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Harley MS 4999
- Record Id:
- 040-002050843
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002050843
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000859.0x000206
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 4999
- Title:
- Statutes in Middle English from Edward III to Henry VI
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
ff. 1r-227v: Statutes in Middle English from the reign of Edward III to Henry VI (1.E.3 to 18.H.6) entitled ‘Nova Statuta’.
f. 228v: A Middle English poem: ‘Whan phebus resplendysaunte in the hye region /and wyth hys goldyn beamys withdre hys lumynary / ffrom the cold moysture of dryry scorpyon /seassyd I had my lodgyng to rest in sagittary / I withdrew me that tyme all sad and solytary /from compenyes comfort my wyt obnubylate / a langoure vnlysty caused my thoughtes to varye /attemptyng my sad mynd thys way to recreate’ [also transcribed in DIMEV 6395-1, but with errors].
Decoration:
4 large (7-, 8-, 9-line) blue initials with red penwork decoration inside and outside their letters (ff. 74v, 127v, 159v, 180r). Large (3-line) blue initials with red penwork decoration and pen-flourishing, and plain blue or red (1-line) capitals throughout. Paraph markers in blue or red.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002050843", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 4999: Statutes in Middle English from Edward III to Henry VI" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002050843 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 4999 : Statutes in Middle English from Edward III to Henry VI - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[4999]/040-002050843
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- 1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- Languages:
- English, Middle
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1434
- End Date:
- 1440
- Date Range:
- c 1439-1440
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Paper.
Dimensions: 305 x 220 mm.
Foliation: ff. 228 (+ 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves and 2 unfoliated parchment flyleaves at the beginning + 2 unfoliated parchment flyleaves and 4 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the end).
Collation: Indicated by horizontal catchwords. Each quire has been mounted onto a paper guard.
Script: Gothic cursive.
Binding: British Museum in-house; re-bound in 1973.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
England.
Provenance:
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, inscribed as usual by their librarian, Humfrey Wanley ’18 die Novembris, A.D. 1721’ (f. 1r).
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. 238.
Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), p. 451.
'London, British Library Harley 4999', in The Digital Index of Middle English Verse [accessed 25 February 2020].
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Places:
- England