London, British Library, Cotton Cleopatra, D.ix
| Shelfmark | Date and Language | Contents |
| Physical Description | History | Record History | Bibliography |

Shelfmark
Country:England
Settlement:London
Repository: British Library
Idno:Cotton Cleopatra, D.ix
AltName:
Back to Top
Date and Language
Date:?s. xv
Language: English
Dialect:Scribe of ff. 118r-149v: Scribal Dialect: Gloucestershire. Linguistic Atlas Grid Reference: 373 226, LP 7180 (McIntosh, Samuels and Benskin 1986, p. 196). Scribe of ff. 149v-167r: Scribal Dialect: Herefordshire. Linguistic Atlas Grid Reference: 371 236, LP 7430 (McIntosh, Samuels and Benskin 1986, p. 199).
Back to Top
Contents
Miscellaneous collection of 'booklets' with the majority of texts in Latin but with some macaronic French/Latin texts and several English texts. The scribal dialect of the texts between ff. 118r-149v and ff. 149v-167r has been located to Herefordshire and Gloucestershire.

Item: 1
Locus:f. 2r
Title:Annales ab initio mundi ad annum 1292
Incipit:
Explicit:
Bibliography:

Item: 2
Locus:f. 22r
Title:Libellus de summis pontificibus Romanae ecclesiae, a S. Petro ad Johannem XXII AD 1317
Incipit:
Explicit:
Bibliography:

Item: 3
Locus:f. 35r
Title:Annales de gestis Anglorum a morte Hegnisti ad Ann. 1377
Incipit:
Explicit:
Bibliography:

Item: 4
Locus:f. 67r
Title:Ryhthmi in veteri lingua Gallicana, de primis incolis Britanniae
Incipit:'Ci put hom faver coment'.
Explicit:
Bibliography:

Item: 5
Locus:f. 69r
Title:Compendium de archiepiscopis Cantuariensibus a S. Augustino ad Johannem de Stratford
Incipit:
Explicit:
Bibliography:

Item: 6
Locus:f. 71v
Title:Thomae Chesterfeld canonici Lichfeldiensis historia de episcopis Coventriensibus et Lichfeldiensibus, a prima fundatione ecclesiae ad Ann. 1347
Incipit:
Explicit:
Bibliography:

Item: 7
Locus:f. 77r
Title:Breve chronicon per annos digestum a R. Gulielmo I. ad Ann. 1314.
Incipit:
Explicit:
Bibliography:

Item: 8
Locus:f. 81r
Title:Orders and letters
Incipit:
Explicit:
Note:Fragments regarding the civil wars during the reign of Edward II.
Bibliography:

Item: 9
Locus:ff. 91r-117r
Title:Speculum R. Edwardi III sive tractatus de gubernatione regni secundum justiciam; per Simonem Islip archiepiscopum Cantuariensem (In charta).
Incipit:
Explicit:
Note:A later addition. F. 117v is blank.
Bibliography:

Item: 10
Locus:ff. 118r-148v
Title:South English Legendary: Life of Thomas of Canterbury (IMEV 907)
Incipit:'Gilbert was thomas fader name şat trewe was & god'.
Explicit:'But ne livveş in nou?t al her as hit was bi hem isene'.
Bibliography:

Item: 11
Locus:ff. 148v-149v
Title:South English Legendary: The translation of St. Thomas of Canterbury (IMEV 3064)
Incipit:'Seint thomas şis holi man vnder eorşe lai'.
Explicit:'Bring vs alle to şulk ioie şat he so dere bou?te. Amen'.
Bibliography:

Item: 12
Locus:ff. 149v-151v
Title:Life of St. Theophilus (IMEV 3266)
Incipit:'Seint teophle was a gret man & clerk also'.
Explicit:'anoşer dude şat ?ut i mot telle mo'.
Bibliography:

Item: 13
Locus:ff. 151v-152r
Title:Miracles of the Virgin: The Jewish Boy (IMEV 50)
Incipit:'A giwes child in buturie i while bi old dawe'.
Explicit:'Of mo miracles me mai telle ?ut of marie swete & milde'.
Bibliography:

Item: 14
Locus:ff. 152r-153r
Title:Miracles of the Virgin: The Devil in Service (IMEV 56)
Incipit:'A kni?t şer was bi olde dawe luşer man inow'.
Explicit:'So murie hit is to tele of şe şat ?ut we mot more'.
Bibliography:

Item: 15
Locus:ff. 153r-154r
Title:Miracles of the Virgin: Virgin comes to the Devil instead of the Victim (IMEV 59)
Incipit:'A kni?t was while a riche man şat honured moche mid alle'.
Explicit:'?ut wole we nou?t lete'.
Bibliography:

Item: 16
Locus:f. 154r-v
Title:Miracles of the Virgin: Saved by Learning Two Words (IMEV 58)
Incipit:'A kni?t şer was a lond while gret man wiş al iwis'.
Explicit:'?ut we wolleş telle more of hire for ?eo is so gode & swete'.
Bibliography:

Item: 17
Locus:ff. 154v-155r
Title:Miracles of the Virgin: The Oxford Scholar (IMEV 57)
Incipit:'A kni?t şer was in engelond bi norşe here bi side'.
Explicit:'Wiş ech şinge al dai & seoş oure leuedi swete & mild'.
Bibliography:Furnivall 1862, pp. 40-2.

