Cambridge, University Library, MS Ff.1.25(5)
Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia regum Britanniae
Contents
- MS Ff.1.25(1): William of Malmesbury, Gesta pontificum Anglorum (Books 1-4)
- MS Ff.1.25(2): William of Malmesbury, Gesta pontificum Anglorum (Book 5)
- MS Ff.1.25(3): William of Malmesbury, Historia novella
- MS Ff.1.25(4): compilation of crusade texts
Physical Description
19th-century foliation
[a-i] + 9 + 10-44 + 45-48 + 49-50 + [k-s]
Written in pencil in the upper right-hand corner of the recto side of each leaf, probably by Henry Bradshaw, University Librarian 1867-1886. The sequence reflects the correct order of the text, leaves in Quires 1 and 2 having been misbound. Folio numbers 1-9 have been assigned to leaves no longer present in the volume (as per historic foliation practice at Cambridge University Library). The foliator has numbered the first early modern endleaf as 9 and, in keeping with other 16th-century additions, has suffixed the folio number with an asterisk. Since these run in a continuous sequence with the foliation for the medieval leaves (rather than indicating a separate sequence that repeats the same numbers), for the purposes of display here these asterisks have been omitted from the foliation.16th-century pagination
377-459 (for ff. 9r-48r)
Page numbers written in Parkerian red/orange crayon in the upper right-hand corner of the recto side of each leaf only (see Provenance for further details).Collation
Additions
On f. 9v, notes concerning Pontus Virunnius' epitome, the Historia and Geoffrey of Monmouth, by Parkerian scribes and later hands.
Quire numbers added to lower right-hand corner of the first recto of each quire, and '+' sign added to the lower right-hand corner of the first recto in the second half of each quire. Written in pencil by a modern hand, probably Henry Bradshaw.
Binding
Bound in brown calfskin over pasteboards with blind stamped and rolled decoration, by Wiseman, 1862.
Evidence preserved within the manuscript (recycled endleaf bearing four friction-holes and rust stains, suggesting the presence formerly of four corner-bosses and a chain staple) indicates that the manuscript was previously bound in similar style to that of the binding on other manuscripts donated to the University Library by Matthew Parker (for an example, see: MS Ii.2.4). See Provenance and Acquisition for further details.
Thomas James's catalogue, Ecloga Oxonio-Cantabrigiensis (1600) allocates two numbers to MS Ff.1.25:
- 244: 1. Gu. Malmesbury de pontificum gestis, lib. 59, vltimus liber scriptus est a neoterico ... 2. Nouella historia Anglorum ...
- 245: 1. Liber cum hac inscriptione. Itinerarium peregrinantium in terram sanctam ... 2. Galfridu Monumetensis ...
This implies that the manuscript was bound in two volumes at this time. However, in the list of manuscripts donated by Parker to the University Library in 1574, the manuscript is described as containing 460 pages. Such statements of extent were given for each of Parker's donations and were also written onto one of the opening leaves of the manuscripts themselves (see here, f. 3r). None of the other manuscripts within the Ff.1.25 classmark contain such an inscription, and the total number of pages amounts to 460, by the Parkerian pagination (see Foliation for further details).
Furthermore, as described above, Parker's donations were (with the odd exception) bound in a consistent format, and where the manuscripts have been rebound since that time this evidence is often preserved within the new binding. In MS Ff.1.25(1), only the recycled endleaves at the front of the volume have been preserved. Only Ff.1.25(5) contains similar endleaves, and only at the rear; they are found in none of the other volumes. The material evidence thus points to the manuscripts that are now Ff.1.25(1)-(5) having arrived bound as a single volume. Furthermore, each of these volumes bear evidence of having had the author(s) and title(s) of their contents inked onto the fore-edges of their leaves, presumably by Abraham Wheelocke , who treated other manuscripts in a similar manner (see, for example, MS Ff.1.28. This indicates moreover that the manuscript remained as a single volume in the mid-17th century.
