Harley MS 4912

Origin: England.

Provenance:

John Horn, owned in the 15th or 16th century: his name inscribed on f. ii recto (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), pp. 196-97).

‘William Repington’, owned in the 16th century: his name inscribed (2x) on f. 50v: ‘Wyll[ia]m Repyngton’ (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 284).

? Anne Norres and Anne Nevell, owned in the 16th century: their names inscribed in the same hand on f. i verso and ii recto;their names may be associated with unskilled drawings on these leaves, perhaps by children; Nevell and Norres, therefore, may be children (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), pp. 250, 258).

‘Huntingdon’, owned in the 16th century: his name inscribed alongside that of Dorothy Throckmorton-Vernon and Walter Vernon on f. 43r: 'R. [or 'K] Huntingdon' (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 201, who reads the name as ‘K.’ or ‘E. Huntingdon’).

Dorothy Throckmorton-Vernon (fl. 1533-1579), daughter of Thomas Vernon and Eleanor H. Shirley, wife of Job Throckmorton, and sister of Walter Vernon of Houndshill: her name inscribed alongside that of ‘R. Huntingdon’ and her brother Walter Vernon on f. 43r (listed but not identified in Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 328).

Walter Vernon (b. 1552, d. 1592) of Houndhill or Houndshill in Staffordshire who was an early owner of the Vernon Manuscript (Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Eng. poet. a. 1)]: his name inscribed alongside that of ‘R. Huntingdon’ and his sister Dorothie Throckmorton-Vernon on f. 43r: 'Water Vernon / well deserved / yll recompensed' (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 338, who does not identify Dorothy Throckmorton as Vernon's sister, and only tentatively identifies him as Walter Vernon of Hound(s)hill).

Rychard Herbert, owned in the 16th or 17th century: his name inscribed on f. i verso (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 187).

An unknown 16th or 17th-century owner: inscribed a note on f. 1r: 'Part of Chaucer it is printed in Chaucers works at London by John Kingston for John Wyght dwelling in Paules church yarde A^o Domini 1561 folio 151B'.

Roberd Horne, owned in the 16th or 17th century: his name inscribed on f. ii recto (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 197).

Peter Le Neve (b. 1661, d. 1729), herald and antiquary: purchased from him by Harley; f. 1r contains an inscription reporting the book's price of £1, 1 shilling: 'Petri Le Neve Norroy / pr 1^li : 01^sh : 00^d' (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), pp. 219-221).

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 Harley, 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.