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Detailed record for Harley 3724
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| Author |
Gerald of Wales |
| Title |
Topography of Ireland, the Bull 'Laudabiliter' (f. 48), and various short religious texts |
| Origin |
Ireland |
| Date |
13th century |
| Language |
Latin and some English |
| Script |
Gothic, written above top line |
| Decoration |
Added sketch in ink of a rampant lion (f. 4v). Marginal paintings in colours of birds, faces, a hare, an axe, a chalice, a crenallated wall, hybrid creatures, etc. (ff. 9v, 13, 36, 37, 38, 39v, 41, 42, 42v, 45v, 46v, 48, 50, 52v, 53). Full- or partial borders in colours with geometric or foliate motifs. Large initials in colours, many filled with a chequered design, some with foliate motifs or faces. Large initials in red. Smaller initials in red and yellow or blue and yellow. Paraphs in red or blue. Capitals marked in red. |
| Dimensions in mm |
220 x 140 (160 x 100) |
| Official foliation |
ff. 59 (+ 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and 3 at the end) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
Post-1600. Red leather with gold-tooling. |
| Provenance |
John Warburton (b. 1682, d. 1759), of Bury, county Lancashire, antiquary and herald, Somerset Herald in 1720: acquired by Harley in 1720 (Diary 1966; 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 Julij, A.D. 1720’ (f. [i]).
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 |
ff. 51-52 inked out text.
f. 45: hymn to the Virgin with musical notation.
The English text consists of 'a very ancient creed in English, with the Lord's prayer in English rhyme' (see the Harley Cat.) |
| Select bibliography |
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), III (1808), no. 3724.
The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by Cyril Ernest Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), I: 1715-1723, p. 60 n. 2.
Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), p. 347.
Charles Kightly, A Mirror of Medieval Wales: Gerald of Wales and his Journey of 1188 (Cardiff: Cadw, 1988), p. 100. |
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ff. 6v-7
Partial borders with a decorated initial |
ff. 37v-38
Partial borders with decorated initials |
f. 41
Decorated initials and a hare |
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f. 44v
Historiated initials |
f. 45v
Decorated initial and hybrid creature |
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