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Detailed record for Royal 14 B VI

Title Genealogical roll chronicle of the English Kings
Origin England, S.
Date 1st quarter of the 14th century, before 1308
Language French
Script Gothic
Decoration Genealogical tree consisting of interconnected roundels with portraits of kings in colours and gold, with a circular diagram of the seven kingdoms of Heptarchy, at the beginning. Initials in gold with red pen-flourishing, red with blue pen-flourishing, or blue with red pen-flourishing.
Dimensions in mm 4750 x 275
Official foliation 7 unfoliated parchment leaves forming a roll with an attached piece of parchment.
Form Parchment roll
Binding Unbound
Provenance Added text and outlined drawings of a continuation of the chronicle from Edward II to Edward III, ending with Edward III's declaration as the king of France in 1340: 'Edward se fit apelez roy / de f[r]a[n]ce et dangleterr[e] et q[ua]trona ses armes'.
The Old Royal Library (the English Royal Library): perhaps to be identified with the 'Le role des roys d'Angleterre', or 'Rotulus regum Anglie', in the list of books at Richmond Palace of 1535, no. 15 or 17.
Presented to the British Museum by George II in 1757 as part of the Old Royal Library.
Notes Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts.
Contains a genealogical chronicle of the Kings of England from the Heptarchy to Edward I (b. 1239, d. 1307), king of England from 1272, with additions to include Edward II (b. 1284, d. 1327), king of England from 1308, and Edward III (b. 1312, d. 1377), king of England from 1327, with a record of his declaration as the rightful heir to the French throne in 1340.
Select bibliography H. Omont, 'Les manuscrits français des rois d'Angleterre au château de Richmond', in Etudes romanes dédiés à Gaston Paris (Paris: É. Bouillon, 1891), pp. 1-13 (p. 6).

George F. Warner and Julius P. Gilson, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Old Royal and King’s Collections, 4 vols (London: British Museum, 1921), II, p. 176.

Diana B. Tyson, 'Handlist of Manuscripts Containing the French Prose Brut Chronicle', Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relative aux manuscrits, 48 (1994), 333-44 (p. 343).

The Libraries of King Henry VIII, ed. by J. P. Carley, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 7 (London: The British Library in association with The British Academy, 2000), H1.17.

Diana B. Tyson, 'The Manuscript Tradition of Old French Prose Brut Rolls', Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relative aux manuscrits, 55 (2001), 107-18 (p. 108).

Olivier de Laborderie, 'La mémoire des origines Normandes des rois d’Angleterre dans les généalogies en rouleau des XIIIe et XIVe siècles', in La Normandie et l’Angleterre au Moyen Age, Colloque de Crécy-la-Salle (4-7 octobre 2001), ed. by Pierre Bouzet and Véronique Gazeau (Caen : Publications du CRAHM, 2003), pp.211-36 (pp. 215, n. 13, 221, n. 30).

Olivier de Laborderie, ''Ligne de reis': Culture historique, représentation du pouvoir royal et construction de la mémoire nationale en Angleterre a travers les généalogies royales en rouleau du milieu du XIIIe siècle au début du XVe siècle' (thèse, Paris EHESS, 2002), pp. 122-23, 244, 247, 257, 262-63, 270, 282, 480, 482, 582, 604, 611, 642, 645, 658, 664, 667, 669, 683, 685-86, 730, 732, 734, 739, 741, 779, 820, 836.

Scot McKendrick, John Lowden, and Kathleen Doyle, Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination (London: British Library, 2011), no. 118 [exhibition catalogue].

John Spence, Reimagining History in Anglo-Norman Prose Chronicles (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2013), pp. 110, 124.

Olivier de Laborderie, 'The first manuals of English History: Two Late Thirteenth-Century Genealogical Rolls of the Kings of England in the Royal Collection', Electronic British Library Journal (2014), article 4.
Last revised: Thursday, May 5, 2011


Images
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Heptarchy and descendants of Egbert (Ethelberd]

Membrane 1
Heptarchy and descendants of Egbert (Ethelberd]
Alured and Edward

Membrane 2
Alured and Edward
From Ethelred to Edmund

Membrane 2
From Ethelred to Edmund
 
Edgar and his descendants

Membrane 3
Edgar and his descendants
From Edred to the descendants of Ethelred the Unready

Membrane 3
From Edred to the descendants of Ethelred the Unready
Edmund II Ironside

Membrane 4
Edmund II Ironside
 
Cnut and his descendants

Membrane 4
Cnut and his descendants
Edward the Confessor

Membrane 4
Edward the Confessor
From Edmund Ironside to Edward the Confessor

Membrane 4
From Edmund Ironside to Edward the Confessor
 
Rollo and his descendants

Membrane 5
Rollo and his descendants
Matilda and Henry I

Membrane 5
Matilda and Henry I
From Harold to Henry I

Membrane 5
From Harold to Henry I
 
From Stephen to the descendants of John

Membrane 6
From Stephen to the descendants of John
Henry III and his descendants

Membrane 7
Henry III and his descendants
From Henry III to Edward III

Membrane 7
From Henry III to Edward III
 

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