OB. Bodleian Library, MS. Bodley 170. Late XIII cent., court hand, single columns. A table of contents occupies the first 18 folios, the text proper extending over fs. 19-385. 11 1/8x8 1/8, 10 3/8x7 1/8, 7 1/2(6 5/8)x5. 30-36 lines to a page. Incomplete because of a lacuna on f. 219, where the text reads, se habuerit vel stricte. Si autem plures fructuarium valebit inpetratio, thus omitting fs. 230-261 of the printed text.The chapter headings for this omitted portion are in the table of contents, in which a note by the original scribe points out the lacuna in the text. The name of Bracton occurs in the text on f. 1, Ego H. de Bractone talis animum erexi. (In both the Incipit and the Explicit the name is spelled Brattone.) This MS. has been referred to as “Corbet,” the name of Joannes Corbet being on f. 1, and Codex Corbetti dominum non muto libenter illi charus ego charus et ille mihi on f. 385b.

OC. Bodleian Library, MS. Rawlinson C. 159. XIII-XIV cent., charter hand, double columns. A kalendar of 4 1/2 folios; the text on fs. 6-204. 13 1/4x8 3/4, 13x8 1/2, 10 1/4x5 3/4. 60-56-60 lines to a page. A much later hand has divided the text into divisions similar to those of the printed editions. A note on a fly leaf (circ. 1500) shows that this volume was formerly in the library of St. Augustine, Canterbury. At the bottom of f. 204, in a XVII cent. hand, over the name of Manwood, is “Itt was my father his booke and lay in hys studdy att Seargeants Inn.” Many passages are marked as additional, most of them being in the main body of the text, though some appear as marginal notes, which, with possibly two exceptions, are written in the same hand as the text. The first chapter of the Action for Dower, which occurs again in its regular place, immediately precedes De Actionibus. On f. 29 a writ of Edward (I) to the sheriff of Leicestershire has been inserted in the text.

OD. Bodleian Library, MS. Rawlinson C. 160. XIV cent., charter hand, double columns, 230 folios, without a kalendar. 14 1/8x10, 13 5/8x9 1/2, 10 1/8x6 1/2. 52 lines to a page. Incomplete, ending with quod distringi possit on f. 443 of the editions. OD has some marginal addiciones. Much extraneous matter has been incorporated in the text. There is mention of Edward I in a passage on fs. 53b-54 of the codex; and on fs. 36, 37, 38, treatises on affinity and consanguinity. p

OE. Bodleian Library, MS. Rawlinson C. 158. XIV cent., double columns, court hands by probably eight different scribes.There may have been as many as nine different writers. 119 folios, the first 13 given over to a table of contents. 14x10, 13 1/2x9 1/2, 9 1/2(10 3/4)x7 1/4, (in one hand 11 1/2x8 1/2). 49, 40, 39, 51, 50 lines to a page. So many portions of OE have been lost--over 250 folios of the printed book--that what remains is no more than a large fragment. The principal gaps in the text, due to missing pages, come in between the following folios of the MS.: 17-18, 24-25, 41-42, 48-49, 58-59, 70-71, 78-79 (this gap extends over 213 folios of print), 103-104. Some addiciones in the first part are marked. In the text are several references to the statutes of Edward I. The Incipit, which is mixed up with the first rubric, is Incipit liber Henrici de Bractone.

OF. Bodleian Library, MS. Bodley 344. XIV cent., book hand, double columns, 505 pages including a kalendar of 11 (12) pages which begins Incipit liber domini H. de Bracton. 14x9 1/2, 13 1/2x9, 10x6 1/2. 50 lines to a page. A few addiciones are marked. The Action for Dower, though in the table of contents it follows Utrum regularly, is inserted after quod non ponit (potuit) at 1. 2, f. 436. All between this point and the beginning of cap. XXXI, f. 439, is omitted. The name of Edward Fletewoode is on the first page of the kalendar; and at the foot of the second page is a note in the handwriting of Gerard Langbaine (circ. 1650) calling attention to a missing folio in the kalendar. Pages 501, 502, should change places with 495, 496. This MS. has its text divided into 1077 chapters which are arranged by centenœ.

