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MS. Selden Supra 69

Summary Catalogue no.: 3457

Contents

John of Ibelin and others, Livre des Assises (The Assizes of Jerusalem)
Rubric: Cest le prelogue de cest liure qui est des Assises & des usages & des plais de la haute Court dou roiaume de Ierusalem

Twelve leaves of the end of the 14th century, bearing a list of the chapters, and (fol. xiiiv) 'La nouuelle Assize' of James de Lusignan, king of Cyprus, Jan. 1, 1395

The book follows at fol. 4v, in 272 chapters

This is the treatise of 'le bon Iohan de Ybelin conte de Iaphe & de Scalone & seignor de Rames' (fol. iii) which was adopted in 1369 as a code of laws for the kingdom of Cyprus

Three chapters (at fols 30, 281v, 289) are noted as being taken 'Ex opere Philippi de Nauara'

Some omitted chapters are at fols 291, 311

Peter Edbury and Jaroslav Folda note (summarising the work of Maurice Grandclaude), that John of Ibelin was completing his treatise in 1265-1266 and that our earliest surviving witness to this rescension is that in MS. Selden Supra 69 and in Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale MS fr. 19025 ('Two Thirteenth-Century Manuscripts of Crusader Legal Texts from Saint-Jean d'Acre', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes [1994], pp. 243-244)

Language(s): Old French

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: xiv + 313 leaves
Dimensions (binding): 10.125 × 8.125 in.

Condition

13 or more leaves are wanting at the end

Layout

2 cols

Hand(s)

The hand changes at fols 60 and 143v

Decoration

Pächt and Alexander i. 601

Penwork initials

History

Origin: 14th century, first half; added leaves, 14th century, late ; France or Cyprus (?)

Provenance and Acquisition

'Francisci Attaris Cyprii & amicorum', 16th century (foll, iii, 1). He writes Italian and French notes in several places

The name 'Carlo di Mazi' is on fol. 10 (17th century?)

In a letter dated 8 August 1653, John Selden refers to possessing a copy of Livre des Assises (cited by Angel Nicolaou-Konnari ['A New Manuscript of Leontios Makhairas’s Chronicle of the ‘Sweet Land of Cyprus’: British Library, MS Harley 1825 and the Circulation of Manuscripts of Cypriot Interest in Stuart England' [Ashgate, 2014], pp. 119-120]. Nicolaou-Konnari (pp. 118, 120) argues that the London bookseller Robert Martin is a strong candidate for having sold this manuscript to Selden

Acquired by the Bodleian in 1659

Record Sources

Description adapted (May 2023) by Stewart J. Brookes from the Summary Catalogue (1922), with additional reference to published literature as cited. Decoration, localization and date follow Pächt and Alexander (1973)
Summary Catalogue, Vol. 2 Part 1, p. 640

Bibliography

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2023-05-04: Description revised to incorporate all the information in the Summary Catalogue (1922)