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

MS. Lyell 21

Physical Description

Composite: fols. 1r-211v, 223r-231v || fols. 212r-222v

History

Provenance and Acquisition

Abingdon, Berkshire, Benedictine abbey of St Mary the Virgin: 'Liber monasterii beate Marie Abendonensis adquisitus per fratrem Rogerum de Dounehed' (top of p. 1) (MLGB3: evidence from an ex-libris inscription or note of gift to an institution).

Lord Litchfield (see Hearne, Collections, 7. 33, 36) Bibliotheca Swaniana 1792 George Scott sale, Sotheby, 12 March 1781, lot 123, to Jackson (14s.) Duke of Newcastle, Clumber Sold (Sotheby, lot 1210) 15 Feb. 1938 to Myers (New Bond Street) Bought by Davis and Orioli (Museum Street) for J. P. R. Lyell (MLGB3)

James P. R. Lyell, 1871–1948

Chosen as one of the hundred manuscripts bequeathed to the Bodleian by Lyell in 1948.

MS. Lyell 21 – Part 1

Contents

Ranulf Higden, Polychronicon (with continuation to 1381 and index)
Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

Decoration

Initial on fol. 1r in blue on brownish-red ground, framed in gold, infilled with leaves in the same colours on a gold ground, and joined to a bar border on three sides, ending in sprays of spiky foliage on the fourth side. The colours are decorated in white. Other initials are blue flourished in red. (Pächt and Alexander iii. 697)

History

Origin: 14th century, late ; English

MS. Lyell 21 – Part 2

Contents

Ranulf Higden, Polychronicon (fragment of a continuation from late 1380 to early 1400)
Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

Decoration

Plain red or blue initials.

History

Origin: 15th century, early ; English

Additional Information

Record Sources

Summary description abbreviated from A. de la Mare, Catalogue of the Medieval Manuscripts Bequeathed to the Bodleian Library Oxford by James P. R. Lyell (1971)

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (1 image from 35mm slides)

Bibliography

Last Substantive Revision

2021-12-14: Add provenance information from MLGB3.