• Detail of a miniature of a mermaid and merman with bow and arrow in the border of the folio., Decretals of Gregory IX with glossa ordinaria (the 'Smithfield Decretals')

priory of St Bartholomew's at Smithfield: inscribed, 'Liber domus sancti barthomomei in smyth fylde', 15th century (f. 1v).The Old Royal Library (the English Royal Library): Henrician title 'Decretales' and Westminster inventory number 'no. 1059' (f. 1), acquired by the Upper

• Detail of medallion scenes within the lower border of the folio., Decretals of Gregory IX with glossa ordinaria (the 'Smithfield Decretals')

priory of St Bartholomew's at Smithfield: inscribed, 'Liber domus sancti barthomomei in smyth fylde', 15th century (f. 1v).The Old Royal Library (the English Royal Library): Henrician title 'Decretales' and Westminster inventory number 'no. 1059' (f. 1), acquired by the Upper

• Text page with initials, marginal notes and ink drawing of a pitcher., De fide orthodoxa

1424) and in a list of books taken by a monk to Oxford in c.1438 (see Ker 1964).The Old Royal Library (the English Royal Library): Westminster inventory number 'no. 246 '; included in the inventory of books in the Upper

• Added drawings of the symbols of the four Evangelists, leaf and scroll ornament, labelled 'vinea Domini', part of a Latin alphabet and runes., Historum adversum paganos (the 'Tollemache, Helmingham, or Lauderdale Orosius')

part of a Latin alphabet and runes. Composed by an anonymous West Saxon author between 870 and 930, the OldEnglish version of Orosius's history was adapted from the Latin text (possibly a glossed copy such as St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek,

• Text page at the beginning of the list of chapter headings., Historum adversum paganos (the 'Tollemache, Helmingham, or Lauderdale Orosius')

beginning of the list of chapter headings. Composed by an anonymous West Saxon author between 870 and 930, the OldEnglish version of Orosius's history was adapted from the Latin text (possibly a glossed copy such as St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek,

• Marginal drawing of pointed and circular shapes., Historum adversum paganos (the 'Tollemache, Helmingham, or Lauderdale Orosius')

Marginal drawing of pointed and circular shapes. Composed by an anonymous West Saxon author between 870 and 930, the OldEnglish version of Orosius's history was adapted from the Latin text (possibly a glossed copy such as St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek,

• Zoomorphic initial 'I'(C) at the beginning of Book V, Chapter i., Historum adversum paganos (the 'Tollemache, Helmingham, or Lauderdale Orosius')

the beginning of Book V, Chapter i. Composed by an anonymous West Saxon author between 870 and 930, the OldEnglish version of Orosius's history was adapted from the Latin text (possibly a glossed copy such as St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek,

• Text page with marginal geometric drawings., Historum adversum paganos (the 'Tollemache, Helmingham, or Lauderdale Orosius')

Text page with marginal geometric drawings. Composed by an anonymous West Saxon author between 870 and 930, the OldEnglish version of Orosius's history was adapted from the Latin text (possibly a glossed copy such as St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod.

• Text page with marginal geometric drawing., Historum adversum paganos (the 'Tollemache, Helmingham, or Lauderdale Orosius')

Text page with marginal geometric drawing. Composed by an anonymous West Saxon author between 870 and 930, the OldEnglish version of Orosius's history was adapted from the Latin text (possibly a glossed copy such as St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod.

• Zoomorphic initial 'A'(eft) with two creatures and vine interlace patterns at the beginning of Book IV, Chapter i., Historum adversum paganos (the 'Tollemache, Helmingham, or Lauderdale Orosius')

the beginning of Book IV, Chapter i. Composed by an anonymous West Saxon author between 870 and 930, the OldEnglish version of Orosius's history was adapted from the Latin text (possibly a glossed copy such as St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek,

• Zoomorphic initial (A)'E'(ft) with four heads and interlaced bodies at the beginning of Book III, Chapter i., Historum adversum paganos (the 'Tollemache, Helmingham, or Lauderdale Orosius')

the beginning of Book III, Chapter i. Composed by an anonymous West Saxon author between 870 and 930, the OldEnglish version of Orosius's history was adapted from the Latin text (possibly a glossed copy such as St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek,

• Zoomorphic initial 'U'(re) with 3 heads and interlaced bodies at the beginning of Book I, Chapter i., Historum adversum paganos (the 'Tollemache, Helmingham, or Lauderdale Orosius')

the beginning of Book I, Chapter i. Composed by an anonymous West Saxon author between 870 and 930, the OldEnglish version of Orosius's history was adapted from the Latin text (possibly a glossed copy such as St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek,

