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Detailed record for Harley 624
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| Part 1 |
ff. 84-143v |
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| Title |
Passionale (Lives of the Saints), imperfect |
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| Origin |
England, S. E. (Canterbury) |
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| Date |
1st half of the 12th century |
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| Language |
Latin |
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| Script |
Protogothic |
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| Scribe |
Written by at least three scribes: see Gameson 2008 |
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| Decoration |
Large initial in colours and gold with foliate decoration, faces and hybrids (f. 115). Large historiated initials in colours (ff. 94, 132, 134v). Large initials in colours with foliate decoration, many also zoomorphic or inhabited with heads, men, animals, and/ or hybrids (ff. 84v, 89v, 93v, 100, 101v, 103v, 104v, 106v, 107v, 108v, 112, 112v, 113v, 114v, 120, 121, 126, 128v, 137, 140, 141v). Large initial in yellow with penwork decoration in red and green (f. 111). Large initials in green, yellow, blue, or red, some with reserved white lines or simple penwork decoration. Rubrics in red. |
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| Dimensions in mm |
375 x 240 (305 x 195) in two columns |
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| Part 2 |
ff. 1v-82 and 145-217 |
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| Title |
Historica monumenta diversa (ff. 2-18v), Chronica monasterii de Pipwell (ff. 21-35v), etc., added by Sir Simonds D'Ewes c. 1639-1643 |
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| Origin |
England |
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| Date |
c. 1639-1643 |
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| Language |
Latin |
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| Decoration |
Coloured drawings (ff. 145, 146v, 147). Large initial in colours and gold with a coat of arms including Simonds D'Ewes' arms and a sun (f. 4). Large initial in gold with flowers (f. 22), Coloured initials and display script in blue, red, yellow or green. T-map in pink ink (f. 42v). |
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| Dimensions in mm |
375 x 250 (270 x 145) |
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| Official foliation |
ff. 217 + 99* (+ 5 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and 39 unfoliated paper leaves at the end + 1 unfoliated paper leaf after ff. 20, [144a], 160 + 1 unfoliated parchment leaf after ff. 114 and 144) |
| Form |
Parchment and paper codex |
| Binding |
Post-1600. Brown leather with the arms of D'Ewes in gold in the centre of each cover; remains of metal clasps; rebacked in 1967. |
| Provenance |
The Benedictine abbey of Christ Church, Canterbury: listed in its catalogue: see Ker 1964.
Fragment from a letter in English referring to the inhabitants of Dalham, 17th century? (f. 144v), with inscriptions in Latin in a different hand (f. 144).
Sir Simonds D'Ewes (b.1602, d. 1650), 1st baronet, diarist, antiquary, and friend of Sir Robert Cotton (see Wright 1972): inscribed 'Simonds D'Ewes' (ff. 1v, 161, 217), his binding and arms, his added texts (ff. 1-82, 99* and ff. 145-217) ; (date of 1639 on f. 145 and 1643 on f. 217). (see Watson 1966).
Sir Simonds D’Ewes (d. 1722), 3rd baronet and grandson of the former: inherited and later sold the D’Ewes library to Robert Harley on 4 October 1705 for £450 (see Watson 1966).
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 |
f. 83 is a title-page to the 12th-century manuscript (part 1), added by Sir Simonds D'Ewes.
f. 84 has been vertically cut in half.
f. 99* is a parchment strip with added 17th-century letters 'PAS'.
ff. 145v-146 are blank.
Part 1 was originally bound with Cotton Nero C VII ff. 29-79 and Harley 315 ff. 1-39; for the original order see Ker 1939.
Harley 315 ff.16-39 contains a Vita S Anselmi composed soon after 1123, but may be a later addition (see Southern 1962). |
| Select bibliography |
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), I, no. 624.
Meyer Schapiro, 'From Mozarabic to Romanesque in Silo', Art Bulletin 21 (1939), 313-374 (p. 328 n. 33).
Neil R. Ker, 'Membra Disiecta, Second Series', British Museum Quarterly, 14 (1939-40), 79-86 (pp. 83-5).
