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Detailed record for Harley 1197
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| ff. 1-76v |
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| Author |
Richard Lavenham and various other authors |
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| Title |
An explication of the ten commandments (imperfect at the beginning) (ff. 1-8v), Lavynham's Little Treatise on the Seven Deadly Sins (De septem mortalibus peccatis), a tract on the Pater Noster (ff. 28v-48v), the Ars Moriendi and other religious works (imperfect at the end) |
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| ff. 402-413 |
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| Title |
Encomium by John Voss dedicated to cardinal Thomas Wolsey |
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| Origin |
England |
| Date |
2nd or 3rd quarter of the 15th century |
| Language |
English and Latin |
| Script |
Gothic |
| Decoration |
1 initial in gold on a red and blue ground with floral sprays (f. 30v). 4 puzzle initials with red and purple pen-flourishing (ff. 9, 28v, 48v, 56). Initials in blue with red pen-flourishing. Underlining and marginal notes in red. Paraphs in red or blue. Rubrics in red. Capitals marked in red. |
| Dimensions in mm |
190 x 145 (140 x 100) |
| Official foliation |
Vol I: ff. 203 + 203* (f. 203* is a paper flyleaf;+ 4 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and 3 at the end) Vol II: ff. 204-413 (+ 3 unfoliated flyleaves at the beginning and 4 at the end) |
| Form |
Parchment and paper codices |
| Binding |
BM/BL in-house. Rebound in two volumes in 1964. |
| Provenance |
Thomas Wolsey, royal minister, archbishop of York, cardinal (b. c. 1470, d. 1530): his arms and an encomium by John Voss dedicated to Wolsey (f. 402).
Robert Hare of Bocking Hall and Bruisyard, county Suffolk (b. c. 1530, d. 1611); antiquary and benefactor of Cambridge University; owned eleven manuscripts now at Trinity Hall, Cambridge: his name, Roberti Hare, and the date 1563 inscribed (f. 402).
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. |
| Notes |
Harley 1197 is bound in two volumes: Vol. I (ff. 1-203), Vol. 2 (ff. 204-413). Apart from ff. 1-76v, the contents of the first volume, written by several scribes, are post- medieval and have no significant decoration.
The name Guilielmus Averelus Londoniensis is inscribed in a cursive hand at the top of f. 78.
The Ars Moriendi text is copied from an earlier block book as descriptions of the woodcuts are referred to, although there are no illustrations in this manuscript.
The contents of the second volume, also written by several different hands, are post medieval and have no significant decoration, apart from ff. 402-13.
For a detailed list of the contents, which include ecclesiastical legislation dating from the reign of Henry VIII, see the Harley Catalogue. |
| Select bibliography |
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), II (1808), no. 1197.
Speculum Christiani: A Middle English Religious Treatise of the 14th century, ed. by Gustaf Holmstedt, Early English Text Society, Original Series, 182 (London: Early English Text Society, 1933), p. lxxi-lxxii.
Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 179, 358.
Jeffrey Campbell, 'The Ars Moriendi: An Examination, Translation and Collation of the Manuscripts of the Shorter Latin Version' (University of Ottawa: unpublished PhD thesis, 1995), online at https://ruor.uottawa.ca/bitstream/10393/10313/1/MM07840.PDF [accessed 24.10.18] pp. 12, 17.
The Libraries of King Henry VIII, ed. by J. P. Carley, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 7 (London, 2000), p. lii.
Elisabetta Lonati, 'Ffor God wolde that Alle Men Ferde Weel and were Savid': A Late Middle English Pater Noster Tract', ACME: Annali della Facoltà di Letttere e Filosofia dell' Università degli Studi di Milano, 53 (2000), 83-138 [a critical edition of the Pater Noster tract (ff. 28v-48v) as 'H'].
Jane Roberts, Guide to Scripts used in English Writings up to 1500 (London: British Library, 2005), p. 163-64, no. 50 [with additional bibliography]. |
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ff. 1-76v |
| Richard Lavenham and various other authors An explication of the ten commandments (imperfect at the beginning) (ff. 1-8v), Lavynham's Little Treatise on the Seven Deadly Sins (De septem mortalibus peccatis), a tract on the Pater Noster (ff. 28v-48v), the Ars Moriendi and other religious works (imperfect at the end) |
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f. 9
Pen-flourished initials |
f. 402
Thomas Wolsey |
f. 403
Illuminated initial |
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