Harley 273, Liber de coloribus illuminatorum sive pictorum

Source

Details

Language:

French Latin

Pages:

ff. 209- 212v (210r-211v)

Library:

London, British Library

Place of edition:

View manuscript online

View manuscript at external site

Date information

Starting date:

XIVth (1H.)

content_info

Origin

The mention in the calendar (f. 1v) of the dedication date of the parish Church of St. Laurence at Ludlow ('lodelowe') suggests that the volume was put together, possibly for his own use, by a professional scribe based at or near Ludlow, in Southern Shropshire.

Description

Catalogue notice: Contents of units as follows: First unit: 1. ff. 1-6v. Calendar; 14th cent., first half. Anglo-Norman. Copy. With dedication (f. 1v) of the parish church of St. Laurence at Ludlow ('lodelowe'). 2. f. 7. Indulgences by Popes Innocent Urbanus IV and John XXII; 14 cent., first half. Latin. Copy. Added to a blank page by the Ludlow scribe. 3. ff. 8-53v. Psalter; 14 cent., first half. Anglo-Norman. Copy. Inc. 'Benoyt le home'. A copy of the so-called Oxford Psalter. For the text see F. Michel, Libri Psalmorum versio antiqua gallica (Oxford, 1860); Dean and Boulton, Anglo-Norman Literature, cited above, no. 445, with mention of the present manuscript. 4. ff. 53v-59. Canticles and other liturgical pieces; 14th cent., first half. Anglo-Norman. Copies. Inc. 'Jeu regeierai a toi sire car corou/cie estes a moi'. For the texts see B. Woledge and H. P. Clive, Répertoire des plus anciens textes en prose française, depuis 842 jusqu'aux premières années du XIIIe siècle (Geneva, 1964), nos. 1-11, 13 (in verse), 15; Dean and Boulton, Anglo-Norman Literature, cited above, nos. 457 and 840 for a translation of the Pater Noster, apparently unique to the manuscript. 5. ff. 59v-67v. Hours of the Virgin and added prayers; 14 cent., first half. Anglo-Norman. Copy. Rubric '[C]i comencent le matins nostre / dame in fraunceis. Domine labia', inc. 'Sire mes levres overez'. For the text see Dean and Boulton, Anglo-Norman Literature, cited above, nos. 680, 811, 814, 815, 821, 823, 827, 828, 834, 835, 838, 860, 868, 939. 6. ff. 68-69v. Hours of the Dead; 14 cent., first half. Anglo-Norman. Copy. Imperfect. Rubric 'Ci comence placebo en ro/mance. re placebo domino', inc. 'Jeo plerrai au seignur en re/aume des vifs'. Breaking off at the beginning of the sixth lesson. Possibly copied by a later hand. For the text see Dean and Boulton, Anglo-Norman Literature, cited above, no. 829, with mention of the present manuscript. Second unit: 7. ff. 70-81. Richard de Fournival, Bestiaire d'amour; 14h cent., first quarter. Old French. Copy. Inc. 'Tote gent desirent par nature a saver'. Illustrated with ink drawings. 8. ff. 81-85. Robert Grosseteste, Les Reules Seynt Roberd; 14th cent., first quarter. Anglo-Norman. Copy. Inc. 'Ici cumencent les reules qui Ro/bert Grosteste'. Originally written for Alice de Lacy, countess of Lincoln, widow of Thomas of Lancaster. For the text see S. H. Thomson, The Writings of Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln 1235-1253 (Cambridge, 1940) pp. 149, 158-9; D. Oschinsky, Walter of Henley and other Treatises on Estate Management and Accounting (Oxford, 1971), pp. 5-7, 9, 191-99, 387-415 (text edition at pp. 388-406). The present manuscript is mentioned in Dean and Boulton, Anglo-Norman Literature, cited above, no. 392. 9. ff. 85-85v. Rules of Friendship or La Diffinission de Amurs; 14th cent., first quarter. Anglo-Norman. Copy. Inc. 'Ky veut verrei amur aver il deit'. For the text see T. Hunt, 'Anglo-Norman Rules of Friendship', French Studies Bulletin, 30 (1989), pp. 9-11. Second and third sections of the text only: see Dean and Boulton, Anglo-Norman Literature, cited above, no. 246, with mention of the present manuscript. 10. f. 85v. Charm against wounds; 14th cent, first half. Anglo-Norman. Copy. Inc. 'Charme pur feistre felun et / playe. Pervez une piece de / plum et la fetes batre', expl. 'tuz jurs le be/netquiez'. Printed in T. Hunt, Popular Medicine in thirteenth-century England. Introduction and Texts (Cambridge, 1990), p. 88. 11. f. 85v. Charm for bloodletting; 14th cent, first half. Anglo-Norman. Copies. Inc. 'Pur restreindre sang, fe/tez poudre de sang dra/goun', expl. 'on lyez a / la playe'. Added by the Ludlow scribe and compiler. Third unit: 12. ff. 86-102v. Pseudo-Turpin, Chronique de Charlemagne; 14th cent, first quarter. Old French. Copy. Inc. 