Harley MS 4632

This manuscript contains the heraldic collections of Sir Christopher Barker (d. 1549), Garter King of Arms 1536, who compiled the manuscript between c. 1520-c. 1530. The manuscript also contains later additions, including coats of arms that may have been added in the 17th century.

Contents:

f. [iv]recto (parchment strip): Memorandi, including: 'Anno 1530 / the kinge henrye theight had grauntyd unto hym and his successors forever the fyrst frutes of all spyrytuall promocions in England / and the tenthes also of the yereley valewe of the same'.

f. 1v: Fragmentary texts, with a reference to 'Robert Mas[l]yn my servant'.

f. 2r: List of the kingdoms, duchies and earldoms under Charles I, 'Empereur elect'; elected Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 1519.

f. 2r: Note on the birth of Justinian Barker, Christopher Barker's son, in 1522.

f. 2r: Christopher Barker's arms quartered with those of Carlisle, followed by the arms of four officer of arms: the 'Arma officij Armorum' painted [the arms are those of Thomas Wriothesley (d. 1534), who was made Garter King of Arms in 1505]; and tricks of the arms of the offices of Clarencieux, Norory, and Garter.

f. 2v: List of 'Les noms des grans seigneurs qui furent a la conqueste dangleterre avec le duc guillaume le bastard'.

ff. 3r-3v: List of 'Les noms de lvij auctuers notables'.

f. 4r: Drawings of crowns for different peerage titles.

f. 4v: 'Here folowen the names of al the kinges of Englond sithe the conquest the wyche was by king Wylliam conquerour and how long they reygnet and where they were beryed'.

f. 4v: Lists of names and titles: 'Les noms de neuf preuz'; 'le troys vidames'; 'les cinq officers Royalles'; 'Les nomis des quinze offices Royalles Et perpetuelles Six Espirituelles Et Six Seculiers Six ducz Six Contes Et troys vidamis'.

f. 5r: Drawings of the badges of chivalric orders, including 'The ordre of lancelot king of hungery'; 'The ordre of the duke Albert of ostryk'; 'The order of sigemond the Emperour'; 'The order of the king of Denmarke'; 'Order of the tusson'; 'Order of naples'; 'Orderof britayn'; 'Order de portyngall'; 'Orderof Duc of Savoye xv'; 'Order of France'; 'Order of Scotland'; perhaps added at a later stage.

ff. 5v-7r: The genealogy and lineage of Edward III.

f. 7v: Memorandi concerning the number of churches dedicated to St Patrick; Christopher Barker's elevation to Suffolk Herald (1517) and Richmond Herald (1522).

ff. 8r-31v: Alphabetical index of coats of arms, organised by family name; added in the 16th or 17th century.

ff. 32r-41v: Alphabetical index of coats of arms.

ff. 41v-44v: Blazons and, in the margins, tricked arms of Wales, Cornwall, and Ireland.

ff. 45r-46v: 'Les xij blasons du Roy de Castille'; followed by blazons and arms of European earls and dukes.

ff. 47r-48v: 'Armes of the gentelmen of Cornewall and Devensher and Somerset'.

ff. 49r-50r: 'The armes of dyvers lordes knyghtes gentelmen of schottylland'.

f. 50v: '[T]he names and armes of the anchaucient [sic] bourgoiseis of the dessent of noble men the whiche were governyng in prosperite in the Citie of Tournay in the yere of our lord .1331. and also the names and blasons of thois that be noble dwelling in the Royaulme of touraysyns at the conquest of the same be our soveraynt Lord Kyng Henry the viijth the whiche was in the yere of our lord god .1513.'.

f. 51r: Blazons of 'Les anchiens armes des nobles Dangleter'.

ff. 51v-111v: Ordinal of Arms, comprising a collection of painted and tricked arms organised by heraldic device (12 per page with marginal additions from the 17th century); including (1) arms of English, European, and non-European kings and peerage; (2) attributed arms such has those of David, Hercules, Hector, Alexander, Arthur, the Three Magi, the King of Tars, Brutus, Gilbert of Sempringham, Prester John, Charlemagne, 'Lancelot de Lake'; and (3) the arms of contemporaries of Christopher Barker, such as William Atwater (b. 1440, d. 1521), Bishop of Lincoln (in 1514), John Taylor (d. 1534), Master of the Rolls, and Richard Rawlins (d. 1536), Bishop of St Davids (in 1523).

