Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 3021
Red Book of Thorney (vol. 2)
Contents
See Additions for further details.
See Additions for further details.
See Additions for further details.
See Additions for further details.
See Additions for further details.
See Additions for further details.
See Additions for further details.
See Additions for further details.
Includes a copy of the Domesday entry for Thorney Abbey estates and documents relating to Sibson, Water Newton, Yaxley, Stanground, King's Delph, Whittlesey, Whittlesey Mere, Sawtry, Papworth, Stibbington, Wansford, Farcet, Woodston, Alwalton, Fletton, Grafham, Chesterton, Normancross hundred (Hunts.), Wing (Rutland), Eye, Twywell, Kingsthorpe, Clopton, Ailsworth, Hemington, Littlethorpe (Northants.), Bolnhurst, Morborne (Beds.), Tydd, Deeping (Lincs.).
Includes description of an agreement between the abbots of Ramsey and Thorney in Middle English on fol. 372r.
See Additions for further details.
See Additions for further details.
From Abbot Gunther (1085-1112) to Abbot William of Clopton (1305-1323), with later additions.
It incorporates documents relating to Yelden, Bolnhurst, Thurleigh, Colmworth (Beds), Charwelton, Twywell, Lowick, Raunds, Thrapston, Clopton (Northants), Whittlesey, Woodston, Yaxley, Water Newton, Sibson, Stibbington, Wansford, Haddon, Stanground, Farcet, Sawtry, Fen Stanton, Copthorn (?), Huntingdon, Chesterton, Folksworth, Grafham, Glatton (Hunts), Flecknoe, Ryton on Dunsmore, Sawbridge (Warwicks), Fleet, Ancaster, Tydd, the Deepings, Wigtoft, Stamford (Lincs), Wing (Rutland), Elm, Leverington, Northee fen, Kingsdelf fen, Whittlesey (Cambs), 'Chelse', 'Acolth', 'Apsdene'.
Additions covering the abbacy of Reginald of Water Newton (1323-47).
Added by later hands.
For a transcription of part of this section, see: Sharpe (2005).
Physical Description
19th/20th-century foliation:
[a-d] + 205-472 + [e-h]
Numbering in pencil in the upper right-hand corner of the rectos, by various hands.Early fourteenth-century foliation:
Original foliation of each part in the top corner of both rectos and versos in the same red ink used for rubrics in Roman numerals.
- part 4: i-xxx
- part 5: i-xviii
- part 6: i-xxxvii
- part 7: i-xxv
- part 8: i-xiiii
- part 9: i-lx
This foliation is often continued for additional material in each part in Roman or Arabic numerals in brown ink or in red and black.
Collation
The manuscript comprises 27 quires, as follows:
- Quire 112 (ff. 205-216)
- Quire 28-5 (ff. 217-219: 1st and 2nd leaves present, plus a further blank leaf of unknown position within the quire; the rest excised, probably blank)
- Quire 312 (ff. 220-231)
- Quire 412+2 (ff. 232-245: 11th and 12th leaves (ff. 242-243) a separate quire of one bifolium, added after f. 241)
- Quire 512 (ff. 246-257)
- Quire 68 (ff. 258-265)
- Quire 7-812 (ff. 266-289)
- Quire 912-8 (ff. 290-294: 4th-11th leaves excised, after f. 292, probably blank)
- Quire 10-1212 (ff. 295-330)
- Quire 138+1 (ff. 331-339: 9th leaf added, after f. 338)
- Quire 146-3 (ff. 340-342: 1st and 2nd leaves present, plus a further blank of unknown position within the quire; the rest excised, probably blank)
- Quire 15-1612 (ff. 343-366)
- Quire 1712-9 (ff. 367-369: 4th-12th leaves excised, after f. 369, probably blank)
- Quire 1812 (ff. 370-381)
- Quire 1912-4 (ff. 382-389: 4th leaf excised, after f. 384, probably blank; 6th leaf missing, after f. 385; 7th and 8th leaves excised, after f. 385, probably blank)
- Quire 2012-1 (ff. 390-400: 1st leaf excised, before f. 390, probably blank)
- Quire 2112-11 (f. 401: 2nd-12th leaves excised, after f. 401, probably blank)
- Quire 22-2612 (ff. 402-461)
- Quire 2712-1 (ff. 462-472: 9th leaf excised, after f. 469, probably blank)
112 28-5 (1st-2nd present, plus another; rest excised) 312 412+2 (11th-12th added) 512 68 7-812 912-8 (4th-11th excised) 10-1212 138+1 (9th added) 146-3 (1st-2nd present, plus another; rest excised) 15-1612 1712-9 (4th-12th excised) 1812 1912-4 (4th excised, 6th missing, 7th-8th excised) 2012-1 (1st excised) 2112-11 (2nd-12th excised) 22-2612 2712-1 (9th excised)
Two types of quire signature are found in the manuscript:
- In the left-hand corner of the lower margin on the recto of the first leaf of a quire, written in plummet: a lower case letter (and, later, the symbol '+' followed by a lower case letter), followed by a number in Roman numerals, giving the number of leaves in that quire. See, for example, ff. 319r ('+ i xii'), 331r ('+ k viii'), 343r ('+ l xii'), etc. That these figures reflect the total after additions (see Quire 4 ('+ a xiiii'), for example) indicates that they were added after those changes to the manuscript's structure had been made. Contrast with Quire 2 ('y viii') and Quire 9 ('+ p xii'), where changes occured after the signature had been written in, and therefore likely after binding.