OG. Bodleian Library, MS. Tanner 189. Late XIII cent., charter hand, single columns. The mutilated remains of a kalendar precedes the text which begins on f. 1 and ends on f. 304. Many pages of the book are mutilated, stained, or stuck together. 9x6 1/2, 8 5/8x6 1/4, 6 1/2(3/4)x4 1/4(1/2). 37, 38, 34, 35 lines to a page. The spaces which were left for rubrics and capital letters have not been filled in. This is a much abbreviated copy of Bracton, due not to any loss of folios,F. 176 is 177 in the old numbering, which is wrong; then come two blank folios, 177, 178 (old numbers 186, 187). Probably 9 folios are missing here. The table of contents has subjects marked for fs. 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, and the headings are those for De Actione Dotis, which is missing in OG. but to a deliberate attempt to cut down the material, as is shown not only by the omission of large blocks of text but also by the leaving out at the beginning and ending of passages of those phrases which refer to something above or below, as, ut infra videri poterit, ut supra, secundum quod inferius plenius dicetur, etc.In the first 170 folios there are some 175 gaps in the text. On f. 170b, after a passage on f. 438b of the editions, comes sect. 4, f. 63. Following this comes a succession of passages, broken, but in regular order and going through the first part of the Assise of Novel Disseisin, which contain much that was at first left out. Cap. XIX, f. 187b, comes on f. 289 of OG; the next page is blank; f. 290 begins with a passage on f. 338 of the editions, the next few pages containing a broken continuation of this portion of Bracton and ending in cap. XII, f. 358.

OM. Merton College, Oxford, MS. CCCXX. XIV cent., book hand, double columns. A table of contents, 7 pages in single columns, precedes the main text, which is numbered by folios through 136, and then by pages with the numbering 1-105.Some of these pages are bound in the wrong order, which being corrected should read 8, 11, 12, 15, 16, 19, 20, 13, 14, 9, 10, 27, 28, 23, 24, 17, 18, 21, 22, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, etc. In Testamenta Eboracensia (Surtees Soc.), 101, is noted the fact that in 1378 the Chancellor of York, Thomas Farnylaw, bequeathed to Merton College a copy of Bracton. 13 3/4x10 1/2, 13 1/2x9 7/8, 10 1/2(7/8)x6 3/8(5/8). 72-70 lines to a page. At the beginning of the kalendar is Incipiunt tituli tractatus domini Henrici de Brattone quondam iusticiarius in Anglia editi super legibus et consuetudinibus regni Anglicani, tam super placitis coronœ quam placitis terrœ, cum formis brevium conpetentium utriusque. The main text is preceded by Incipit liber domini Henrici de Brattone super legibus et consuetudinibus regni Anglicani. On f. 48b this MS. skips from f. 104b to f. 129b of the printed book. Many references to the statutes of Edward I, and some unusual addiciones, have become a part of the text.

MA. British Museum, MS. Add. 11353. Late XIII cent., double columns, court hand. After 11 pages of kalendar the text begins on f. 9, ending on f. 189b. 14 1/4x10 1/8, 13 5/8x9 1/4, 10 3/4(11)x7. 47, 48, 49 lines to a page. An illuminated first page represents the king seated on his throne, holding a sword in his right hand and a charter in his left. On the right are six knights, and on the left a group of six men and women, one of whom is receiving the charter from the king. On a leaf at the end is the name of Charles Buck. A pencilled note at the beginning states that this MS. was formerly in the library of Sir Thomas Crewe, King's Sergeant in the time of James I. For this reason the codex has at times been referred to as “Crewe.” Fly leaf notes record two transfers of the volume--“Bought at the Harrold sale, Sept. 1805, J. B.”; “Purchased of Lilly, 3 March. 1838.”

MB. British Museum, MS. Stowe 380. Late XIII cent., double columns, charter hand. A table of contents takes up the first 10 folios, and the main text fs. 11-202b. 13 3/4x9 3/8, 13 1/8x8 5/8, 10(1/8)x6(1/4). 50 lines to a page. Incomplete, ending with illud tempus possit qui ius on f. 436b. The order of certain folios should be rearranged to fit the order 133, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 134, 135, 136, 143. MB is divided into sections containing from 2 to 190 titles, each section taking as its heading the rubric of the first title in its division, as Capitula de eo quod dicitur quœ sunt rege necessaria and Capitula de eo quod dicitur quid sit iusticia. The statement in the printed catalogue that MB is divided into sixteen books should be changed to read “sixteen quires,” the large Roman numerals at the top of the pages representing quires instead of books, and the partial division of the table of contents into books being based on a misinterpretation of this same quire arrangement.

MC. British Museum, MS. Reg. 9. E. XV. Circ. 1300, double columns, book hand. A table of contents in a contemporary court hand takes up 9 1/2 folios; the text beginning on f. 11 and ending on f. 216--Explicit liber domini Henrici de Brattone de viribus (for iuribus) et consuetudinibus Anglicanis. On f. 52b there is a break in the text extending over fs. 95-96b of the printed book. 13 3/8x10 1/4, 12 5/8x9 5/8, 10(1/4)x7(1/4). 46 lines to a page. Following the Bracton proper is about a page of extraneous matter on various legal subjects, written in the same hand as the text.This same matter is found at the end of LA. The headings of the sections begin as follows: 1. Inquiratur inprimis de cambio sic. Qui cambiaverint novam monetam pro veteri sine warranto . . . . ; 2. Concordatum est per consilium domini regis et iusticiarios suos London. quod breve quo warranto de hundredis versus talem non est vitiosum . . . . ; 3. Bene concordatum est per magistrum Thom. Becke, J. de Hyrlieby, R. de Hengham, N. de Stapeltone, W. de Wymburne, T. de Weylaunde, W. de Helium, J. de Lovetoft, W. de Brumptone, et R. de Leycestre, quod breve quod dicitur quo warranto . . . . ; 4. Edwardus dei gratia rex Angliæ, etc.--a writ addressed to Robert de Ufford, justiciar in Ireland, concerning archbishop John de Darlington and the church at Dublin, and dated 28 April, 1279; 5. Die Jovis post festum Sancti Marci evangelistæ frater Johannis de Derlington de ordine prædicatorum electus Dubblin . . . . The last two entries are from the patent rol

