Leges Henrici Primi - Manuscripts

Manuscripts

The work comes down to the present day in two manuscript traditions, neither one of which contains many manuscripts. There are six surviving manuscripts between the two traditions – that of the manuscript Sc and its copies, and the "London group". The Sc group is composed of the Sc manuscript itself, which probably dates from about 1225, and its copy, Hg, which was written about 1250. Sc is currently part of the Red Book of the Exchequer held by the Public Record Office. Hg is held by the British Library and is catalogued as Hargrave 313. It consists of folios 5 through 14a of the manuscript.

Four other extant manuscripts belong to the "London" tradition, and three other now-lost manuscripts are also known to have belonged to this grouping. The surviving manuscripts are known as K, Co, Or, and Rs. The three lost manuscripts have been assigned the names of Gi, Sl, and Tw. K is a manuscript currently in the British Library, and was part of the Cotton Library before becoming part of the British Museum then the British Library. Given the catalogue name of Cotton Claudius D II, it is the only illuminated manuscript of the Leges and dates to around 1310. Co is currently in the Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Library and was part of the Parker Library in the 16th century before being bequeathed to Corpus Christi on Parker's death. This manuscript dates to around 1320 and is catalogued as Corpus Christi College 70. The Leges occupies folios 108 through 170. The manuscript Or was originally part of the Oriel College, Oxford Library but is now part of the Bodleian Library. It dates from around 1330 and is catalogued as Oriel College 46. The last extant manuscript is Rs, which is currently in the John Rylands Library in Manchester. It was written about 1201 and is catalogued as Rylands lat.155.

The three known but now-lost manuscripts included Gi, which was known in 1721 and was owned by the London Guildhall. It was used by David Wilkins to compile his 1721 work Leges Anglo-Saxonicae as well by Henry Spelman to correct manuscripts used in the Epistola Eleutherii. The Sl manuscript belonged to John Selden in the 17th century, but it is unclear when it was created. It was used by Roger Twysden in his edition of the Leges Henrici Primi. The last securely known lost manuscript is the Tw manuscript, and was used by Twysden in his edition of the Leges, and was perhaps owned by him also.

Possibly two other manuscripts existed but little is known about them. One is often designated Sp, and was used by Spelman for his 1625 Glossarium Archaiollogicum, for which he used three manuscripts of the Leges – Sc, K and one that he does not name but has subsequently been designated as Sp. It appears to have belonged to the London grouping, and may have been Gi rather than a separate manuscript, although Spelman's description and usage is unclear as to which possibility is most likely. The other possible manuscript was one that Wilkins referred to as "quod iudetur fuisse Archiepiscopi aut Monachorum Cantuar." but it has not been found in searches of the Lambeth Library and the various Canterbury repositories.

Besides the medieval manuscripts, there are three early modern transcriptions of the work – one from the 16th century now at the Cambridge University Library as manuscript Dd.VI 38, the second at Trinity College, Cambridge from the 17th century, catlogued as Cambridge O.10,20, and the last in the British Library as Harley 785, also dating from the 17th century.