C. R. Dodwell, The Canterbury School of Illumination 1066-1200 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1954), pp. 28, 41, 51, 65, 67, 72, 74-5, 79, 121, pls. 17b, 17c, 29a, 37h, 40d, 40f, 45a.
Felix's Life of Saint Cuthlac, ed. by Bertram Colgrave (Cambridge: University Press, 1956), p. 32.
T. S. R. Boase, English Art 1100-1216, Oxford History of English Art, 2 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957), pp. 43, 46, pls 11b, 13a.
Andrew G. Watson, 'An Identification of some Manuscripts owned by Dr. John Dee and Sir Simonds D'Ewes', The Library, 5th series, 13 (1958), 194-98 (p. 195).
Otto Pächt, C. R. Dodwell, and Francis Wormald, The St. Albans Psalter (Albani Psalter) (London: Warburg Institute, 1960), p. 134.
The Life of St Anselm Archbishop fo Canterbury by Eadmer, ed. by R. W. Southern (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962), p. xxiii.
Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books, ed. by N. R. Ker, 2nd edn, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 3 (London: Royal Historical Society, 1964), p. 36.
Andrew G. Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (London: British Museum, 1966), no. A465 (ff. 1-82), E72 (ff. 83-143), A465 (ff. 145-217).
C. M. Kauffmann, Romanesque Manuscripts 1066-1190 Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, 3 (London: Harvey Miller, 1975), no. 22, figs 53-4.
François Avril and Patricia Danz Stirnemann, Manuscrits enluminés d’origine insulaire VIIe-XXe siècle (Paris: Bibliothèque nationale, 1987), p. 23.
Deborah Kahn, Canterbury Cathedral and its Romanesque Sculpture (London: Harvey Miller, 1991), p. 52, pls 64, 115.
Richard Gameson, 'The Romanesque Crypt Capitals of Canterbury Cathedral', Archaeologia Cantiana, 110 (1992), 17-48 (p. 34 n. 27, pl. 8).
Richard Gameson, The Earliest Books of Canterbury Cathedral: Manuscripts and Fragments to c. 1200 (London: Bibliographical Society, 2008), pp. 227-47. |
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Part 1
ff. 84-143v |
| Passionale (Lives of the Saints), imperfect |
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f. 84v
Decorated initial |
f. 89v
Decorated initial |
f. 93v
Zoomorphic initial |
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f. 93v
Zoomorphic initial |
f. 94
Historiated initial |
f. 94
Historiated initial |
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f. 100
Decorated initial |
f. 101v
Detail |
f. 101v
Decorated initial |
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f. 103v
Historiated initial |
f. 104v
Decorated initial |
f. 106v
Historiated initial |
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f. 106v
Historiated initial |
f. 106v
Detail |
f. 108v
Detail |
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f. 108v
Historiated initial |
f. 111
Decorated initial |
f. 112
Historiated initial |
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f. 112v
Decorated initial |
f. 113v
Decorated initial |
f. 114v
Decorated initial |
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f. 115
Inhabited initial |
f. 115
Inhabited initial |
f. 115
Detail |
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f. 120
Decorated initial |
f. 121
Historiated initial |
f. 121
Historiated initial |
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f. 126
Historiated initial |
f. 128v
Decorated initial |
f. 132
Historiated initial |
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f. 134v
Michael and the dragon |
f. 134v
Michael and the dragon |
f. 134v
Detail |
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f. 137
Decorated initial |
f. 140
Decorated initial |
f. 140
Decorated initial |
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f. 141v
Decorated initial |
f. 147
Knights with banners |
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Part 2
ff. 1v-82 and 145-217 |
| Historica monumenta diversa (ff. 2-18v), Chronica monasterii de Pipwell (ff. 21-35v), etc., added by Sir Simonds D'Ewes c. 1639-1643 |
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f. 4
Decorated initial |
f. 145
William the Conqueror |
f. 146v
King of England and duke of Brittany |
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f. 147
Knights with banners |
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