MD. British Museum, MS. Harley 817. XIV cent., court hand, double columns. Three folios of vellum before the table of contents are covered with miscellaneous legal matter, mostly definitions of terms and phrases, in XIV-XV cent. hands. Following a kalendar of four folios the text begins on f. 8 and goes to f. 236. At the end are three folios of Latin notes on various subjects. 14 1/2x9, 14 1/8x8 3/4, 11(1/4)x6 5/8. 57, 47, 53 lines to a page. There are many marked addiciones in the text and some in the lower margins. This MS. has been much used, and is freely annotated by a later hand. The name of Elizabeth Willington, XVI-XVII cent., is written on f. 136. At the bottom of f. 236, in the same hand as the text, is the name of Simon de Ednesouere, by which name the MS. is sometimes referred to.

ME. British Museum, MS. Harley 656. Early XIV cent., double columns, court hands. In four hands, viz., I, table of contents, 8 1/2 folios; II, fs. 12-75, 100-315; III, fs. 75-99b; IV, marginal notes and addiciones. The main text occupies fs. 12-315. 14 1/2x9 1/2, 13 3/4x8 3/4, 10 1/2(3/4)x6. Hand II has 49, hand III, 47-50, lines to a page. This MS., written on fine parchment, is very neat and in a fine state of preservation. On f. 94, at the end of cap. XIX, f. 138 in the printed book, is a whole folio of outside matter, beginning with references to the Edwardian statutes, which are also referred to in other parts of the text.

MF. British Museum, MS. Harley 653. Early XIV cent., court hand, double columns. No table of contents. The text begins on f. 3 and ends on f. 212b at the end of cap. XIX, f. 420b of the printed book. 14 3/8x9 7/8, 13 3/4x9 1/4, 10 1/4x7. 50 lines to a page. MF has a large amount of non-Bracton matter, including the treatises on consanguinity and affinity, and references to the statutes. Large gaps in the text occur at the following folios: 67-68, 108-109, 133-134, 139-140, 149-150, 155-156; altogether some forty folios seem to be missing. Most of the cases, and some of the other parts, have been marked through with red ink. The last page contains a document dated 1411 to which is affixed the seal and signature of Robert Ayer, presbyter of the diocese of York.

MG. British Museum, MS. Add. 24067. XIV cent., double columns, book hand. Lacks a table of contents; the text begins on f. 2 and ends on f. 221. 15 1/8x10 1/8, 14 1/2x9 1/4, 10x6 1/2. 50 lines to a page. Well written, with many well-made capitals; vellum of a fine quality. The Action for Dower is inserted on f. 436 of the printed text after being omitted at the regular place, and all between this point and cap. XXXI, f. 439, is omitted, as in OF. Some of the addiciones are marked. A note at the beginning reads, “Liber qui dicitur Bretton de perquisitione Fratris Thomæ de Ocham.” A memorandum at the end shows that in 1530 this volume was the property of the Abbot of Chertsey.

MH. British Museum, MS. Add. 21614. XIV cent., double columns, book hands. The text occupies fs. 2-204b. 14 3/8x9 7/8, 13 7/8x9, 10 1/2x6 3/8. Two hands have written the text. 57 lines to a page. On a fly leaf, in a different hand from the text, is, “Liber monasterii Glastoniæ de perquisito bonæ memoriæ Walteri de Monitona quondam abbatis ibidem, in quo continetur videlicet Henricus Bractone de iuribus et consuetudinibus Angliæ.” In a modern pencil is added, “A. D. 1341-1374.” On f. 2b are the abbot's initials, “W. N.”, with the letter “A” and an abbot's mitre above. The record of one transfer is preserved on a fly leaf, “Purchased of Messers. Willis and Sotheran, 6 Dec. 1856. (From Sale at Sotheby's, 4 July. Lot 325.)”

MI. British Museum, MS. Harley 3416. XIV cent., double columns, charter hand. 13 3/4x9 1/2, 13 1/4x8 1/2, 10 1/2x6 1/2. 54, 55 lines to a page. Mutilated at the beginning, starting with a passage on f. 24b of the printed text. Folios 1-208 are occupied by the text, with an incomplete index taking up what is left of f. 208, the first folio of a new quire. An inserted slip, numbered f. 104, contains a passage omitted from the text on f. 103. There are large gaps in the text at fs. 138-139, two folios missing; at fs. 169-170, four folios missing; and at fs. 171-172, twelve folios missing. 

