 'Jho John Awdeley squier' (f. 152). perhaps the younger brother of James Tuchet, 7th baron Audley (c. 1463- 1497); this John married an illegitimate daughter of Edward IV.

Rouland Lathum: inscribed with his name, monograms, ?15th century (f. 2*r);

Inscribed in various 16th-century hands 'John he' (f. 5), 'John ff[...]' erased (f. 131), '[...] henre his sone bo[?] ne md wm [...]' (f. 198r).

Richard Devenysshe: inscribed 16th century 'Be hit knowento all Crysten men [tha]t y Rych Deuenysshe be come d[...] sere[...] the y[ear?] the viij day of Nouembre [th]e yere of kyng herry vjte [th]e first yere'; 'Thomas [Abington?] [sainctt?] [?]' (f. 203; cancelled).

John Thomassome: inscribed with his name in a 16th-century hand: 'John thomassome [...] the fowrth of the [trimmed]' (f. 15r).

Added musical score, pen trials and maxims in Latin and Greek in a ?17-century hand (f. 1*v).

Thomas Godwyn: inscribed with his name in a ?17th-century hand (f. 2*v).

Thomas Linacer: inscribed with his name in a ?17th-century hand (f. 2*v); see discussion on this name in Anthony Edwards, Notes & Queries, n.s. 54 (2007), 376.

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.