Hard-coded id of currently selected item: . JSON version of its record is available from Blacklight on e.g. ??

Metadata associated with selected item should appear here...

Harley MS 3898

Record Id:

040-002049734

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002049734

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000807.0x000199

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 3898

Title:

Carta caritatis; Clement IV, Parvus Fons

Scope & Content:

Contents:

ff. 1r-46v: Carta Caritatis [Constitution of the Cistercian Order], with two prologues: the first (ff. 1r-6v) begins: 'Antequam abbacie cistercienses florere inciperent'; and the second (f. 7r) begins: 'Ut de facili quod querit lector inveniat diligenter attendat subsequentium institutionum distinctiones Quindecim esse'; and a table of contents (ff. 7r-8r); the first distinctio (f. 8r) begins: 'In civitatibus castellis villis nulla nostra consturenda sunt cenobia sed in locis convers[as]ione hominum semotis'; with some text crossed out (ff. 27v, 34r, 34v, 37r).

ff. 47r-59v: Pope Clement IV, Parvus Fons [Bull on the Cistercian Order], 1265, entitled 'Celementina' and beginning 'Clemens episcopus servorum dei ad peretuam rei memoriam'.

The manuscript contains later additions:

f. 13r: Marginal addition of statute of 1262 regarding the anniversary of Margaret, Countess of Blois (d. 1230), and her parents; added in the 13th century.

f. 27v: Marginal addition of a statute of 1258: 'de hoc require deistinctione relata anno domini MCCLVIII ad hoc signum'; added in the (?) 13th century.

Decoration:

Large initials in red and green with red and green pen-flourishing. Large plain initials in red or green. Rubrics in red. Capitals marked in red.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002049734", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 3898: Carta caritatis; Clement IV, Parvus Fons" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002049734

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 3898 : Carta caritatis; Clement IV, Parvus Fons

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[3890]/040-002049734

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1257

End Date:

1280

Date Range:

1257-c 1275

Era:

Access:

Please request the physical items you need using the online collection item request form.

Digitised items can be viewed online by clicking the thumbnail image or digitised content link.

Readers who have registered or renewed their pass since 21 March 2024 can request physical items prior to visiting the Library by completing
this request form.
Please enter the Reference (shelfmark) above on the request form.

If your Reader Pass was issued before this date, you will need to visit the Library in London or Yorkshire to renew it before you can request items online. All manuscripts and archives must be consulted at the Library in London.

This catalogue record may describe a collection of items which cannot all be requested together. Please use the hierarchy viewer to navigate to individual items. Some items may be in use or restricted for other reasons. If you would like to check the availability, contact our Reference Services team, quoting the Reference (shelfmark) above.

User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 165 x 120 mm (text space: 120 x 85 mm).

Foliation: ff. 59 (+ 4 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 4 at the end); ff. 9-10 are stuck together.

Script: Gothic, written above top line; Tironian ets; written by three scribes.

Binding: British Museum in-house. Rebound on 9 May 1967. The gold-tooled brown leather covers of a previous binding are pasted inside the present ones.

Custodial History:

Origin:

Southern Netherlands (near Liège).

Provenance:

A Cistercian abbey in the diocese of Liège, perhaps Aulne, Val-Saint-Lambert, or Le Val-Dieu: refers to the bishop of the diocese on f. 1r: 'Tibi domine pater episcope sancti sedi Leodiensis'; and f. 1v; 'incipit compilatio diffinitionum capituli generalis edita anno domini MCCLVII'.

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.

Publications:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), II (1808), p. 95 [no. 3898].

Bernard Lucet, Les codifications cisterciennes de 1237 et de 1257 (Paris: Editions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1977), pp. 58-60 [as 'H'].

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Clement IV, Pope, c 1195-1268,
see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000364519496,
see also http://viaf.org/viaf/227434221

Places:

Liège, Belgium