MS. Bodl. Rolls 5
Summary Catalogue no.: 2986
Contents
A genealogical history of the Kings of England deduced from Adam.
The preface begins 'I suppose hit be no unfrutefull occupacion nor exspendyng of the tyme'. The text begins 'Adam the first man was made of the slyme of the erthe' and ends with the battle of St. Albans in 1454; but the pedigree is continued to Richard III, and the issue of Edward IV has been added in a 16th century hand
At membrane '11' a descent of the Percy family is introduced in the left margin of the roll as a separate column illustrated by a chronicle which begins: 'After the pompe and pride of this world Sir William Percy was nobly borne', and ends in the year 1454, but the descent is continued down to Henry Percy, 5th earl of Northumberland, who succeeded to the earldom in 1485
The chronicle of the Percy family contains notes of the foundation of Whitby abbey and of benefactions to it by the Percys, and is derived from a Latin work produced in 1458 by Thomas Pickering, precentor and afterwards abbot of Whitby
Physical Description
Decoration
Pächt and Alexander iii. 1121, Pl. CV
Good miniatures (drawings)
Good diagrams
Good initials
Fine penwork interlace initials
Summary Catalogue: illuminated capitals and coloured circles in the pedigree, a few heraldic shields in colour, etc.
Pen and ink portraits of the kings of England are introduced in medallions, and on membranes '1'-'6' there are drawings of towns, including Leicester, Bath, Edinburgh, Carlisle, York, Doncaster, London, Colchester, etc.
Binding
In a cloth box 3 in. square x 18 in.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Bequeathed in 1617 by Henry Savile of Banke, as appears from p. 165 of no. 8620 (Langbaine's Adversaria)
Record Sources
Digital Images
Digital Bodleian (46 images from 35mm slides)
Bibliography
Online resources:
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2023-09-06: Description revised to incorporate all the information in the Summary Catalogue (1922)