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Detailed record for Harley 3042
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| Part 1 |
ff. 1v-67v; 120-141v |
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| Author |
Ambrose |
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| Title |
De officiis ministrorum; Sermo de resurrectione domini; De poenitentia |
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| Origin |
Germany |
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| Date |
2nd half of the 11th century |
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| Language |
Latin |
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| Script |
Caroline minuscule |
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| Decoration |
2 large initials with foliage and one with a grotesque, outlined in brown ink, with brown, red, green and yellow, on a coloured ground (ff. 1v, 131v; red and green added). 3 large initials in red, with interlace, clasps, and foliate decoration, on red and yellow grounds (ff. 32, 51v, 120). Display script for letters following some large initials. Rubrics in red. |
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| Dimensions in mm |
440 x 310 (350 x 195) in 2 columns |
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| Part 2 |
ff. 68-119 |
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| Author |
Ambrose |
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| Title |
Hexaemeron; De paradiso |
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| Origin |
Germany, W. (?Arnstein) |
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| Date |
2nd half of the 12th century |
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| Language |
Latin |
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| Script |
Protogothic |
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| Decoration |
1 large initial in brown ink with two grotesques and foliage, with red, blue and green, on a green and light brown ground (f. 68). 17 initials in red wih penwork decoration and reserved designs (ff. 71, 74, 77, 79, 79v, 85v, 86, 88v, 90v, 98, 99v, 100v (x2), 101, 104, 106v, 109v). 1 small initial in red (f. 68). Rubrics in red. Capitals highlighted in red. |
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| Dimensions in mm |
440 x 310 (370 x 210) in 2 columns |
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| Official foliation |
ff. 141 (+ 5 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and 4 at the end) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
BM/BL in-house. Rebound in 1968; remains of previous binding (gold-tooled brown leather) pasted inside covers and on f. [iv] |
| Provenance |
Parts 1 and 2 were together by the 12th century: in part 1, the scribe/illuminator of part 2 added red initials/letters (ff. 66v, 131v), replaced some text initials with simple red penwork initials (e.g. ff. 11v, 12 - cf. initial on f. 68), and added titles/rubrics in margins, including one on f. 67v (last page of part 1) which refers to the first text in part 2.
The Premonstratensian abbey of St Mary and St Nicholas, Arnstein, founded 1139: inscribed, 12th/13th century 'Liber ecclesie sancte marie sanctique Nycholai in arenstein' (f. 68) and 'Liber sancte Marie gratia plene sanctique Nicholai confessoris eximii in Arinstein' (f. 120), the latter is surrounded by a triangular decorated frame with a mask; Heinrich Schupp, abbot of St Mary and St Nicholas, Arnstein, between 1556 and 1574, added references to Bible passages, notes, running headers and inscribed 'Henricus Arnsteinensis licet Indignus Abbas hunc librum cum suis titulis divinarumque scripturarum locis compilavit, restauravit atque in lucem edidit. Anno salutis humane 1570. Legerit quicumque mei meminerit utrimque. Studio qui suo multum laboravit in isto' (f. 31v), (and highlighted initials?).
Nathaniel Noel (fl. 1681, d. c. 1753), bookseller, employed by Edward Harley for buying books and manuscripts chiefly on the Continent, where his agent was George Suttie (Wright 1972).
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, inscribed as usual by their librarian, Humfrey Wanley ‘16 die Januarij, A.D. 1720/21’ (f. 1).
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 |
Remains of a quire mark (v?) on f. 91v.
f. 119 is a fragment (restored). |
| Select bibliography |
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts, in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: [n. pub.], 1808-12), II, no. 3042.
A. Kohl, 'Arnsteiner Handschriften im Britischen Museum zu London', Nassovia. Zeitschrift für nassauische Geschichte und Heimatkunde, 4 (1903), 106-108,120-121,133-34 (p. 120).
The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by C. E. Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), I: 1715-1723, p. 81 n. 8.
Wilhelm Köhler, 'Die Karolingischen Miniaturen', in Zweiter Bericht über die Denkmäler Deutscher Kunst (Berlin: Reimer, 1912), pp. 52-77 (p. 58).
C. E. Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 53, 254.
Sigrid Krämer, Handschriftenerbe des deutschen Mittelalters, Mittelalterliche Bibliothekskataloge Deutschlands und der Schweiz: Ergänzungsband 1, 3 vols (Munich, 1989-90), I (1989), p. 25.
Bruno Krings, Das Prämonstratenserstift Arnstein a. d. Lahn im Mittelalter (1139-1527) (Wiesbaden: Selbstverlag der Historischen Kommission für Nassau, 1990), p. 247 (no. 18). |
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Part 1
ff. 1v-67v; 120-141v |
| Ambrose De officiis ministrorum; Sermo de resurrectione domini; De poenitentia |
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