Chronicle of England, known as The Brut [manuscript], ca. 1440.

Chronicles of England.

92 leaves ; 370 x 276 mm

Manuscript on paper.

History of England from the beginnings up through King Henry V's conquest of Rouen in 1419, and including the stories of King Lear, King Arthur, and other sources for later literature.

In Middle English translated from Anglo-Norman.

Manuscript codex.
Title supplied by cataloger, based on spine title: Chronicle of England.
First line: Here may a man heren how Englonde was Fyrst called Albyon and thrugh whom it hadde the name.
Collation: Leaves i + 92 + i (foliation in pencil; paginated p. 1-168, 172-178, continued in later hand p. 180, 181-186); no catchwords.
Layout: Written in 2 columns of 42-50 lines approximately (dimensions of written space: 255 x 190 approximately); frame-ruled in drypoint; writing begins below first line; chapter headings, paraphs, boxes enclosing scribal notes, in red; signs of trimming; some marginalia, pen trials, and other notes in 16th and 17th century hands; a list of the 168 chapter headings at end of volume, made in 1604.
Script: Written in Secretary hand by one or two scribes.
Decoration: 2-4 line unfilled spaces for initials, sometimes with guide letters.
Origin: Written in England around 1440.
Shelfmark: Washington, D.C., Folger Shakespeare Library, MS V.b.106.

For a codicological description based on the microfilm, see The Imagining History project at Queen's University, Belfast, online.

Bound in half-calf with marble paper boards in England ca. 1820.

Formerly owned by Craven Ord (bookplate); Ord sale (London, June 25, 1829, no. 522) to Thorpe for Phillipps; Phillipps sale (London, 1913, no. 1102) to P.M. Barnard; no. 658 in a sale.

Phillipps, T. Phillipps manuscripts, 3784
Ricci, S. de. Census of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts in the United States and Canada, 725.2
Matheson, L.M. The prose Brut , 60

Great Britain -- England.

V.b.106

cs725