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 3950

Record Id:

040-002049787

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002049787

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000807.0x0001ce

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 3950

Title:

Psalter with Anglo-Norman and Latin verses

Scope & Content:

Contents:

f. 1r-v: a prayer to the Wounds of Christ in Latin (beginning 'Sacratissimo capiti tuo et beatissime corone tue').

f. 2r: the Creed in Anglo-Norman French verse (beginning 'Jo crei en Deu verrayement'; ed. Brayer and Bouly de Lesdain, 'Les prières usuelles' (1969), pp. 114-15).

f. 2r-v: the Lord's Prayer in Anglo-Norman French verse (beginning 'Nostre pere ki es la sus'; ed. Brayer and Bouly de Lesdain, 'Les prières usuelles' (1969), p. 98).

f. 2v: a prayer in Latin (beginning 'Suscipere dignare domine').

f. 2v: a verse in Latin (beginning 'Ave Virgo virginum per quam vir beatus').

ff. 3r-8v: a calendar, with Norwich saints including St William of Norwich (24 March) and St Bonitus (15 January), and numerous obits of bishops and priors in a nearly contemporary hand, and other notes and obits from the 16th century.

ff 9r-148v: the Psalter, with Latin verses in many of the margins.

ff. 148v-160r: the Canticles.

ff. 160r-162r: the Athanasian Creed.

ff. 162r-167v: the Litany, with Norwich saints including St William of Norwich and St Bonitus.

ff. 167v-170r: the Commendation of the Soul with musical notation.

ff. 170r-176v: the Office of the Dead.

f. 176v: a prayer in Latin (beginning 'Omnipotens sempiterne Deus').

ff. 177r-215r: canticles and prayers for specific days and hours in Latin.

f. 215r-v: a suffrage to St John the Evangelist.

f. 216r: an added poem on Old Testament figures in English, 16th century (beginning 'Tell wheare is noble Salomon').

ff. 217r-219v: added prayers in Latin, 14th century.

f. 219r: an added prayer in Anglo-Norman French, 14th century (beginning 'Sire deu omnipotent').

Numerous pen-trials and marginal inscriptions throughout.

Decoration:

Large puzzle initials in red and blue with red and blue pen-flourishing at the major Psalm divisions (including 51 and 101) (ff. 9r, 29v, 43v, 56r, 56v, 69v, 86r, 101r, 103r, 117r).

From f. 177, large puzzle initials in a different style in blue and red with red and blue penwork decoration, one with a rabbit (ff. 177r, 186v) and much of the decoration in the form of leaves and with pen-flourishing.

Initials in red with blue penwork decoration, or in blue with red penwork decoration. Line-fillers in red and blue, some in the form of fish or animal heads.

Marginal penwork decoration in red and blue, one with a hybrid (f. 9r). Small initials in red in the prayers.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002049787", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 3950: Psalter with Anglo-Norman and Latin verses" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002049787

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 3950 : Psalter with Anglo-Norman and Latin verses

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[3943]/040-002049787

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

Anglo-Norman
English.
Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1300

End Date:

1324

Date Range:

1st quarter of the 14th century

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:

Material: Parchment.

Dimensions: 290 x 190 mm (text space: 200 x 130 mm).

Foliation: ff. 219 (+ 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and at the end).

Script: Gothic.

Binding: Post-1600.

Custodial History:

Origin:

Norwich, England.

Provenance:

The Benedictine cathedral priory of Holy Trinity, Norwich: the calendar and litany contain Norwich saints including St William of Norwich (24 March) and St Bonitus (15 January); the calendar features added obits of many of the cathedral's bishops and priors, such as Prior William of Kirkby (9 March) and Bishop William Ayermin (27 March).

Added 14th-century prayers and text, including initials in blue with pen-flourishing (now black) (ff. 217r-219v); or with coloured initials (ff. 1-2v); other added text (f. 167r, lower margin).

Inscription in English 'to master Ronoy montmouth' ? (f. 46r).

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.

Information About Copies:

Select digital coverage: Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts, http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/

Publications:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: [n. pub.], 1808-12), III (1808) , no. 3950.

The Monastic Breviary of Hyde Abbey, Winchester: MSS. Rawlinson Liturg. e. 1*, and Gough Liturg. 8, in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, ed. by J. B. L. Tolhurst, Henry Bradshaw Society, LXV-LXXX, 6 vols (London: Henry Bradshaw Society, 1932-42), 6, p. 240.

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. 138.

Édith Brayer and Anne-Marie Bouly de Lesdain, 'Les prières usuelles annexées aux anciennes traductions françaises du psautier', Bulletin d'information de l'Institut de Recherche et d'Histoire des Textes, 15 (1967-1968), 1969, pp. 69-120.

Nigel Morgan, 'Notes on the Post-Conquest Calendar, Litany and Martyrology of the Cathedral Priory of Winchester with a Consideration of Winchester Diocese Calendars of the Pre-Sarum period', in The Vanishing Past: Medieval Studies Presented to Chrisopher Hohler, ed. by Alan Borg and Andrew Martindale (Oxford: B. A. R., 1981), pp. 133-74 (no. 1).

Neil. R. Ker, 'Medieval Manuscripts from Norwich Cathedral Priory', in Books, Collectors and Libraries: Studies in the Medieval Heritage, N. R. Ker, ed. by Andrew G. Watson (London: Hambledon Press, 1985), 242-72 (pp. 258, 265-66).

Nigel Morgan, ‘Patrons and their Devotions in the Historiated Initials and Full-Page Miniatures of 13th-Century English Psalters’, in The Illuminated Psalter: Studies in the Content, Purpose and Placement of its Images, ed. by F. O. Büttner, (Belgium: Brepols, 2004), pp. 309-22 (p. 309 n. 4).

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

The Cathedral Priory of the Holy Trinity, Norwich, 1101-1539