Christ Church MS. 372 = ChCh Archives, DP iv.b.3

Balliol College Deed concerning lands transferred to Cardinal College; England (Oxford), 1530

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: ⟨Uniuersis cristi⟩ Fidelibus ad quos hoc presens Scriptum peruenit Willelmo White sacre theologie bacularius magister [collegii] de Balliolo ... Cum nuper per quamdam Cartam — magistro Johanni Higdon decano Collegii Thomae Wolse[y cardinalis] Eboracensis vulgo appellati Cardynalls College in alma achademia Oxonie

Explicit: alter in premissis fecerint vel [fecerit in aliquo premissorum ...] magistri et scolaris huic presenti teste [...] quinto die Octobris Anno regni domini Henric[i ...]

Charter of Balliol College

Much of text is heavily rubbed to the point of illegibility, but enough remains to identify this as a copy of Balliol College Archives, B. 9. 18, dated 5^th October 1530, and printed in H. E. Salter, The Oxford Deeds of Balliol College, OHS 64 (1913), 128–29. The deed concerns the aftermath of Balliol’s sale to Wolsey’s foundation in 1526 of their tenement of ‘London College’, also known as Burnel’s Inn, which stood to the north of Frideswide Lane (so south of and on the present location of the north range of Tom Quad); they did not receive the expected recompense and attempted to regain possession by this deed. On this incident see Salter, 94–98, and cf. Denholm-Young, Cartulary, 196 (MM. 50 and MM. 50A, presently deposited in the Bodleian as MS. D.D. ChCh c. 40).

This copy is not in the same hand as that held in Balliol. Presumably, considering the provenance as discussed below, ours is a fair copy made for Cardinal College, a few days before its founder’s death, when the fate of his College was uncertain.

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Parchment

Extent: Single leaf

Dimensions (leaf): 253 × 382 mm.

Layout

25 lines of text; verso blank.

Hand(s)

Written in ‘court hand’, i.e. formal legal anglicana.

History

Origin: England (Oxford); 1530

Provenance and Acquisition

The typescript supplement to Kitchin, produced in 1983/84 by Tessa Webber, describes the provenance as having been ‘given by Corpus Christi College, Oxford in 1941. Formerly used as a cover for a bundle of Court Rolls for the Manor of Heyford ad pontem, made up by c. 1540’. The date of donation is confirmed by the Library Records, LR 60, p. 115. However, J. G. Milne and John H. Harvey, ‘The Building of Cardinal College, Oxford’, Oxoniensia, 8 (1943), 137–53 at 138n give a slightly different date for its use as a wrapper. Noting the ‘neglected condition of the Cardinal College deeds at Christ Church in the 17^th century’, they surmise that some of the records may have been thrown out as waste paper around 1600 and picked up by Christ Church’s neighbour. For this dating, they cite the fact that ‘one set of [Corpus] rolls going down to 1592 was till recently wrapped in a deed conveying the site and buildings of London College to the Dean of Cardinal College from the Master and Fellows of Balliol College’; this clearly refers to our document.

Record Sources

Ralph Hanna and David Rundle, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Western Manuscripts, to c. 1600, in Christ Church, Oxford (Oxford, 2017).

Availability

For enquiries relating to this manuscript please contact Christ Church Library.

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2017-07-01: First online publication.

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