• Text page., De emendatione vitae (ff. 2-26v, begins imperfectly); Treatise in nine chapters (ff. 27-47v, begins imperfectly); De cognitione verae vitae (ff. 47v-76v); Dialogus inter quandum vere penetentem et suum bonum angelum (ff. 77-81)

books at Evans's on 18 February, 1833, and published a detailed catalogue of the manuscripts in 1835. According to Frederic Madden's annotations in the Department of Manuscripts copies of the catalogues, the manuscripts were bought by the booksellers Baynes &

• Following the numbered list of chapters (some of the numbers are visible through the parchment in the right-hand column), the start of the main text is introduced by a large red initial 'B' and opening words in capital letters (now darkened to a silvery black, due to oxidisation)., Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, with preface and tables of chapters, imperfect at the end

in fainter ink, the note 'per Richard Hauley abbatem' (of Gloucester, 1457-1472).f. 225, reused as a flyleaf, is a folio from a thirteenth-century manuscript of the Historia Scholastica of Petrus Comestor. Added pen drawing of a chalice or urn in

• Coloured drawing of William the Conqueror, king of England, giving a letter (with a seal) concerning the ruling of the city of York to the duke Alan of Brittany., Historica monumenta diversa (ff. 2-18v), Chronica monasterii de Pipwell (ff. 21-35v), etc., added by Sir Simonds D'Ewes c. 1639-1643

Coloured drawing of William the Conqueror, king of England, giving a letter (with a seal) concerning the ruling of the city ofYork to the duke Alan of Brittany. f. 83 is a title-page to the 12th-century manuscript (part 1),

• Decorated initial 'H'., Life of Bede

(ff. 28, 28v). Life of Bede Added notes and glosses in English hands, 10th and 11th centuries: see Gameson.? Richard Bancroft, archbishop of Canterbury in 1604, former treasurer of St Paul's, canon of Westminster, and bishop of London: inscribed 'for

• Initial 'A'(mici) with pen-flourishing (added in the ?16th/17th century) forming a partial foliate border including a bird., Epistulae and other works

1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library. Decorated initial Ambrose England

• Puzzle-initial 'T'(ranscriptum) with pen-flourishing at the beginning of Robert Grosseteste's translation of Tertullian, 'Testamentum XII patriarcharum'., Testamentum XII patriarcharum (ff. 1-15); Beniamin minor, in verse (ff. 15-20); Elucidarius (ff. 20v-34v)

fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library. Text page Tertullian, translated by Robert Grosseteste (ff. 1-15); Richardof

• Coloured initial 'P'(rimus) at the beginning of notes on the compotus, and below, an added list of the archbishops of Canterbury., Treatise on the compotus, 'Ratio Gai cesaris de ordine anni', instructions for the discovery of the age of the moon, a table of moveable feasts, and other texts

margin, f. 1).Addition of an 11th-12th century list of the Archbishops of Canterbury, Augustine- Anselm (consecrated 1093), with additions down to Richardof Dover (consecrated 1174) (f. 34).Mid-12th century addition of twelve lines of verses (f. 18).Note of a flood

• Explicit of the first text: 'Explicit liber q[ue] intitulatur liber niger qui fuit inventus cu[m] cruce magna de Waltham S[an]c]t]e Crucis'., Various religious and historical tracts (also known as 'Codex ruber' and 'Waltham Abbey Miscellany' ; beginning and end imperfect), part 2

1933). A terminus post quem is provided by a poem written in one of the original hands lamenting the death of the ninth abbot of Waltham, Richardof Hertford, who died in 1345 (Harley 3776, ff. 38v-39).Added later medieval foliation

• Coloured initials in a text page of the chronicle., Chronicle, AD 1-1135 (ff. 34-61), with additions up to 1266 (ff. 61v-73)

formed by manuscripts of different date and origin and includes:'Gui de Warewic', romance in Anglo-Norman verse, with initials in red, last quarter of the 13th or 1st quarter of the 14th century (ff. 15-26v);Life of Saint Robert of Knaresborough, prose