MK. British Museum, MS. Harley 3422. XIV cent., double columns, four hands of different types. There is no table of contents; the text occupies fs. 1-227. 13x9, 12 1/4x8 1/4, 10(9 1/2)x5 3/4. 50, 51 lines to a page. F. 61 should come after f. 209. F. 60b ends with, “res iudicatæ vel finis factus vel” (f. 104 of the editions), and f. 62 begins with, “et responsione appellati et recordo” (f. 140b in the printed book). Folios have been cut away between those now numbered 85-86, 93-94, 122-123, 127-128, 136-137. The Action for Dower is omitted. 178, 177, 180, 179 is the correct order for the folios so numbered.

ML. British Museum, MS. Harley 1242. XIV cent., double columns, book hand. A table of contents (five folios, single lines) divides the text, which takes up fs. 6-224, into 380 sections, or chapters. 14 3/4x10 1/4, 14x9 1/2, 9 3/4(10 1/4)x6. 48-50 lines to a page. Exceptionally well written on an extra fine quality of vellum. There is considerable variation from the usual order of subjects. Changes in order of subjects or omissions of noticeable extent occur on fs. 12, 92, 109, 179b, 205, 207, 208, 213b, 214, 215, 220b, 221, 222, 223. The Action for Dower follows sect. 4, f. 98 of the editions.

MM. British Museum, MS. Harley 763. XIV cent., double columns, court hand. An imperfect volume of 134 folios, beginning with, “Si fiat donatio viro,” and ending with, “ipsi inde nihil fecerunt. Et ideo,” (fs. 262b-442 of the printed text). 12 1/2x8 1/2, 12x8 1/4, 9 1/2x6. 39, 40 lines to a page.

MN. British Museum, MS. Add. 32340. XIII-XIV cent., double columns, in at least six different hands. Five folios (+ a slip) of kalendar; the text on fs. 7-145. 14 1/4x9 7/8, 12 7/8x8 3/4, 10 1/2x6 3/4. 47, 58, 61, 63, 60, 58, 65, 68 lines to a page. Between fs. 42 and 43 is a gap extending over fs. 111-181 of the editions. On the inside of the front cover is a book plate with the name of Wm. Hulbert Sheppard, and on a fly leaf is the name of J. L. Sheppard. Fragment. British Museum, MS. Add. 27632. Folios 26, 27. XIV cent., double columns, book hand. Size of page, etc., 11 3/4x7 1/2, 10x6 1/4. 50 lines to a page. These two leaves contain that portion of the text which is found on fs. 341-345 of the printed book. Notes and Excerpts from Bracton. British Museum, MS. Hargrave 429. A paper quarto, late, and of no use for text purposes.

CA. Cambridge University Library, MS. Dd. VII. 6. Early XIV cent., double columns, charter hand. This volume is one of miscellaneous legal matter, Bracton beginning on f. aaaa 3, and ending on f. aaaa 75 in a passage found on f. 278 of the printed text. 20 3/8x13 1/4, 19 1/4x12 1/4, 14 1/4(1/2)x9(1/4). 65 lines to a page, usually (f. aaaa 10 has 70). CA has a large amount of marginal matter in both French and Latin, much of it consisting of commentaries on the text.Many of the marginal notes in French read like passages from the Year Books. They may, however, be fictitious cases used to illustrate points. A more detailed description of this MS. is given in The Court Baron (Selden Soc. Publ., IV), pp. 13-15. In the margin of f. 62, in the same hand as the text, is a reference to the second Statute of Westminster. Two extensive lacunœ occur in the text, one covering fs. 52b-98 of the printed Bracton, and the other taking in fs. 101-120b. Previous to the Bracton (on f. 66--in the old numbering 157) occurs the “Arbor Consanguinitatis,” which follows matter headed “Placita.” The treatise on consanguinity, which takes up about three pages, is followed by one on affinity, which occupies not quite a page and a half.

