A catalogue of Western manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries and selected Oxford colleges

OR BROWSE BY

MANUSCRIPTS
WORKS
PEOPLE
PLACES

MS. Bodl. 754

Summary Catalogue no.: 27653

Contents

(fol. 1)
Chronicle of England (Brut Chronicle) to 1422
Incipit: Howe this lande was cawlled Albyon and by what encheson it wase so named. In the noble lande of Syrrye ther wase a noble kynge ... Dyoclecian
Explicit: he was noble entyred at Westminster on whose soule... Amen. Explicit

Imperfect at beginning, and ending with the death of Henry V in 1422

One leaf is lost at the beginning, and one after fol. 9 and fol. 43. The missing text is added from a rather late copy (fol. 1, cf. 22)

Language(s): Middle English

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: paper
i + 154 + i (attached to the final core folio) leaves
Dimensions (binding): 299 × 209 × 42 mm.
Dimensions (leaf): 283 × 205 mm.
Foliation: Two phases of modern folation. One, older, appears every 5 folios on the recto side. The second, more recent, fills in all other folios on the recto side.

Condition

Extensive repairs, particularly to bottom edge of folios. Fols 22 and 154 are damaged

Layout

232 × 163 mm.

Hand(s)

Single hand for majority of text, anglicana, in dark brown ink.

Additional hand on fols. 1r–v and 22r–v, anglicana, in black ink.

Additions: There is some scribbling in the margins

History

Origin: 15th century, middle

Provenance and Acquisition

'Martin Cotes', 16th century

Given (with other manuscripts) by Browne Willis of Whaddon in 1720.

Record Sources

Description adapted (March 2023) by Stewart J. Brookes from the Summary Catalogue (1905)
Summary Catalogue, vol. 5, p. 323

2025-06-05: Additional data collected by Elvira Miceli and Emilie Badoux as part of the 'Big Data' and Medieval Manuscripts workshop held at the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford on 5th June 2025. Data encoded in TEI-XML by Sebastian Dows-Miller on 9th June 2025.

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2025-06-05: Additional data collected by Elvira Miceli and Emilie Badoux as part of the 'Big Data' and Medieval Manuscripts workshop held at the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford on 5th June 2025. Data encoded in TEI-XML by Sebastian Dows-Miller on 9th June 2025.