Harley MS 5289

Contents:

ff. 9r-493r: Missal for monastic use, including a calendar (ff. 2-7v), highlighting the feasts of the Deposition of St Cuthbert (f. 3r) and St Oswald (f. 5v) in gold; and musical notation (ff. 274r-276r; 285v-286r).

The manuscript contains various additions:

f. 1r: An inscription by Edward Harley about William Widdrington’s donation of the manuscript, followed by his note: ‘NB the pins on the outside are silver / one was [...] by me October 1. 1734’.

f. 1r: A memorandum about the manuscript’s previous binding by Andrew Gifford (d. 1784), Assistant Librarian in the Department of Manuscripts at the British Museum: ‘The binding in which the above mention[e]d Pins were said to be was taken off and another poor binding put on before it came into [the] Care of A. Gifford July 10. 1777’.

f. 1v: An ownership inscription by Durham Priory, followed by a list of items belonging to the altar of St John the Baptist and St Margaret in the chapel of the Nine Altars at its church; the first item is a missal donated by Johannis Paris ('unum missale ex dono Johannis Paris'); two items indicated in Middle English ('paxbrede' and 'alt[er] cloth'); added in the (?) 15th century.

f. 8r: An office of St Anne, with the rubric: ‘De Sancta anna matre marie virginis Officium’; and beginning: ‘Deus qui beatam Annam dilectissime genitricis tue matrem egregiam’; added in the (?) 15th century.

f. [283a]recto: A formula for consecrating wine: ‘Hic est enim calix sanguinis mei novi et eterni testamenti . misterium fidei . qui pro nobis et pro multis effundetur in remissionem peccatorum’; added in the 14th century.

ff. 492v-493r: The prayers Ave Maria and Ave mundi spes Maria; added in the (?) late 14th century.

ff. 493v-494r: Offices of St Giles (‘De sancto egidio atque abbate’) and Sts John the Baptist and John the Evangelist (‘De sancto iohanne baptista et de sancto iohanne evangelista’); added in the (?) 15th century.

ff. 495r-496r: An office of the Visitation with the rubic: ‘Ad missam officam’; and beginning: ‘Gaudeamus omnes in domino diem festum celebrantes sub honore marie virginis de cuius visitacione gaudent angeli et collaudant filum dei’; added in the (?) 15th century.

ff. 497r, 498r: Two parchment strips from a late 15th or early 16th-century Latin document containing rents or tithes from villages in Northumberland, perhaps written at Durham Priory's bursar's office, referring to Ancroft, Berington (‘Beryngton’), Branxton, Cornhill (‘Cornell’), Gaderwick (‘Gaderwyk’), Lowick (‘Lowyk’), Morton, Newbiggin (’Newbyggyn’), Norham, Shoreswood, (?) Tillmouth (‘Ty[l]mo[u]th’), Unthank, Upsettlington, and land known as ‘Castilfeld’ near Carlisle in Cumbria. The fragment on f. 498r explains that there was no income from Upsettlington because of a Scots occupation (‘Vpsetlyngton hoc Anno n[i]ch[i]l q[uia] occupat[ur] in juste p[er] Scotto[s]’), which may refer to the Scots invasion of Northumberland prior to the Battle of Flodden in 1513. The fragments may originally have been inserted before or pasted on f. 336r, which appears to have an offset of these documents.

Decoration:

Large initials many with partial borders in colours, silver, and gold (ff. 9r, 26v, 36v, 61v, 188v, 209v, 216r, 228r, 231v, 282r-290r, 304r, 328r, 350r, 358r, 369r, 374r, 382v, 389r, 411v, 414v, 416v, 422, 460v, 479r, 481r). Large initials in gold, blue, white and red. Small initials in gold, from ff. 282r-286r with penwork decoration in blue. Large initials in blue, with penwork decoration and pen-flourishing in red and sometimes also blue or green (f. 382v, possibly added later). Paraphs in blue. Highlighting of initials in yellow. Text in gold (ff. 2r-7v). Initials in red with blue penwork decoration (ff. 280r-281v). Line-filler in gold and colours (f. 282r).