CB. Cambridge University Library, MS. Dd. VII. 14.A full enumeration of the contents of CB will be found in the Rolls Series, Year Book 20-21 Edward I, pp. xi-xviii. Another large volume of miscellaneous legal writings, the Bracton text occupying fs. 21-224, and being written in at least six different styles of court or charter hand, all of XIII-XIV cent., in double columns. 16 7/8x11 1/2, 15 5/8x10 1/4, 11 1/2(3/4)x7 1/2(3/4). From 41 to 59 lines to a page, the number varying with the hand. There is an immense amount of matter in the margins, addiciones, corrections of the text, comments, references to the statutes or to judgments.Decisions given by W. de Helyun are referred to frequently. Another type of marginal note is that found at the top of f. 31b--“Item in Westmarelond sunt multi qui tenent per cornagium et dant custodiam et maritagium et homagium et relevant terram qui sunt plenæ ætatis ad valentiam terræ suæ unius anni et annuus redditus illorum vocatur cornagium.” Practically all of these notes are written in hands contemporaneous with those which have written the text. On its fortieth folio CB ends cap. XXVIII, f. 62b, and begins a new chapter with De Actionibus (f. 98b). Bracton ends regularly on f. 186b of the codex. F. 193 (the intervening leaves are missing) begins in a different hand, a passage on f. 299 of the printed book. On f. 202b ends the treatise on Dower, which is complete. Then comes half a column of space, after which the text begins with cap. XXIX, f. 62b. (“De Actione Dotis” begins regularly on f. 126; f. 128 ends with “quoad successionem” (f. 299). On f. 128 begins the treatise on Entry (cap. I, f. 317b), and it is not till f. 193 that the Action for Dower begins again.) One whole quire, fs. 157-168, is missing. F. 119 is inserted between two folios which go on regularly. Many of the cases are omitted from the main part of the text and later put in the margin by a different hand. Some references to the Edwardian Statutes have crept into the text.

CC. Cambridge University Library, MS. Ee. IV. 4. XIII-XIV cent., double columns, court hand. Eight folios of kalendar, at the top of the first of which is, “Liber Antonii Stapleton armigeri socii interioris templi London., ac magistri ibidem de Banco.” The text occupies 200 folios. 13x8 3/4, 12 1/2x8 3/4, 10 1/4(10)x7(6 3/4). 54, 55 lines to a page. At the end of the volume is, “Liber Fra. Tate.”

CD. Cambridge University Library, MS. Ee. I. 1. A collection of legal, and other, writings for the monastery at Luffield, the Bracton text being on fs. 41b-127b, 136-143b. Early XIV cent., double columns, court hands--of which some eight have written the De Legibus. 11 1/2x8, 11 1/4x8, 9 1/2x6(1/4). 40 to 56 lines to a page. The text of Bracton begins with cap. XI, f. 7, goes to f. 14b, and then goes back to the beginning of the treatise, introducing the omitted part with the rubric, “Incipit quidam tractatus secundum Breton.” After the first few folios the text is so abridged as to be practically useless for purposes of text collation. F. 127b ends with sect. 4, f. 432; f. 136 begins with sect. 12, f. 80b.

CE. Pembroke College, Cambridge, MS. 298. Circ. 1300, double columns, in three charter hands. A kalendar of 9 folios, damaged by a hole burnt through the center, precedes 204 folios of text. 12 3/4x9 1/2, 12 1/4x8 1/2, 10 1/2x7. 54 lines to a page. This is one of the few complete MSS. of the better class. The name of Elis Saunders is written at the top of f. 17, and that of Elizabeth Gyffoun at the bottom of f. 145.

CF. Trinity College, Cambridge, MS. O. 9. 24. XIV cent., single columns, court hand. A plain volume of 213 folios, without a table of contents. Incomplete, ending with a passage in sect. 4, f. 354. 10 3/8x7 1/8, 9 3/4x6 3/4, 8 1/4(1/2)x5. 41 to 51 lines to a page. On f. 162b is the end of the treatise on Novel Disseisin, f. 237b of the printed text; immediately after it comes, “præmortuorum ut videri poterit,” f. 262b, and in the margin of the opposite page, in the same hand as the text, is, “hic deficit maxima pars tertii tractatus libri quarti de assisa mortis antecessoris, videlicet totum principium usque hoc, de hoc quod dicit in dominico, etc.”

CH. Trinity Hall, Cambridge, Early XIV cent., double columns, charter hand. Sixty folios, beginning at cap. IV, f. 2b, with the rubric Incipit “Breton liber primus incipit de iuribus Angliæ,” and ending at cap. XXI, f. 421b. This is an abridgment of Bracton, too shortened for comparison and collation with regular texts, divided into seven books. Some of the writs are kept in the text, as also some of the cases; many cases have been put in the margins. There are a number of marginal addiciones in the text hand. A few Notas have crept into the main body of the text. 11 7/8x8 3/4, 11 1/2x8 3/8, 9 1/4x6. 62-53 lines to a page.

CI. Trinity College, Cambridge, MS. O. 3. 52. XIV cent., single columns. A volume of miscellaneous legal writings. Fs. 1-113b contain an abridged text of Bracton, called “Breton.” (Fs. 127-270 contain a text of the Anglo-French Britton, which is here also called “Breton.”) Although it begins “Regalem potestatem non solum armis set legibus oportet esse armatam ut utrumque tempus bellorum et pacis recte gubernetur” (cf. Glanvill, Fleta, and Regiam Maiestatem), the language is that of Bracton, both writs and cases being preserved. It is too abridged for text comparison. At the end is considerable extraneous matter, including a reference to “H. de Breton” and the Statute of Westminster. 9 1/2x6 3/4, 9x6, 7 1/4x5. 44-45 lines to a page.