Item: 18
Locus:f. 155r-v
Title:Miracles of the Virgin: Toledo (IMEV 1788)
Incipit:'Giwes hatieş oure leuedi moche & hire swete sone also'.
Explicit:'Şat we mote to şe ioie come şer as şu art mine. Amen'.
Bibliography:

Item: 19
Locus:ff. 155v-158v
Title:South English Legendary: Life of St. Cecilia (IMEV 2873)
Incipit:'Seint cecile kinne i bore was at Rome'.
Explicit:'Graunte ous to şulk ioie come şer şat angles hire to ladde. Amen'.
Bibliography:

Item: 20
Locus:ff. 158b-167v
Title:South English Legendary: Life of Pope Gregory II (IMEV 204)
Incipit:'Alle şat beoş in sinne ibounde'.
Explicit:'So mote we alle to. Amen'.
Bibliography:
Back to Top
Physical Description
Form:Codex
Support: Parchment
Extent:265 x c. 160 mm
Collation: Remounted when rebound. 116 ff. 5r-20v, catchword; 212, ff. 21r-32v, catchword; 312, ff. 33r-45v; 412, ff. 46r-57v, catchword; 522, ff. 58r-79v; 64, ff. 80r-83v; 76, ff. 84r-90v; 88, ff. 91r-98v, paper (later inclusion); 910, ff. 99r-108v paper (later inclusion); 109 (wants first leaf of quire) paper (later inclusion); 113 1 bifolia plus 1, ff. 118r-120v; 124, ff. 121r-124v; 1312, ff. 125r-136v, catchword; 1412, ff. 137r-148v, catchword; 1512, ff. 149r-160v; 166, ff. 161r-167v.
Layout:Pricking visible from ff. 21r-79v. Slits. Writing space varies. Single and double columns with c. 40 lines. Ruled in drypoint.
Writing: A variety of scribes copied the texts on ff. 2r-118r. Scribe of ff. 118r-149v writing in a regular and compact Anglicana Formata, very little variation either above or below the level of writing or between the height of the letters. Very short and pointy ascenders or descenders and thin strokes. Double compartment a, with an upper loop terminating just past the backstroke of the letter; almost round shaped head d with very short closed looped ascender curving at 45 degrees from the left to the right; round headed g, short and rounded descender which occasionally closes at the left with a thinner stroke, but often is left open, otiose tail attached to the head. Thick descender concluding below the level of writing in a thinner stroke in p, rounded closed head traced clockwise. Otiose tail at the top of the back stroke; long and l-shaped r are used both in medial and final position; l-shaped r with 'or'; sigma s used both in initial and final position; long s used regularly in medial and initial position; the stem of ş is upright, pointy head traced from top to almost the bottom of the stem, it is used regularly in initial and final position; occasionally open w traced with one back stroke and a B-shaped stroke finishing in a stroke on the rightside. Body height: varies from 3 to 4 mm. Scribe of ff. 149v-167r writing in a regular Anglicana Formata, very similar to scribe of ff. 118r-149v. Use of the same ink colour, but the aspect of this hand is more rounded. The strokes of the letters are thicker and more rounded and the letters are well spaced out on the page. Double compartment a; round headed d with looped ascender closing in a rounded circle on the right, finishing attached at the lower end of line of writing attached to the loop of the head; round headed g, short and rounded descender which closes on the left with a thinner stroke attached to the head. Thick descender concluding below the level of writing in a thinner stroke in p, rounded, closed head traced clockwise. Otiose tail at the top of the back stroke; short r is used both in medial and final position; l shaped r with 'or'; sigma s used both in initial and final position; long s used regularly in medial and initial position; closed w: B shaped stroke finishing in a circular stroke from the right to the left closing the letter in a circle. Use of &, traced as an l shape with flat top which does not touch the backstroke and a medial stroke half way through the ascender; and use of ?. Litterae notabiliores written with additional decorative oblique lines. Body height: varies from 2 to 3 mm.
Decoration:Two-line red initials at beginning of text; one-line red initials within text. F. 118r: four-line red initial R with blue penwork flourising. F. 148v: three-line red initial with blue penwork flourishing.
Binding: Not medieval. Note on f. 2v, 'The flyleaves (ff. 1,2,168,169) being two leaves of a psalter taken out to be bound with 18.D.I*, K MS to which they originally belonged _______ 16 Dec 1912'. Scribbled direction on f. 1 to the Cottonian binder in same hand as before.
Foliation: ff. 1-168. F. 1, 2 modern paper flyleaves, ff. 3,4 parchment flyleaves (possibly not original), ff. 167, 8 original parchment flyleaf).
Additions:Marginal inscriptions throughout.
Condition:Good
Back to Top
History
Origin:Unknown
Provenance:Unknown
Back to Top
Record History
Catalogued and encoded: Rebecca Farnham, University of Birmingham, February 2004. Script described by Orietta da Rold, University of Birmingham, June 2004.
Back to Top
Bibliography
Back to Top