YALE UNIVERSITY BEINECKE RARE BOOK AND
MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY GENERAL COLLECTION OF RARE BOOKS AND
MANUSCRIPTS MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE MANUSCRIPTS
Osborn a57
England, [between 1300 and 1399]
Statuta vetera.
In Latin and Middle French.
ff. 198 : parchment ; 84 x 60 mm.
Restricted material. May not be seen without the permission of the appropriate curator.
Manuscript, on vellum, in a single hand, of English statutes, many from the reign
of Edward I. The volume opens with a table of chapters in the principal statutes,
headed "Magna carta," followed by a copy of the Magna Carta as confirmed by Edward
I (ff. 17-26) and a copy of his confirmation of the Carta de foresta. This is followed
by copies of statutes including the Statutes of Westminster I and II; Quia emptores
(Statute of Westminster III); statutes of mortmain and champerty; and Frangentibus
prisonam.
A catalogue of the legal manuscripts of Anthony Taussig / Sir John Baker and Anthony
Taussig. London: Selden Society, 2007.
Purchased from Anthony Taussig on the Hazel M. Osborn and the James Marshall and Marie-Louise
Osborn Funds, 2012.
Part of the Anthony Taussig Collection of English Legal Manuscripts (OSB MSS 184).Taussig
catalog number: MS 81.7.14 (number 3 in main catalog numbering).
A complete description of the contents is found in Baker and Taussig, Catalogue (London:
2007), pp. 4-7.
Layout: single column, 16-19 lines.
Script: contemporary Anglicana hand.
Decoration: Initials mostly in blue or burnished gold; 23 larger initials in burnished
gold on red and blue grounds. One large illuminated initial with ivy-leaf border including
a dragon.
Binding: contemporary stitching on three double bands; later vellum over pasteboard
binding.
Statuta vetera. Anthony Taussig Collection of Legal Manuscripts, James Marshall and
Marie-Louise Osborn Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Subjects:
Edward I, King of England, 1239-1307.
Taussig, Anthony.
England. Parliament.
Magna Carta.
Forestry law and legislation -- England -- Early works to 1800.
Feudal law -- England -- Early works to 1800.
Law -- England -- Early works to 1800.
Law -- Great Britain -- Early works to 1800.
Manuscripts, Medieval -- Connecticut -- New Haven.
Mortmain -- England -- Early works to 1800.
Maintenance and champerty -- England -- Early works to 1800.
Manuscripts, Medieval -- England -- 14th century.
Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library.