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Detailed record for Harley 3864
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| Author |
Bede |
| Title |
In epistolas catholicas |
| Origin |
England, N. (Durham) |
| Date |
1st half of the 12th century |
| Language |
Latin |
| Script |
Protogothic |
| Scribe |
Notes by Symeon of Durham |
| Decoration |
Large initials in combinations of blue, red, and green with foliate decoration (ff. 3, 26, 45, 58, 84v, 86, 87v). Small initials in red or green. Rubrics in red. |
| Dimensions in mm |
275 x 185 (200 x 135) in two columns |
| Official foliation |
ff. 94 ( + 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and 4 at the end) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
BM/BL in-house. Rebound in 1966. |
| Provenance |
The Benedictine cathedral priory of St Cuthbert, Durham: inscribed 'D' (erased), (see Ker 1964); 13th-century inscription 'Liber Sancti Cuthberti' (f. 1).
15th-century ? pen trial of the alphabet and 'by me Robert Londi ? (f. 51v).
Thomas Tempest (d. 1743), 4th baronet, county Durham: inscribed 'Sr. Tho. Tempt Baronet' (f. 3).
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, 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. |
| Notes |
ff. 1, 2 and 94 are parchment flyleaves; ff. 2v and 94 have 12th-century text from a missal, f. 2v with simple red, blue, or green initials; f. 93 is a parchment leaf.
ae caudatas. Ampersands.
This scribe also wrote Harley 4688 ff. 7 line 7/8-end, and there are numerous subject notes in the margins written by Symeon of Durham, according to information supplied by Michael Gullick, which we gratefully acknowledge. |
| Select bibliography |
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), II (1808), no. 3864.
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. 73.
Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books ed. by N. R. Ker, Supplement to the Second Edition, ed. by Andrew G. Watson, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 15 (London: The Royal Historical Society, 1987), p. 30.
Registrum anglie de libris doctorum et auctorum veterum, ed. by Richard H. & Mary A. Rouse, and R.A.B. Mynors, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 2 (London 1991), p. 98.
Anne Lawrence-Mathers, Manuscripts in Northumbria in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries (Woodbridge: Brewer, 2003), p. 170, fig. 64. |
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f. 3
Decorated initial |
f. 26
Decorated initial |
f. 45
Decorated initial |
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f. 58
Decorated initial |
f. 84v
Decorated initial |
f. 87v
Decorated initial |
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