Royal MS 14 C X

HISTORIA HIEROSOLIMITANA, by William, Archbishop of Tyre (circ. 1174-1190), with continuation, &c., viz.:

1. Brief deseription of the Holy Land, in Latin. Cap. i is entitied 'De situ terre Ierosolimitanc et habitatoribus eius', and beg. 'Terra Ierosolimitana in centro mundi posita est'. Printed by Thomas in Sitzungsberichte der k. bayerischen Akademie, 1865, ii, Heft iii, pp. 144- 160, and (from an imperfect MS.) by W. A. Neumann in Oesterreichische Vierteljahresschrift für katholische Theologie, v, 1866, p. 258; the latter is translated in the Library of the Palestine Pilgrims' Text Soc., vi, p. 27. The present MS. however, contains more than those used by Thomas; after the section 'de Bedewinis', with which his tract ends, it has sections entitled 'de diuersitate Saracenorum et hostium Christianitatis et sectis et ciuitatibus eorum', 'de Syris', 'de Egyptiis', 'de Arabibus siue Sabeis', 'de Ydumeis et Amonitis', 'de Nabatheis', 'de Turcis', 'de Cordinis', 'de Turcomannis'. The tract ends with a reference to the following work for further information on these subjects. f. 1.

2. 'Guillelmi Tyrensis archiep. hystoria lerosolimitana'; in 22 books, with the beginning of a 23rd. Prologue beg. 'Guilelmus domini patientia, &c. : Periculosum esse et grandi plenum alea'; lib. i, 'Docent ucteres hystorie et id ipsum'. Tables of chapters are prefixed to each book. Printed by Migne, Patr. Lat. cci. 209, and in the Recueil des Historiens des Croisades, iii. The preface to lib. xxiii is omitted, but after the conclusion of the text as printed (ending 'cura committeretur negotiorum') is a short additional passage relating to the death of Baldwin IV and the accession of Baldwin V; ends 'rerum exitus probavit'. Colophon, 'Expliciunt libri de terra lerosolimitana editi a uen. uiro Will. archiep. Tyrensi'. f. 4.

3. Continuation of the history of William of Tyre, from 1185 to 1192; in three books, anonymous. Title, 'Incipit continuatio hystorie tractate de gestis virorum illustrium posthac'. Prologue beg. 'In precedentibus de uario terre sancte statu'; lib. i, 'Rege Baldewino leproso uiam uniuerse carnis ingresso'. Tables of chapters are prefixed to each book. Not mentioned in the Recueil des Historiens des Croisades. The author writes as a contemporary of the events narrated; in the last chapter but one he refers briefly to the death of Henry of Champagne (1197), the accession of Jean de Brienne (1208), and the papacy of Honorius III (1216). f. 244 b.

4. 'Cathalogi quorundam magnatum de quibus mencio habita est superius': brief notices of princes and ecclesiastics mentioned in the preceding history, apparently by the author of art. 3. f. 270.

Vellum; ff. 272. 1 ft. 2⁵/₈ in. x 9⁷/₈ in. XIII cent. Written in England. Gatherings, i-xii¹⁰, xiii-xxxi⁸, numbered at the end, with catchwords. Double column of 46 lines. Sec. fol. 'in columbe'. Large initials of books flourished in various shades of red and blue, smaller ones of chapters in similar style. Apparently not in the old catalogues.