Royal MS 13 D V

1. GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH, 'Gesta Britonum' (so head-line); with the usual prologues, &c. Cf. 13 D. I, art. 2, and Ward, Cat. of Romances, i, p. 229. Colophon, 'Explicit hystoria Britonum et de ambagibus Merlini'. f. 1.

2. 'Gesta Britonum a Gilda Sapiente composita', i. e. Nennius, Historia Britonum. Cf. 13 B. VII, and Stevenson's ed., p. xxv. A collation of capp. 7-10 is given by Mommsen, Chronica Minora, pp. 122, 147, as a specimen. There is no prologue, and the genealogies are omitted ; the list of cities and the 'Mirabilia' are included. f. 38.

3. 'Incipit prefatio de subsequenti visione que contigit in Estsexia': the Vision of Thurkill, seen in 1206 at Stisted in Essex. Preface beg. 'Multifarie multisque modis olim deus loquens'; the 'series visionis' beg. 'Igitur in episcopatu Londiniensi'. Printed from this MS. (the only complete text, that in Cotton MS. Julius D. v being slightly abridged) by H. L. D. Ward in Journ. of the Archaeological Association, xxxi, 1575, p. 440; he ascribes the authorship to Ralph of Coggeshall the chronicler, Abbot of Coggeshall 1207-1218 (d. 1228 ?). See also Ward, Cat. of Romances, ii, p. 506. f. 45.

4. William of Malmesbury, 'Gesta Regum' (so headline), in five books, with the Historia Novella added as a sixth; cf. 13 D. II, artt. 1, 2. First rubric, 'Incipit prologus dom. Willeimi monachi in libro primo de gestis regum Anglorum'. The text belongs to the third recension (Stubbs, i, p. lxxxiii), and has the second alter. native ending ('Qua re . . . accepero'). f. 51.

5. 'Incipit quidam tractatus Alredi abbatis Rieuallis (Ailred, Abbot of Rievaulx 1146-1176) ad Henricum ducem Normannie, postea regem Anglie, de uita et moribus quorundam regum Anglie': sc. the Genealogia Regum Anglorum. Beg. 'Illustrissimo duci Norman norum, &c. Adeo secundum naturam'. Printed in Twysden, Scriptores Decem, 1652, col. 347 (Migne, Patr. Lat. cxcv. 711). At the end are 14 lines of elegiac verse, entitled 'Visio cuiusdam sic alloquentis regem Malcolmum'; beg. 'Cur sic, care, taces'. Four lines, beg. 'Tu quis eras pridem', are appended in a later hand. f. 142.

6. Short notes on (a) the shires and dioceses of England, (b) the genealogy of the Counts of Flanders, as far as Robert II (1093-1111), and (c) the Kings of France, as far as Louis VI (1108-1137). f. 152.

7. William of Malmesbury, 'Gesta pontificum' (so head-line), in four books. Prologue (headed 'Incipit prologus dom. Willelmi monachi in libro primo de gestis pontificum Anglorum') beg. 'Prima sedes episcopum'; text, 'Cantuaries edit primus Augustinus'. Ends in lib. iv, cap. 186, 'exercere ibi uitam'. Classified by Hamilton, Gesta Pontificum Anglorum, Rolls Ser., 1870, p. xxii, as belonging to the second recension. f. 153.

Vellum ; ff. i + 200. 1 ft. 3 in. x 10⁷/₈ in. XIII cent. Gatherings of 8 leaves (vii², xx⁷, in each case at the end of an article), numbered at the end with the plummet. Double columns of 54 lines. Sec. fol. 'inferebant'. Large flourished initials in red and blue at the beginnings of treatises, small ones to chapters. Some of the rubrics (e.g. on f. 28) appear to be in the hand of Matthew Paris (cf. 14 C. VII). On f. 1 is the note (15th cent.), in large red letters, 'Hic eat liber sancti Albani de libraria conventus', and a similar note has been inserted at the end of art. 2 (f. 45). The press-mark of St. Albans Abbey ('de aimariolo B primus liber in primo gradu') is on f. 1, together with a table of contents. At the end of art. 1 (f. 37 b) is the note 'Hic est liber qui per quorundam negligenciam fuerat deperditus. Sed per industriam venerabilis nostri in Christo patris et domini, domini Iohannis abbatis sexti [John de Whetharnstede, Abbot 1420-1440 and 1452-1464], huic monasterio crat restitutus et assignatus librarie conventus'. There are occasional notes in the rnargins (e. g. ff. 39, 40, 44, &c.) in the hand of Polydore Vergil. Initial T or monogram T. C. on f. 1; and subsequently belonged to [John, Lord] Lumley (f. 1, name autogr.). Old Royal press-mark 'no. 1138'; cat. of 1666, f. 8; CMA. 8320, 8319, 8311, 8321.