Royal MS 14 C VI

'FLORES HISTORIARVM': the abridgement of the Chronica Maiora of Matthew Paris, extending from the Creation to 1259, Prepared at St. Albans Abbey and continued there to 1265, and further continued at Westminster to 1326. Attributed by its first editor Archbishop Parker (1567), on the evidence of a copy at Norwich, to 'Matthew of Westminster', whose existence is dubious; by Sir F. Madden (Matthaei Parisiensis Historia Anglorum, Rolls Ser., 1866, i, p. xxii) to Matthew Paris himself; and by H. R. Luard (Flores Historiarum, Rolls Ser., 1890, i, p. xli) to the anonymous successor of Paris as chronicler of St. Albans, to whom the continuation of the Chronica Maiora from 1259 to 1272 is due. Prologue beg. 'Temporum summam lineamque descendentem'; text, 'Sex diebus Deus rex'. The present MS. is stated by Luard (p. xxii) to be based upon the archetype (Chetham Library MS. 6712), with occasional lengthy omissions, and with additions relating to the abbey of S. Bennet, Hulme, co. Norfolk, down to 1304, and from 1305 to 1323 to Tintern Abbey. Occasional references are made to the Chronicles of Reginald of Wroxham, otherwise unknown. For fuller details see Luard, l. c. Prefixed to the main chronicle, in the same hand, with an interval of three blank pages, is some miscellaneous matter, viz.:-(a) Description of Rome, beg. 'Habet autem urbs Rome'. f. 1;-(b) Description of England, beg. 'Anglia habet in longitudiiie': the description, found also in many other MSS., eriumerates the dioceses, shires, principal roads, languages (cf. Henry of Huntingdon, lib. i. 7, 8), and kingdoms of England, and includes a passage in English on weights, beg. 'Six wax-pund makied en (sic, for on) led-pund'. f. 2 b;-(c) Paragraph 'de castellis Armenie', beg. 'In Armenia minori est quoddam castellum'. f. 3b;-(d) 'De septem miraculis mundi', beg. 'Primum miraculum fuit Rome sic'. f. 3 b;-(e) 'De mirabilibus Anglie', beg. 'Ventus egreditur de cauernis': the usual collection, found in many MSS. and in Ralph de Diceto, Abbreviationes Chronicorum (Opera, Rolls Ser., i, p. ii), containing 35 miracula, of which no. 25 is here omitted. f. 4;-(f) 'De uiris illustribus quo tempore scripserunt', beg. 'Crogus (sic, for Trogus) Pompeius a tempore Nini', from R. de Diceto, op. cit., p. 20, with the addition of William of Malmesbury and Henry of Huntingdon. f. 5;-(g) 'De denario sancti Petri qui Romesscot dicitur', beg. 'Gregorius episcopus servus servorum Dei'. f. 5b (h) 'Diversorum nominum interpretationes': explanations of certain English legal terms, beg. 'Hec sunt diversorum nominum interpretationes' (cf. 14 C. II, f. 225, which lacks the last few sentences). f. 6;-(i) 'De modo coronacionis regis et de coronacione regis Ricardi', beg. 'In primis uenerunt episcopi' (= Hoveden's Chronica, Rolls Ser., iii, p. 9). f. 6;-(k) Prophecy, quoted from Henry of Huntingdon (vi. 1), of the Norman Conquest, beg. 'Anno gratie (blank) predixit gentibus' (cf. 13 E. X, art. 19). f. 7;-(l) 'De primo adventu in Yberniam', &c.: a narrative of the successive immigrations into, or invasions of, Ireland, with descriptions of certain individuals, and an account of the death of the young king Henry, son of Henry II (= Giraidus Cambrensis, Topographia Hibernica, lib. iii, capp. 1-7, Expugnatio Hibernica, lib. ii, capp. 8, 9, 11, 16, lib. i, cap. 46, lib. ii, cap. 5, with omissions, and Hoveden, ii, pp. 278-280). f. 7. All this miscellancous matter occurs also, in the same order, in Cotton MS. Claud. E. VIII (ff. 6-14), which also contains the Flores Historiarum. Vellum; ff. i + 259. 1 ft. 1³/₄ in. x 8³/₄ in. XIV cent., the main portion probably circ. 1304, at Hulme Abbey. The Tintern addition only occupies five leaves. Gatherings of 8 leaves, with catchwords. Double columns. Sec. fol. 'Item in elephanto' or (f. 11) 'vxor sua'. Initials flourished in red and blue, sometimes containing imaginary portraits of kings. Belonged to [Henry FitzAlan, Earl of] Arundel and [John, Lord] Lumley (f. 1). Cat. of 1666, f. 7 b ; not in CMA.