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Detailed record for Royal 14 C XIII
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| Author |
Ranulf Higden; Gerald of Wales and others |
| Title |
Polychronicon (to 1327); Expugnatio Hibernia; travel writings, historical and religious texts (see Notes below for detailed contents) |
| Origin |
England |
| Date |
2nd quarter of the 14th century |
| Language |
Latin |
| Script |
Gothic cursive |
| Decoration |
Puzzle initials in red and blue with zoomorphic and/or foliate decoration, pen-flourishing and partial borders in both colours. Numerous initials in blue with pen-flourishing in red. Paraphs in red or blue. Small initials and rubrics in red. Running titles in blue or red and blue in the Polychronicon. |
| Dimensions in mm |
370 x 220 (275 x 145) |
| Official foliation |
ff. i + 310 (+ 1 unfoliated parchment flyleaf at the beginning and 1 after f. 12 + 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and at the end) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
Post-1600. Red leather with gold tooling; arms of George II; gilt fore-edges. |
| Provenance |
Symonis Bozoun, prior of the Benedictine cathedral priory of the Holy Trinity, Norwich (1344-1352): inscribed 'liber fr[atri]s Symonis Bozoun Prioris Norwic' '(f. 14) and containing a list of books belonging to him with their prices (f. 13v), in which this manuscript is probably listed as 'Cronica mo[na]chi Cestr[ensis] cu[m] aliis', priced at 20 shillings.
The pressmark 'P. lxi' (f. 1) may be from Norwich priory but is unidentified.
The initials 'R.W.' in a later hand on f. I have not been identified.
John Lumley, 1st baron Lumley (b. c. 1533, d. 1609), collector and conspirator: inscribed with his name (f. 3); listed in the 1609 catalogue of his collection, no. 1434 (see The Lumley Library, 1956); passed to Henry, prince of Wales.
Henry Frederick, prince of Wales (b. 1594, d. 1612), eldest child of James V: his collection became part of the Royal Library.
The Old Royal Library (the English Royal Library): in the catalogue of 1666, Royal Appendix 71 (f. 7v) and in the 1698 catalogue of the library of St James’s Palace (see [Edward Bernard], Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae, 3 vols. (Oxford: Sheldonian, '1697', but 1698?), II, nos. 8316, 8298, 8348, 8324 and 8350).
Presented to the British Museum by George II in 1757 as part of the Old Royal Library. |
| Notes |
Detailed contents:
Ranulph Higden, Polychronicon (ff. 3-165);
Gerald of Wales, Expugnatio Hibernia (ff. 166-194);
Jacques de Vitry, Historia Orientalis (ff. 195-215);
Odoricus de Pordenone, Itinerarium (ff. 216-224);
Willelmus de Rubruk , Itinerarium ad partes orientalis (ff. 225-236);
Marco Polo, translated by Francesco Pipino, De conditionibus et consuetudinibus orientalium regionum (ff. 236-269);
Michael Blaunpayn of Cornwall, A satirical poem against Henry of Avranches (c. 1254) (ff. 269v-275);
Nicholas Trivet , Commentary on Augustine's 'De Civitate Dei' (ff. 276-309).
Ranulph Higden (d. 1364), was a monk of the Benedictine abbey of St. Werburg, Chester. His 'Polychronicon' is a universal history, based on earlier writers, but extended down to his own lifetime. This manuscript ends in 1327. |
| Select bibliography |
George F. Warner and Julius P. Gilson, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Old Royal and King’s Collections, 4 vols (London: British Museum, 1921), II, pp. 137-38.
Josiah Russell, 'Mr Henry of Avranches as an International Poet', Speculum, 3.1 (1928), 34-63 (pp. 34n., 41n.).
The Lumley Library: The Catalogue of 1609, ed. by Sears Jayne and Francis R. Johnson (London: British Museum, 1956), p. 175.
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. 138.
John Taylor, The Universal Chronicle of Ranulf Higden (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966), p. 154.
Malcolm Parkes, English Cursive Book Hands (London: Oxford University Press, 1969), no. 4.ii.
Robert Barlett, Gerald of Wales 1146-1223 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982), p. 214.
Peter Blinkley, 'The Date and Setting of Michael of Cornwall's Versus Contra Henricum Abrincensem', Medium Aevum 60 (1991), 76-84 [on the text].
A.G. Rigg, A History of Anglo-latin Literature 1066-1422 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), pp. 193-98, [on the text, ff. 269v-275].
John Frederick Hinnebusch, ‘Extant Manuscripts of the Writings of Jacques de Vitry’ Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relative aux manuscrits, 51 (1997), 156-64 (p. 157). |
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f. 2
Contents list |
f. 13v
Library catalogue |
f. 14
Puzzle initial and ownership inscription |
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f. 53v
Puzzle initial |
f. 164
Decorated initial |
f. 165v
Text page |
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f. 225
Puzzle initial |
ff. 226v-227
Pen-flourished initials |
f. 236
Puzzle initial |
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