London, British Library, Harley 3090

London, British Library, Harley 3090 is the eponymous copy of the so-caled Harley Abreviation of Ivo's Decretum (H in Brett's edition).

The four twelfth-century copies of the Harly Abbreviation contain a heavily abbreviated text of the Decretum, which omit Bk XVII but have additions and many distinctive readings (Theiner 1836 182 n. 31, Fournier 1897 412-3). London, British Library, Harley 3090, fol. 133v-34 are additions, though by a near-contemporary hand, very possibly that of the text. Bought by Humfrey Wanley for Harley on 16 Jan. 1722 (NS) from Charles Davis (C.E. Wright, Fontes Harleiani 125, Diary of Humfrey Wanley ed. C.E. and Ruth C. Wright (Bibliographical Soc. 1966 for 1961-2) 1. 127). Davis had been apprenticed to Noel, who had sold Harley many European mss, but by then was trading independently. The script suggests to Michael Gullick [personal comm.] a French hand of s. xii1 or xi/xii, though similar to hands also found at Christ Church, Canterbury, and with some rather English decoration. The book is written in a neat small script, with a number of handsome initials at the beginning of the prologue and each book, and a carefully elaborated arbor. These employ delicate washes and elaborate pen-work and a variety of techniques. The lesser initials are overwhelmingly in alternating red and green, though the red sometimes fades to a pale violet. The collation at the beginning is slightly puzzling, for quire I is now of four, the first a mere stub. However, the Prologue begins on fo. 1v, leaving 1r blank, but the text shows that a leaf is missing after fo. 3, suggesting that it was once a quire of six, now lacking 1,2 and 6. The rest of the book is in regular quires of eight, with the exception of quires XIV and XVI, both originally of ten, though XVI lacks one, with no loss of text.

Links

• Digital images were available online until 2023.
• Brett's edition: https://ivo-of-chartres.github.io/decretum.html