ff. 112r-121v: Correspondence and documents in French relating to a two-day tournament between Anthony Woodville (b. c. 1440, d. 1483), 2nd Earl Rivers (b. 1421, d. 1504), and Anthony, bastard of Burgundy, in 1467; see Bentley, Excerpta Historica (1831), pp. 176-177, 196.

ff. 122r-122v: A French tract on the Order of the Garter's ceremonies with reference to Humphrey of Gloucester (b. 1390, d. 1447).

ff. 123r-125r: Account in French of the funerary procession for the re-burial of Richard, Duke of York from Pontefact to Fotheringay, in July 1476; edited in Hammond, Sutton, and Visser-Fuchs, 'The Reburial of Richard, Duke of York' (1994), pp. 138-141.

f. 125v: 'The armes of the Lordes of Englond nexte unto the fesses as ther names folowith with oder knyghtes'.

ff. 126r-128r: English Coats of arms, tricked in black ink; with 17th-century additions on f. 128r, one of which is dated to 1566.

f. 129r: Lists of families that bear animals or parts of animals ('gryffyns and other bestes', 'blowyng hornnes', 'harrow heddes and harttes hornnes and bulles hornes and heddes of dyvers bestes', and 'harmes of devers bestes') on their arms.

f. 129v: 'The bagges of dyvers noblemen with crestes as foloweth be name'.

ff. 130r-203r: Copy of a 1506 edition of Honoré Bovet (b. c. 1340, d. c. 1410), Larbre des Batailles; ending: 'Cy fini Le Livre Intitule larbre des batailles Imprime a Paris par Michel le noir Libraire Jure en luniversate [sic] de paris De meurant en la Rue sainct Jacques a lanseigne dela Roze blanche de la Roze blanche couronnee. Le xvije Jour de may Mil Cinq Cens et Six'; for an edition of this work, see Richter-Bergmeier, L'Arbre des batailles (2017).

f. 203v: French letter of confirmation of the treaty of peace between France and England, Montargis, 8 May 1515.

ff. 204r-206v: Articles of the peace treaty between France and England, written in French.

ff. 207r-209v: Lists of dukes and earls from the Kingdom of France, with drawings of their coats of arms, entitled: 'Sensuivent tous les ducs et Contes du Royaulme de France Et lesquels tiennent du Roy'.

ff. 209v-210r: Memorandi on the dukes and towns in France, and payments of the king.

ff. 210v-211r: 'Copie de la charge executee par un officur darmes Intitutle Lorraine de la part du duc de Lorraine son maistre treshault a la personne de monsieur Le duc de Bourgougne [et] de Brabant etc. lors estant au siege devant Nuys sur le Ryn'; edited in Lettres de rois, ed. by De Bréquigny and Champollion-Figeac (1839), I, pp. 495-496.

f. 211v: A genealogy of the kings of Jerusalem ('Le Roys de Jerusalem'), beginning with the arms of the Kingdom of Jerusalem; with a genealogy of French kings, ending with the children of Francis I (b. 1494, d. 1547), King of France.

ff. 212r-212v: French tract with instructions for French King.

ff. 213r-233r: A genealogy and chronicle of English kings from Brutus to King Henry VIII, whose spouse is identified as his first wife, Catherine of Aragon (b. 1485, d. 1536), Queen of England between 1509 and 1533; written in French with notes in English.

ff. 234r-250v: Sketches of banners, standards, and badges of the English monarchs from Edward III to Henry VIII, and of the nobility and gentry in the latter's reign, made between 1522-1534; edited in Willement, 'Banners, Standards, and Badges' (1836), 49-76.

ff. 251r-257v: A heraldic tract in French, described on f. 257v as 'La proposicion et oraison que a ent. luniversite de paris par lorgane de maistre mary de bruel docteur en theologie oi la Royne de france marie de angleterre lani .m. vc. et quatorze et xxvjc. Jour de novembre [...] tournelles a paris'.