CM. Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, McClean MS. 145. (Formerly Phillipps MS. 8126.) Circ. 1300, double columns, small, but carefully written, hand. 10 1/2x6 1/4, 10 1/8x6, 8 1/2x5.For the measurements of this MS., which I have never seen, I am indebted to Mr. R. B. Fleming, who photographed the MS. for me. A description of this volume will be found in James's A Descriptive Catalogue of the McClean Collection of Manuscripts in the Fitzwilliam Museum. 80, 84, 76, 75, 76 lines to a page. The text of Bracton takes up 144 folios. Many of the addiciones are marked. References to the Edwardian Statutes are to be found in the text. A number of deeds copied at the end of the volume prove that it once belonged to the Priory of Llanthony, near Gloucester.

LA. Lambeth Palace Library, MS. 92. XIII-XIV cent., double columns, in two hands, court and book. A table of contents of 10(9 1/4) folios is followed by 159 folios of text. 13 1/4x9 1/2, 12 3/4x9, 9(1/4)x6 1/4. 51, 43 lines to a page. In the margin are many addiciones, written in the hands which wrote the text. At the end is a little more than a page of extra matter, which is the same as that found at the end of MC. “Sum Augustini seneschalli liber” is written at the very end of the volume; underneath a coat of arms on f. 10b is, “Arma Nicholi Stewarde de hospitio vocat le Temple”; a note pasted on the inside of the front cover reads, “Belonged to Nicholas Steward of the Middle Temple and afterwards to Augustine Steward. The coat of arms of Nicholas Stewarde are painted therein and the name of Augustine is written at the end of the book.”In connection with the vacant spaces which are left in the text of some of the Bracton MSS. (for OA see pp. 80, 87 below), there should be noted the following empty places in LA: end of cap. VIII, f. 123b, 12 lines; end cap. XIII, f. 131, 7 lines; end sect. 7, f. 132, 15 lines; end sect. 17, f. 134, 6 lines; end cap. XIV, f. 134b, 10 lines; after “quis vulneratus fuerit usque ad.” f. 135, comes a space of 11 lines + a whole page, and then, “mortem et vixerit,” etc.; end cap. XX, f. 141b, 21 lines; end cap. XXIV, f. 145, 18 lines; end cap. XXV, f. 146, 6 lines; end cap. XXIX, f. 148b, 7 lines; end cap. XXX, f. 150, 10 lines; end cap. XXXI, f. 150b, 7 lines; end cap. XXXVI, f. 155b, 23 lines; end of sect. 13, f. 159b, one column; after “personæ et plegii,” f. 182b, is a space of nearly a page, “Item in adventu” beginning a new folio; end sect. 3, f. 199, one column; after “quod tamen non fuit concessum,&rdquo

LB. Lambeth Palace Library, MS. 93. Early XIV cent., double columns, in at least three court hands which are not coincident in their beginnings with either new quires or new folios. Incomplete, beginning on f. 33b of the printed text, and ending on f. 375. 197 folios, with 40-46 (usually 43, 44) lines to a page. 13x9, 12 1/2x8 1/4, 9 3/4x6 1/4. The quires, from which some of the leaves originally bound in have been removed, are lettered at the top of the pages. The folios constituting quires P and Q have been bound in the wrong order.

LC. Eton College Library, MS. 176. Bl. a. 5. XIII-XIV cent., double columns, in two charter hands. A kalendar of 10 folios precedes 289 folios of text. 11 3/4x8 5/8, 11 1/8x8, 9 3/8x6 1/4. 47-53 lines to a page in the first hand, 42 in the second. Many corrections have been made in that part of the text written by hand II. Some addiciones have been inserted on slips.

LD. Lincoln's Inn Library, MS. “Hobhouse.” XIII-XIV cent., double columns, in five or six different court hands. There is no table of contents, the text occupying fs. 1-203. 13 1/4x9 1/8, 13x9, 11 1/2x6 3/4. 54, 62, 50, 59, 60, 57, 58 lines to a page. On its f. 25b LD skips from cap. XXIX, f. 62b, to cap. I, f. 98. This is later inserted after cap. XXX, f. 439, and is followed by the Action for Dower, which arrangement gives this MS. the same order of subjects as that found in LE (see below). There are a few slight gaps in the text, some extraneous matter has crept in, and a slip of parchment has once or twice been inserted between folios. On a fly leaf is the name of Edward Henden in two different places, and again, “liber quondam Edwardi Henden servientis ad legem.” The records of two transfers of the MS. are found in the notes, “Bought at an auction of Mr. Le Neve's Books in March 1730. N. Hardinge,” and “Bought at an auction of Mr. P. C. Webb's Books. March 1771. J. Lowes.” There is no mention of this MS. in Hunter's catalogue of the MSS. in Lincoln's Inn, as the catalogue was published in 1838, and the MS. was not presented to the Society until 1866.

