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Harley MS 2386

Record Id:

040-002048217

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002048217

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000709.0x00037e

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 2386

Title:

Various historical texts; the Brut Chronicle in Latin; John Mandeville's Travels; a metrical romance in Middle English

Scope & Content:

Contents:

ff. 1v-9v: A chronicle of British and English kings from the Viking invasions down to the coronation of King Henry IV.

f. 10r: two notes about England.

f. 10v: a short tract about calculating wheat measures at the Exchequer and converting into English measures.

f. 11r: a note about the creation of the world.

f. 11r: a note about the history of England from Kings Henry III to Edward II.

ff. 11v-17v: Gesta Romanorum Pontificum from St Peter to Gregory X.

ff. 17v-29v: a description of the world titled De etatibus mundi et aliis notabilibus.

ff. 30r-34v: the history of the counts of Leicester, Lancaster and Chester.

ff. 35r-55v: the Brut Chronicle in Latin verse, perhaps written by a scribe named 'Peckward', mentioned in a note towards the end (f. 55v).

ff. 55v-56v: the names of the magnates who accompanied William I to England with the title Cognomina magnatum Angliam intrancium cum Willelmo Conquestore.

ff 57v-58r: a description of the towns and cities of England.

ff. 58v-59v the account of Norwich from Domesday Book.

f. 60r: the history of the Order of St Augustine.

f. 60v: a description of Christian kings.

ff. 61r-61v: a description of the ages of the world and computistical notes based on Bede.

ff. 62r-64r: Declaratio de Origine et Institutione, Titulo et Confirmacione Ordinis S. Augustini.

ff. 65v-67r: a history of the giants in England titled: De Origine Gigantum in insula Albion.

ff. 67v-68r: a list of the foundations of the order of St Augustine in Norwich.

ff. 69r-73v: various notes, scribbles and doodles.

ff. 74r-130r: John Mandeville's Travels.

ff. 131r-138r: A metrical romance in Middle English known as 'Amys and Amiloun', beginning: 'For Goddis loue in trinyte'.

ff. 138v-139r: various notes.

[ff. 57r, 64v-65r, 68v, 130v are blank]

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002048217", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 2386: Various historical texts; the Brut Chronicle in Latin; John Mandeville's Travels; a metrical romance in Middle English" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002048217

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 2386 : Various historical texts; the Brut Chronicle in Latin; John Mandeville's Travels; a metrical romance in Middle English

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[2387]/040-002048217

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

English, Middle
Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1400

End Date:

1499

Date Range:

15th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: paper.

Dimensions: 210 x 160 mm.

Foliation: ff. 139 (+ 4 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning).

Script: Gothic cursive.

Binding: Post-1600.

Custodial History:

Origin: ?Norwich, England.

Provenance:

The Augustinian Convent in Norwich: Historical notes are brought down to 1399 (ff. 1-73), and some of them relate to Norwich, special attention being given to Austin friars there and their founder Roger Minyot (f. 67r).

?Robert Pekeard, rector of Hedenham (1448-1460): inscribed with his name (f. 61v).

Johannes Crook, an unidentified 15th- or 16th-century owner: inscribed with his name (f. 59v).

Thomas Brampton, an unidentified 16th-century owner: inscribed with his name (f. 60r).

Wyllyam Cressett, an unidentified 16th-century owner: inscribed with his name (ff. 70v, 138r).

Thomas Elsye, an unidentified 16th-century owner: inscribed with his name (f. 59v).

John Hyd 'of Rosse', an unidentified 17th-century owner: inscribed with his name (f. 70r).

John Batteley (b. 1647, d. 1708), fellow of Trinity College Cambridge: sold to Edward Harley on 5 November 172 (f. 1*r).

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 forms 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. 678.

Boffey, Julia and A. S. G Edwards, A New Index of Middle English Verse (The British Library: London, 2005), p. 57.

Seymour, M.C., ed., The Defective Version of Mandeville's Travels, (Oxford: The Early English Text Society, 2002), p. xx.

Wright, Cyril Ernest, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 66, 80, 119, 120, 145, 202, 259, 272.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)