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MS. Rawl. B. 190

Summary Catalogue no.: 15500

Contents

Chronicle of England (Brut Chronicle) to 1419, abbreviated version
Explicit: the tyme that he hade set the towne in rewle and governauns

Lacking leaves 1, 101-2, 150, 157-161. The first leaf (beginning, “In the noble lande of Sirie”) is supplied by the hand of T. Baker from a MS. “in the Public Library of the University of Cambridge (vol. 71. als. 90), concluding with the sixth year of Henry the Vth. at the siege of Roan, when it seems to have been wrote.” Baker adds that “it is in substance the same with the following MS. yet varying in some particulars. Both MSS., viz. this and that in the Public Library, are in substance the same with the Chronicle printed [and continued] by Caxton, varying in some particulars from both the MSS.” The other deficiencies are supplied from Ashmole MS. 793 by Hearne, some notes by whom respecting the MSS. are added at the end, together with the draught of an intended advertisement for the publication of the Brute from this copy. Extensive marginal notes are added by a single later hand.

Language(s): Middle English

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
v + 1 + 163 + iii leaves.
Dimensions (binding): 280 × 220 × 50 mm.
Dimensions (leaf): 270 × 205 mm.
Foliation: Early foliation present from before the loss of folios. Section headings found in the top margin from fol. 61v onwards, containing the name of the monarch relevant to the section of text.

Collation

Generally quires of 8 folios.

Condition

Lacking leaves 1, 101-2, 150, 157-161.

Layout

190 × 130 mm.

Hand(s)

One hand in dark brown and black ink, Anglicana.

Decoration

Frequent flourished initials in red and blue, of two to three lines in height, marking new sections in the text.

Flourished catchwords in the ink of the text, appearing at the end of most quires.

Line fillers in red ink on fol. 144v.

Pen trials on fol. 54r.

Binding

Likely dates shortly after 1755, when the manuscript was acquired by the Bodleian.

Brown leather binding with stamped decoration on front and back. Gold decoration on top and fore-edges.

History

Origin: 15th century ; English

Provenance and Acquisition

John Sharp (-1714), archbishop of York (Oxford DNB): see below.

Thomas Gale (-1702; Oxford DNB), “given me by John lord archbishop of Yorke, anno 1699.”

Thomas Mangey (-1755; Oxford DNB): see below.

Thomas Baker (-1740; Oxford DNB), “donum doctissimi viri Tho. Mangey, S.T.P.”

Thomas Hearne, Mart. 2., 1726–7, “ex dono amici doctissimi Thomæ Bakeri.”

Richard Rawlinson, 1690–1755

Bequeathed to the Bodleian in 1755

Record Sources

Description adapted from the Quarto Catalogue (W. D. Macray, Catalogi codicum manuscriptorum Bibliothecæ Bodleianæ...viri munificentissimi Ricardi Rawlinson, J.C.D., codicum...complectens, Quarto Catalogues V, 5 fascicles, 1862–1900).
Summary Catalogue, Vol. 3, p. 434
Quarto Catalogue, Col. 524
Quarto Catalogue, Col. 525

2025-05-16: Additional data collected by Isobel Toon, Melissa Eddon, and Jessica Hind as part of the 'Big Data' and Medieval Manuscripts workshop held at the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford on 22nd May 2025. Data encoded in TEI-XML by Sebastian Dows-Miller on 28th May 2025.

Bibliography

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2025-05-16: Additional data collected by Isobel Toon, Melissa Eddon, and Jessica Hind as part of the 'Big Data' and Medieval Manuscripts workshop held at the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford on 22nd May 2025. Data encoded in TEI-XML by Sebastian Dows-Miller on 28th May 2025.