Harley MS 5044

This manuscript predominantly contains copies of well-known English statutes of the 13th century, but it also includes previously unknown copies of Anglo-Norman and Latin works by the 13th-century authors Robert Grosseteste (b. c. 1170, d. 1253) and Walter of Henley (fl. c. 1260). It includes hitherto unrecorded copies of Les Reules Seynt Robert, Grosseteste's Rules for Estate and Household Management, which survives in at least ten other manuscripts [see Dean, Anglo-Norman Literature (1999), no. 392]; Grosseteste's Rules for his Own Household in Latin, which was previously thought to only survive in Cambridge, University Library, MS Ee.i.1, and, in a Middle English translation, in Sloane MS 1986 [see Gieben, 'Robert Grosseteste' (1967), p. 48]; and Grosseteste's Latin Treatise on Confession, which is extant in at least thirty-six other manuscripts [see Mantello and Goering, 'Robert Grosseteste's Quoniam Cogitatio' (2012), 341-384]. The manuscript also features a previously unidentified copy of Walter of Henley's Housbondrie, an Anglo-Norman work which is recorded in thirty other manuscripts [see Dean, Anglo-Norman Literature (1999), no. 394].

Contents:

ff. 2r-3r: Expositiones vocabulorum contentorum in cartis libertatum.

ff. 3v-6r: English statutes: 'statutum de presentibus vocatis ad Warantum', 'Statutum de Accione vasti facti tempore antecessoris', and 'Statutum de Bigamis'.

ff. 7r-10v: Tabula magne carte et aliorum statutorum.

ff. 11r-58r: English statutes, including Magna Carta , the Provisions of Merton, and the statutes of Marlborough, Westminster I-III, Gloucester, Acton Burnell, and Quo Warranto;Statutum de Conspiratoribus, Statutum de Viris Religiosis, Assize of Bread, Officium seneschalli, Edward I's confirmation of Magna Carta (1297), Statutum de Juratis, Statutum de Judaismo, De legibus mercatorum apud nundinas et alibi.

ff. 58r-58v: Short tract on Roman numerals, beginning: 'Notandum quod per .i. representatur unitas'; also found in Petrus Helias's glossary of Priscian's Institutiones grammaticae.

ff. 59r-74v: Registrum brevium.

ff. 75r-87v: English statutes, including the Charter of the Forest, Statute of Winchester (Winton), Statutum de Justiciariis Assignatis, Statutum de anno et die bisextili, Dies communes in banco, Statutum de moneta et mensuris, Statutum de Judaismo.

ff. 88r-96r: Robert Grosseteste, Rules for Household and Estate Management [Les Reules Seynt Robert]; addressed to the Countess of Lincoln; beginning: 'Ci comencement les reules ke le bon eveske de Nichole seint Robert fist a la Cuntesse de Nicole de garder e governer teres hosteus';

ff. 96r-97r: Robert Grosseteste, Rules for his Own Household, with the rubric: 'Hec sunt statuta que Robertus Episcopus Lincolniensis ordinavit et domus sue prepositis tradidit'.

ff. 97r-109v: Walter of Henley, Housbondrie, with the rubric: 'Ci comente la doctrine de husebonderie'; and beginning: 'Primes aprent coment deit govemer teres e tenemenz'; featuring a single sentence in Middle English ('en engleys') on f. 98r and f. 98v.

f. 109v: A table with columns with Roman numerals, headed 'longitudo', 'latidudo', and 'pedes'.

ff. 110r-114v: Robert Grosseteste, Statutes for the Diocese of Lincoln, entitled: 'Statuta venerabilis patris Roberti Linconiensis Episcopi'.

ff. 114v-115v: A table of statutes issued by Robert Grosseteste, entitled: 'Statuta quidam ecclesiastica edita per venerabilem patrem Robertum episcopum lincolniensis'.

ff. 115v-126r: Robert Grosseteste, Treatise on Confession [Quoniam Cogitacio].

f. 126r: Untitled treatise on the Sacraments, beginning: 'Septem sunt sacramenta quorum quinque omnibus fidelibus communia sunt'.

ff. 126v-128r: Tractatus de nuptiis diaboli, beginning: 'Diabolus duxit iniquitatem in uxorem'.

ff. 128v-133r: Statutum de finibus, Statutum super vicecomites et clericos suos male returnantes brevia, Tertium Statutum de Quo Warranto, Statutum de hiis qui ponendi sunt in assisis.

Decoration:

ff. 1r-74v has large simple initials in red, capitals highlighted in red, and paraphs in red. ff. 75r-133r has 1 large puzzle initial in blue and red and with blue penwork decoration inside the letter (f. 88r), large initials in red and blue with penwork decoration in the opposite colour, capitals highlighted in red (with a human face drawn in red ink on a capital 'J' on f. 84v), and paraphs in blue and red.