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Harley MS 4700

Record Id:

040-002050543

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002050543

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000859.0x0000da

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 4700

Title:

Laws and statutes of Scotland

Scope & Content:

Contents:

ff. 4r-17r: 'The baron Lawis - Modus tenendi curias baronum'; written in Middle Scots.

ff. 18r-22r: Tables of contents for the Regia maiestatis.

f. 22v: A poem, beginning: 'Hoc trahit ad lumen antiqua statute volumen'.

ff. 23r-81v: Regia maiestas, in 4 parts,

ff. 82r-86v: Miscellaneous laws, beginning: 'Qui non possunt constituere attornatos'; written in Latin and Scots.

ff. 87r-110r: 'Leges quatuor burgorum Scotiae scilicet, Berwick, Roxburgh, Edinburgh et Striveling'; preceded by a table (ff. 87r-89r)

ff. 110r-111r: Statutes of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots.

ff. 111v-114r: Statutes of the Gild of Scotland ('Statuta Gilda regni Scocie').

ff. 114r-116r: Statutes of Malcolm II, King of Scots ('Leges Malcolmi regis Mackenneth de fendis officiariorum').

ff. 117r-133r: 'Leges Baronum;' prceded by a table of contents (ff. 117r-118r).

ff. 134r-142v: Assizes and Statutes of David, King of Scots ('Assisa et Statuta domini david regis Scotorum').

ff. 142v-143r: 'Thir ar þe poyntis belangand to þe wardane court'.

ff. 143r-144r: Legal formulary, beginning: 'Forma Jurementi regis suis tribus statibus'.

ff. 144r-151v: 'The lawis and þe custummys of þe schippis'.

ff. 152r-173v: 'Leges forestarum'; preceded by a table of contents (ff. 152r-153v).

ff. 174r-177v: 'Incipit quoddam notabile de maritagio vocatus tractatus Inmediate post Regiam maiestatem'.

ff. 177v-178r: 'Statuta regis malcolmi mac c[e]n[neth]'.

ff. 178r-182r: 'Statuta prima regis Roberti Brus'; preceded by a table (ff. 178r-178v).

ff. 182r-184r: 'Statuta Regis Willelmi'; preceded by a table of contents (f. 182r).

ff. 184r-187v: 'Constituciones Willelmi Regis'; preceded by a table of contents (ff. 184r-184v).

ff. 187v-193r: 'Statuta Alexandri Regis filii Willelmi Regis'; preceded by a table of contents (ff. 187v-188r).

ff. 194r-200v: 'Leges quas Robertus Bruss rex fecit et constitutuit; preceded by a table of contents (ff. 194v-195r); ending: 'Expliciunt statuta Alexandri Willelmi et Roberti Bruss regum Scotorum per J.S.'.

ff. 201r-210r: 'Modus procedendi in Itinere Camerarie in regno Scocie; with a table of contents (f. 202r); ending: 'Explicit Iter camerarie Scocie per me J. S.'.

ff. 210v-211r: 'Exposiciones quorundam vocabulorum in cartis'; preceded by a table of contents (ff. 212r-214r).

ff. 212r-256r: Liber de Judicibus.

ff. 256r-257r: Consuetudo laudabilis probata est altera lex Quia consuetudo est Jus non scriptum sed legibus et moribus approbatum ut long consuetudine ['Tailzie off Landis']; written in Scots.

ff. 257r-262r: Leges Marchiarum.

ff. 262r-268v: Statutes of Robert III, King of Scots ('Acta parliament Roberti tertij regis Scotorum'); preceded by a table of contents (ff. 262r-262v).

ff. 268v-271v: 'Hec faciunt causas festis tractare diebus pax, scelus commissum, manumissio, res peritura, terminus expirans, mora testis abesse volentis cumque potestatis patriae jus filius exit'; preceded by a table of contents (f. 268v).

ff. 271v-280r: 'Heir followis þe manerr þe forme and þe ordour of falsing of domes gevin in presens of ony party'.

ff. 280r: 'Apud quem vel quos Iudicem vel Judices causi feodi habeat agitari'.

ff. 280r-281r: 'Apud quem vel quos judicem vel judices causa feodi habeat agitari'.

ff. 281r-288r: Legal formulary, beginning: 'þe forme and process of summondes for to be maid apoun the cheif thymes of þe landis þat ar clamit be ane breif of mortancessouris purchest of þe kinges chapell'.

ff. 288v-289v: 'Processus Curie purpresture'; written in Scots.

ff. 289v-291r: 'De quatuor modis tenendi terras de rege'.

ff. 291r-291v: 'Iter Justiciarie'.

ff. 292r-293v: 'Precepti summonicionis'.

ff. 293v-:294r: 'Feoda pertinentia clerico Justiciarii'.

ff. 294r-294v: 'Thir ar þe actionus þat pertenis to be inquirit at þe dittay be þe Justice clerkis'.

ff. 294v-295r: 'Modus calumniandi rapinam'.

f. 295r: 'Modus calumniandi protectionem infrictam'.

ff. 295v-297v: 'Ad componendum cartas unde de usitato'.

ff. 298r-299v: 'Attachiamenta'.

ff. 299v-300r: 'Modus calumniandi forestallatores'.

ff. 300r-306v: 'De tutoribus et curratoribus'; followed by short legal tracts.

ff. 306v-309v: Constitutiones, beginning: 'Constitutio de mercatura bona super, et deterior sub quam'.

The manuscript contains later additions:

ff. 1r-3v, 310r-310v: Fragments of an alphabetical index of legal terms reused as flyleaves for this manucript; written in the (?) 16th century.

f. 22v: Note on 'Instituta hoc libro a priscis Scotorum seu Regibus luriscon'; written in the 16th century.

f. 23r: A note on the Regia majestatis, beginning: 'Nota hunc librum transcriptum esse e lbiro constitutionum et statutorum regum Angliae ante a Normannis latorum'; written in the 16th century.

Decoration:

1 very large black initial in red penwork decoration (f. 23r). Large initials in red. Capitals highlighted in red. Underlining in red. Rubrics in red.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002050543", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 4700: Laws and statutes of Scotland" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002050543

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 4700 : Laws and statutes of Scotland

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[4699]/040-002050543

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

Latin
Scots

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1400

End Date:

1499

Date Range:

2nd half of the 15th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Paper.

Dimensions: 280 x 190 mm (text space: 185 x 125 mm).

Foliation: ff. 310 (+ 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 3 at the end); 3 unfoliated blank paper leaves after f. 173.

Script: Gothic cursive.

Binding: British Museum in-house; gold-tooled brown half leather binding with the Harleian arms gold stamped on the outside covers; marbled endleaves.

Custodial History:

Origin:

Scotland.

Provenance:

'J. S.', copied the manuscript in the 15th century.

Edward Henryson (b. 1510, d. c. 1590), Scottish judge: inscribed with his name (f. 4r).

Thomas Henryson 'pictavus', perhaps Sir Thomas Henryson, Lord Chesters (d. 1638), son of Edward Henryson: inscribed with his name 'Thomas Henryson' (f. 17r); 'T. Henryson 4 Marii 1590 [? Picta]' (f. 55r); 'Thomas Henryson vendicat 1590 22 aprilis pictavus' (f. 68r); and 'T. Henryson' on ff. 4r, 68r, 193r, 212r, 309v.

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 forms 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.

Wright, Cyril Ernest, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), p. 187.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Places:

Scotland