|
|
|
|
|
|
Detailed record for Egerton 3668
|
|
|
|
| Author |
Henry of Huntingdon |
| Title |
Historia Anglorum |
| Origin |
England |
| Date |
3rd quarter of the 12th century, possibly 1169 |
| Language |
Latin |
| Script |
Protogothic |
| Decoration |
5 large initials in red or green with red and green penwork decoration at the beginning of the prologue and some books (ff. 1v, 3, 34, 95v, 134v). Large initials in red or green, some with penwork decoration in the other colour. Small initials in red, brown, or green. |
| Dimensions in mm |
205 x 125 ( (170 x 85) |
| Official foliation |
ff. iv + 157 ( + 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and 3 at the end) |
| Collation |
Gatherings of 8 leaves, except for xii2 (8 of xi cancelled, 1 of xiii cancelled, 4-6 of xxi cancelled). |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
Pre-1600. Late 16th-century Oxford brown calf, with blind stamping in the centre of both covers; rebacked by 'J.R.', Nov. 1882, see note on f. iii; British Library catalogue. |
| Provenance |
Numerous additions and annotations in the margins, the latest event recorded (f. 133) being the archiepiscopate of Walter of Coutances at Rouen (1184-1207).
? The cathedral priory of Durham: annotations relating to the succession of the bishops of Durham and events at the cathedral priory (ff. 92v, 97, 103, and 105v) and early 14th-century notes (ff. 93 and 108); see Greenway.
The Carmelite house at LincoIn, in the 15th century: an erased inscription (f. 1) discovered and deciphered by N. R. Ker (see note on f. iii) and identified with a copy of Henry of Huntingdon seen there most likely by Leland, probably before 1536 (see British Library catalogue).
Sir Henry Savile: used by him, together with Additional 24061, for the edition of the Historia in Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores of 1598; his sale, 6 February 1861, lot 10: circular sticker with '10' on the outside upper cover, labelled as f. i; inscription f. iv; purchased by Phillipps for £240.
Sir Thomas Phillipps (b. 1792, d. 1872), baronet, collector of books and manuscripts: above inscriptions and his manuscript 25151 (see f. iv); sold to Robinson Ltd. in 1946.
William H. Robinson Ltd.: its book-plate (pasted to the inside upper cover, labelled as f. ii) in 1946, bought by the British Museum, using the Farnborough Fund (£3,000 bequeathed in 1838 by Charles Long, Baron Farnborough (b. 1761, d. 1838), a cousin of Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridgewater (b. 1756, d. 1829), founder of the collection. |
| Notes |
The manuscript is one of those of the fourth (1145) edition of the chronicle. The original scribe was possibly working in 1169, because on f. 113 he refers by inference to this as the current year.
f. i is a circular sticker with '10' on the outside upper cover; f. ii is a book-plate affixed to the inside upper cover; f. iii is a paper pastedown on the inside upper cover; and f. iv is a paper flyleaf. |
| Select bibliography |
British Library Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts 1946-1950, 2 vols (London: British Museum, 1979), I, no. Eg. 3668.
Andrew G. Watson, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts c. 700-1600 in The Department of Manuscripts: The British Library, 2 vols (London: British Library, 1979), I, no. 626; II, pl. 92.
Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books, ed. by N. R. Ker, 2nd edn, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 3 (London: Royal Historical Society, 1964), p. 119.
Henry, Archdeacon of Huntingdon: Historia Anglorum: The History of the English People, ed. and trans. by Diana Greenway (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996), pp. cxxix-cxxx (as ‘Eg’). |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
ff. 2v-3
Decorated initial |
f. 134v
Decorated initial |
|
|
|
|
