This manuscript from c. 1200 originates from the Augustinian priory
of St Mary, Newburgh, in North Yorkshire. It contains the works of
the abbey’s most prolific author: the Historia rerum Anglicarum
(History of English Affairs) by William of Newburgh (b. 1135/6, d.
in or after 1198). The Historia , which William dedicated to
Ernald, abbot of the Cistercian abbey of Rievaulx (1189-99), covers
the period from 1066 to 1198 in five books; it may have been
written during the last years of William’s life and some of the
notes that have been added to the manuscript may have been written
by him. The manuscript’s initials in three colours and motifs are
characteristic of initial decoration at Yorkshire’s Cistercian
monasteries (see Lawrence-Mathers, Manuscripts in Northumbria
(2003), pp. 187-88). Both the manuscript’s contents (the Historia
's dedication to Abbot Ernald) and decoration are testament to the
influence of Cistercian houses on Newburgh Priory, and Yorkshire's
Augustinian priories in general. Contents: ff. 2r-158r: William of
Newburgh, Historia Rerum Anglicarum (Books I-V), preceded by the
author's dedicatory letter and a table of contents. ff. 159r-172r:
William of Newburgh, Sermon on Luke 11:27; the Trinity; and St
Alban (the latter two sermons are imperfect due to the loss of a
quire between f. 166 and f. 167). The manuscript contains a number
of additions:ff. 173v-174r: Latin notes in 13th- and 15th-century
scripts: ‘Partibus faminie [sic] quidem vir nobilis et decurio in
partibus australibus in oriente et occidente’; 'Dum sumus in
mundo vivamus corde jocundo'; a Latin alphabet; ‘Chronica
[William] canon de Novo burgo’; two memoranda referring to the
death of William, Archbishop of York, one attributed to Roger of
Howden [Hoveden] (d. 1201/02), chronicler from Howden in North
Yorkshire. ff. 68r-81v, 101r-102v: passages from the Historia ,
added in the 17th century to replace damaged or lost folios, copied
from Lambeth Library MS 73 (written in a Gothic script). [ff. 1r
[pasted to the inside upper cover], 1v, 2r, 158v, 172v, 173r, 173v,
174r, 174v are blank].Decoration:6 large initials in red, blue, or
green with penwork foliate decoration in the other colours,
characterised by Lawrence as 'split-petal' and 'three-lobed-bud'
motifs at the beginning of the prologue and of books (ff. 3r, 3v,
29r, 59r, 93v, 130v). Medium initials in red or green, usually with
penwork decoration and pen-flourishing in green, red, or blue, or
sometimes in two colours. Small simple initials in red or green.
Two drawings of a harp (large and small) in brown ink on f. 174r.
