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Harley MS 3891

Record Id:

040-002049727

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002049727

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000807.0x000192

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 3891

Title:

Cartulary of Holm Cultram Abbey

Scope & Content:

General cartulary, containing charters relating mainly to the time of Edward II (r. 1307–27) and Edward III (1327–77), arranged in 15 sections:

f. 1r–v, 3r–7r: Added charters, mid 14th century.

ff. 8v–9v, 2r: Contemporary table of contents (f. 2 has been misplaced after f. 9).

ff. 10r–11v: Section 1, foundation charters.

ff. 12r–17v: Section 2, royal charters.

ff. 18r–99v: Sections 3–15, arranged topographically.

ff. 100r–144v: Three unnumbered sections containing copies of records of legal proceedings, papal privileges, and general charters of liberties.

Decoration:

Initials and rubrics in red. Marginal drawings of human and animal heads, hands and symbols (ff. 116v–126r).

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002049727", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 3891: Cartulary of Holm Cultram Abbey" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002049727

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 3891 : Cartulary of Holm Cultram Abbey

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[3883]/040-002049727

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

Parchment codex

Digitised Content:

Languages:

Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1300

End Date:

1349

Date Range:

1st half of the 14th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript

Physical Characteristics:

Condition: Damaged by damp, with most rubrics illegible.

Dimensions: 185 × 135 mm (written area 145 × 90 mm).

Foliation: ff. 144 (+ 3 modern paper flyleaves at the beginning and the end).

Script: Gothic cursive.

Binding: British Museum.

Custodial History:

Origin: The Cistercian abbey of St Mary, Holm Cultram, West Cumbria.

Provenance:

? William Clayton of Penwortham, near Preston, Lancashire: possibly owned by him or a friend, either Henry Fleetwood of Penwortham or Thomas Hesketh (Wright, p. 105).

? Henry Fleetwood of Penwortham (b. 1667, d. 1746), MP for Preston: acquired from him by Humfrey Wanley for the Harley collection from a friend of William Clayton, 17 April 1722 (Diary, i, 139).

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 by their librarian, Humfrey Wanley, ‘17 die Aprilis A.D. 1722’ (f. 1r).

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 the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts, https://bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/.

Publications:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, ed. by Robert Nares and others, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808–12), iii, 94.

William Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum, ed. by John Caley, Henry Ellis, and Buckeley Bandinel, 6 in 8 vols (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, 1817–30), v, 594–618, nos. iv–xxi.

W.G. Collingwood and Francis Grainger, The Register and Records of Holm Cultram, Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, Record Series, 7 (Kendal: Wilson, 1929).

The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715–1726, ed. by Cyril Ernest Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), I: 1715-1723, p. 139 and n. 4.

Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts Preserved in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 105, 152, 194.

Hugh Doherty, ‘Robert de Vaux and Roger de Stuteville, Sheriffs of Cumberland and Northumberland, 1170–1185’, Anglo-Norman Studies, 28 (2005), 65–102 (pp. 84, 92).

G.R.C. Davis, Medieval Cartularies of Great Britain and Ireland, ed. by Claire Breay, Julian Harrison, and David M. Smith, 2nd edn (London: British Library, 2010), no. 494.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Holme Cultram Abbey, Cumberland