Statutes of England and works of common law; England (?Cobham, Surrey), s. xiii/xiv

Title

Statutes of England and works of common law; England (?Cobham, Surrey), s. xiii/xiv

Shelfmark

Christ Church MS. 103

Associated place

Weston Green

Cobham

Place of origin

England (?Cobham, Surrey)

Date

s. xiii/xiv

Language

Latin

Anglo-Norman

Middle English (1100-1500)

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Parchment (FSOS)

Physical extent

Fols iii + 244 + ii (numbered fols 245 and 246)

Hands

Written in anglicana, s. xiii/xiv.

Punctuation by mid point and occasional punctus elevatus.

Decoration

Headings in decorative anglicana formata (perhaps not the text hand), underlined in red. Large (up to ten-line) red and blue lombards, with red flourishing, for each statute in item 3 and then for each item; that at fol. 5 extends into a full blue line border, flourished in red. Chapter numbers in the marginal column, frequently underlined in red and/or red-slashed. The texts are divided by alternate red and blue paraphs. Originally, full running titles up to fol. 139v, most cut away completely; these provided the title of the statute and were underlined in red. On fol. 152 a drawing in red of a robed man pointing toward the now expunged explicit, below and later a pointing hand and a bird in ink. The same hand draws a flower in red at fol. 188. Not in AT.

Binding

Brown calf over millboards, s. xvii ex., stamped in gilt on the inner edges. Sewn on five thongs. In the upper spine compartment, on a red leather label in gilt, Corpus Iur Angli Vet. Pastedowns paper, a ChCh bookplate (ChCh and Wake’s arms) on the front pastedown. At the front, three and at the rear two (fol. 245–46) paper flyleaves, presumably added with binding.

Provenance

The book was certainly produced for (or by?) an individual in Cobham (Surrey). Two added texts in the scribal hand treating events of 1297 and 1300 (item 18) refer to Surrey affairs. The hand which adds texts (a, e-g, i, m, o, p), scattered in all three production units and datable c. 1345, includes writs referring to Cobham and to nearby Weston Green. And the contemporary addition, text (l), copies the Domesday entry for Cobham. There are a few early pentrials, one in English In kente wher care be gane (fol. 239, s. xv2); Thynke And sey lasse be not soe dulle as a asse and wake wyrke Faste and prey here wel thy (unnoted Middle English verse?, in display anglicana, s. xvex), beneath it a contemporary signature ‘Iohannes Grewe’ (fol. 244v). There is a further note of ownership (fol. 239), now illegible through scratching.

Although the book itself includes no note to the effect, it certainly was part of Wake’s bequest. It is included in the autograph schedule (MS 352/8, fol. 1v) under quarto volumes: ‘Corpus Iuris Anglicani veteris: parchment’ (which corresponds to the title on the spine). This provenance is corroborated by the bookplate and explains its absence from the New Library catalogue (see Appendix IV).