MS 300

Eton College

Statutes [manuscript]

Eton, 1444-1446.

[44] leaves ; 362 x 265 mm.

Written in Latin.

Secundo folio: eligatur.

Date of creation: "There is only a handful of textual clues as to when the manuscript was first compiled. It must certainly have been completed after the concordia between Eton and King's [Cambridge] was established in 1444, but before William Waynflete was promoted to Winchester in May 1447, given that in the original version of Statute 18 there is no prayer specified for him as bishop as was adopted after he had resigned the Provostship. Given that the Archbishop of Canterbury was made Visitor of the College in 1446 but Statute 41 it is the bishop of Lincoln who appears as sole Visitor of the College, it is tempting to suggest that the manuscript was first compiled between 1444 and 1446, only two years after Waynflete had been appointed Provost" (James G. Clark's report, May 2000). This manuscript is a version of the final "Liber Originalis" (College Archives, ECR 60 01 01), dated between 1447-1455.

Material: membrane; Gregory's rule (HFFH).

Format: codex.

Written space: 198 x 140 mm.

Number of leaves: 44 (no endleaves at either end of the textblock).

Collation: [1⁸ -- missing] 2-5⁸ 6⁶ 7⁸ (6, 7 cancelled).

Quire and leaf signatures and catchwords: leaf signatures present throughout except for quire 2. Quires 3 and 4 show a combination of capital letters (E, D) and Roman numerals, while quires 5-7 present symbols followed by Roman numerals. Contemporary foliation in red ink on top right corner, alerting to the missing first quire (begins with "fo. ix") and one missing folio (41 in the original foliation) between quires 6 and 7 which was not part of the original collation. Catchwords throughout; the one at the end of quire 6 (f.32v) does not match the text beginning quire 7, further indication of the missing folio of text.

Page preparation: ruled in red ink (outer grid only); pricking visible on the long margin of the written space rather than the entire folio.

Mise-en-page: single columns (36 lines) written in a cursive script below the top line. Rubrics. Folios 18v-20v include text entirely surrounding the statutes just as a gloss would.

Decoration: space and guide letters left for initials that were never filled in. Some basic decoration of other initials in black ink.

Handwriting: secretary; one main scribe; presentation quality of script.

Correction: some sentences or sections have been stricken through. Missing words or text added in the margin or inter linea. Folio 12r includes a substantial section (9 lines) erased by knife and written over in darker ink. Similar instances are found elsewhere, but only for a couple of lines at a time.

Marginalia, later additions: the volume is entirely written in secretary, and at times it is difficult to distinguish the main scribe, who added marginalia, from annotators. Usually, the added text expands on the content of the statutes rather than commenting or correcting it. "It seems likely that the annotations, corrections and glosses were added almost from the moment the manuscript was first completed. The scribbles on the final leaf might indicate that many of these changes came directly from royal memoranda and were incorporated into the text by the college officers themselves; certainly a core group of annotators with the same recognisable scripts can be identified as responsible for most of the marginal and interlinear notes" (James G. Clark's report, May 2000).

