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Harley MS 6119

Record Id:

040-002051967

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002051967

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000899.0x00034a

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 6119

Title:

Scottish coats of arms

Scope & Content:

Contents:

ff. 1r-15r: A collection of full-page drawings of imaginary coats of arms, including the shield of the Trinity, the arms of Prester John, Melchior, Caspar, Hector, Alexander the Great, David, Judas Maccabeus, Julius Caesar, Charlemagne and Godfrey of Bouillon [perhaps this group represent the Nine Worthies]; some with notes.

ff. 16r-60r: Full-page drawings of the coats of arms and of the emperors and kings in Europe, ending with Mary, Queen of Scots; with some descriptions of their houses.

f. 61r: A full-page drawing of the pre-1603 arms of Scotland with crest, wreath, mantling, supporters, and compartment.

f. 61v: A text on the responsibilities of kings.

f. 62r: The outline of the arms of James VI and I.

ff. 63r-64r: Texts on the responsibilities of dukes, earls, lords and knights.

ff. 65r-123r: Full-page drawings of the coats of arms and crests (including wreaths, mantlings, supporters and compartments) of Scottish earls and dukes (4 per page); with some descriptions of their houses.

ff. 123r-179r: Coats of arms (4 per page) of Scottish peerage, organised according to rank.

ff. 180r-180v: Arms of Irish peerage, tricked, in brown ink.

ff. 181r-182r: Latin notes on coats of arms; with coats of arms in black ink.

ff. 183r-186v: Coats of arms (12 per page) in black ink (not tricked), without family names.

The manuscript contains a later addition:

f. 1*recto: A title inscription and (?) pressmark: ‘N i Armes of Emperours and Kings and some Irish’; added in the 17th century.

Decoration:

Coats of arms in colours throughout; with the exception of the arms on ff. 180r-186v.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002051967", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 6119: Scottish coats of arms" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002051967

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 6119 : Scottish coats of arms

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[6123]/040-002051967

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:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Paper.

Dimensions: 165 x 110 mm.

Foliation: ff. 1* + 61* + 186 (+ 5 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 5 at the end); 3 unfoliated blank paper leaves between f. 1* and f. 1; 8 between f. 15 and f. 16; 3 between f. 43 and f. 44; 1 between f. 61* and f. 62; and f. 62 and f. 63; 2 between f. 64 and f. 65; 5 between f. 90 and f. 91; 8 between f. 122 and f. 123; and f. 133 and f. 134; 25 between f. 179 and f. 180; 4 between f. 180 and f. 181; and 2 between f. 182 and f. 183; ff. 61* and 69 are small strips of paper

Script: 16th- and 17th-century script.

Binding: British Museum in-house.

Custodial History:

Origin:

England or Scotland.

Provenance:

Henry Lilly [Lily] (b. c. 1588/1589, d. 1638), herald painter in Little Britain, owned the manuscript: his name written on f. 2r (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 224).

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 (1808), p. 339.

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. 464.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Places:

England