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Harley MS 3908
- Record Id:
- 040-002049744
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002049744
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000807.0x0001a3
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100056056549.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 3908
- Title:
-
Goscelin of Saint-Bertin, Vita Sancte Mildrethae; Lessons on the Gospel of St Luke; Mass and Office for the feast of St. Mildreth; Historia de Sancta Mildretha in music; Textus translationis Mildrethe; John of Bridlington, Prophetia; Prophecies of Merlin
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
This manuscript consists mainly of texts written in the 1st half of the 12th century (ff. 1r-100r), and it also includes two added texts written in the 14th century (ff. 101r-117v).
ff. 1r-35r: Goscelin of Saint-Bertin, Vita Sancte Mildrethae, (the Life of St Mildreth), with a prologue (ff. 1r-v).
ff. 35r-39v: A series of eight lectiones or lessons extracted from the Life of St Mildreth.
ff. 40r-41v: A reading from the Gospel of Matthew, 25, 1-13, followed by St Gregory, Homiliae XL in Evangelia, on Matthew 25:1-13, the parable of the ten virgins (ed. by Migne, Patrologia Latina, 72, col. 1118-1119).
ff. 42r-v: Mass and Office for the feast of St Mildreth, Missa Sancte Mildrethae.
ff. 42v-50v: Chant for the office of St Mildreth, Historia de Sancta Mildretha, set as an ntiphonary. Added musical notation: Anglo-Norman neumes on four-line blind-ruled staves, England, late 12th century (this is a separate quire).
ff. 51r-98r: Goscelin de Saint-Bertin, Textus translationis et instructionis monasterii beate Mildrethe, a treatise on the translation of St Mildreth's relics (ed. by D. W. Rollason, Medieval Studies, 48 (1986), 139-208).
ff. 98r-100r: Extract from Goscelin de Saint-Bertin, Libellus contra inanes sanctae virginis Mildrethae userpatores, a treatise defending the right of St Augustine's, Canterbury to the cult and relics of St Mildreth (ed. by M. L. Colker, Medieval Studies 39 (1977) 60-108)
ff. 101r-105v: A collection of unidentified texts, consisting of a prayer, incipit, 'Est tum demonibus iugi certamine fligo', explicit, 'omnis fiat et Amen'; a 6-line verse, incipit, 'Si paciencia, mens bene conscia', explicit, 'est purgatorius ignis' (f. 101r); a longer poem (ff. 101v-105v), incipit, 'Olim regit seculum', explicit, 'sponsus regine benedict nos rex sine fine'; a short text beginning 'Triplex est martyrum sine sanguinis', explicit, 'ut Christus glorificatur'(f. 105v);
ff. 106r-117r: Added John of Bridlington, Prophetia, 'Versus de Bridelyngton', dated 1327 in the colophon on f. 117r, though they could not have been written until after 1361, when Humphrey de Bohun, to whom they are dedicated became Earl of Hereford (ed. by Michael J. Curley, 'The Prophecy of John of Bridlington' (University of Chicago: unpublished PhD dissertation, 1973)).
ff. 117r-v: Prophecies de Merlin, the Prophecies of Merlin in French, imperfect, beginning: 'Cy commencent aucunes des prophecies et des merveils que Merlyn dist en son temps de Engleterre et des rois', written by the same 14th-century hand as ff. 101r-117r.
Decoration:
Large initials in red, some with simple penwork decoration. Small initials in brown.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- England and France 700-1200 Project
Harley Collection - Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002049744", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 3908: Goscelin of Saint-Bertin, Vita Sancte Mildrethae; Lessons on the Gospel of St Luke; Mass and Office for the feast of St. Mildreth;…" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002049744 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 3908 : Goscelin of Saint-Bertin, Vita Sancte Mildrethae; Lessons on the Gospel of St Luke; Mass and Office for the feast of St.… - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[3900]/040-002049744
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- A parchment codex
- Digitised Content:
- https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100056056549.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- French, Old
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1100
- End Date:
- 1399
- Date Range:
- 1st half of the 12th century-14th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 165 x 120 mm (text space: 130 x 95 mm)
Foliation: ff. 117 ( + 2 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves at the beginning and 3 at the end); f. i is a paper flyleaf.
Collation: i-iv8 (ff. 1-32), v8 + 2 (ff. 33-42) vi-xi8 (ff. 43-90) , xii 8+1 (ff, 91-99), xiii16 (ff. 100-117). ff. 100 and 117 are inserted half folios.
Script: Protogothic and Gothic cursive.
Binding: British Museum/British Library in-house. Rebound in 1977.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Canterbury, Southeastern England.
Provenance:
The Benedictine abbey of St Augustine, Canterbury: evidence of the script and contents (St Augustine is mentioned in the texts; the relics of St Mildred were probably moved to St Gregory's hospital, near the abbey): see generally Rollason, The Mildreth Legend (1982).
Inscribed, 'liber Colignam'(?) (f. 100v).
Added text in Latin and French, 14th- or 15th-century hand (ff. 101r-117v).
Added heading, 15th century 'Vita Sancte Wildrithae' (f. 1r).
Inscribed, 16th century 'Philipps' and 'Thomas' (f. 100r).
Added headings, added chapter numbers and a note related to them, early 17th century (ff. 93v-94r).
Inscribed, 17th century 'Historia Elmeri Sancti Augustini monachi' (f. 117v).
John Warburton (b. 1682, d. 1759), purchased from him by Humphrey Wanley in 1720 for the Harley Collection (see C. E. Wright, Fontes Harleani (1972), p. 347 and inscription on f. i recto).
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 Julii, 1720' (f. i).
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), III (1808), no. 3908.
Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books, ed. by N. R. Ker, 2nd edn, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 3 (London: Royal Historical Society, 1964), p. 44.
Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum(London: British Museum, 1972), p. 347.
M. L. Colker, 'A Hagiographic Polemic', Medieval Studies 39 (1977) 60-108.
M. J. Curley, 'The Cloak of Anonymity and The Prophecy of John of Bridlington', Modern Philology, 77.4 (May, 1980), 361-69.
D. W. Rollason, The Mildreth Legend: A Study in Early Medieval Hagiography in England (Leicester: Leister University Press, 1982), p. 106.
D. W. Rollason, 'Goscelin of Canterbury's account of the translation and miracles of St Mildreth; an edition with notes', Medieval Studies, 48 (1986), 139-210.
A. G. Rigg, 'John of Bridlington's Prophecy, a new look', Speculum, 63 (July, 1988), 596-613.
Richard Sharpe, 'Words and music by Goscelin of Canterbury', in Early Music, 19 (1991), 94-97.
Helmut Gneuss, Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A List of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 241 (Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2001), no. 439.3.
K. D. Hartzell, Catalogue of Manuscripts Written or Owned in England up to 1200 containing Music (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2006), no. 164.
Richard W. Pfaff, The Liturgy in Medieval England: A History (Cambridge: University Press, 2009), p. 118.
Richard Sharpe and James Willoughby, Medieval Libraries of Great Britain (Oxford: The Bodleian Libraries, 2015) http://mlgb3.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/mlgb/book/1513/?search_term=Harley%203908&page_size=500 [accessed 25 August 2016].
Hilary Elaine Morse, 'Description and Essay: London, British Library, Harley 3908 (University College London: unpublished MA research, 2017).
- 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.