LE. Lincoln's Inn Library, MS. Hale 135. Late XIII cent., single columns, court hand. 14x9 1/8, 13 1/2x8 3/4, 10 1/2x6 1/2. 59-45 lines to a page. This MS., which is an abridgment of Bracton, is in all probability a copy of Gilbert de Thornton's Summa. For a description of the MS. from this standpoint see the Law Quarterly Review, Jan., 1909, Vol. XXV, p. 44.An interesting Middle English poem, from about 1300, is to be found imbedded in a mass of memoranda written upon what were originally empty leaves at the end of the volume. See Modern Language Review, Jan., 1909, and Jan., 1910.

LF. Lincoln's Inn Library, MS. “Cholmeley.” XIV cent., book hand, double columns. 392 folios of well-written text, with broad margins, and in an excellent state of preservation. 12 1/2x9, 12x7 3/4, 6 3/4(7/8)x4 1/8(1/4). 36 lines to a page. In LF not only are cases and writs usually omitted, but sometimes also the whole block of text which contains them. Fs. 30, 31 are lacking. On f. 184b the text reads, “Secundum quod pastura large se habuerit vel stricte. Item si capitalis dominus vendat alicui custodiam,” thus omitting fs. 230-261 of the printed text (see OB above). Cap. XXIX, f. 62b, to cap. VIII, f. 107, is omitted in its regular place and inserted at the end of the treatise, forming book V of LF.

LG. Gray's Inn Library, MS. “Godbold.” Circ. 1300, double columns, court hand. A kalendar of 11 folios followed by 230 folios of text. 12 3/4x9 1/4, 12 5/8x8 3/4, 10 3/4x6 3/4. 46, 51, 45 lines to a page. As in OB, the name of Bracton occurs in the text on f. 1, “ego H. de Brattone.” Like OB and LF, LG has the lacuna near the end of the treatise of Novel Disseisin, the text reading, “vel stricte. Si autem plures fructuarium valebit.” In the Incipit and Explicit the name of the author is spelled Brattone or Bratone. The name of John Godbold, Recorder of St. Edmundsbury and sergeant at law, occurs twice at the end of the volume.

LT. Library of the Middle Temple, MS. 6 Seat A. F. 15. XIII-XIV cent., single columns, court hand. 10 7/8x7 3/8, 10 1/4x6 3/4, 8x4 3/4. 41-43 lines to a page. 361 folios of text are preceded by a table of contents of 12 folios which begins, “Incipit tractatus de legibus et consuetudinibus regni Angliæ tempore regis Henrici compositus iustitiæ Gubernacula tenente ab illustri viro Henrico de Brattone iuris regni et antiquarum consuetudinum eo tempore peritissimo. Et illas solas leges continet et consuetudines secundum quas placitatur in curia Regis ad scaccarium et coram iusticiariis ubicumque fuerint. Incipit Prologus. Regiam potestatem non solum armis contra rebelles et gentes,” etc.The presence of this prologue in some of the Bracton MSS.--it is found in others besides LT--offers a simple explanation of the fact that the prologue to Glanvill precedes the text of Fleta. The author of the latter work in all probability used a manuscript text of Bracton which, like LT, was prefaced by Glanvill's prologue. After the end of the treatise on Novel Disseisin a new paragraph begins, “præmortuorum ut videtur” as on f. 262b of the printed text. In the margin is a note to the effect that twelve leaves are missing here. (Notice the same irregularity, with accompanying note, in CF above.) The name of Gilbert Atwyll is written on a fly leaf.

B. Library of the Marquis of Bath, Longleat, Warminster. Early XIV cent., double columns, charter hand. A table of contents of 9 folios+ 256 folios of text, Bracton being followed by the tracts Cum sit necessarium, Cadit Assisa, and Iudicium Essoniorum. 10 7/8x7 7/8, 10 1/4x7, 7 1/2x5(5 1/4). 50 lines to a page. Many of the addiciones are marked, some portions of the text are omitted, and references to the statutes of Edward I have become part of the text. The Action for Dower, omitted in the usual place, is inserted near the end of the treatise on f. 438b.

P. Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, MS. Latin 4674. Early XIV cent., double columns, charter hand. A kalendar of 6 folios followed by 164 of text. After the Bracton comes a collection of statutes, writs, and short tracts.For a further description of this MS. see the article by H. S. Milman in the Law Magazine and Review, N. S. II (1873), p. 397. See also the Rolls Series Bracton, I, p. lv. 16 1/4x10 1/4, 15 3/4x9 3/4, 13 1/4x7. 67 lines to a page. Some of the addiciones are marked, and some have been put in the margins by a hand contemporaneous with that which wrote the text. 

