Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

A catalogue of Western manuscripts and papyri at Cambridge University Library, the Fitzwilliam Museum and selected Cambridge colleges

Cambridge, Trinity Hall, MS 9

De legibus et consuetudinibus Angliae

Contents

Introduction: De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae is a treatise on English common law. It is traditionally attributed to Henry de Bracton (Henricus de Brattona or Bractona, c. 1210-1268). However recent scholarship has suggested that Bracton was at most a part-author and final editor of the text. The main topics covered are the acquisition and transmission of property rights, criminal law, and rights and actions associated with land and other forms of real property, supported by contemporary cases. Trinity Hall’s manuscript dates from the late 13th century and is an abridgement of Bracton with 60 folios which are divided into 7 books. Some of the writs and cases are contained within the body of the main text, while others have been put in the margins. It has numerous contemporary marginal notes in Latin, some in the hand of the main scribe.
De legibus et consuetudinibus Angliae Bracton, Henry, died 1268
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 1r Breton (sic) liber primus incipit de Juribus Anglie
Incipit: 1r [C]um a justice quasi a quadam fonte omnia jura emanant videamus quid sit justica
Explicit: N/A (ends imperfectly)

Contains Lib. ii, f. 8. Lib. iii, f. ii. Lib. iv, f. 12 b. Lib. v, f. 22. Lib. vi, f. 3o. Lib. vii, f. 42.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2r non est mea
Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: ii modern flyleaves + 60 folios + ii modern flyleaves leaves. 290 × 205 mm.
Foliation: Modern foliation in pencil in the top right corner.

Collation

18; 2 8; 3 8 (wants 1,2); 48; 58; 610; 76; 88 (wants 8).

Condition

MS very worn

Layout

228–238 × 149 mm. Double columns of 56–58 lines, ruled in crayon, catchwords, quire signatures, (start of quire) running headers.

Hand(s)

Gothic bookhand(cursive)

Decoration

Ornamental initials [2 l.] in alternate red with blue pen-flourishing and blue with red pen-flourishing for sub-divisions of text, fols. 49v–50r; red penwork initials [2 l.] for sub-divisions of text in remainder of MS; red penwork paragraph marks [1 l.] for minor text divisions

Space left for 4 l. decorated initials for Books (main divisions of text).

Additions

Numerous contemporary marginal notes, some in the hand of the main scribe.

Binding

Late 20th century native dyed red Nigerian goatskin, over over bevelled wooden boards, white endbands by Cambridge Colleges Conservation Consortium.

Preserved 19th century previous binding, of brown calf over pasteboards.

History

Origin: 13th century, ca. 1275 – 1300 ; England

Provenance and Acquisition

1r: ‘Sub: de: Re : Le : Le:’, ‘J.H.’ below, 16th century. Possibly Haenel no. 12

Additional Information

Record Sources

Description draws on M.R. James(1907). A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Trinity Hall.

Bibliography

    Baker, J. H. (1996) A Catalogue of English Legal Manuscripts in Cambridge University Library (Woodbridge, 1996), 68 no. 106
    Bracton, Henry De Legibus Et Consuetudinibus Angliae Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
    Brand, Paul. "Bratton , Henry of (d. 1268)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/3163, accessed 2 May 2022]
    Brand, Paul (2010). ‘The Date and Authorship of Bracton: A Response’, The Journal of Legal History 31, pp. 217-44.
    James, M. R. (1907) A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Trinity Hall. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 10.

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