Volume 1

Catalogue of the Stowe manuscripts in the British Museum.

  • British Museum. Department of Manuscripts (Stowe MSS)
Date:
1895-1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Catalogue of the Stowe manuscripts in the British Museum. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    31/850 (page 11)
    and others, for debts due to the Exchequer, and of their release, dated in the reigns of Henry VI., Edward IV., and Henry VII. ff. 3-5, 8, 88. With a mandate of Edw. I. on the subject, 26 Nov. a 32 [1303]. f. 19 b;—(2) Notes of dues from various counties, and of the value of various quantities of “summoni- tiones.” ff. 5 b—7, 15 b-18, 85;—(3) The oath of fealty to King Henry VIII. and the heirs born to him and his queen Jane (two copies, the name “ Jane ” in the second being written over an erasure of “ Anne ”). ff. 8 b, 9;—(4) Hymns for the vigils of the Ascension (“ Eterne rex altissime ”), St. Katherine (“ l)is- putando vicit virgo ”), and St. Nicholas (“ Sospitate dedit egros”), in a hand of the 15th cent. ff. 9 b, 10 b, 11b;—(5) Extracts from the Eed Book of the Exchequer, ff. 13-15, 83-84 b;— (6) Contemporary notes of the capture of Berwick, 30 March, 1296, the departure of Edward III. from Harwich on 16 July, 1338, and his return on 20 Feb. 13|§. f. 19;—(7) Calendar, in a 14th-cent. hand, with additions, among which are notes of the marriage of Anne of Bohemia to Eichard II., 20 Jan. [1382], the days on which Easter fell in various years of Eichard II. and Henry VI., a great earthquake in London, 21 May, 1382, obit of S[imon,] Archbishop of Canterbury [killed by rebels], 14 June, 1382 [should be 1381], the fight with the followers of Cade [described as “ capitaneus Kantiae”] on London Bridge, 5 July, 1450, coronation of Eichard III., 6 July, 1483, obit of William Laysyngby [Lasingby, Chief Baron of the Exchequer], 2 Aug. 1419, obit of Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster, 13 Sept. [1369], coronation of Henry VI., 6 Nov. 1428 [should be 1429]. ff. 20-25. Vellum; ff. 92, including two leaves lining the cover and containing fragments of a theological treatise of the 14th cent. Ff. 2, 9 are modern paper leaves, xiith-xvith centt. Bound in thick oak boards, covered with leather; brass corner-pieces, stamped with fleurs-de-lis. To the lower cover is attached a crucifix, bronze-gilt. The volume may be the “ little booke with a crucifix” mentioned in Powelbs Bepertoire of Records, 1631, p. 123, as preserved in the chest of the King’s Eemembrancer, at the Exchequer, and was probably used for administering oaths. A note (f. 2) by John Ives, dated 18 Oct. 1772, states that T. Madox [author of the History of the Exchequer'] told T. Martin that he believed it “ was used to take the Coronation Oath upon by all our Kings and Queens till Henry VIII. ”; but there does not appear to be any evidence of this. The book belonged to Eichard Hodgis in 1545 (f. 12 b); to Thomas Martin of Palgrave, the antiquary [1697-1771] ; to John Ives in 1772 [ofe. 1776]; to John Jackson in 1779 ; and to T. Astle [1735-1803]. Octavo.