• Coloured initials., Life and miracles of St Swithun

(epanaleptic) (ff. 49v-50v);Wulfstan's Narratio Metrica de S. Swithuno (ff. 51-124);Additional poems and miracles of St Swithun (ff. 124v-126v);A few OldEnglish glosses (ff. 109, 111).Marginal directions for reading at night office (ff. 3v-8). Large initials in red or green. Numerous

• Coloured initial, and inscriptions of later owners, including (upper margin) Thomas Dakombe (1496-c.1572), rector of St. Mary Colebrook at Winchester), and John, Lord Lumley., Life and miracles of St Swithun

(epanaleptic) (ff. 49v-50v);Wulfstan's Narratio Metrica de S. Swithuno (ff. 51-124);Additional poems and miracles of St Swithun (ff. 124v-126v);A few OldEnglish glosses (ff. 109, 111).Marginal directions for reading at night office (ff. 3v-8). Large initials in red or green. Numerous

• Coloured initial., Life and miracles of St Swithun

(epanaleptic) (ff. 49v-50v);Wulfstan's Narratio Metrica de S. Swithuno (ff. 51-124);Additional poems and miracles of St Swithun (ff. 124v-126v);A few OldEnglish glosses (ff. 109, 111).Marginal directions for reading at night office (ff. 3v-8). Large initials in red or green. Numerous

• Coloured initial., Life and miracles of St Swithun

(epanaleptic) (ff. 49v-50v);Wulfstan's Narratio Metrica de S. Swithuno (ff. 51-124);Additional poems and miracles of St Swithun (ff. 124v-126v);A few OldEnglish glosses (ff. 109, 111).Marginal directions for reading at night office (ff. 3v-8). Large initials in red or green. Numerous

• Detail of a bas-de-page scene of a prisoner seeking sanctuary from monks., 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

• null, 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 a bas-de-page scene of a castle flanked by grotesques., 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 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

• 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,

• 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.

• Anthropomorphic initial 'S'(ancti), formed of two monks, at the beginning of the prologue to the De fide catholica of Isidore., De fide catholica

St James's Palace (see ~Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae~ (Oxford: Sheldonian, '1697'), no. 7922, 7923).Presented to the British Museum by George II in 1757 as part of the Old Royal Library. Anthropomorphic initial Isidore Canterbury England, S. E. (Canterbury?)

• Zoomorphic initial 'I'(udei) with an animal head., De fide catholica

St James's Palace (see ~Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae~ (Oxford: Sheldonian, '1697'), no. 7922, 7923).Presented to the British Museum by George II in 1757 as part of the Old Royal Library. Zoomorphic initial Isidore Canterbury England, S. E. (Canterbury?)

• Illuminated headpiece decorated with geometric patterns, and initial 'A'(ndres) at the beginning of Gregory Nazianzus' De pauperum amore (Oratio 14)., In patrem tacentem (ff. 1-3); De pauperum amore (ff. 3v-18v), both imperfect

Illuminated headpiece decorated with geometric patterns, and initial 'A'(ndres) at the beginning of Gregory Nazianzus' De pauperum amore (Oratio 14). f. 20r-v formerly used as a pastedown.Old pagination on ff. 1-18v of 481-516.ff. 1-18 were formerly gatherings 31-33 of

• Detail of headpiece., In patrem tacentem (ff. 1-3); De pauperum amore (ff. 3v-18v), both imperfect

Detail of headpiece. f. 20r-v formerly used as a pastedown.Old pagination on ff. 1-18v of 481-516.ff. 1-18 were formerly gatherings 31-33 of a larger volume. Headpiece decorated with geometric patterns in colours and gold. Large gold and blue initial

• Detail of an allegorical miniature of a bush of the Tudor rose incorporating a Latin poem celebrating the House of Tudor, with a scroll reading 'Salve, radix varios producens germine ramos, / Quos inter ramus supereminet altior unus', with daisies for Henry VIII's sister Margaret of Scotland, and marigolds for his another sister, Mary of France, and a pomegranate bush for his wife, Katherine of Aragon, enclosed within a walled garden with tours surmounted by banners of the royal arms of England, George, and Castile, and a gateway with a lion, flanked by a red dragon and a white greyhound, and inscribed with words 'salve felix Anglia'., Motets

Scotland, and marigolds for his sister, Mary of France (f. 2).Presented to the British Museum by George II in 1757 as part of the Old Royal Library. Tudor Rose Magister Sampson, Benedictus de Opitiis and others Antwerp Netherlands, S. (Antwerp?)

• Miniatures of swords in various positions., Hieroglyphica and Emblematic Inscriptions

1685), king of England, Scotland, and Ireland: inscribed, 'the king's book, anno dom. 1680' (f. 25v).Presented to the British Museum by George II in 1757 as part of the Old Royal Library. Swords Filippo Alberici ? Paris France, Central (Paris)