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Harley MS 2920
- Record Id:
- 040-002048751
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002048751
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000761.0x0000bf
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100181358934.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 2920
- Title:
- Collection of texts relating to the order of service, made for an Italian house of Poor Clares
- Scope & Content:
-
A collection of texts relating to the order of service, probably made for an Italian house of Poor Clares, as suggested by repeated references to the Order's founders St Francis and St Clare of Assisi (e.g. ff. 10v, 16r, 27r). The manuscript was written in two parts: the first part (ff. 1-24) was made for the nun Agata di Nicolo in 1518, according to the Italian colophon (on f. 24r); the second part (ff. 25r-33v) is undated but was probably written in the mid-16th century.
Contents:
f. 1*r: Three added inscriptions in Italian relating to various nuns, dated 30 June 1560, 11 August 1560, and 8 June 1561.
ff. 1r-19r: Ordo quando aliqua de novo ingreditur monasterium, the order for the investiture ceremony for novice nuns, written in Latin.
ff. 19v-21r: Forma absolutionis in articulo mortis,the form for absolution at the point of death, written in Latin.
ff. 21r-22v: Benedictiones vestimentorum Sacerdotalium, a set of benedictions for priestly vestments, written in Latin.
ff. 23-24r: Orationes ad Benedicendum Linteamina Altaris, seu Vasa sancta ad usum ipsius, a set of prayers for the blessing of the altar linen, written in Latin, ending with a colophon in Italian (f. 24r).
ff. 25r-33r: Ordo intronizandi abbatissam, the order for the introduction of the abbess, written in Latin.
f. 33v: An added inscription in Italian relating to various nuns, dated 13 April 1561.
ff. 1*v and 24v are blank.
Decoration:
Initials in blue with red pen-flourishing or in red with purple pen-flourishing.
Capitals marked in yellow (ff. 25-33). Blank spaces left for initials (ff. 25-33).
Rubricated headings. Red and blue crosses. Line-fillers.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
Medieval and Renaissance Women - Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002048751", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 2920: Collection of texts relating to the order of service, made for an Italian house of Poor Clares" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002048751 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 2920 : Collection of texts relating to the order of service, made for an Italian house of Poor Clares - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[2921]/040-002048751
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100181358934.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Italian
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1518
- End Date:
- 1574
- Date Range:
- 1518-3rd quarter of the 16th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Material: Parchment.
Dimensions: 170 x 105 mm (text space: 95 x 75 mm).
Foliation: ff. 1* + 33 (+ 1 unfoliated paper flyleaf at the beginning + 1 unfoliated parchment leaf after f. 1* + 1 unfoliated paper flyleaf at the end); f. 1* is a paper leaf.
Catchwords (ff. 8v, 16v).
Script: Gothic.
Binding: British Museum in-house. Mottled brown leather, tooled in gold.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
Italy.
The first part of the manuscript (ff. 1-24) was made for the nun Agata di Nicolo in 1518, probably for a house of Poor Clares: the Italian colophon, inscribed, 'Questo libro a facto scrivere, la veneranda religiosa suora agata di nicolo, d'andrea nicoli: pregate dio per lei. a di venti d'Octobre mille cinquecento xviii' ('The venerable Sister Agata di Nicolo d'Andrea Nicoli had this book written. Pray to God for her. 20 October 1518' (f. 24r); see Watson, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts (1979), I, no. 714).
Provenance:
Conyers Middleton (b. 1683, d. 1750), Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge from 1706, head librarian of the University Library at Cambridge (1721-50); sold on 25 February 1725/25' (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 239; Diary (1966), II, p. 344 n. 2).
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, inscribed as usual by their librarian, Humfrey Wanley ‘25 die Februarji, A.D. 1724/5’ (f. [2*r]).
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, 1808-12), II, no. 2920.
The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by Cyril Ernest Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London, 1966), II: 1723-1726, p. 344 n. 2.
Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London, 1972), p. 239.
Andrew G. Watson, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts c. 700-1600 in The Department of Manuscripts: The British Library, 2 vols (London, 1979), I, no. 714.
Brian Richardson, Women and the Circulation of Texts in Renaissance Italy (Cambridge, 2020), p. 177.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)