Harley MS 3114

Origin:

Western Germany (? Arnstein).

Provenance:

The Premonstratensian abbey of St Mary and St Nicholas, Arnstein, founded in 1139: their (?) 14th-century ownership inscription on f. 1r: 'Liber sancte marie virginis sanctique Nicolai in', and continued in a different hand: 'arinstein beata maria virgo et mater deus', followed by further erased inscriptions; their 15th-century ownership inscription on f. 1v: 'Liber beatissime marie virginis sancte marie santique nicolai in Arnsteyn' a different hand added '1283'; and f. 169v: 'Liber Sante [sic] Marie' (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 53); marginal notes by Heinrich Schupp, abbot of the monastery (1556-1574) (see Krings, Das Prämonstratenserstift Arnstein (1990), p. 262).

Nathaniel Noel (fl. 1681, d. c. 1753), bookseller, employed by Edward Harley for buying books and manuscripts chiefly on the Continent, where his agent was George Suttie (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 254).

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 ‘16 die Ianuarij, A.D. 1720/21’ (f. 1r); on 9 January 1720/21 Harley selected this and other manuscripts which Noel had 'lately brought from Germany'. The manuscripts arrived on 16 January 1720/21 (see Diary, ed. by Wright and Wright (1966), I, p. 81 n. 13).

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.