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Edward I 1297 Magna Carta (1) | MS 1390

EDWARD I MAGNA CARTA (1297)

MS 1390
Text
  1. MAGNA CARTA AS REGRANTED BY EDWARD I IN 1297
  2. STATUTES OF ENGLAND, FROM THE 1297 FOREST CHARTER TO
    THE 1299 STATUTE OF FINES
  3. TRACTATUS BASTARDIE
  4. MODUS COMPONENDI BREVIA
  5. EXCEPTIONES AD CASSANDUM BREVIA
  6. TRACTATUS CORONE
  7. PLACITA CORONE
  8. ARTICULI IN NARRANDO OBSERVARI
  9. ALIA EST DIVISIO ("QUIA IN SUPERIORI DIVISIONE LOQUITUR DE BREVIBUS ")
  10. EXCEPTIONES GENERALES AD BREVE
  11. EXCEPTIONES CONTRA BREVIA
  12. BREVIA PLACITATA
  13. CADIT ASSISA
  14. UDICIUM ESSONIORUM
  15. SUMMA QUE VOCATUR NATURA BREVIUM
  16. ARTICLES OF THE EYRE
  17. CUSTOMS AND ASSIZES OF THE FOREST
  18. REGISTER OF WRITS
Description MS in Latin and Anglo-Norman on vellum, England, ca. 1299, 124 ff. (complete), 25x17 cm, single column, (20x12 cm), 43-45 lines in good English court documentary script by several scribes, 39 large initials in blue with red penwork decoration.
Binding England, first half of 20th c., dark brown morocco gilt, sewn on 5 cords, by W.H. Smith.
Provenance 1. Henry Thomas Liddell, 1st. Earl of Ravensworth (1856-1878); 2. Dr. Eric George Millar, MS 26 (until 1956); 3. Sotheby's 23.4.1956:66; 4. H.F. Smith, Leicester (1956-1991); 5. Heathcote Ball & Co., Leicester 25.7.1991:548; 6. Quaritch Cat. 1151(1991):58.
Commentary

The earliest Magna Carta in private hands. It is also one of the earliest Magna Cartas in book-form, marking the genesis of the statute book, the earliest type of secular MS produced in any quantity in England.

Text 12 is not the standard version. It is a rather close relative of Harvard Law School, MS 24. Text 15 is in the earliest version known.
Exhibited University of Oslo. Library of Law Faculty: Opening exhibition of Domus Bibliotheca, 5-27 May 1994.
Place of origin England
Dates ca 1299 AD