Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 251: Bury St Edmunds Chronicle

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Title:
Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 251: Bury St Edmunds Chronicle
Alternate Title:
Chronicon Buriense
Language:
Latin
Extent:
ff. 103
Dimensions:
280 Height (mm) and 190 Width (mm)
Approximate Date:
[ca. 1400 - 1499]
Provenance:
The book is doubtless from Bury St Edmunds. On f. 1r is the pressmark E. 43.It is not easy to see why this pressmark was given to this book. The letters of the pressmarks of Bury uniformly corresponded to the subjects of the books (e.g. B for Biblia): also, there is another extant volume marked E. 43 (viz. Lambeth MS. 218, Epistolae Alcuini). The proper letter for the present volume is C (=Chronica). A long life of St Edmund is in the text, and there are notes relating to the Abbey at the end.
Table of contents:
  • Bury St Edmunds Chronicle
  • Chronicle of England
Description:
CCCC MS 251 contains two chronicles: a brief abstracted roll-call of the popes from Gregory IX to 1370, followed by an account of English history from Brutus to the accession of Richard II with an emphasis on events pertinent to the abbey at Bury St Edmunds. Both texts were written c. 1445. Even though the press mark ('E.43') appears to be in error, since manuscripts at Bury St Edmunds were classified by subject matter - the volume, M. R. James argued, should fall under 'C' for Chronica - James had no doubt the manuscript was from Bury on the grounds of the content which, as part of the chronicle material, includes a life of St Edmund. Also recorded in this volume is a note on the round chapel at Bury St Edmunds which also appears in London, College of Arms MS Arundel XXX, which was certainly written for the monks at Bury. The manuscript is decorated with two historiated initials and many illuminated ornamental initials.
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