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Detailed record for Harley 2777
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| Author |
Virgil |
| Title |
Aeneis , and a few other texts (see Notes) |
| Origin |
England or France |
| Date |
Last quarter of the 12th century or 1st quarter of the 13th century |
| Language |
Latin |
| Script |
Protogothic, written above top line |
| Decoration |
Initials in red with penwork decoration in the same colour and occasionally with reserved designs. Coloured initials in red (oxydised). |
| Dimensions in mm |
285 x 120 (225 x 65) |
| Official foliation |
ff. 99 (+ 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and at the end) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
Post-1600. 'Harleian' binding of gold-tooled pale brown leather; marbled endpapers. |
| Provenance |
Added inscriptions, 15th-16th century (f. 99v).
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 |
Guide letters.
A few short texts at the end written in the same hand including verses in praise of Virgil and a text on the 10 plagues of Egypt (ff. 98v-99v).
A few cut leaves after f. 99. |
| Select bibliography |
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), II (1808), no. 2777.
R. D. Williams, T. S. Pattie, Virgil. His Poetry through the Ages (London: The British Library, 1982), p. 135.
Erik Kwakkel and Francis Newton, Medicine at Monte Cassino: Constantine the African and the oldest manuscript of his Pantegni, Speculum sanitatis, 1 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2019), p. 216. |
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