This late 12th- or early 13th-century manuscript may have been
produced by the cathedral priory of St Andrew in Rochester, but was
certainly at the priory in the 13th or 14th century and may have
remained there until the priory was dissolved in 1540. The
manuscript contains the Gesta regum Anglorum (Deeds of the Kings of
the English) and Gesta pontificum Anglorum (Deeds of the Bishops of
the English) by William of Malmesbury (b. c. 1090, d. in or after
1142), historian, man of letters, and Benedictine monk. It also
includes the popular Tractatus de Purgatorio Sancti Patricii
(Treatise on Saint Patrick's Purgatory) by Henry of Saltrey (fl. c.
1184), a monk at the Cistercian monastery of Sawtry
(Cambridgeshire). The manuscript originally included an additional
section (ff. 173-223), containing the Liber Exceptionum (Book of
Exceptions) by Richard of Saint-Victor (d. 1173), that was
separated from the manuscript in the 17th century, and is now
Harley MS 23 (it is listed in the 13th-century table of contents on
f. 2r as ‘allegoriae historiarum magistri petri veteris et novi
testamenti’). Harley MS 261 may have been the exemplar for the
copy of William of Malmesbury’s Gesta regum Anglorum in Harley MS
528 (see Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (1966), p. 331
(no. X108). Contents: ff. 4r-103v: William of Malmesbury, Gesta
regum Anglorum (Books I-V). ff. 108r-167r: William of Malmesbury,
Gesta pontificum Anglorum (Book I-III). ff. 167v-175r: Henry of
Saltrey, Tractatus de Purgatorio Sancti Patricii.The manuscript
contains a number of additions:ff. 1v-2r: Memoranda, written in a
13th- or 14th-century script. f. 2r: A table of contents, in a
13th-century script. f. 2v: A Latin note, beginning ‘Contra malos
mores in regibus’, added in the ?13th or 14th century. f. 3r:
Albus Ovidius Juventinus (Pseudo-Ovid), Elegia de Philomela (Elegy
of Philomela), imperfect (missing the first eight lines, beginning
‘Garrus enim quamqua per noctem tinnipet’), written in a
13th-century script. f. 3r: A table of contents, in a ?14th-century
script. f. 3v: A list of texts with shelfmark references, added in
the ?13th or 14th century. ff. 103v-106r: An index for the Gesta
regum Anglorum , written in a ?13th-century script. ff. 106r-106v:
An index for the Gesta pontificum Anglorum , written in a
?13th-century script. ff. 106v-107v: A list of monastic
foundations, added in a ?13th-century script. [ff. 1r, 175v are
empty].Decoration:1 large puzzle initial in red and green with red
penwork decoration (f. 58v); 2 large puzzle initials in red and
blue with blue penwork decoration (ff. 73r, 93r). Large and medium
initials in red, green, blue or, rarely, in light brown,
occasionally and after f. 108 frequently with penwork decoration
and/or pen-flourishing in red and/or blue. Small initials
highlighted in red. Rubrics and running headers (ff. 4v-103v) in
red. Red line-fillers. Manicules added to margins in brown ink (f.
113r).