- Perhaps, as in the first volume, in the middle of the lower margin on the recto of the first leaf of a quire, written in plummet: a number in Roman numerals, giving the position of that quire in the order of the volume as a whole (though examples are scarce and not clearly legible). See, for example, ff. 266r and 343r.
Condition
The manuscript is generally in good condition. There is some staining and ink smudges. There are some holes and tears in the parchment, many of which bear traces of early repair; several of the folios are irregular in shape.
Layout
Ruled in leadpoint, frame and line. Single column, 40-42 lines to the page, written below top line. Pricking marks at the bottom of the leaves. Greater variation in layout on leaves containing additions. 235 × 145 mm.
Paratext: Headings and running titles for the original entries are written in red in the upper and lower margins. Additional line ruling provided for these.
Hand(s)
Written in littera textualis.
Decoration
Two-line, and occasionally three-, four-, or five-line, plain initials, alternating in red or blue (occasionally in two colours) (with some use of green in Parts 8 and 9), sometimes with simple internal void decoration. Versions executed in imitation where further documents have been added to the contents at a later date, or gaps left for initials to be completed later.
Litterae notabiliores are touched in red. Some sections have alternating red and blue paragraph marks.
Additions
Later hands of the 14th century, 15th century and early 16th century have copied the text of charters at the end of several sections of the cartulary, or inserted other additions to the text, as follows:
- Kingsthorp (ff. 218r-218v).
- Raunds, Twywell (ff. 229v-230v).
- Wing (ff. 237r).
- Sawbridge, Willoughby, Woolscott (ff. 241v-243v).
- Tydd St Mary (f. 258v).
- Stamford (ff. 261r-263r).
- Appeal and relief from tolls and charges relating to the mill at West Deeping (f. 263r) (in Middle English).
- A substantial continuation containing material from the late 12th to the early 14th century, relating to East Deeping, Maxey, Lolham, Nunton, Northborough and Stamford (ff. 263v-290v) (including two in Middle French (ff. 265r-265v)).
- Fleet, Holbeach, Whaplode (ff. 291r-293r).
- Wilden (f. 298v).
- Bolnhurst, Yaxley, Stanground, Keysoe, South Brook (ff. 330v-339r).
- Husborne Crawley (ff. 340r-341r).
- Enfield, Edmonton, Tottenham (ff. 367r-369v).
- Eye, Peterborough, Grafham, Chesterton, Twywell, Whittlesey (ff. 382v-384r).
- Agreement of obligations between the abbeys of Peterborough, Ramsey, Crowland and Thorney (ff. 384v-385v).
- Eccleasiastical records added in a later hand on a single gathering and single leaf between Parts Eight and Nine. Records involve Deeping, Tydd, ‘Absedene’ (Lincs.?), Yelden, Wilden, Bolnhurst, Thurleigh (Beds.), Hempnall (Norf.), Kingsthorpe, Islip, Grafham, Twywell, Charwelton (Northants.), Whittlesey, Yaxley, Stanground, Woodston, Water Newton, Haddon, Huntingdon, Stibbington, Chesterton, Sibson (Hunts.) (ff. 391r-401r).
- Documents incorporated into 'De gestis abbatum', with a continuation, added by later hands (see Contents for further details).
