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Harley MS 3013
- Record Id:
- 040-002048844
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002048844
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000761.0x00013f
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100056048539.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 3013
- Title:
- Aldhelm of Sherborne, Epistola ad Ehfridum; Aldhelm of Sherborne, De laudibus virginitatis
- Scope & Content:
-
This manuscript contains two didactic works composed by Aldhelm of Sherborne (d. 709): the Epistola ad Ehfridum (Letter to Heahfrith), a letter promoting the schools of Theodore and Adrian of Canterbury; and the De laudibus virginitatis (In Praise of Virginity), a work in 60 chapters extolling virginity. These are preceded by flyleaves including musical notations and various verses in late 12th-century hands. After the De laudibus virginitatis is a copy of a letter of Pope Alexander III (b. 1100, d. 1181) to Roger de Pont l'Evêque (b. c 1185, d. 1181), archbishop of York.
Contents:
ff. 3r-7r: Aldhelm of Sherborne, Epistola ad Ehfridum.
ff. 7r-96r: Aldhelm of Sherborne, De laudibus virginitatis with some interlinear glosses in Old English (ff. 13v; 14r; 30r; 33r; 43v; 65v) and some added contemporary marginal glosses in Latin.
The manuscript contains several later additions:
ff. 1r-1v: A hymn for Mass, beginning: 'Clemens et benigna iugi laude digna Maria', followed on the verso by an ownership inscription (see Provenance), added in the late 12th or early 13th century.
ff. 2r-2v: Various verses including a poem: De monacho dormiente ad vigilias (On the Monk Sleeping at Vigils)beginning: 'Angelus: Flecte caput, fili, quia dicunt: Gloria patri / Diabolus: Non flectet, triplicem nisi ruperit antea funem' (f. 2r); an epitaph of Petrus Comestor that was inscribed on his grave in the Abbey of St Victor of Paris: 'Magister Petrus Maniur/Petrus erat quem petraregit dictusque Comestor' (f. 2r), and a hymn De baptismo Christi (On the Baptism of Christ) (f. 2v), added in the late 12th or early 13th century.
f. 96r: A colophon by a hand similar to the glosses: 'Tres digiti scribunt, totum corpusque laborat / Scribere qui nescit, nullum putet esse laborem / Dum digiti scribunt vix cetera membra quiescunt', added in the late 12th or early 13th century.
ff. 96v-97r: A letter from Pope Alexander III (Pope from 1159-1181) to Roger de Pont l'Evêque, archbishop of York (imperfect), added in the late 12th or early 13th century.
Decoration:
Large initials in red and green with foliate penwork decoration (ff. 3r, 11r (x2), 30v, 66r). Initials in red or green, some with simple penwork decoration in the same colour; one in blue (f. 13r). Rubrics in red. Roman numbering in red.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- England and France 700-1200 Project
Harley Collection - Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002048844", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 3013: Aldhelm of Sherborne, Epistola ad Ehfridum; Aldhelm of Sherborne, De laudibus virginitatis" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002048844 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 3013 : Aldhelm of Sherborne, Epistola ad Ehfridum; Aldhelm of Sherborne, De laudibus virginitatis - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[3014]/040-002048844
- 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_100056048539.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- English, Old
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1150
- End Date:
- 1174
- Date Range:
- 2nd or 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: 235 x 165 mm (text space: 170 x 95 mm).
Foliation: ff. 97 (+ 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + at the end).
Script: Protogothic.
Binding: Red leather with gold-tooling.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
England.
Provenance:
The Cistercian abbey of St Mary the Virgin, Newminster, Northumberland, founded in 1137: inscribed a 12th- or 13th-century ownership inscription: 'Liber Sancte Marie Novi monasterii' (f. 1v), perhaps also added various texts and verses in different late12th-century or early 13th-century hands (ff. 1r, 2r-2v, 96v-97r); see Richard Sharpe and James Willoughby, Medieval Libraries of Great Britain (Oxford: The Bodleian Libraries, 2015) «http://mlgb3.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/mlgb/book/4034/?search_term=Harley%203013&page_size=500» [accessed 2 August 2016].
? William Howard (b. 1563, d. 1640), antiquary and landowner: see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 199.
John Warburton (b. 1682, d. 1759), herald and antiquary: sold to Edward Harley see inscription below and Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), pp. 198-99, 347.
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:
-
Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk.manuscripts/.
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), no. 3013.
Neil R. Ker, Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957), no. 238.
Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books, ed. by Neil R. Ker, 2nd edn, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 3 (London: Royal Historical Society, 1964), p.134.
Cyril E. Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 198-99; 347.
David N. Bell, An Index of Authors and Works in Cistercian Libraries in Great Britain, Cistercian Studies Series, 130 (Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications, 1992), p. 23.
Anne Lawrence-Mathers, Manuscripts in Northumbria in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries (Woodbridge: Brewer, 2003), p. 215.
K. D. Hartzell, Catalogue of Manuscripts Written or Owned in England up to 1200 containing Music (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2006), no. 160.
Richard Sharpe and James Willoughby, Medieval Libraries of Great Britain (Oxford: The Bodleian Libraries, 2015) «http://mlgb3.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/mlgb/book/4034/?search_term=Harley%203013&page_size=500» [accessed 2 August 2016]
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Notes:
- This manuscript is part of The Polonsky Foundation England and France Project: Manuscripts from the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, 700-1200.