Beinecke MS 405               England, s. XIV^^med
Brut Chronicle (in Anglo-Norman), etc.

1.  f. i  Unidentified document, possibly a court roll, s. xiv, mostly
illegible, on recto (portion of same document used for final flyleaf); texts
added on verso begin with 3 lines, in Latin:  Est tuus anna pater, vriel
nasaphat tua mater/ Est vriel iustus, anne pater ille vetustus/ Et nasaphat ego
sum, fructum peperi generosum; followed by 6 lines, in French noting a) the
discovery of Christ's cloak in the monastery of Argenteuil in 1106; b) the
appearance of the sign of the cross in the moon, in October of the same year;
c) the founding of the Cistercian Abbey of Sibton (Suffolk) in 1159; followed
by a prayer to St. Apollonia:  Beata Appolonia graue martirium pro domino
sustinuit. tiranni post traxerunt eam....  In lower margin is a sketch of a
coat of arms with St. Andrew's Cross, incomplete.

2.  ff. 1r-74v  [E]n la noble cite de graunt troie auoit vn fort chivaler...
[final folio only partially legible, with end of text totally obscured].

     Brut Chronicle, up to 1333, in Anglo-Norman.  J. Vising, Anglo-Norman
Language and Literature (London, 1923) p. 74, no. 378c; Beinecke MS 405 not
listed.

3.  Final flyleaf, recto, is palimpsest:  underwriting apparently from same
document as front flyleaf; written over are business accounts [?], and notes in
English concerning English history.  Verso:  visible under ultra-violet light
is list of English Kings, in two columns.

     Parchment, f. i (contemporary parchment) + 74 + i (contemporary parchment),
182 x 145 (160 x 118) mm. The codex is composed of two distinct parts that were
early on bound together since the contemporary foliation continues through the
manuscript.  I:  ff. 1-16.  Ruled in ink: prickings at corners of written
space.  No consistent arrangement of ruling; sometimes single vertical and
double horizontal bounding lines, full length and/or full across.  I-II^^8.
Written in delicate Anglicana bookhand.  Running titles, trimmed.
II:  ff. 17-74.  No clear pattern of rulings.  I-V^^8, VI^^10, VII^^8.  Catchwords
along lower edge near gutter.  Written in bold Anglicana bookhand.  Crude
initials, 2-line, alternate red with purple penwork designs and blue with red,
many with three-leaf clover design in body of letter.
     Worn, stained, and repaired throughout.
     Binding:  s. xviii.  Brown, mottled calf with a gold-tooled spine and a red
label.

Written in England in the middle of the 14th century; early provenance unknown.
Unidentified, partially completed, coat of arms with St. Andrew's Cross on f. i
verso.  Label stamped "Tiringham's Chronicle," and octagonal white paper label
with "43" written in ink, both on spine.  From the Deene Park library in
Kettering, Northamptonshire, of G. L. T. Brudenell (shelf-mark "D. 7. 4" in
pencil inside front cover).  Sotheby sale, 10 July 1967, no. 48.  Acquired from
H. A. Levinson (Cat. 60, no. 765) in 1969 as the gift of Edwin J. Beinecke.

secundo folio:  Bruyt

Barbara A. Shailor