'Cj comence le stoire qui / Turpin le ercevesque / de reins'. See R. N. Walpole, The Old French Johannes Translation of the 'Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle'. A Critical Edition' (Berkeley, 1976), with mention of present manuscript at p. 2, and its Supplement, cited above, pp. 29-40; listed with other four copies in Old French in S. H. A. Shepherd, 'The Middle English Pseudo-Turpin Chronicle', Medium Aevum, LXV.1 (1996), p. 32 n. 26. 13. ff. 103-110. Sermon on penance from the Church Fathers, followed by added prayers; 14th cent., first half. Anglo-Norman. Copies. Inc. 'Ceo sunt les auctoritees. Seint / Gregoyre le pape'. For the text see Dean and Boulton, Anglo-Norman Literature, cited above, nos. 672, 772, 781, 891, 951, with mention of the present manuscript. 14. ff. 110v-112v. Guide to nightly and daily meditations with diagrams, followed by a piece of prose relating to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit; 14th cent., first half. Latin and Anglo-Norman. Copies. Inc. 'En le nun Jhesu crist. Ci comence une me/ditacion'. The diagrams represent the right and left hand respectively. For the texts see Dean and Boulton, Anglo-Norman Literature, cited above, nos. 635, 861, with mention of the present manuscript. 15. f. 112v. Charms for bloodletting, against wounds and fever; 14th cent., first half. Middle English and Anglo-Norman. Copies. Inc. 'Pur sang estauncher In / nomine patris et cetera. Longes þe knyht him understod'; inc. 'Charme pur dolour de playe / Nostre seigneur fust naufree'; inc. 'Charme pur fievre. In nomine / patris et cetera. Bieau sire dieu / roy omnipotent'. Added by the Ludlow scribe and compiler. Their texts printed in T. Hunt, Popular Medicine…, cit. above, pp. 88-89. Fourth unit: 16. ff. 113-190v, 190v-191. William of Waddington, Manuel des pechiez; 14th cent., first half. Anglo-Norman. Copy. Rubric 'Le prologe del manuel des pechiez', inc. 'La vertue del seint espirit'. Last section (ff. 181v-191v) copied by the Ludlow scribe and compiler, including (ff. 190v-191) a table of venial and mortal sins. An edition of the text from the present manuscript in F. J. Furnival, Roberd of Brunne's Handlyng Synne (written A. D. 1303) with the French treatise on which it is founded, Le Manuel des Pechiez (London, 1862; Roxburghe Club, 81). See also Arnould, Le manuel des péchés, cited above; Dean and Boulton, Anglo-Norman Literature, cited above, no. 635, with mention of the present manuscript. 17. ff. 191v-197v. Purgatoire de S. Patrice; 14th cent., first half. Anglo-Norman. Copy. Inc. 'Ici comence purgatorie seint patric / [P]ur la bone gent conforter'. Written by the Ludlow scribe in collaboration with another scribe who copied lines 373-550: see C. Revard, 'Scribe and Provenance', cited above, p. 67. For the text and the manuscript see J. Vising, Le Purgatoire de S. Patrice des manuscrits Harley 273 et fonds français 2198 (Göteborg, 1916); Dean and Boulton, Anglo-Norman Literature..., cited above, no. 550. Fifth unit: 18. ff. 199-203. Nicholas Bozon, La Pleinte d'Amour; 14th cent., first half. Anglo-Norman. Copy. Rubric 'Ici comence la pleynte de / amour', inc. 'Amur Amur ou estes veus'. For the text see M. Vising, La Plainte d'Amour, poèm anglo-normand (Göteborg, 1905, 1907); Dean and Boulton, Anglo-Norman Literature, cited above, no. 690, with mention of the present manuscript. Sixth unit: 19. ff. 204-209. Prayers; 14th cent., first half. Latin. Copy. Inc. 'Dona michi queso omnipotente deus'. 20. ff. 209-213. Recipes to make colours for illuminating books and dying textiles, followed by poems and prayers; 14th cent., first half. Latin and Anglo-Norman. Copies. See Dean and Boulton, Anglo-Norman Literature..., cited above, no. 387, with mention of the present manuscript. 21. ff. 213-213v, 213v-215v. Recipes and charms for fever, cancer, gout, bloodletting, nail in the eye, child-birth, against toothache, followed by devotional texts; 14th cent., first half. Anglo-Norman and Latin. Copies. Imperfect. Inc. (f. 213) 'Charme pur festre e pur can/cre e pur gute. Dunc de primes die lamalade a celui ki deit garir'; inc. 'Pur tuz felunz tuer: In nomine Patris et Filii, Spiritus Sancti amen Jo vus cunjur mau felun'; rubric 'pur sanc e/stauncher', inc. 'Charme pur estancher saunc. La verei dame seit'; inc. 'Ad ungulam que in oculo est. Hec verba in pergameno scrip[tae]'; inc. 'Ki ne pot dor/mir'; inc. 'pur la mere maris'; inc. 'Ad febres occidendas. Hoc scribe in pergamena Christe natus'; inc. 'Pur dolur de denz. Pernez plantaine'; inc. (f. 213v) '[S]I acune femme travaille de enfaunter'. Almost all printed in T. Hunt, Popular Medicine…, cit. above, pp. 89-90.

