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Cotton MS Nero D II, ff 2–214
- Record Id:
- 041-001102710
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-001101582
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000001630.0x00023e
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100165366947.0x00000b
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Cotton MS Nero D II, ff 2–214
- Title:
- Chronicle of Rochester Cathedral Priory
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
ff. 2r-214r: Chronicle of Rochester Cathedral Priory or Chronicon Roffense to 1307, with a continuation in a later hand to 1377 (ff. 204r-214r), including a list of the rulers of the eight kingdoms of England (f. 80v). It is a version of the Flores Historiarum (Flower of Histories), with material relating to Rochester added by Edmund of Hadenham, monk of Rochester (c.1300). This it the only surviving copy of the text. The sole evidence for Edmund of Hadenham's authorship is from a work by William Lambard (d. 1601), Kentish topographer containing extracts from the Rochester annals (Cotton MS Vespasian A.v, f. 54r): ‘Ex chronico quodam claustri Roffensi cuius author erat Edmundus de Hadenham qui usque ad finem Edwardi primi hystoriam deduxit’ (f. 54r). However, Lambard's extracts are from a different version of the text .
Decoration:
A diagram of the elements in red, blue and brown (f. 3r); two miniatures in colours in the lower margins depicting battles (ff. 190v, 192r), marginal drawings, with buildings or cities, including Troy (f. 14r) and London (f. 18r), historical figures including Brutus (f. 14v), King Stephen (f. 112r) and various rulers and bishops or historical and biblical events such as the Crucifixion (f. 32r), the martyrdom of St Thomas Becket (f. 117r) and the battle of Evesham (f. 177r). An inhabited initial in gold on a rose and blue ground of Edward I and Eleanor of Castile (f. 179v); puzzle initials in red and blue with pen-flourishing in both colours, some historiated or inhabited, including scenes of the coronations of Eadwald (f. 97v), William the Conqueror (f. 104r) and their successors. Large initials in rose and blue with penwork decoration: incomplete, lacking images (ff. 200r-203r). Marginal rubrics and numbers with decoration, some with penwork decoration including human figures and hybrid creatures in brown or red. Initials in red or blue with pen-flourishing in the other colour. Paraphs in blue.
There are over 160 images illustrating the chronicle, many probably executed by the monks of Rochester. Some initials and underdrawings are attributed to the artists of the Queen Mary group. (Michael, 'English Illuminators' (1993), p. 112).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Cotton Collection
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-001101582
040-001102709
041-001102710 - Is part of:
- Cotton MS : Cotton Manuscripts
Cotton MS Nero D II : Chronicle of Rochester Cathedral Priory, List of donations to Holme St Benets Priory, John of Oxnead Chronicle, Chronicle…
Cotton MS Nero D II, ff 2–214 : Chronicle of Rochester Cathedral Priory - Hierarchy:
- 032-001101582[0646]/040-001102709[0001]/041-001102710
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Cotton MS
- Record Type (Level):
- Item
- Extent:
- Part of Cotton MS Nero D ii
- Digitised Content:
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1300
- End Date:
- 1399
- Date Range:
- 14th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript.
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: parchment.
Dimensions: ??
Layout: Written in two columns.
Script: Gothic.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
England, S., the cathedral priory of St. Andrew, Rochester.Provenance:
Arthur Agard, bought by him for Sir Robert Cotton from an unknown source, together with ff. 242-251 and ff. 297-305 (see Tite Records (2003), p. 136).
- Publications:
-
Buck, M. C., ‘Hadenham, Edmund of (fl. 1300–1307)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/11852, accessed 16 Aug 2017]
Gransden, Antonia, Historical Writing in England: c.1307 to the early sixteenth century, 2 vols (London: Routledge, 1982), II, pp. 365, 379.
Hughes-Hughes, Augustus, Catalogue of Manuscript Music in the British Museum, 3 vols (London, 1906–09), III, pp. 356, 362;
Ker, N. R. (ed.), Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books (London, 2nd edn., 1964), p. 161.
McAleer, John Philip, Rochester Cathedral, 604-1540: An Architectural History (Toronto Toronto University Press, 1999), p. 288.
Michael, M.A., 'English Illuminators c.1190-1450: A survey from documentary sources', English Manuscript Studies, 1100-1700, 4 (1993), 62-113 (p. 112).
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Names:
- Agard, Arthur, archivist and antiquary, 1536-1615
- Related Material:
- Other parts of the same manuscript are ff. 242-251 and ff. 297-305