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Detailed record for Harley 3742
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| Author |
Dudo of St Quentin, William of Jumièges , Pierre d'Ailly , John Norfolk |
| Title |
A miscellany of historical and scientific texts, including Dudo's 'De moribus et actis primorum Normanniae Ducum', lacking first leaf (ff. 1-57v), William of Jumièges's 'Gesta Normannorum Ducum', redaction A, books 5-7, lacking the first two leaves (ff. 57v-69), Pierre d'Ailly's works, including 'De concordia astronomice veritatis et narrationis historice', imperfect (ff. 163v-181), 'Elucidarium astronomice concordie', imperfect (ff. 181v-203), and Norfolk's 'In artem progressionis' (ff.238v-241) |
| Origin |
England, Central (Oxford) |
| Date |
1445 |
| Language |
Latin |
| Script |
Gothic cursive (Anglicana with Secretary features) |
| Scribe |
John Norfolk |
| Decoration |
2 'champ' initials in colours and gold with foliate and spray decoration (ff. 107v, 181v). Initials in blue with pen-flourished decoration in red. Rubrics in red. Paraphs in blue or red. Circular astrological diagrams in red and ink (ff. 161v, 194v, 203v, 227-228v, 232-233v). Astronomical tables in red and ink (ff. 210v, 213v, 227v-228, 231v). Spaces left blank for decorated initials (ff. 205-241). |
| Dimensions in mm |
320 x 230 (215/20 x 135) |
| Official foliation |
ff. 241 (+ 2 original unfoliated blank ruled leaves after f. 69 and 3 at the end, and 3 modern paper flyleaves at the beginning and 2 at the end) |
| Collation |
Gatherings of 8, with quire signature in the lower right corner of the rectos in the first half of gatherings and horizontal catchwords in the right lower margin of the last verso. Lacking 2 leaves before ff. 1 and 70, and single leaves after ff. 107, 122, 135, 150?, 165?, 182, |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
BM/BL in-house. |
| Provenance |
Written in Oxford by John Norfolk in 1445 (f. 240v; see Wright 1972).
James Anderson (b. 1662, d. 1728), historiographer and antiquary: sold to Edward Harley on 19 November 1725 on behalf of an unnamed owner (see 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, '19 die mensis Novembris, A.D. 1725' (f. 1; see Wright 1972).
Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta, née Cavendish 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. |
| Select bibliography |
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), III (1808), no. 3742.
Lynn Thorndike, ' Four British Manuscripts of Scientific Works by Pierre d'Ailly', Imago mundi, 16 (1962), 157-60.
The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by Cyril Ernest Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), II: 1723-1726, p. 394 n. 9.
Malcolm Beckwith Parkes, English Cursive Book Hands 1250-1500 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969), p. 6, pl. 6.i.
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. 49, 434.
Andrew G. Watson, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts c. 700-1600 in The Department of Manuscripts: The British Library, 2 vols (London: British Library, 1979), I, p. 139 no. 784, II, pl. 477.
Elisabeth M. C. Van Houts, Gesta Normannorum Ducum: Een studie over de handschriften, de tekst, het geschiedwerk en het genre. Proefschrift ter verkrijging van het doctoraat in de letteren aan de Rijksuniversiteit te Groningen ... 7 oktober 1982 (Groningen: E. M. C. van Houts, 1982), pp. 198-99.
Gerda C. Huisman, 'Notes on the Manuscript Tradition of Dudo of St Quentin's Gesta Normannorum, Anglo-Norman Studies, 6 (1984), 124-35 (pp. 123-27, 131).
Elisabeth M. C. Van Houts, The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis, and Robert of Torigni, 2 vols (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992, 1995), I, pp. xcvi-xcvii. |
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f. 181v
Illuminated initial. |
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