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Harley MS 4699

Record Id:

040-002050542

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002050542

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000859.0x0000d9

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 4699

Title:

Collection of saints' Lives, including Paul the Deacon, Vita Sancti Gregorii Magni

Scope & Content:

Contents:

ff. 1r-4r: Sulpicius Severus, Liber de Vita Sancti Martini; imperfect at the beginning.

ff. 4r-33v: Paul the Deacon, Vita Sancti Gregorii Magni.

ff. 33v-57v: Leontius of Neapolis, Vita Joanni Elemosynari.

ff. 58r-62v: Constantius of Lyon, Vita Germani (fragment).

ff. 63r-66v: Annales Ecclesiastici (fragment).

ff. 67r-75r: Constantius of Lyon, Vita Germani.

ff. 75r-81v: Vita sanctae Tecle virginis et martyris, beginning: 'Tempore illo ascendente paulo ychonium post antiochie fugam facti sunt ei comites demas ermogenes et alexander erarius'.

ff. 81v-110r: Vita sancti Martialis Lemovicensis episcopi.

ff. 110r-111v: Epistola beati leonis pape de translatione beati iacobi apostoli.

ff. 111v-112r: Miracle of St Peter-in-Chains, beginning: 'Quidam dux romanorum nomine quirinus habebat filiam guturnosam balbinam nomine'.

ff. 112v-116v: Vita sancti Salvi episcopi.

ff. 117r-135v: Vita sancti Theodardi episcopi et confessoris.

ff. 136r-151v: Passio sancte et gloriose Imaginis Domini Salvatoris.

ff. 151v-154r: Vita Sancti Pauli primi Narbonenssis episcopi.

f. 154v: Vita Sancti Astrodosii Biteriensis episcopi (fragment).

ff. 155r-160v: Verba seniorum from the Vitae Patrum, the first complete narrative beginning: 'Abbas Pafnutius non gustabat vinum aliquando'.

ff. 161r-161v: Vita Pauli primi eremitae (fragment).

ff. 161v-201v: Jerome, Vitae sanctorum patrum.

ff. 201v-228v: Evagrius of Antioch, Vita sancti Antonij monachi et heremite.

ff. 228v-248v: 'Vitae et actus sanctorum variorum', beginning with the life of St Frontonus: 'Edificationis vestre memor et mei solacii curam ferens'.

The manuscript contains later additions:

ff. 1*recto-1*verso, 249r-249v: Leaves from a biblical manuscript, containing 2 Maccabees; written in the late 12th century or early 13th century.

f. 1*verso: Untranscribed inscription; post-medieval.

ff. 45r and 50r: Inscriptions in French, beginning: 'L'Ambassadeur nomme Exagon'; written in the 16th or 17th century.

Decoration:

Large initial in brown ink, ochre and blue with foliate decoration (f. 75r), also with red and green (f. 81v). Large initials in ochre ink with penwork decoration in the same colour (ff. 4v, 5r, 14r, 19r, 21v, 25r, 33v, 35r) or in red (f. 67r). Large initials in red with penwork decoration in the same colour (ff. 11v, 112, 136, 150v). Smaller initials in red with red penwork decoration (e. g. ff. 85v, 86r, 97v, etc.). Coloured initials in red.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002050542", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 4699: Collection of saints' Lives, including Paul the Deacon, Vita Sancti Gregorii Magni" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002050542

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 4699 : Collection of saints' Lives, including Paul the Deacon, Vita Sancti Gregorii Magni

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[4698]/040-002050542

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:

1150

End Date:

1199

Date Range:

2nd half of the 12th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 275 x 195 mm (text space: 205 x 135, in 1 and 2 columns).

Foliation: ff. 1* + 249 (+ 4 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 4 at the end); ff. 1* and 249 are fragments from a late 12th-century or early 13th-century religious manuscript; 1 unfoliated parchment stub after f. 124; 1 unfoliated paper pastedown on f. [iv]recto (bibliographical notes).

Collation: Each quire has been mounted separately onto a paper guard.

Script: Protogothic, written by several French and German scribes.

Binding: British Museum in-house; red half leather with the Harleian arms gold stamped on the outside covers.

Custodial History:

Origin:

Southern France and Germany.

Provenance:

The saints present in this manuscript indicate that it was probably intended for use in the South of France: Martial of Limoges (also venerated in Avignon), Salvius (Albi), Theodardus (Montauban, Narbonne), Paul of Narbonne, Afrodosius (Béziers), etc.

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), III (1808), p. 189 (no. 4699).

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Constantius of Lyon, fl 460,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000079784127,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/217989512
Evagrius, Patriarch of Antioch, fl 388-392,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000453038010
Jerome, Saint, c 345-420,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000123213293,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/95147024
Leontius of Neapolis, Bishop of Neapolis, fl 650,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000108160752,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/120699895
Paul the Deacon, Benedictine monk, scribe and historian, c 720-799,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000454758685,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/40174477
Sulpicius Severus, c 363-c 420,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000118744639,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/30332452

Places:

Germany
Southern France