• Detail of an inhabited initial 'S'(i) with two lions, at the beginning of the Policraticus., Policraticus, Metalogicon, and Entheticus de dogmate philosophorum

(f. 7v). Richard [Aungerville] de Bury (1287-1345), bishop of Durham (1333-1345), sold to him (see the inscription below).The Benedictine abbey of St Albans, bought by Michael, abbot of St. Albans (1334-1349), in 1345 from the executors ofRichard de Bury:

• Illuminated initial 'I'(nter) at the beginning of book 1 of the Polycraticus., Policraticus, Metalogicon, and Entheticus de dogmate philosophorum

(f. 7v). Richard [Aungerville] de Bury (1287-1345), bishop of Durham (1333-1345), sold to him (see the inscription below).The Benedictine abbey of St Albans, bought by Michael, abbot of St. Albans (1334-1349), in 1345 from the executors ofRichard de Bury:

• Decorated initial 'N'(on) at the beginning of book 5 of the Metalogicon., Policraticus, Metalogicon, and Entheticus de dogmate philosophorum

(f. 7v). Richard [Aungerville] de Bury (1287-1345), bishop of Durham (1333-1345), sold to him (see the inscription below).The Benedictine abbey of St Albans, bought by Michael, abbot of St. Albans (1334-1349), in 1345 from the executors ofRichard de Bury:

• Decorated initial 'A'(dversus), at the beginning of book 1 of the Metalogicon., Policraticus, Metalogicon, and Entheticus de dogmate philosophorum

(f. 7v). Richard [Aungerville] de Bury (1287-1345), bishop of Durham (1333-1345), sold to him (see the inscription below).The Benedictine abbey of St Albans, bought by Michael, abbot of St. Albans (1334-1349), in 1345 from the executors ofRichard de Bury:

• Illuminated initial 'D'(ogmate), at the beginning of the Entheticus de dogmate philosophorum., Policraticus, Metalogicon, and Entheticus de dogmate philosophorum

(f. 7v). Richard [Aungerville] de Bury (1287-1345), bishop of Durham (1333-1345), sold to him (see the inscription below).The Benedictine abbey of St Albans, bought by Michael, abbot of St. Albans (1334-1349), in 1345 from the executors ofRichard de Bury:

• Decorated initial 'N'(otum) at the beginning of book 6 of the Metalogicon., Policraticus, Metalogicon, and Entheticus de dogmate philosophorum

(f. 7v). Richard [Aungerville] de Bury (1287-1345), bishop of Durham (1333-1345), sold to him (see the inscription below).The Benedictine abbey of St Albans, bought by Michael, abbot of St. Albans (1334-1349), in 1345 from the executors ofRichard de Bury:

• Inhabited initial 'S'(i) with two lions, at the beginning of the Policraticus., Policraticus, Metalogicon, and Entheticus de dogmate philosophorum

(f. 7v). Richard [Aungerville] de Bury (1287-1345), bishop of Durham (1333-1345), sold to him (see the inscription below).The Benedictine abbey of St Albans, bought by Michael, abbot of St. Albans (1334-1349), in 1345 from the executors ofRichard de Bury:

• The first inscription recording that the book was commissioned by Simon, abbot of St. Albans (1167-1183), 'Hunc librum fecit domnus Symon abbas s[an]c[t]o Albano, que[m] qui ei abstule/rit', aut frande[m] commiserit, aut titulu[m] deleverit vel corup[er]it; anathema sit'; with a list of contents reading 'Policraticon / Metalogicon / Enteticus Joh[ann]is Sarisbi[r]ens[is]', and second is note recording that in 1345 the manuscript was bought by Michael, abbot of St. Albans, from the executors of Richard de Bury, bishop of Durham, reading 'Hu[n]c libru[m] venditu[m] d[omi]no Ric[ard]o de Biry ep[iscop]o Dunelm[ensi] emit / Michael abbas s[anct]i Albani ab executorib[us] p[re]d[ic]ti ep[iscop]i anno / d[omi]ni Mlill[esim]o CCCmoXLVto circa purificat[i]o[n]em b[eat]e V[ir]ginis.', Policraticus, Metalogicon, and Entheticus de dogmate philosophorum

(f. 7v). Richard [Aungerville] de Bury (1287-1345), bishop of Durham (1333-1345), sold to him (see the inscription below).The Benedictine abbey of St Albans, bought by Michael, abbot of St. Albans (1334-1349), in 1345 from the executors ofRichard de Bury:

• null, Legenda aurea (index Legendae sanctorum; Legends of the saints; Golden Legend)

d. 1861), 2nd duke of Buckingham and Chandos: sold in 1849 to Lord Ashburnham. Bertram Ashburnham (b. 1797, d. 1878), 4th earl of Ashburnham, of Ashburnham Place, Sussex.Bertram Ashburnham (b. 1840, d. 1913), 5th earl of Ashburnham: purchased by the

• null, Legenda aurea (index Legendae sanctorum; Legends of the saints; Golden Legend)

d. 1861), 2nd duke of Buckingham and Chandos: sold in 1849 to Lord Ashburnham. Bertram Ashburnham (b. 1797, d. 1878), 4th earl of Ashburnham, of Ashburnham Place, Sussex.Bertram Ashburnham (b. 1840, d. 1913), 5th earl of Ashburnham: purchased by the

• Decorated initial 'V'(etus), at the beginning of book 4., De universo seu De rerum naturis

'Etymologies' of Isidore, of Rabanus Maurus (b. c. 776, d. 856), abbot of Fulda and later archbishop of Mainz (ff. 6-282v), preceded by the letters to Louis the Germanic, king of Germany (843-876) (ff. 1-2), and to Haymo, bishop of

• Donor inscriptions and pressmark., Sermons (f. 2); Statutes of the Church of Hereford (f. 258v)

reign of Louis IX of France. There are nearly a hundred of his sermons in this manuscript, mostly for special occasions, with those at the end on the sacraments and commandments.A further 14th-century copy of the sermons of Gilbert of