London, British Library, Royal 12 C.xii

| Shelfmark | Date and Language | Contents |
| Physical Description | History | Record History | Bibliography |


Shelfmark
Country:England
Settlement:London
Repository: British Library
Idno:Royal 12 C.xii
AltName:
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Date and Language
Date:s. xiv1
Language: English
Dialect:Scribal dialect: Herefordshire, Ludlow (Zettle 1935; Revard 2000, p. 21). Linguistic Atlas Grid Reference: Not mapped and only ff. 62-68 analysed (McIntosh, Samuels and Benskin 1986, p. 200).
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Contents
An early fourteenth-century collection (c. 1320-40 (Warner and Gilson 1921, p. 29); 1316-40 (Revard 2000, p. 58)) of miscellaneous texts including the Brut, hymns, prayers and prophecies in Latin, French and English. Texts are mainly Latin with a number of French texts and some English texts. For views with regard to the scribe see Revard 2000, p. 86, O'Rourke 2000, p. 220 and O'Farrell-Tate 2002, pp. 54-55.




































































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Physical Description
Form:Codex
Support: Parchment
Extent:235 x 150 mm.
Collation: Quires: 16 (plus one at end), ff. 1r-7v; 28 (plus one at beginning), ff. 8r-16v; 312, ff. 17r-28v; 44, ff. 29r-32v; 512, ff. 33r-44v; 610 (first leaf excised, stub visible), ff. 45r-43v; 78, ff. 54r-61v; 88 (last leaf excised, stub visible), ff. 62r-68v; 98, ff. 69r-76v; 108, ff. 77r-84v; 118, ff. 85r-92v; 128, ff. 93r-100v; 138 (lacks one at end), ff. 101r-107v (alternatively 6 plus one at beginning); 148, ff. 108r-115v; 158, ff. 116r-123v.
Layout:Pricking varies. Writing space varies. Columns: ff. 1-16-single; ff. 17-32 - double; ff. 33-61-single; ff. 62-98v-double; ff. 99-end-single. Lines: c. 33. Ruling varies considerably. Left-hand margin vertical ruling usually visible. Horizontal ruling not always visible. Brut written in double columns. Most items are written across the writing space (See O'Farrell-Tate 2002, p. 51).
Writing: The main scribe wrote all but Items 3, 18, 19, 23, 35 and 36. These texts were the work of six different scribes (O'Farrell-Tate 2002, p. 51, Ker 1965, p. xx) although O'Rourke states that there are 5 scribes with the same scribe writing Items 18 and 19, and Item 35 possibly the work of the main scribe (2000, pp. 217, 226). According to Revard the scribe worked around Ludlow, near Hereford, producing legal charters from 1314 and 1349, perhaps served as a parish chaplain in the Virgin's Chapel in the parish church of St Bartholomew (Revard 2000), perhaps at Ludlow. O'Rourke suggests a freelance clerk involved in the legal profession, rather than a household chaplain and secretary (O'Rourke 2000). See also O'Farrell-Tate 2002, pp. 54-55. The main scribe, Scribe 1, writes in an early Anglicana. Characteristics: occasional split topped ascenders (see facsimile O'Farrell-Tate 2002, p. 65, and pp. 52-53 for detail of script). Later Anglicana - characteristics: larger, split topped ascender almost absent. Letters on top line elongated. Scribe 2: Item 3 is written in a contemporary business hand.
Decoration: Red paraphs to f. 16v. F. 17r - historiated blue initial A - head of St. Anselm? ff. 17-32v - one-line red initials, red paraphs, two-line red initials, hands with cuffs pointing in ink; ff. 33r-60v - one- and two-line red initials, red paraphs; ff. 94-106r ruled lines visible. Diagrams of the human hand, one on each page, ff. 106v-107r.
Binding: Not medieval. 235 x 150 mm. Covered in black/grey leather mitred and pasted onto pasteboard. Sewing unascertainable. Five raised bands across the spine. Decoration with a gold stamp with G. R. II beside a crown, the date 1757 and 'HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE'.
Foliation:iii paper flyleaves + 123 + iii.
Additions:
Condition:Good condition but damage to some leaves.
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History
Origin:See 'Writing' above.
Provenance:The manuscript belonged to John, Lord Lumley (1534?-1609). On Lord Lumley's death in 1609 the library was purchased by James I. It later became part of the Royal library after the death of his son Henry, Prince of Wales. Despite being housed with the Cotton collection it was not seriously damaged in the fire of 1731.
Acquisition:Acquired by the British Library in 1757.
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Record History
Catalogued and encoded: Rebecca Farnham, University of Birmingham, August 2003.
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Related Manuscripts and other documents Scribal Main scribe also Scribe 2 of London, British Library, MS Harley 2253 (c. 1340) writing ff. 49-140 and London, British Library, MS Harley 273 (c. 1314) (O'Farrell-Tate, p. 51-53; Revard 2000, p. 58, 67; Turville-Petre 1996, p. 193).
Bibliography
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