Here begynneth a boke in Englysshe tonge called Brute of Ingelond, or, The cronycles of Ingelond, compylynge and tretynge of [th]e seyd londe, howe it, [ca. 1450]

More complete cataloging can be found at: http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/85764675

Full Title: Here begynneth a boke in Englysshe tonge called Brute of Ingelond, or, The cronycles of Ingelond, compylynge and tretynge of [th]e seyd londe, howe it was fyrste a wylderness [and] forlete [and] no[th]inge [th]ere ynne but wylde bestes [and] fowles, and afterwarde how it was inhabyte by whom [and] in what maner, [and] [th]an of alle [th]e kyngges [and] grete lordes [and] pryncipale actes [th]at ha[th] be doen in [th]e same londe as of batelles, werres, [and] o[th]er aventures [and] conquestes of [th]e seyd londe

Ms. codex.

Title from incipit (fol. 1r).

Contains a portion of John Page's Siege of Rouen in prose.

Collation: Parchment, fol. iii (moder paper, i is pastedown) + 206 + iv (modern paper, iv is pastedown) ; 1-25? 26? ; horizontal catchwords in lower margin (some decorated).

Layout: Written in 30 (Scribes A and B) and 29 (Scribe C) long lines; frame-ruled with double upper and lower bounding lines; prickings in outer margin.

Script: Written by three hands in a semi-cursive, gothic script of the fifteenth century. Scribe A: fol. 1r-20v, line 2; Scribe B: fol. 20v, line 3-184v; Scribe C: fol. 185r-206v (Scribe C begins in the middle of a word and probably uses a new exemplar, cf. Matheson).

Decoration: Seven-line illuminated initial "H" on fol. 1r with blue, green, and violet floriate in-fill and ornamentation extending down the left margin and across the bottom margin -- Five-line illuminated initial "W on fol. 67r with blue and violet in-fill -- Initials in red on blue throughout, many with marginal flourishes -- Chapter heading rubrics.

Binding: 18th cent. Full calf, gold ruled; marbled endpapers.

Provenance: Inscription in ink on verso of first fly-leaf: "Dalkeith House" (home of the dukes of Buccleuch) -- Armorial bookplate (with motto: Victoria concordia crescit) of William, Baron Amherst, on verso of first fly-leaf -- Sotheby, 15 October 1945 (lot 1951) -- Purchased from Stonehill, 7 March 1951.

Matheson, Lister M. The Prose Brut: The Development of a Middle English Chronicle (Tempe, Ariz., 1998). Page, John. John Page's Siege of Rouen. Ed. Herbert Huscher (Leipzig, 1927). De Ricci, Seymour. A Hand-list of a Collection of Books and Manuscripts Belonging to the Right Hon. Lord Amherst of Hackney at Didlington Hall, Norfolk (Cambridge, 1906),