Previous Owners

Previous owners:

- Owned in the late 15th cent. (circa 1461-83) by John Clerk, warden of the Grocers' Company 1467 and 1475, and appointed grocer and apothecary to Edward IV on 17 Feb. 1462, his ex-libris (f. 1) 'Iste liber constat John clerk grocero ac ap[othec]ario / regis Edwardi quarti post conquestum'. - Acquired around 1626 by Sir Simonds D'Ewes, first baronet (1602-1650), diarist and antiquary, his MS. 172, his note by the table of contents ( f. 217v) 'Contenta in isto Volumine omnia inedita'see Add. 22918, f. 16; E. Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ in unum collecti… (Oxford, 1697), t. ii, pt. i, p. 388, no. 10032; A. G. Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (London, 1966), [A249] and [B172]. - Purchased with the D'Ewes library by Robert Harley (1661-1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, on 4 Oct. 1705: see Add. 70478 (formerly Loan 29/254, packet 2), Portland Papers, receipt of payment from D'Ewes to Wanley: see Watson, The library… , cit. above, pp. 60, 91 n. 308; C. E. Wright and R. C. Wright, The Diary of Humfrey Wanley (London, 1966), i, p. xviii n. 3; C. E. Wright, Fontes Harleiani (London, 1972), pp. 105, 131, 229, 376. -Passed on to Robert Harley's son, Edward (1689-1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts. -Bequeathed with Edward's library to his widow, Henrietta, née Cavendish Holles (1694-1755), during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (1715-1785), duchess of Portland. - Sold with the other Harley manuscripts 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 Harleian manuscripts became part of the collections of the British Library on its establishment in 1973.

ART-Technology

Artistic pages:

ff. 209- 212v (210r-211v): Liber de coloribus illuminatorum sive pictorum

Content Classification

Artistic contents:

Pigment recipes

Artistic techniques:

Painting Illuminating Ivory

Persons

Title	Role
Anonymous	author

Library (geocoded):

Place of edition (geocoded):