Beinecke MS 323               England, s. XV^^med
Brut Chronicle (in Eng.), etc.

1.  ff.  1r Notes on the Clare family, in chart format, from a manuscript
contemporary with or slightly earlier than the main text (art. 3).  Name of the
appropriate King of England appears on the left in a red circle
[concludes with King Edward IV, 1327-77], and a short
history of the following members of the Clare family are added on the right:
a) Richard, Earl of Hertford (ca. 1153-1217) and wife Amicia, Countess of
Gloucester; b) Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford (1243-95) and second
wife, Joan of Acre, daughter of King Edward I; c) sisters of Gilbert, no. b
supra, together with their respective spouses:  Eleanor (1292-1337) = Hugh
Despenser; Margaret (1293-1342) = Hugh D'Audley; Elizabeth (ca. 1295-1360) =
Theoblod Verdun (first husband), Roger Damory (second), John de Burgh (third);
d) Elizabeth de Clare (ca. 1295-1360).  f. 1v blank, except for crude drawing of
a bearded man

     For a discussion of the Clare family of Gloucester see M. Altschul,
A Baronial Family in Medieval England:  The Clares 1217-1314 (Baltimore,
1965).

2.  f. 2r Genealogical tree, s. xv^^2, establishing the claims of King Edward
IV (1461-83) to the kingdoms of England, France, Castile and Leon.  f. 2v
blank, except for pen trials

3.  ff. 3r-157v Here may a man hure Engelande Was ferst callede Albyon and
thorug wham hit had the name.  In the noble lande of Syrrie there was a
noble kyng and mighty and a man of grete...with his power and logged hym
on the Northe side of the//

     Brut Chronicle, up to 1419, but the final leaf of text has been
torn out.  F. W. D. Brie, ed., EETS 131 (1906; reprinted 1960) and 136 (1908)
pp. 1-390.  Text is defective:  missing two leaves (bifolium) between ff.
93-94 (...and to meny sike folc hire hele that hadde duverse maladies for
the loue//gif that thinge mygt be brought aboute and stande they...; Brie,
pp. 229-34).  L. M. Matheson, "Historical Prose" in Middle English Prose:  A
Critical Guide to Major Authors and Genres, ed. A. S. G. Edwards (New
Brunswick, New Jersey, 1984) p. 233.

     Parchment (thick), ff. ii (paper) + ii (contemporary parchment, ff.
1-2) + 156 (ff. 3-158) + ii (paper), 322 x 224 (210 x 132) mm.  37 long lines.
Ruled in ink; double upper and single lower horizontal bounding lines; single
vertical bounding lines, all full width and length.  Prickings in upper,
lower and outer
margins, with two parallel prickings for lower horizontal bounding line.
     I-XI^^8, XII^^8 (-4, 5), XIII-XIX^^8, XX^^6 (f. 158 = stub).  Catchwords,
enclosed by decorative rectangles, close to written space near gutter, verso.
     Written by a single scribe in neat Anglicana formata (cf. Parkes,
Cursive Book Hands pl. 6, i).  Running titles and marginal notes added
by later hands.
     Illuminated initial, 6-line, on f. 1r, pink on gold ground, with blue,
green, and pink acanthus leaves, and white highlights; full bar-border with
swirling acanthus leaves in same colors as for initial; black hair-spray in
outer margins.  Heading and chapter numbers in red.  Small initials, 2-line,
blue with red flourishes, for most chapters.  Paragraph marks alternate red and
blue.
     Parchment is well thumbed and worn, especially f. 1r; some loss of text.
     Binding: s. xvii-xviii.  Covered in brown calf, blind-tooled, with a
brick-colored, gold-tooled label, probably a later addition.

Written in England ca. 1440 to judge from the style of illumination (we thank
K. L. Scott for this information); early provenance unknown.  Belonged to Henry
Powle, Master of the Rolls (1630-92; DNB, v. 16, pp. 262-64); his shelf-mark
inside front cover "A. 38."  Signatures on f. i recto:  "Matt^^w Lee"  (with
"2. 18. 6") and added below "N^^o 19 Thomas Huckell Lee."  From the collection
of William Amhurst Tyssen-Amherst (1835-1909; bookplate on f. i recto); see S.
de Ricci, A Handlist of a Collection of Books and Manuscripts belonging to
the Right Hon. Lord Amherst of Hackney at Didlington Hall, Norfolk (Cambridge,
1906) p. 357, MS 57.  Notation "H 498" in pencil inside back cover.  Belonged
to Herschel V. Jones of Minneapolis (1861-1928; book label pasted inside front
cover); his sale by Anderson Galleries, New York (Cat. 1699, 23 January 1923,
no. 125).  Purchased from Van Sinderen in 1964 as a gift of the Yale Library
Associates.

secundo folio: dou this

Barbara A. Shailor