Fifteenth-century anthology made up of composite parts, comprising poems on good manners and religious devotion, the Brut chronicle, and the Libelle of English Policy

Title

Fifteenth-century anthology made up of composite parts, comprising poems on good manners and religious devotion, the Brut chronicle, and the Libelle of English Policy

Shelfmark

MS. Rawl. poet. 32

Associated place

England

Place of origin

English

Date

15th century, second half (after 1480, see Matheson, p.276)

15th century, second half

Language

Latin

Middle English (1100-1500)

Contents

Form

codex

Physical extent

ii (modern endleaves, paper, with two unfoliated notes) + 1-2 (fifteenth-century endleaves, parchment) + 3-205 + i (modern endleaf, paper, foliated 206)

Binding

White parchment binding over pasteboards, c. seventeenth century [?].

Acquisition

Bequeathed to the Bodleian in 1755 by Richard Rawlinson on his death.

Provenance

Fol. 2r contains a table of contents in a near-contemporary hand, suggesting that although the composite parts were produced seperately they were bound into one volume soon after in the fifteenth century.

Fol. 205r bears the ownership mark Rychard Turnowre in a c. 1500 hand.

The whole volume identifiable as item 34 in the 1577 catalogue of the books of John Thynne at Longleat (Kate Harris, 'An Augustan Episode in the History of the Collection of Medieval Manuscripts at Longleat House;,English Medieval Book, ed. A.S.G. Edwards, et al. (British Library, 2000), 233-247 at 234)

The manuscript was owned by Thomas Thynne, Viscount Weymouth (1640–1714); listed in the Longleat catalogue of 1702 (Harris, op. cit., 234). The shelfmark IX. D. 69 on fol. 2r is in the hand of George Harbin (1665-1744), Thomas Thynne's librarian, who shelfmarked many other manuscripts in the collection at Longleat. Harbin was a librarian from 1699, and died in 1744..

It was then owned by Richard Rawlinson (1690–1755).

From this period, there is a letter on fol. 1r by E. U[mfreville] (1702?-86), who annotated many of Rawlinson's manuscripts, dated 25 March 1750 containing information about the contents of the manuscript.