


print
home
site search
back


search tips

Detailed record for Harley 2342


Title		Lady Jane Grey's Prayer book
Origin		England, S. (London)
Date		2nd quarter of the 16th century, after 1539
Language		English
Script		Gothic
Decoration		Large decorated initials in colours and gold (ff. 1, 5, 9, 15, 15v, 48v, 62, 74v, 77v, 101, 106, 109v, 136v). Smaller initials in in colours and gold (mostly gold on a red, blue or pink ground). Lines fillers in colours and gold. Capitals marked in yellow.
Dimensions in mm		85 x 70 (70 x 50)
Official foliation		ff. 142 (+ 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves and 2 unfoliated parchment leaves at the beginning + 2 unfoliated parchment leaves and 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the end)
Form		Parchment codex
Binding		Post-1600. Dark blue leather; gilt edges.
Provenance		Added prayers, 16th century (ff. 137-142). Lady Jane Grey (also known as Lady Jane Dudley) (b. 1537, d. 1554), daughter of Henry Grey, duke of Suffolk, wife of Lord Guilford Dudley, proclaimed queen in 1553: given by her to Sir John Bridges, the Lieutenant of the Tower, moments before her execution on 12 February 1554. Marginal notes in her hand including some addressed to her father the duke of Suffolk (see f. 79), also notes in the hand of her husband. Robert Burscough (b. 1650/51, d.1709), prebendary of Exeter in 1701, archdeacon of Barnstaple in 1703, rector of Cheriton Bishop in 1705: sold by his widow on 17 May 1715 to Robert Harley, along with other manuscripts (see Wright 1972, 87-88; Diary 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, inscribed as usual by their librarian, Humfrey Wanley ‘17 Maij 1715’ (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		Contains prayers extracted from Richard Taverner's translation from the Latin of Wolfgang's Capito's Precationes Christianae ad imitationem psalmorum compositae, printed as An epitome of the Psalmes, or briefe meditacons upon the same, with diverse other moste Christian prayers, translated by Richard Taverner (London 1539). Note that Mueller 2011 indentifies this manuscript as written by Queen Katherine Parr and her own prayerbook, left unfinished at her death in 1548; but see Carley 2011, who argues convincingly that the manuscript was written by a professional scribe. f. 142v is blank.
Select bibliography		A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), II (1808), no. 2342. John Gough Nichols, Autographs of Royal, Noble, Learned, and Remarkable Personages Conspicuous in English History, from the Reign of Richard II to that of Charles II, with some Illustrious Foreigners.., (London, 1829), pl. 19 (facsimile reproduction of the first and last note). The Chronicle of Queen Jane and of Two Years of Queen Mary, and especially of the Rebellion of Sir Thomas Wyat, ed. by John Gough Nichols, (London: Camden Society, 1850), pp. 57-58, (p. 57, footnote d, for a transcript of the three inscriptions by Lady Jane and Lord Guilford Dudley). 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. 11 n. 6. Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 87-88, 172. Treasures of the British Library, ed. by Nicolas Barker and others (London: British Library, 2005), p. 54. Philip Howard, The British Library: A Treasure House of Knowledge (London: Scala Publishers, 2008), no. 50. Katherine Parr: Complete Works and Correspondence, ed. By Janel Mueller (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011), pp. 5, 18, 33, 489-552, fig. 2 [an edition of the manuscript]. James P. Carley, review of Katherine Parr: Complete Works and Correspondence, ed. by Janel Mueller (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011), Times Literary Supplement (June 3 2011), pp. 3-5.

