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Detailed record for Royal 15 A XX
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| Part 1 |
ff. 1-143 |
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| Author |
Marcus Tullius Cicero; various authors |
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| Title |
De officiis (ff. 1-58v); Paradoxa Stoicorum (ff. 59-66); De amicitia (ff. 66v-83); De senectute (ff. 84-98); De inventione (ff. 99-140) |
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| Origin |
England, N. (Yorkshire?) |
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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 |
Large initial in red with display script in red and green (f. 99). Initial in red with penwork decoration (f. 1). Initial in blue with pen-flourishing in red and blue (f. 2v). Small initials in green or red, some with decoration. Ink drawings of animals in the lower margins (e.g., ff. 68, 69) and numerous maniculae. Rubrics in red. |
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| Dimensions in mm |
210 x 135 (155 x 80) |
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| Part 2 |
ff. 144-164 |
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| Author |
Honorius Augustodunensis, Ivo of Chartres and others |
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| Title |
Theological works including Elucidarium |
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| Origin |
England, N. (Yorkshire) |
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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 |
Small initials and rubrics in red. |
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| Dimensions in mm |
210 x 135 (170 x 115) |
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| Official foliation |
ff. 164 (+4 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and at the end) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
BM/BL in-house. Rebound in 1970. |
| Provenance |
The Cistercian abbey of St Mary, Byland, Yorkshire (founded in 1134, becoming part of the Cistercian order in 1147): inscribed 'Liber de sancte Marie de Bella Landa' (partially erased).
John Theyer (bap. 1598, d. 1673), antiquary: his note on f. 144 and included in the catalogue of his library left to his grandson Charles Theyer (b. 1651), see [Edward Bernard], Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae, 3 vols. (Oxford: Sheldonian, '1697', but 1698?), II, no. 6538.
Robert Scott (b. c. 1632, d. 1709/10), London bookseller: included in the catalogue of John Theyer’s manuscripts in his possession, appraised in 1678 by William Beveridge and William Jane, Royal Appendix, 70, no. 185
Charles II (b. 1630, d.1685), king of England, Scotland, and Ireland: purchased from Scott together with other 311 manuscripts from Theyer's library.
Presented to the British Museum by George II in 1757 as part of the Old Royal Library. |
| Notes |
Ghost stories from the Byland area of Yorkshire have been copied in a hand of c.1400 at the end of both parts of the manuscript, which were bound together before this date (ff. 140v-143 and ff. 163v-164v).
Quire signatures in Part 1 are in two series of Roman numerals: I-XI (ff. 1-98) and i-iiii (ff. 99-140), as the two sections were copied separately but joined together at an early date (see Warner and Gilson 1921). |
| 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. 147-48.
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. 23.
Valerie Flint, 'The original text of the Elucidarium of Honorius Augustodunensis from the twelfth century English manuscripts', Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relative aux manuscrits, 18 (1964), 91-94 (pp. 92-93).
Birger Munk Olsen, 'The Cistercian and Classical Culture', in La réception de la littérature classique au Moyen Age (Ixe-XIIe siècle) (Copenhagen: Museum Tuscalum Press, 1995), pp. 95-131 (p. 118).
Anne Lawrence-Mathers, Manuscripts in Northumbria in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries (Woodbridge: Brewer, 2003), pp. 207-08. |
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Part 1
ff. 1-143 |
| Marcus Tullius Cicero; various authors De officiis (ff. 1-58v); Paradoxa Stoicorum (ff. 59-66); De amicitia (ff. 66v-83); De senectute (ff. 84-98); De inventione (ff. 99-140) |
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f. 1
Decorated initial |
f. 88v
Text page |
ff. 97v-98
Maniculae |
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f. 99
Large initial and display script |
f. 141
Text page |
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