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Burney MS 326
- Record Id:
- 040-002237237
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002236305
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000001311.0x000176
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100059145370.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Burney MS 326
- Title:
- Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae
- Scope & Content:
-
This manuscript contains the Etymologiae (Etymologies), also known as Origenes (Origins), by Isidore of Seville (b. c. 560, d. 636). This is an encyclopedic work that discusses the origin of words related to the liberal arts and a vast range of other subjects. The manuscript appears to have been preserved at an English university college and used for study during the 15th century, as is indicated by the marginal annotations in Latin and English throughout the manuscript.
Contents:
ff. 1r-1v: Letter of Braulio (b. 590, d. 651), Bishop of Zaragossa, to Isidore, imperfect, beginning ‘et si qua superflua . si qua negligentur’.
f. 1v: Letter of Isidore to Braulio, beginning ‘Item Isidorus braulioni’.
ff. 1v-224r: Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae (with a preface addressed to Braulio, and a table of contents for each book).
The manuscript contains a number of additions:
f. 224v: A list of the Kings of England, from Alfred the Great (r. 871-899) to Henry VII (r. 1485-1509), with a reference to Brutus as the first king of England, added in the 15th century.
f. 225v: The verse epitaph of Cædwalla (r. 685/6-689), King of Wessex, partially legible (‘[...] Culmen opes sobolem pollencia regna triumphos / Exuvias proceres menia castra lares / Queque patrum virtus et que congessarat [sic] ipse / Cadwal armipotens liquit amore die’, added in the 15th century.
f. 225v: A list of the Kings of England (‘Nomina regum Anglie’), listing kings from William I (r. 1066-1087) to Henry VII (r. 1485-1509), added in the 15th century.
[f. 225r is empty].
Decoration:
Two full-page diagrams drawn in red ink:
f. 109v: A Tree of Consanguinity (Arbor Consanguinitatis).
f. 110r: A circular diagram containing a consanguinity chart.
Marginal drawings of spatial objects in brown ink, illustrating the text on f. 36v.
Large capitals in green, blue or red most contain pen-work decoration in opposing colours; medium and small capitals in plain red, green and blue. Rubrics in red (some oxidized).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Burney Manuscripts
England and France 700-1200 Project - Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002236305
040-002237237 - Is part of:
- Burney MS : Burney Manuscripts
Burney MS 326 : Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae - Hierarchy:
- 032-002236305[0321]/040-002237237
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Burney MS
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- A parchment codex
- Digitised Content:
- https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100059145370.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1150
- End Date:
- 1174
- Date Range:
- 2nd or 3rd quarter of the 12th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 315 x 215 mm (text space: 215 x 130 mm).
Foliation: ff. ii + 226 + 225* + 225**; ff. i-ii are paper flyleaves at the beginning; ff. 225*-225** are paper flyleaves at the end; f. 226 is a modern paper pasted on f. 225** recto; f. 225 is a parchment strip; modern pagination throughout the manuscript; medieval quire marks in the top corner of each recto and verso.
Script: Protogothic.
Binding: Post-1600. Burney binding of polished leather; re-backed and the spine inscribed in gold at the British Museum: ‘ISIDORI ORIGENES.’; brown end-leaves.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: England.
Provenance:
Unidentified English owners: their 12th- to 16th-century annotations throughout the manuscript: e.g. English annotations in 15th-century scripts added on f. 148r (‘Chauces (?) - Whan that zefirus with his Swete breth Inspyryd hath every holth and heth’, cited from the General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (b. c. 1343, d. 1400)) and f. 198r (plant names: ‘hartwoort’ and ‘netill’).
An unidentified owner, Cambridge or Oxford, in 1455, deposited by him in the Neel loan chest: ‘Caucio(?) ex[posita] (?) cista de nele A[nno] d[omi]ni. MoCCCCo lvo & est ysydor[us] & [...] supple[mentum] cantica canticorum & iac' p[ro] -- xxv(?)’, mostly erased note on f. 224v. Note that Walter Neel (or Neal) established chests at both universities in 1345, but in view of the later East Anglian provenance of the manuscript, the caucio is probably a Cambridge one; see Graham Pollard, ‘Medieval Loan Chests at Cambridge’, Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, 17 (1939–40), 113-29.
An unidentified English owner, after 1461 and before 1470: his marginal annotations, and a list of the Kings of England down to Edward IV (r. 1461-1470) on f. 224v.
An unidentified English owner, after 1485 and before 1509: his marginal annotations, additions to the list of English kings, until Henry VII (r. 1485-1509), on f. 224v; and additions on f. 225v.
Francis Blomefield (b. 1705, d. 1752), topographical historian and Church of England clergyman: presumably acquired before 1727, while he was a student at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge: his name inscribed on f. 1r: ‘Blomefield Caij’; titles added by him (f. 1r), his annotations throughout the manuscript, and his note on f. 224r.
Charles Burney (b. 1757, d. 1817), D. D., classical scholar: an index of the Etymologiae’s books on f. 226r perhaps added by him. Acquired by the British Museum as part of Burney’s library from his son Charles Parr Burney in 1818.
- Information About Copies:
-
Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digital Manuscripts, https://bl.uk/manuscripts/.
- Publications:
-
Catalogue of Manuscripts in The British Museum, New Series, 1 vol. in 2 parts (London: British Museum, 1834-1840), I, Part II: The Burney Manuscripts (1840), p. 89.
Augustus Hughes-Hughes, Catalogue of Manuscript Music in the British Museum, 3 vols (London: British Museum, 1906-1965), III, p. 295.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Notes:
- This manuscript is part of The Polonsky Foundation England and France Project: Manuscripts from the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, 700-1200.