Contents: ff.1r-42v: Eton College statutes; begin imperfectly. Specifically: f.1r-v: “that the fellows, chaplains and scholars are to obey the Provost ; ff.1v-2r: “Concerning the offices of the Vice-Provost, Precenter” ; ff. 2r-3r: “Concerning the office of Bursar” ; ff. 3r-4r: “Concerning the offices of the Headmaster and Usher” ; ff.4r-6v: “Concerning the method and form of election for priest-fellows and their oaths” ; f.7r-v: “Concerning those who are to be clerks of the college and their stipends” ; ff.7v-8r: “Concerning the portions and stipends of the Headmaster and priest-fellows and the pittance days” ; f.8r-v: “Concerning the election of scholars” ; ff.8v-11r: “Concerning the election of scholars to both colleges of St Mary at Eton, and of St Mary and St Nicholas at Cambridge” ; f.11r-v: “That the aforementioned colleges are to assist each other when in difficulty and with other business” ; ff.11v-13r: “Concerning the oath of the scholars having passed their fourteenth year” ; ff.13r-14r: “Concerning the weekly commons of the Provost, fellows and other members of the college” ; ff.14v-15r: “Concerning the seating arrangements at mealtimes and the reading of the Bible” ; f.15r-v: “That there is to be no loitering in the Hall after meals” ; ff.15v-16v: “That strangers are not to be introduced into the college” ; f.17r-v: “That neither fellows nor scholars should absent themselves from the college, nor keep dogs, carry arms or indulge in inappropriate games or sports” ; ff.17v-18v: “Concerning the livery of clothing” ; ff.18v-22r: “Concerning the form and timing of masses and canonical hours in the church and the order for standing in the choir” ; ff.19v-20v (margins): “Concerning the number of chaplains, clerks and choristers and the offices, services and stipends of the same” ; ff.22r-24r: “Concerning the orisons, prayers and other suffrages performed daily by the Provost, priest-fellows, chaplains, scholars and choristers, and the fourteen schoolboys” ; f.24r-v: “Concerning the keeping of silence in the church” ; f.24v: “That in important business the Provost is to be assisted by the fellows” ; ff.24v-25r: “That the goods and possessions of the college are not to be alienated” ; f.25v: “Concerning the correction of lighter offences” ; f.26r-v: “Concerning the reasons for which the provost is to be removed, and how he is to be supported if leaving for honourable reasons” ; f.27r-v: “Concerning how fellows are to finally leave the college” ; f.27v: “Concerning the reasons for the removal of poor scholars and choristers” ; ff.27v-28r: “Concerning the reasons for the removal of priest-fellows” ; f.28r-v: “Concerning how the priest-fellows and scholars are to be supported in their infirmities” ; ff. 28v-29v: “Concerning the custody of books, ornaments, relics and other goods of the college” ; f.30r: “Concerning the custody of the statutes of the college” ; ff.30r-31v: “Concerning the seal, college chest and annual inventories” ; ff.31v-32v: “Concerning the maintenance and repair of the chapel, hall and other college buildings” ; f. 32v: “Concerning the biannual chapter meeting and the reading of the statutes” ; f.33r-v: “Concerning the servants of the college” ; ff.33v-34v: “Concerning the supervision of college manors” ; ff.34v-35r: “Concerning the audit of college accounts” ; f.35r: “Concerning the accounts of the Bursars of the college” ; f.35r-v: “Concerning the keeping of account rolls” ; f.35v: “Concerning the securing of doors of the college and that women are not to be admitted” ; ff.35v-37r: “Concerning the visitation of the bishop of Lincoln or his commissaries” ; f.37v: “Statutes of the Almshouse” ; ff.37v-38r: “Concerning the number of poor men and the office of Prior of the Almshouse” ; f.38r-v: “Concerning the selection of the poor men” ; f.38v: “Concerning the oath of the poor men on admission to the Almshouse” (incomplete) ; f.39r: “Concerning the religious observances of the poor men” (incomplete) ; f.39v: “That the poor men are to obey the Provost” ; ff.39v-40r: “Concerning the provisions for the poor men” ; f.40r-v: “Concerning the reasons for the removal of the poor men” ; f.40v-42r: “Conclusion to the statutes” ; f.42r-v: “Concerning detractors and conspirators who sow dissent and discord” ; f.43r-v: “Concerning the sermons and collations given to the people solemnly and publicly in the college chapel by the Provost and Fellows” ; f.44r-v: blank.

Scope and content: Imperfect working copy of Eton College statutes with marginal additions. Fair and final copy now within Eton College Archives, shelfmark: ECR 60 01 01.

Eton College, MS 300

Origin: Eton.

Provenance: recovered from the library of St John's College, Cambridge in 1976 (see former archivist Penny Hatfield's correspondence in College Archives, COLL/CC/8/2/10). "It is unclear how long the manuscript had been in the possession of the college, although according to an early history it was acquired at the foundation. It does not appear in M.R. James' catalogue of manuscripts in the college library published in 1895" (James G. Clark's report, May 2000).

Manuscript waste used to roughly bind the quires together. It includes late 15th-century rent rolls and a 15th-century service book with music.

Eton College Statutes.

St. John's College (University of Cambridge) Library former owner.

England Eton.

lat

B52719