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Detailed record for Harley 1688
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| Title |
Psalter, including material for determining hours of daylight, a calendar, Canticles and hymns, and creed (ff. 139v-141v), litany and prayers |
| Origin |
England (S., Norwich?) |
| Date |
14th century |
| Language |
Latin |
| Script |
Gothic |
| Decoration |
Large initial with partial border in colours and gold, at the beginning of Psalm 1 (f. 8). Large puzzle intial in red and blue with red and blue penwork decoration extending to form a partial margin and including dragons, leaves, and faces, at the beginning of Psalms 26, 38, 52, 68, 80, 97 (ff. 26, 39v, 52v, 65, 80, 93v). Large initials in blue with red penwork decoration and pen-flourishing or in red with blue penwork decoration and pen-flourishing, including in the form of leaves or faces. Small initials in red or blue. Small initials in brown with penwork decoration. Paraphs in blue or red. |
| Dimensions in mm |
225 x 150 (180 x 115) |
| Official foliation |
ff. 159 + 1*-3* ( + 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and 4 at the end + an unfoliated parchment former pastedown at the beginning + an unfoliated parchment leaf after f. 3* and 2 after f. 109) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
BM/BL in-house. Rebound in 1965. |
| Provenance |
The hospital of St Giles, Norwich: the calendar includes the dedication of the parish church of Norwich and the obit of Hugh Actor of the hospital (d. 1464).
The Derham and Crimplesham (Crumpilsham) families: added 15th-century notes in Latin and English of births and deaths of members of the family in the calendar, e.g., 'The birth of Baudewyn son of T. Derham, and Jane his wif, the yer of our lorde God I mill cccc lxxij, and ye xiij yer of ye Reign of king Edward iiij' (March); 'Thomas, the son of Thomas of Crimplesham, the son of Thomas of Derham, & Jane his wif, wer weddid' (February), and a sketch of four heraldic arms (f. 4v) similar to those over the aisle arcades in the chapel.
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 |
Musical notation on four-line red staves, in the office for Catherine (ff. 108-109). |
| Select bibliography |
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), II (1808), no. 1688.
Christopher Wordsworth and Henry Littlehales, The Old Service-Books of the English Church, 2nd edn (London: Methuen & Co., 1910), p. 58.
Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books ed. by N. R. Ker, Supplement to the Second Edition, ed. by Andrew G. Watson, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 15 (London: The Royal Historical Society, 1987), p. 51. |
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f. 8
Illuminated initial |
f. 26
Decorated initial |
f. 110
Christ in a star |
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