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Harley MS 2882

Record Id:
040-002048713
Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
040-002048713
MDARK:
ark:/81055/vdc_100000000761.0x000098
LARK:
SLARK:
Format:
ISAD(G)
Reference (shelfmark):
Harley MS 2882
Title:

Prayerbook

Scope & Content:

Contents:

ff. 1r-61r: A collection of prayers, in both prose and verse, written in several different hands, now imperfect (folios lacking between f. 35 and 36 and between ff. 55 and 56). Includes prayers to: the Virgin Mary, St John, John the Baptist, St Peter, St Paul, the Trinity, St Stephen, St Laurence, St Nicholas, St Benedict, St Gregory the Great, St Cuthbert, Mary Magdalene, St Scholastica, St Genevieve ('Genoyefa'), Saint Faith ('Sancta Fides virgo'), St Margaret, and St Lucia.

Further prayers and a hymn with musical notation in four-line neumes (f. 34v), written in several different hands, were added in the second half of the 12th century-early 13th century (ff. 31v-35).

ff. 61r-64v: Added prayers to Christ and the Cross, in several late-12th century hands.

ff. 35v are blank.

Decoration:

1 full frame drawn in red and green (f. 47v; probably originally intended for a coloured drawing facing the beginning of the prayer to Mary Magdalene).

1 large initial in gold with pen-work decoration in red and green (f. 48r).

12 large initials in green and/or red with pen-work decoration in both colours (ff. 36v, 38v, 39r, 44r, 45v, 46v, 52r, 54v, 57r, 57v, 58r, 59r).

1 puzzle initial in green and red with pen-work decoration in the same colours (f. 46v).

Smaller initials in red and green throughout.

Coloured initials in alternating green or red. Display script in green or red. Guide letters for initials. Space for several large initials left blank (e.g., ff. 1r, 20r).

Pen trials (ff. 60v-61v).

Collection Area:
Western Manuscripts
Project / Collection:
Harley Collection
Hierarchy Tree:
[{ "id" : "040-002048713", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 2882: Prayerbook" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
Hierarchy Record Ids:
032-002045828
040-002048713
Is part of:
Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

 

Harley MS 2882 : Prayerbook
Hierarchy:
032-002045828[2883]/040-002048713
Container:
View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
Record Type (Level):
File
Extent:
1 volume
Digitised Content:
Languages:
Latin
Scripts:
Latin
Start Date:
1125
End Date:
1174
Date Range:
2nd quarter of the 12th century - 3rd quarter of the 12th century
Era:
CE
Access:

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User Conditions:
Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 125 x 80 mm (written area 105 x 60 mm; except ff. 61r-64v: written area 105 x 70 mm).

Foliation: ff. 64 (+ 1 unfoliated partially transparent membrane + 4 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves at the beginning + 5 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves at the end + 1 unfoliated partially transparent membrane).

2 folios excised before f. 36.

Script: Protogothic.

Binding: British Library in-house; rebound in 1975; the remains of the previous binding (gilt- and blind-tooled dark brown sprinkled leather) are pasted on the inside covers; quires mounted on separate paper guards.

Custodial History:

Origin:

Possibly Durham, northern England.

Provenance:

Made for the use of Benedictine nuns, possibly near Durham: prayers to Benedict (ff. 44r-45v), Cuthbert (f. 46v), and numerous female saints.

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.

Information About Copies:
Select digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/welcome.htm.
Publications:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), II (1808), p. 717, no. 2882.

Henri Barré, Prières anciennes de l'Occident à la mère du Sauveur (Paris: [n. pub.], 1963), p. 134 n. 39.

Material Type:
Archives and Manuscripts
Legal Status:
Not Public Record(s)
Places:
Northern England