Images



Front cover Front cover	Back cover Back cover	Spine Text page

f. 1 Text page	f. 1v Text page	f. 2 Text page

f. 2v Text page	f. 3 Text page	f. 3v Text page

f. 4 Text page	f. 4* Text page	*f. 4v** Text page

f. 4v Text page	f. 5 Text page	f. 5v Text page

f. 6 Text page	f. 6v Text page	f. 7 Text page

f. 7v Text page	f. 8 Text page	f. 8v Text page

f. 9 Text page	f. 9v Text page	f. 10 Text page

f. 10v Text page	f. 11 Text page	f. 11v Text page

f. 12 Text page	f. 12v Text page	f. 13 Text page

f. 13v Text page	f. 14 Text page	f. 14v Text page

f. 15 Text page	f. 15v Text page	f. 16 Text page

f. 16v Text page	f. 17 Text page	f. 17v Text page

f. 18 Text page	f. 18v Text page	f. 19 Text page

f. 19v Text page	f. 20 Text page	f. 20v Text page

f. 21 Text page	f. 21v Text page	f. 22 Text page

f. 22v Text page	f. 23 Text page	f. 23v Text page

f. 24 Text page	f. 24v Text page	f. 25 Text page

f. 25v Text page	f. 26 Text page	f. 26v Text page

f. 27 Text page	f. 27v Text page	f. 28 Text page

f. 28v Text page	f. 29 Text page	f. 29v Text page

f. 30 Text page	f. 30v Text page	f. 31 Text page

f. 31v Text page	f. 32 Text page	f. 32v Text page

f. 33 Text page	f. 33v Text page	f. 34 Text page

f. 34v Text page	f. 35 Text page	f. 35v Text page

f. 36 Text page	f. 36v Text page	f. 37 Text page

f. 37v Text page	f. 38 Text page	f. 38v Text page

f. 39 Text page	f. 39v Text page	f. 40 Text page

f. 40v Text page	f. 41 Text page	f. 41v Text page

f. 42 Text page	f. 42v Text page	f. 43 Text page

f. 43v Text page	f. 44 Text page	f. 44v Text page

f. 45 Text page	f. 45v Text page	f. 46 Text page

f. 46v Text page	f. 47 Text page	f. 47v Text page

f. 48 Text page	f. 48v Text page	f. 49 Text page

f. 49v Text page	f. 50 Text page	f. 50v Text page

f. 51 Text page	f. 51v Text page	f. 52 Text page

f. 52v Text page	f. 53 Text page	f. 53v Text page

f. 54 Text page	f. 54v Text page	f. 55 Text page

f. 55v Text page	f. 56 Text page	f. 56v Text page

f. 57 Text page	f. 57v Text page	f. 58 Text page

f. 58v Text page	f. 59 Text page	f. 59v Text page

f. 60 Text page	f. 60v Text page	f. 61 Text page

f. 61v Text page	f. 62 Text page	f. 62v Text page

f. 63 Text page	f. 63v Text page	f. 64 Text page

f. 64v Text page	f. 65 Text page	f. 65v Text page

f. 66 Text page	f. 66v Text page	f. 67 Text page

f. 67v Text page	f. 68 Text page	f. 68v Text page

f. 69 Text page	f. 69v Text page	f. 70 Text page

f. 70v Text page	f. 71 Text page	f. 71v Text page

f. 72 Text page	f. 72v Text page	f. 73 Text page

f. 73v Text page	f. 74 Text page	f. 74v Lady Jane Grey inscription

ff. 74v-75 Inscription by Lady Jane Grey	f. 75 Lady Jane Grey inscription	f. 75v Lady Jane Grey inscription

f. 76 Lady Jane Grey inscription	f. 76v Lady Jane Grey inscription	f. 77 Lady Jane Grey inscription

f. 77v Text page	f. 78 Lady Jane Grey inscription	f. 78v Lady Jane Grey inscription

f. 79 Lady Jane Grey inscription	f. 79v Lady Jane Grey inscription	f. 80 Lady Jane Grey inscription

f. 80v Text page	f. 81 Text page	f. 81v Text page

f. 82 Text page	f. 82v Text page	f. 83 Text page

f. 83v Text page	f. 84 Text page	f. 84v Text page

f. 85 Text page	f. 85v Text page	f. 86 Text page

f. 86v Text page	f. 87 Text page	f. 87v Text page

f. 88 Text page	f. 88v Text page	f. 89 Text page

f. 89v Text page	f. 90 Text page	f. 90v Text page

f. 91 Text page	f. 91v Text page	f. 92 Text page

f. 92v Text page	f. 93 Text page	f. 93v Text page

f. 94 Text page	f. 94v Text page	f. 95 Text page

f. 95v Text page	f. 96 Text page	f. 96v Text page

f. 97 Text page	f. 97v Text page	f. 98 Text page

f. 98v Text page	f. 99 Text page	f. 99v Text page

f. 100 Text page	f. 100v Text page	f. 101 Text page

f. 101v Text page	f. 102 Text page	f. 102v Text page

f. 103 Text page	f. 103v Text page	f. 104 Text page

f. 104v Text page	f. 105 Text page	f. 105v Text page

f. 106 Text page	f. 106v Text page	f. 107 Text page

f. 107v Text page	f. 108 Text page	f. 108v Text page

f. 109 Text page	f. 109v Text page	f. 110 Text page

f. 110v Text page	f. 111 Text page	f. 111v Text page

f. 112 Text page	f. 112v Text page	f. 113 Text page

f. 113v Text page	f. 114 Text page	f. 114v Text page

f. 115 Text page	f. 115v Text page	f. 116 Text page

f. 116v Text page	f. 117 Text page	f. 117v Text page

f. 118 Text page	f. 118v Text page	f. 119 Text page

f. 119v Text page	f. 120 Text page	f. 120v Text page

f. 121 Text page	f. 121v Text page	f. 122 Text page

f. 122v Text page	f. 123 Text page	f. 123v Text page

f. 124 Text page	f. 124v Text page	f. 125 Text page

f. 125v Text page	f. 126 Text page	f. 126v Text page

f. 127 Text page	f. 127v Text page	f. 128 Text page

f. 128v Text page	f. 129 Text page	f. 129v Text page

f. 130 Text page	f. 130v Text page	f. 131 Text page

f. 131v Text page	f. 132 Text page	f. 132v Text page

f. 133 Text page	f. 133v Text page	f. 134 Text page

f. 134v Text page	f. 135 Text page	f. 135v Text page

f. 136 Text page	f. 136v Text page	f. 137 Text page

f. 137v Text page	f. 138 Text page	f. 138v Text page

f. 139 Text page	f. 139v Text page	f. 140 Text page

f. 140v Text page	f. 141 Text page	f. 141v Text page

f. 142 Text page	f. 142v Blank folio

About Simple search Manuscript search Advanced search
Virtual exhibitions Glossaries Accessibility Contact us Main
All text is © British Library Board and is available under a CC-BY Licence except where otherwise stated