Add MS 47784

CHARTULARY OF THE AUGUSTINIAN PRIORY OF COXFORD, co. Norf. (founded at East Rudham circ. 1140); early 15th cent., the latest dated entry being 4 May 1411 (f. 89). Latin. Contains copies of charters arranged topographically (contemporary index of places, f. 1), including royal, papal and episcopal grants. The chartulary is a revised version of the 13th cent. Coxford chartulary now in the Norwich Diocesan Registry (calendared by H. W. Saunders, Norfolk Archaeology, xvii, 1910, pp. 355-368, from an abstract by A. Jessopp, 1886, now Norwich Public Library MS. 3201). The present MS. contains, mostly at ff. 66-75, about fifty-seven charters lacking in the Norwich MS. because of a lacuna, and, mostly at ff. 82-92b, a number of additional charters; but it lacks, chiefly because of lacunae of twelve leaves after f. 65 and twenty-five leaves after f. 77, about one hundred and fifty charters copied in the Norwich MS. A concordance of the contents of the two MSS. is at ff. i-iii. The contents of the present MS. include, at ff. 8Ib-82, the assessment of the property of Coxford for the taxation of Pope Nicholas IV, 1291; cf. Taxatio Ecclesiastica ... P. Nicholai IV, Record Comm., 1802, p. 91 sqq. G.R.C. Davis, Medieval Cartularies of Great Britain, 1958, no. 281. Brit. Mus. Quart., xviii, 1953, pp. 70-71. Paper; ff. iii+93. 300 mm. X220 mm. Early xv cent. Gatherings (excluding f. 1, a single leaf) mostly of twelve leaves with catchwords (v¹⁴ , 2 cancelled; viii⁴ ). Ff. 28, 29 and 45 (vellum tag) are later insertions. A contemporary foliation, i-cxviii, on the versos of ff. 2-86, lacks lxi-lxxii (after f. 65) and lxxxv-cix (after f. 77), indicating the loss of three complete gatherings. There is a 20th cent. marginal pencil numeration of the charters, 1-479. Written in single columns of about forty lines in one cursive book-hand throughout, except for ff. 1, 28, 29, 45 and occasional notes, with rubrics and red initials. At f.1b is a 16th cent. recipe for a laxative, la lectuare to macke a man solubyll'. At f. 42 (reversed) are notes, 16th cent., 'John the wiche dyd Aske for me shall ask leff of the master that I may pley at at (sic) afternone', and, 'Henricus octavus dei gratia Anglie'. Some marginal notes in pencil, 20th cent. Watermarks, an ox's head with eyes and nose surmounted by a star (e.g. f. 27), hills and cross (e.g. f. 44), cf. C. M. Briquet, Les Filigranes, iv, 1907, 14223-14252; 11851-11899. Modern binding of brown morocco; a contemporary binding, with MS. fragments therefrom, is preserved separately and numbered Add. MS. 47784 A, see below. The chartulary was probably one of the two Coxford registers (the other being the Norwich MS.) noted by T. Tanner, Notitia Monastica, 1744, p. 348, at Raynham Hall, co. Norf., in the possession of Lord Townshend, whose family acquired the Priory temp. Elizabeth 1; and noted again at Raynham, 1830, in Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica, i, 1834, p. 199. Neither register, however, was listed among the Townshend MSS. in Hist. MSS. Comm., 11th Report, 1887, Appendix, Part iv. The Norwich MS. was in the possession of the Rev. P. M. Mclean, Rector of Raynham, until 1949. The present MS. was found in a London junk-shop by T. S. Blakeney.

Watermarks: Hills and cross: early 15th cent.

Watermarks: Ox's head with eyes and nose, surmounted by a star: early 15th cent.

Coxford Priory; Norfolk: Chartulary: early 15th cent.

Coxford Priory; Norfolk: Chartulary: early 15th cent.

Chartularies: Coxford Priory, co. Norf.: early 15th cent.

Bindings ENGLISH: White leather on canvas: early 15th cent.

includes:

• ff. 1-4b Sermons: Fragments: 14th cent.: Lat.
• ff. 5-7b Accounts: Fragments of manorial livestock accounts, etc.: 14th cent.