• Preface and beginning of Luke's gospel with decorated initial 'Q'(uoniam) enclosing a flower., Bodmin Gospels (St Petroc Gospels); records of grants of manumission in Old English and Latin added on blank leaves and in margins (ff. 1, 8, 13, 141)

of a man's head in profile (f. 75). Bodmin Gospels (St Petroc Gospels); records of grants of manumission in OldEnglish and Latin added on blank leaves and in margins (ff. 1, 8, 13, 141) The Benedictine (later Augustinian) priory

• Coloured and decorated initials, the lower 'V'(ir) including an animal head, in a page from Bede's verse Life of Cuthbert with glosses written over the lines of the poem in Latin or Old English., Lives of Cuthbert in prose (ff. 2-42v) and verse (ff. 45-62v), with services for Cuthbert, Benedict and Guthlac with musical notation (ff. 43-44; 63-66)

poem in Latin or OldEnglish. Wormald Type II(b) initials of heads, interlace in outline, and acanthus foliage.Musical notation: Breton neumes, England (Christ Church – Canterbury ?), 11th century (ff. 43-44; 63-66v).St Cuthbert was a seventh-century, English Christian leader, renowned

• Decorated initial in Bede's Life of Cuthbert, here with the text of Cuthbert's retirement to a small island off Lindisfarne, the discovery of his body, and the immediate commemoration of him as a holy man, with glosses in Latin and Old English above the lines., Lives of Cuthbert in prose (ff. 2-42v) and verse (ff. 45-62v), with services for Cuthbert, Benedict and Guthlac with musical notation (ff. 43-44; 63-66)

Latin and OldEnglish above the lines. Wormald Type II(b) initials of heads, interlace in outline, and acanthus foliage.Musical notation: Breton neumes, England (Christ Church – Canterbury ?), 11th century (ff. 43-44; 63-66v).St Cuthbert was a seventh-century, English Christian leader,

• Text pages containing incantations of Irish origin with an added inscription in Old English (f. 40v); formulae of confession and absolution (f. 41)., Extracts from the Gospels and prayers ('The Book of Nunnaminster')

Text pages containing incantations of Irish origin with an added inscription in OldEnglish (f. 40v); formulae of confession and absolution (f. 41). One of a group of Southumbrian prayerbooks of the "Tiberius" group, the others being Harley 7653, and

• Inhabited initial 'B'(eatissimo), with animals and grotesques, at the beginning of the Life of St. Gregory., Life of St Gregory

12th century (f. 1).Added marginal drawing of two human figures kissing (?), 12th century (f. 123). Added annotations in 14th-century English hand.The Benedictine cathedral priory of St Mary, Worcester: included in Patrick Young's catalogue of the Worcester library, no. 36

• The first canon table with a zoomorphic decoration in the 'Trewhiddle Style'., Gospels, imperfect (the 'Royal Bible')

hand responsible for glossing the Vespasian Psalter, Cotton MS Vespasian A I, the oldest extant translation of Scripture into OldEnglish. 1 incipit page with miniature of an ox, the symbol of Luke, with God blessing, and an initial in

• Text page at the beginning of Abbo of St-Germain's ~Bella Parisiacae urbis~, book 3, with red initial and highlights., Alcuin, De orthographia (ff.1-24v); Bede, De orthographia (ff. 24v-71); Bella Parisiacae urbis, book 3 (Ad clericos) (ff. 71v-84); unidentified smaller text with glossary material (ff. 84-86v); De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii, book 4 (De arte dialectica) (f. 87-149); Glossaries to Greek and Latin grammar texts, including lists of grammatical and metrical terms and glosses to Juvenal (ff. 150-167v).

corrections and erasures between ff. 150-159. Folio 93v is blank. Marked change in parchment quality in quires xx-xxii. Two Latin-Old English glosses on f. 166. Bishop proposes that the scribe of Harley 3826 reappears in Lincoln, Cathedral Library MS. 182.

• Inscription about the manuscript’s Canterbury provenance, with an Old Royal Library seal of a ship in the bottom right corner., Etymologiae

Canterbury provenance, with an Old Royal Library seal of a ship in the bottom right corner. Preceded by letters between Isidore and Braulio, bishop of Saragossa (ff. 2-3v). Initials in red, green, purple, or yellow, some with arabesque decoration (ff.