Item Summary

Intermediate version of Ranulf Higden's Polychronicon.

Descriptive Information

Title
Policronicon.
Call Number
South wall 19, Garrett MS. 152e
Identifier
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dcq524k3103
Publisher
[England], [15th century]
Language
Latin
Date Created
1400-1499
Extent
144 leaves : parchment ; 384-393 x 272 (294-302 x 200-205) mm bound to 404 x 290 mm.
Provenance
Owned by Geoffrey Clynt who bequeathed it to his son John Clynt (d. 1462) who in turn bequeathed it to Thomas Holme. Holme left it to his friend John Writhe (Wriothesley) who bequeathed it to his son Sir Thomas Wriothesley. Possibly passed through the hands of William Cecil, Lord Burghley. Later owned by the family of Anthony Grey, 11th Earl of Kent with a bookplate of Thomas Philip, 2nd Earl de Grey, eventually passing to Auberon Thomas Herbert, 9th Baron Lucas of Crudwell and then to Nan Ino Herbert Cooper, Lady Dingwall. Sold from her collection by Sotheby's in 1922 to Ellis and purchased from them by Robert Garrett of Baltimore, Maryland, Class of 1897 in July 1925. His gift to the Princeton University Library, 1942.
Source Acquisition
Gift of Robert Garrett, 1942.
References
Medieval & Renaissance manuscripts in the Princeton University Library, volume 1, pages 354-356.
Rights Statement
Copyright Not Evaluated
Notes
Incipit: "Post preclaros arcium scriptores quibus circa rerum noticiam aut morum modestiam dulce fuit ..."
Explicit: "... et cito post missi sunt nuncii summo pontifice Auinione pro pace et pactis mutuis confirmandis. Explicit policronicon."
Ms. codex.
Title from explicit (fol. 141r).
Preceded by an alphabetical subject index (fol. 1r-8v) and a short text reconciling the five ages of world preceding the birth of Christ with a tally of the number of years in each (fol. 9v).
Collation: Parchment ; fol. i (paper) + 144 + ii (paper) ; catchwords ; modern foliation in pencil.
Layout: 50-64 lines per page in two columns.
Description: Running header and marginal annotations indicating date.
Decoration: Space was left for unexecuted 4-line initials at book openings and 2-line initials at chapter openings. In lieu of initials, the Wriothesley crest and left supporter (a crowned bull's head, ermine pean erased, two gold rings in the nostril, on a wreath, or and gules, sometimes accompanied with the word "BVGLE") was painted in the margins at the beginning of each new book, presumably for Thomas Wriothesley in the early 16th century. Initial incorporating this device (f. 1r) and 9-line red initial (f. 9r).
Origin: 15th century.
Binding Note
Later binding. England, 19th century. Light brown calf over binder's board, blind-tooled and stamped with three concentric frames; decorative gold tooling of small conjoined circles along the edges of the boards. Endbands.

Discovery Information

Subject
World history—Early works to 1800
Great Britain—History—Early works to 1800
Manuscripts, Latin (Medieval and modern)—New Jersey—Princeton
decorated initials
figure initials
Gold tooled bindings
Blind tooled bindings
Headbands
illuminated manuscripts
illuminations (paintings)

Physical Characteristics

File Count
298

Institutional Information

Collection
Medieval and Renaissance Mediterranean Manuscripts
IIIF Manifest URL

https://figgy.princeton.edu/concern/scanned_resources/56133de9-0e35-4834-b5ef-064b68936a79/manifest