ff. 258r-259v: 'La genealogie de Roys et princes de treshaulte tresexcellente et tres Christienne mayson de bourgoigne'.

ff. 260r-262v: 'La genealogie de treshault et prissant seigeneur Pierre de Luxenburg conte de sainct Pol de Conversant de Brienne seigneur deingien de Fienes et Castillan de Lylle et ses blasons armoyes'.

f. 262r: List of the Knights of the Garter, organised according to their stalls in St George's Chapel, Windsor, entitled: 'Here foloweth the names of the knyghtes wyche been of the noble ordre of the garter as they be orderd in the honourable colage of Windessour wyche ordring represent ight every of them after ther auncient descend'.

ff. 262v-266r: Rules of the Order of the Garter in French.

ff. 267r-275v: Copy of the Treaty of Brétigny (1360), and royal correspondence, entitled: 'Cest le tracte faict entre John Roy de France et Edward iije Roy dangleterre tractee et [...] parlee devant brigtiny pres de chartres de viije jour de may Lan mil iijC lx . Jure et corrige a calis per les ij Roys'.

ff. 276r-277r: Copy of a letter in French, entitled: 'La copie touchant le donaire de la Royne douagere de France'; beginning: 'Marie par la grace de Dieu Royne Douairiere de France [Mary Tudor, dowager queen of France]'; dated to 1514.

ff. 277r (margins)-278r: Coats of arms of the Livery companies of London, those of mayors of London from the Worshipful Company of Grocers, and towns and cities in England.

f. 278r: Legendary account in French of Francus [also Astyanax, son of Hector], compagnon of Aeneas and founder of France, followed by a list of the Trojan Kings of France (from Priam to Clovis I in the year 444).

ff. 278v-279r: A French-Turkish (Arabic) glossary, entitled: 'Aulcuns nomes communis du langaige des turs translates en francoys desquels tousiours la premeiere ligne est francoys'.

ff. 279v-280v: Tables with Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, Chaldean, Syriac ('Jacobites'), and Maronite alphabets.

ff. 281r-283r: A genealogy and chronicle from Adam to Brutus.

f. 283v: A fragmentary list of peerage, arranged in two groups; the first one is headed '[...] Syed Suth'; the other one 'The Emperors Syed northe'; with the caption: '[...] the xviij yer of the Reigne'.

f. 284v: A fragmentary poem, beginning: '[...] xij abusions du monde'.

f. 284v: A ballad by Alain Chartier (b. c. 1385, d. 1430), Il n'est dangier que de villain.

f. 285r: Lists of 'All the cresten kynges names and their bestes' and 'The names of the Emperors and kynges under the gret Turke'.

f. 285r: Fragmentary Drawings of castles with a partially legible title which suggests similarity with Harley MS 992, f. 11v: ‘This is undyr the gret Master of Rode and thes Castelles folloyng ys the Castelles in the se betwhen the gret turke and the solden’.

f. 285v: Two coats of arms, the lower one with a quartering and the description: 'Dalton of Lancashyre' with 'Flemynge of Yorkeshyre'.

f. 286r: Fragmentary heraldic tracts, one of which lists the blazons of the arms of Venice ('Les blasons des armes des venesie[ns]').

The manuscript contains a modern addition: f. [iii]recto: A note by Sir Frederick Madden (b. 1801, d. 1873), Keeper of Manuscripts at the British Museum, on Sir Christopher Barker.

Decoration:

Coats of arms tricked in black ink or painted in colours throughout the manuscript. Banners, standards, and badges in colours or tricked in black ink on ff. 234r-250v, and 251v (lower margin). Genealogies drawn in black and red ink, with a roundel miniature of Adam and Eve in and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (f. 283r), and crowns highlighted in yellow on ff. 213r-233r. Drawings of crowns highlighted in yellow and red ink on ff. 4r, 7v. A small plain O-T map in red ink (f. 282v). Drawings of the badges of chivalric orders in brown ink (f. 5r) [perhaps added later].

A large (2-line) initial in red with minor decoration (red dots) on f. 283r. Small (1-line) capitals in red on ff. 5v-6r. A rubric in red ink on f. 283r.