Penn in Hand: Selected Manuscripts

[Genealogical chronicle fragment of the kings of England to Kimbelinus and Arvigarus] [manuscript].

[England, between 1425 and 1450]

1 roll (2 membranes) : parchment ; 1620 x 260 mm.

A chronicle with diagram from the first reign of Henry VI tracing the descent of the kings of England from Noah, through Brut, and breaking off after the kings Kimbelinus and Arvigarus in the central line of descent and the kings Ingils and Offa in another line left of center. The birth of Christ is marked just before the end of the fragment. Earlier the line of descent on the left includes the descent of northern peoples such as the Danes, Jutes, and Geates from Steldius, also known as Scyld Scefing from the poem Beowulf. On the verso (outer surface of roll) is an 18th-century inscription, Genealogy, Noa to [the kings] of England.

Ms. roll.

Title supplied by cataloger.

Incipit: "Iste Nemroth erat gigas ... " (text at top next to Noah roundel); "[Ab isto] Strephes filio Iapheth fratre..." (top of left column); "[Ab] hiis trib[us] filiis Noe texuntur generaciones septuaginte ..." (top of right column).

Edges damaged, with some loss of text on left edge; mounted on modern vellum before sale in 2010.

Script: Written in secretary script.

Decoration: Yellow, green, and red bands linking double roundels in red ink containing names in brown ink, except for the names Noa (in a larger roundel at the top, probably for an illumination never added) and Brutus in red, and a larger empty roundel off to the side at the bottom of the second membrane labeled Incarnatio Christi in red, perhaps intended for a Nativity scene.

Origin: Written and illustrated in England in the second quarter of the 15th century (Sotheby's).

The same text is found in seven other manuscripts: Queen's College, Cambridge, MS. 167; College of Arms, MSS. muniment room 20/3 and 23; Bodleian, Oxford, MS. Bodleian Rolls 10; King's College, Cambridge, MS. 43; British Library, Lansdowne MS. 2; and Harley Roll c.5. The Queen's College and College of Arms rolls are most similar to UPenn Ms. Roll 1588 (Sotheby's).

UPenn Ms. Roll 1588

Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts University of Pennsylvania Ms. Roll 1588