Harley MS 3884

Contents:

1. (f. 1r): Mnemonic verse on the kings of England, on a scrap of parchment pasted on, following rebinding. 'Will con Wil Rufus hen stephanus hen que secundus / Ri Ion henricus Edward tres Ri que secundus / post hos regnarunt quartus quintus & henri'.

2. (ff. 1r-229r): Polychronicon by Ranulf Higden (d. 1364), with a continuation to 1454. An edition of the Polychronicon can be found in Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden, ed. by Churchill Babington and J. R. Lumby, Rolls Series, 9 vols (London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green, 1865-1886). The manuscript lacks the first portion of Book I, beginning, on the last page of a now-missing quire, at the head of Book I, chapter 40. Incipit: 'Hec britannia clara grecis vestris que monimentis germanie gallie hispanie'. The lengthy continuation is drawn from a number of different sources, including the Latin Brut (ff. 226v-28v; an edition of that text can be found in English Historical Literature in the Fifteenth Century, ed. by Charles Lethbridge (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913), pp. 309-337). The text also includes the 'Vendicacio corone anglie per henricum quartum pro tunc ducem lancastrie' (incipit (f. 220v): 'In the name of the fader son and holi gost I henri of lancastre chalenge this Realme of yngelond and corone with alle the membris and apportenaunces as I that am descended by the right line of the blod') and the 'Resignatio dicti Ricardi regis' (incipit (f. 221v): 'In dei nomine amen Ego Ricardus dei gracia rex anglie et francie'). Explicit (f. 229r): 'cuius linea deducitur supra loco suo usque ad wodon' et linea ipsius wodon' ad adam primum hominem'. Latin notes in the margins are in a variety of hands, including that of the text's scribe. Years are entered in columns drawn in red on either side of the text, beginning on f. 16v.

3. (ff. 229v-36r): Chronological diagrams. The first (f. 229v) traces the lineage of Henry VI (1421-1471) back to Louis IX of France (1214-1270). There follows a chronology of important people and events (ff. 230r-31r), starting with Adam and Eve and ending with Julius Caesar. Then a diagram (ff. 231r-34v) lists, in parallel, the emperors (of Rome and then of the Holy Roman Empire) and popes, culminating in Pope Pius II (elected 1458, d. 1464). A similar diagram (ff. 235v-36r) lists the archbishops of Canterbury to John Stafford (d. 1452).

4. (ff. 237r-244v): Alphabetical index to the Polychronicon, keyed to book and chapter numbers. The index is incomplete, the last entry being 'Turris babel 2 . 6'.

Decoration:

Marginal drawing of Noah's Ark in red ink (f. 14r) and 2 diagrams illustrating Pythagorean musical theory (f. 37v). Chronological diagrams in red and black (ff. 229v-36r). 5 initials in blue with blue, red and dark purple pen-flourishing extending into the margins at the beginning of each book (ff. 10r, 32r, 64r, 89r, 140v). Coloured initials in red or blue. Catchwords. Leaf signatures in red.