MS 176
[De legibus et consuetudinibus Angliae]
H. de Bracton. manuscript
Title in M. R. James catalogue: Henrici de Bracton Liber de legibus Angliae
England, between ca. 1275 and ca. 1325.
1 volume (i, 304, i leaves, foliated i-xi, 1-295) : parchment, initials ; 28.5 x 20.5 cm.
Bracton's De legibus et consuetudinis Angliae; see edition by G. E. Woodbine, Yale University Press 1915-1942, in four volumes including a comparative study of manuscripts in v. 1.
Book 2, f. 53; book 3, f. 79v; book [4], f. 199; book [5], f. 258. The points at which books 4 and 5 begin are only marked by headings of the 16th century.
Written in two stages; ff. 2-97 column 1 are in an earlier hand than the rest.
Leaf 1 (recto and verso) is in the later hand and not conjugate with f. 12 which has no doubt been supplied; the last lines of the verso text are squeezed in.
The text written by the earlier hand is corrected and added to by the later hand in the margins, and with longer additions on slips attached to ff. 7, 9, 11, 12 and 14v; only these longer additions are noted by Woodbine, v. 1 p. 374-7.
The first paragraph on f. 34, "De heredibus qui succedunt ... ut liquere poterit" is in the later hand over an erasure.
Leaves ii-xi verso, in the later hand, contain a table of titles "Que sunt Regi necessaria 'fo primo' ... priuilegium actoris 'cclxxxix'", with leaf numbers added later; see Ker as cited below for page references to Woodbine's edition.
On f. 6 the corrector has changed "Cipewik" to "Schipewich".
List of headings on a slip attached to f. 170v; a running title covers book 1 only.
Foliated i-xi, 1-295.
An incorrect medieval foliation begins with "fo. 1" on f. 1 and ends with "fo. cclxxxix" on f. 294; the foliator wrote "lxxxxx" at f. 100 and "c" at f. 101, and made similar errors at ff. 201-2, 24203 and 253-4.
Written space: 235 x 165 mm, and on ff. 2-97 (scribe 1), ca. 240 x 170 mm.
Written in 2 columns and on ff. ii-xi, in three columns, of 46-47 lines by scribe 1 (more on ff. 31-33v) and of 42-43 lines by scribe 2.
Vertical ruling between columns with 3 lines by scribe 1 and 2 lines by scribe 2; the ruling of f. 93 by scribe 1 adapted to suit scribe 2 who preferred wide space between column (13 mm rather than 9 mm).
Collation of ff. ii-xi, 1-294: 1¹⁰ 2¹² wants 1, supplied by scribe 2 (f. 1) 3¹² 4¹⁴ + a bifolium after 9 (ff. 34, 35) 5-25¹² 26 two (ff. 293-4); also six attached slips as described above.
Written in anglicana by two scribes (see above), the earlier in a current business hand of a slightly formal kind and the later in a book-hand which is only occasionally current.
Initials of four types: (1) on f. 1, an 18-line I in blue patterned in white, with pink ad gold ornament prolonged into the margins; (2) on ff. 53 and 79v, 4-line and 3-line, blue patterned in white with red ornament; (3) 2-line, blue or red; (4) on ff. ii-xi, as type 3 but 1-line. All type 3 initials appear to be of one date, after scribe 2 had written his portion.
Secundo folio: precipit (f. 2) or primus partus (f. iii).
19th century binding.
Written in England.
The name "Lewes Imery de Greys [Inn]", 16th century, can be read in UV light on f. 294v. Perhaps a misreading of Lewis Montgomery according to Sir John Baker, The men of court 1440 to 1550: a prosopography of the Inns of Court and Chancery and the Courts of Law (Selden Society Publications Supplementary Series, v. 18) s.v. Imery, Lewis.
Former Eton shelfmark: Bl.a.5.
This catalogue record is based on the work of Neil Ker and M.R. James, as cited in the references below.
Ker, N. R.. Medieval manuscripts in British libraries, v. 2 (1977), p. 771-2
James, M. R. A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Eton College (1895), 176
Not in CMA
Eton College Library, MS 176
Belonged to "Lewes Imery" of Gray's Inn in the 16th century; identified possibly with Lewis Montgomery of Gray's Inn.
19th century English binding.
Law Great Britain
Montgomery, Lewis, ? - d. ca. 1568 former owner.
England.
lat
B50135