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Harley MS 2836

Record Id:

040-002048667

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002048667

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000761.0x00006a

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 2836

Title:

The first volume of a Bible in two parts (Genesis-Hebrews, without the Psalms)

Scope & Content:

Contents:

ff. 1r-336v: The first volume (containing Genesis-Hebrews, without the Psalms) of a Latin Bible in two parts; for the second volume, see Harley MS 2837.

The manuscript contains various additions:

f. [iv]recto: A previously unidentified legal document from Beinwil Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in Beinwil in the Canton Soloturn, Switzerland, written in the name of Abbot Heinrich Rotacker (r. 1415–1431): 'Nos Heinricus divine permissione Abbas Totusque Conventus Monasterii Beinwil[e]r ordinis sancti Benedicti Basiliensis diocesis'; concerning a certain 'Johann[is] de wegenstetten' [Wegenstetten in a municipality in the district of Rheinfelden and the canton of Aargau, Switzerland], and a bishop of Basel named 'Johannes', probably Johann IV von Fleckenstein (r. 1423-1436). The document gives the German name of a location in line 10: '[nuncupatur] der kleinhoff'; written in a 15th-century script.

f. 270r: A 'vacat' inscription added in the margin to cancel a chapter copied twice by the scribe; added in the (?) 14th century.

f. 291v: A note on the Pauline Epistles in brown ink, with a decorated initial that is in the same style as one in an added note in Harley MS 2837 (f. 125v): 'Nota diligenter quod omnes epistolae pauli habent .xxxxiij. ?t[erm]i[n]aciones in universo'; added in the 14th century.

f. 336v: A note: 'xxxiij t[er]mi[n]ac[i]o[n]es'; added in the 14th century

f. 337r: A table of contents, written on a largely erased leaf (ff. 337r-337v) that was originally part of the Bible (Colossians, chapter 2, is still visible), entitled: 'Hic codex cotinet subscriptos libros'; added in the 14th century (The different biblical books have their number of capitals added to them in a different hand).

Decoration:

37 large puzzle initials in red and blue with dragons, foliate decoration, small flowers, reserved designs and pen-flourishing (including J-borders) in the same colours (ff. 1r, 5v, 35r, 58r, 73v, 96r, 117r, 117v, 132r, 147r, 149v, 150v, 170v, 186v, 205v, 224r, 224v, 241r, 242r, 265v, 272v, 281v, 292r, 292v, 300r, 308v, 314r, 316v, 319r, 321r, 323r, 324v, 325v, 327v, 329r, 330r, 330v). Green is used for some of the decoration (only for large initials, ff. 292-330v). Birds are drawn in blue and red ink in the border (ff. 1r, 58r). Numerous initials in red or blue with pen-flourishing in the other colour (flourishing in brown also occurs with red initials (see ff. 36r, 41r). Capitals highlighted in red. Guide letters. Chapter numbers and running titles in red and blue. Marginal letters marking subdivisions in the chapters throughout the manuscript. Added marginal texts in red frames, one (f. 201r) is decorated with 'fleurs-de-lis'.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002048667", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 2836: The first volume of a Bible in two parts (Genesis-Hebrews, without the Psalms)" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002048667

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 2836 : The first volume of a Bible in two parts (Genesis-Hebrews, without the Psalms)

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[2837]/040-002048667

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

German, Middle High
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:

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 485 x 335 mm (text space [indicated by pricking holes]: 345 x 230 mm, in 2 columns) .

Foliation: ff. 337 (+ 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves and 1 unfoliated parchment flyleaf at the beginning + 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the end); f. [iv] is a parchment leaf that was originally part of another manuscript or was part of a larger leaf that formed a separate document; 2 unfoliated parchment tabs between f. 336 and f. 337; paper pastedowns with index letters in brown ink written added to margins on ff. 22r-30r; red parchment tabs on ff. 35, 73, 96, 117, 147, 149, 170, 187, 206, 224, 242, 281, 292, 308, 314, 316, 321 [white parchment with a fragment of a text in brown ink on it], 323, 325, 327, 329, 330.

Collation: Mainly in quires of 10. Indicated by quire marks (in the centre of the lower margin of the verso of the last leaf of the quire), leaf signatures, and catchwords. Each quire has been separately mounted onto a paper guard.

Script: Gothic.

Binding: British Museum in-house. Red half leather binding with the Harleian armorial bookplate gold-stamped on the insides of the upper and lower covers. Rebound on 22 February 1965.

Custodial History:

Origin:

South-western Germany or Switzerland (Upper Rhineland).

Provenance:

A Carthusian monastery in South-western Germany or Switzerland: possibly the Charterhouse of St Margaretenthal in Kleinbasel, Basel, one of eight medieval charterhouses in Switzerland, and closely situated to Beinwil Abbey: a Benedictine abbey of which a 15th-century legal document features on f. [iv]recto. The monastery was founded in 1401 and dissolved in 1536. Like Harley MS 2837, this manuscript contains several liturgical instructions that explicitly refer to a Charterhouse: these concern rubricated marginal notes written in the same hand as the manuscript on f. 148r: 'Sciendum quod sicieris et sicierit etcaetera in carthusia ubique legitur per .ci. non per .ti.'; and f. 177v: 'Sciendum quod in carthusia habetur et legitur serravit et non servavit'; and an added 15th-century ownership inscription in brown ink on f. 337r: 'Iste liber est fr[atru]m Carthusie[n]siu[m]'. It also features rubricated instructions for liturgical reading by a monastic community on f. 1r: 'Nota quod hanc epistolar semper legimus in dominica prima ante septuagesima in refectorio'; and similar instructions for reading biblical books in 'In Refectorio' on ff. 6v, 36v, 59v, 224r and f. 265r.

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. 715 [no. 2836].

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Places:

Southwestern Germany
Switzerland