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Harley MS 5798
- Record Id:
- 040-002051645
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002051645
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000899.0x000140
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 5798
- Title:
-
Account of the English nobility from before the Norman Conquest to Queen Elizabeth I; tracts regarding English and French arms and titles of peerage
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
f. 1*recto: A title-page for the manuscript: ‘[1] Creaton of Nobility; [2] The Ordenances and Statutes whiche were made by the right High and puissante Prince Thomas of Lancaster son and Brother to right Noble Kings of England and of France, Duke of Clarence, Counte D’Aumarle, Great Seneschal of England, and Constable etcaetera for Reformation and Good Government in the Office of Armes’.
ff. 1r-69v: A brief account of the English Nobility from before the Conquest to Queen Elizabeth I, with their arms, some tricked; ff. 1r-9v were written in the late 16th century; with additions (ff. 9v-69v) made in the late 16th century or early 17th century.
ff. 70r-84v: Short tracts regarding English and French heraldry and nobility, including statutes for the bearing of heraldic arms (particularly in war), names of those knighted and made bannerets during the reign of King Henry VIII (up to 1544-1555), the size of banners, the hierarchy of English noblemen and –women, a tract regarding the English claim to the French throne, heraldic arms and titles of peerage in France, a description of the realm of France, beginning: ‘The Ordenances and Statutes whiche were made by the right High and puissante Prince Thomas of Lancaster son and Brother to right Noble Kings of England and of France, Duke of Clarence, Counte D’Aumarle, Great Seneschal of England, and Constable etcaetera for Reformation and Good Government in the Office of Armes’; copied in or just after 1584.
Decoration:
Coats of arms, some tricked, in brown ink (some in pencil) throughout the manuscript. A full-page map of a battlefield in brown ink, entitled: ‘The order of a battell in tyme of warre’ (f. 74v); marginal banners in brown ink (f. 75v).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002051645", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 5798: Account of the English nobility from before the Norman Conquest to Queen Elizabeth I; tracts regarding English and French arms and…" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002051645 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 5798 : Account of the English nobility from before the Norman Conquest to Queen Elizabeth I; tracts regarding English and French arms… - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[5801]/040-002051645
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- 1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- Languages:
- English
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1575
- End Date:
- 1624
- Date Range:
- 4th quarter of the 16th century-1st quarter of the 17th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Paper.
Dimensions: 360 x 225 mm.
Foliation: ff. 1* + 84 (+ 6 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 1 at the end); numerous blank paper leaves after f. 84; f. 1* is a blank paper leaf.
Script: 16th-century script.
Binding: British Museum in-house.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
England.
Provenance:
? Alexander Evesham (d. 1592), son of William Evesham of Wellington, Herefordshire, wrote ff. 70r-84v in or about 1584: a translator named ‘Ævesham’ identifies himself on f. 81v: ‘Heare ffolowithe the Armes of the xij peeres of ffrance etcaetera put to Englishe by me Ævesham’; and f. 84v: ‘Don owt of Frenshe in the English by me Evesham .1584. with the other Effayres of ffranse as afore’; not listed in Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), but almost certainly identifiable with ‘Alexander Evesham’, who is thought to have compiled Harley MS 214, a heraldic manuscript from the 4th quarter of the 16th century; and commissioned Harley MS 615, a manuscript of English pedigrees from the 4th quarter of the 16th century (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 147).
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 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 (1812), p. 297.
Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A study of the sources of the Harleian collection of manuscripts preserved in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), p. 147.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Places:
- England