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Harley Ch 45 A 37
- Record Id:
- 040-004311236
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002404891
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100158655500.0x000001
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100165164402.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley Ch 45 A 37
- Title:
- Record of the testimony of Margery, wife of Walter Dun, of the descent of lands in Porton
- Scope & Content:
-
Record of the testimony of Margery, wife of Walter Dun, of the descent of lands in Porton, Wiltshire, over multiple generations, from Renaud of Ramsbury down to Walter and Margery. If Robert, Margery’s heir, has no heirs of his own, it shall revert back to the heirs of Renaud.Followed by certifications in Latin by Matilda, abbess of Wilton Abbey, Wiltshire, and Henry Haversham, mayor of Wilton; given Thursday just before the feast of St Hilary [9 January] 1376.
The text has been called the earliest private legal instrument in Middle English (Morsbach, ‘An English Deed of 1376’, p. 347). It may also be the earliest surviving record of a woman's testimony in Middle English.
Fragmentary seal of Abbess Matilda, lozenge, green, with a full-length image of the abbess, a pastoral staff in her right hand, a book in her left, standing beneath gothic tracery, a heraldic shield below with the arms of Buckland, three lions rampant, on a quarter a fret. (see Birch, Catalogue of Seals (1887-1900), I, p. 808).
Originally, both Matilda and Henry’s seals were attached, but Henry’s is now lost and Matilda’s is detached.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
Medieval and Renaissance Women - Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002404891
040-004311236 - Is part of:
- Harley Ch : Harley Charters
Harley Ch 45 A 37 : Record of the testimony of Margery, wife of Walter Dun, of the descent of lands in Porton - Hierarchy:
- 032-002404891[0062]/040-004311236
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley Ch
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- 1 leaf
- Digitised Content:
- https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100165164402.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- English, Middle
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1376
- End Date:
- 1376
- Date Range:
- 1376
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Material: Parchment.
Dimensions: 240 x 235 mm.
Foliation: f. 1.
Script: Gothic cursive.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
England.
Provenance:
The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts.
Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta Cavendish, née Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d. 1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library.
- Publications:
-
Walter de Gray Birch, Catalogue of Seals in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum, 6 vols (London: British Museum, 1887-1900), I, p. 808.
Lorenz Morsbach, ‘An English Deed of 1376’, in W. P. Ker, Arthur S. Napier & Walter W. Skeat (eds), An English Miscellany: Presented to Dr. Furnival in Honour of His Seventy-Fifth Birthday (Oxford, 1901), pp. 347-54.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)