In his History of the University Library, David McKitterick recounts that the part of this manuscript containing the Historia regum Britanniae (now MS Ff.1.25(5)) was discovered to be missing when the manuscripts in the Old Library were inspected in 1732 and again in 1748: the number '245' assigned by James in 1600 is in both lists, in the first with the partial title 'Galfrid: monumethensis etc' (see Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 4451, ff. 18r and 19r). The implication is that by this stage Ff.1.25 had been rebound into two volumes. However, a more probable explanation is that James's assigning of two numbers to the manuscript misled the compilers of these lists of missing books, who were searching fruitlessly for Geoffrey of Monmouth and other texts bound into a discrete volume, when in fact they remained in place in the same volume as what James has designated '244'. Indeed, that no mention is made in the Catalogue of manuscripts preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge, vol. 2 (1857) means that it is almost certain that it was not divided into separate volumes until 1862.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Presented to the University Library in 1574 by Matthew Parker (1504-1575) . No. 22 in the list of 25 'Libri Scripti in pergameno' published to commemorate Parker's gift (see Early catalogues of manuscripts, up to c. 1600).
Part 1: Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia regum Britanniae (14th-century copy) [Cambridge, University Library, MS Ff.1.25(5), ff. 10-44]
Contents
This text is a copy of the 'Second Variant' version, a recension which survives in fifteen manuscripts (see also Cambridge, University Library, MS Mm.5.29.
Text ends imperfectly, in Book 12, Chapter 2
Physical Description
Collation
- Quire 112-9 (ff. 10-12: 1st-9th leaves missing)
- Quires 2-312 (ff. 13-36)
- Quire 410-2 (ff. 37-44: 9th-10th leaves missing)
Layout
220 × 135-145 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame and line. Single column, 53-59 lines to the page, written below top line.
Hand(s)
Copied by several hands writing mostly in Anglicana (occasionally straying into a slightly more formal Anglicana formata).
Decoration
Three- to four-line initials in red at the start of each book.
Spaces left for two-line initials at the start of each chapter; left empty, later filled in the 16th century by Parkerian secretaries.
Additions
Running headers added to the upper margin by a later 14th- or 15th-century hand.
Rubrics added at the start of each book, and marginal annotations, by Parkerian secretaries.
History
Part 2: Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia regum Britanniae (16th-century copy) [Cambridge, University Library, MS Ff.1.25(1), ff. 45-48]
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Text begins imperfectly, but continues that of Part 1 without interruption, from Book 12, Chapter 2 onwards.
Physical Description
Collation
- Quire 54 (ff. 45-48)
Layout
220 × 135 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame only. Single column, 34-37 lines to the page, written above top line.
Hand(s)
Written in Elizabethan Secretary script, with italic used for rubrics.
History
Provenance
Matthew Parker (1504-1575) , archbishop of Canterbury: text copied specifically as a supplement to the rest of the Historia regum Britanniae in Parker's possession. As with other volumes within MS Ff.1.25, this contains part of the sequence of partial pagination in characteristic red/orange crayon.
Part 3: former endleaves and pastedown [Cambridge, University Library, MS Ff.1.25(5), ff. 49-50]
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Two endleaves, the latter formerly the rear pastedown, but neither obviously drawn from the same source as that found in MS Ff.1.25(1).
Physical Description
Hand(s)
Written in 16th-century Secretary scripts.
History
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.
Bibliography
-
A catalogue of the manuscripts preserved in the library of the University of Cambridge, (Cambridge, 2: Ee-Ff, Cambridge University Press, 1857)
Geoffrey of Monmouth, <hi rend="italics">Historia regum Britanniae</hi>: a variant
version edited from manuscripts Publication / The Mediaeval Academy of America, (Cambridge, Mass, Mediaeval Academy of America, 1951)
Geoffrey of Monmouth's <hi rend="italics">Historia Regum Britannie</hi>: A second
variant version Medium Aevum, Emanuel, Hywel D. (35, 1966, http://search.proquest.com/docview/1293321074/14324173CA812BBF3F8/2?accountid=9851)
The <hi rend="italics">Historia regum Britannie</hi> of Geoffrey of Monmouth, Crick, Julia C. (Cambridge, 3: A summary catalogue of the manuscripts, D.S. Brewer,
1989)
The Transmission of the <hi rend="italics">Historia regum Britanniae</hi> The Journal
of Medieval Latin, Reeve, Michael D. (1, 73-117, 1991, http://dx.doi.org/10.1484/J.JML.2.303955)
Geoffrey of Monmouth: the history of the kings of Britain; an edition and translation
of <hi
rend="italics">De gestis Britonum</hi> (<hi rend="italics">Historia regum
Britanniae</hi>) Arthurian studies, (Woodbridge, Boydell Press, 2007)
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