The main supplementer of the 14th century recorded nothing after 1341 (see: Raban, 'The property of Thorney and Crowland Abbeys', p. 6).
Occasional marginal notes throughout in a range of later hands of the 14th century and 15th century.
Binding
Conserved and rebound at Cambridge University Library by Shaun Thompson in 2014. Alum-tawed goatskin dyed red with Brazil wood over quarter-sewn oak boards, sewn on four supports. New endleaves of two parchment bifolia, with linen and alum-tawed hinges, sewn all along in herringbone technique with 3-ply seaming twine on four double 8-ply cord supports. Primary endbands sewn with 3-ply seaming twine through a slit tawed bonnet liner.
Formerly bound in pigskin by Stoakley and Son (Cambridge, 1890). This binding has been retained and is stored with the manuscript.
Formerly bound in calfskin (according to the description of the manuscript by Jayne Ringrose - see Source for further details).
History
The original entries were compiled during the abbacy of William of Clopton (1305-1323).
Provenance and Acquisition
Thorney Abbey, Cambridgeshire : contents of the cartulary relate to the landholdings, property and rights of the abbey, with additions made by several hands during the fourteenth, fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries (see Additions for further details).
Apparently in the possession of Sir Francis Fane (1579-1629), 1st earl of Westmorland , by 1621, when it was recorded among others in 'A note of Divers Manuscriptts I am promised to have gotten for me this 30. April 1621' by Sir Robert Cotton (1571-1631) : 'Liber Cartarum monasterii Thorney the red book. Sir Fr: Vane' (see: London, British Library, Harley MS 6018, f. 150v; Tite (2003), p. 37 ([3.17])). There is no evidence that Cotton received or had possession of the manuscript, and further inscriptions by the Fane family confirm that it remained in their possession (see below).
Two inscriptions by a hand of the 17th century - ‘W. Virtue non vi. Mildmay’ and ‘M. Ferende vincam. Westmorland’ - probably the mottoes of Mildmay Fane (1601-1666), 2nd earl of Westmorland and his second wife Mary (1611-1669), countess of Westmorland (f. 11r).
Francis Fane (1825-1891), 12th earl of Westmorland : his sale (sale of 'a nobleman'), Sotheby's, 13 July 1887, lot 134.
Purchased by Bernard Quaritch : no. 15 in Handlist of illuminated and historical manuscripts on exhibition ... 4-14 June 1889.
Purchased by Cambridge University Library from Quaritch, 22 November 1890, with funds from the gift of Tobias Rustat (bap. 1608, d. 1694) (the 'Rustat Benefaction') and from Samuel Sandars (1837-1894) .
Additional Information
Record Sources
Availability
Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card. For information on eligibility and admissions procedures, see Joining the Library). For further enquiries, and to confirm the availability of the manuscript, please contact the Special Collections Reading Room.
Custodial History
Bibliography
-
Feudal documents from the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds British Academy records of social
and economic history, Douglas, D.C. (London, Oxford University Press, 1932)
The organisation of material in mediaeval cartularies The study of medieval records:
essays in honour of Kathleen Major, Walker, D. (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1971)
The property of Thorney and Crowland Abbeys: a study in purchase and patronage, Raban, Sandra Gilham (Cambridge, 1972, unpublished PhD dissertation)
The estates of Thorney and Crowland: a study in medieval monastic land tenure Occasional
paper: University of Cambridge, Department of Land Economy, Raban, Sandra (Cambridge, University of Cambridge Department of Land Economy, 1977)
English episcopal acta. 1, Lincoln, 1067-1185, Smith, David M., (London, Oxford University Press for the British Academy, 1980)
Catalogue of sources for a linguistic atlas of early medieval English, Laing, Margaret (Cambridge, D.S. Brewer, 1993)
The early records of Sir Robert Cotton's Library: formation, cataloguing, use, Tite, Colin G.C. (London, British Library, 2003, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cam/detail.action?docID=3544031)
Monastic reading at Thorney Abbey, 1323-1347 Traditio, Sharpe, Richard (60, 243-278, 2005, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27832048)
Summary catalogue of the additional medieval manuscripts in Cambridge University Library
acquired before
1940, Ringrose, Jayne (Woodbridge, Boydell Press, 2009)
Medieval cartularies of Great Britain and Ireland, Davis, G.R.C.Breay, ClaireHarrison, JulianSmith, David M. (London, British Library,
2010)
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