PH. Phillipps Library, Cheltenham, MS. 8842. XIV cent., double columns, charter hand. A table of contents occupies pp. 17-41; the main text takes up pp. 47-529. 16 1/8x10 5/8, 15 1/2x10 1/4, 11 1/4x7. 53 lines to a page. On the first page of text is, “Roger Twyrden 1639.” The names of Richard Dean and Edward Grafton are on the fly leaves. Incomplete, ending in sect. 2, f. 439.

W. Worcester Cathedral Library, MS. F. 87. XIII-XIV cent., double columns, court hands. A volume of legal writings (including Glanvill and the Laws of William the Conqueror) of which Bracton occupies fs. 23-217. 14x9, 14x8 3/4, 10x6 3/4. 48-61 lines to a page. Five hands have had a share in writing the Bracton text. On f. 25b the end of what in the printed book is cap. XI, f. 7b, is followed by sect. 3, f. 63. On f. 29b, after cap. XXXI, f. 69, in the printed text, comes cap. XII, f. 7b. The Action for Dower is omitted on f. 164 of the MS. The end of the Bracton text is followed by “Incipit quot modis essonia sunt calumpnianda,” a tract in twenty-one sections, after which is, “Explicit liber qui vocatur Bretun, et componebatur a quodam magistro Henrico de Bractone, doctore in iure civili et canonico, et postea iusticiario capitali Henrici regis per XX annos et amplius.” Extraneous matter, including treatises on consanguinity and affinity, and references to Edward I and his statutes, has become a part of portions of the text.

X. York Minster Library. Early XIV cent., single columns, book hands. A single folio of kalendar + text proper (fs. 1-302 in MS.) + an incomplete table of contents. 12x7 7/8, 11 1/2x7 1/8, 9x5(1/8). 38-55 lines to a page. The main part of the text has been written by five different hands. Preceding the single folio of kalendar is, “Incipit liber de legibus et consuetudinibus Angliæ compositus a Roberto de Bractona, etc.” On f. 302, at the end of the text, is, “Explicit liber de legibus et consuetudinibus Anglicanis compositus a Roberto de Bractona, etc.” The name of Thomas Fairfax is on the first blank leaf of vellum. In some places references to the statutes of Edward have crept into the text. This MS. was formerly in the Library of St. Augustine, Canterbury. Y. Yale University Library. Late XIII cent., double columns, in three hands. 12 1/4x8 3/4, 11 3/4x8, 9x6. 41-46, 41, 41-44 lines to a page. Lacking a table of contents. The text occupies pp. 1-645. The pages are sometimes numbered incorrectly, though the figures are in a hand as old as that of the text, and the following are missing: 11-14, 45-46, 57-64, 133-136, 173-176, 199-204, 219-220, 310-311, 316-323, 385-390, 448-451, 559-560, 611-614. There are a number of marginal addiciones, especially in that portion of the book written by hand II. The names of A. Crevor, Robert Goldestone, and Willm. Bouschier are found in the margins. This MS. seems to have come originally from Bracton's own district, the name of Walter de Stapelton (Bishop of Exeter, and founder of Exeter College, Oxford) being written on p. 119,In a hand which is very similar to, if not the same as, that which wrote the text. and the town of South Moulton being frequently mentioned in a series of XVI cent. legal notes and memoranda in the margins of the later pages.

HA. Harvard Law School Library. (Formerly Phillipps MS. 136.) XIII-XIV cent., double columns, charter hand. 187 folios, no table of contents. 13 1/4x9, 12 5/8x8 1/2, 9 7/8(10 1/8)x6 1/2(6 3/8). 63, 59 lines to a page. The initial letters at the beginning of the books are in gold and colors, the first representing a king giving forth law. The leaf which should contain the beginning of book II (cap. III, f. 118, in the printed book) is missing. A number of the addiciones are marked with the red ink rubric Addicio. This MS. has been corrected and annotated by a contemporary charter hand. In the margins is an unusually numerous set of references to cases pertaining to Devonshire, tempo Edward I. See below, p. 85.

HB. Harvard Law School Library. (Formerly Phillipps MS. 3510.) XIII-XIV cent., double columns. A volume of miscellaneous legal matter in different hands, Bracton occupying fs. I-CXLIX, and being written in book hand. 16x10 3/8, 15 3/4x10 1/4, 12 3/8x8 1/4(8). 65 lines to a page. A number of the folios have been bound out of their proper order, but directions for the correct order have been written at the end of fs. XIII, XXV, XXXV. A number of addiciones have been marked by Addicio in the margin.Descriptions of both HA and HB will be found in the catalogue of the first portion of the Dunn Library, sold by Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge, 11-14 February, 1913.

Phillipps MS. 3097. Sold by Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge on April 27, 1903. Described in the catalogue of sale as follows, “Lot 176. Bracton (Henr. de) De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliæ Libri II, very fine manuscript of the thirteenth century written in a bold hand in double columns, on stout vellum, with decorated and colored capitals, titles rubricated, russia tooled. Folio. XIII cent.” This book was bought at the sale by Mr. Quaritch, and afterwards sold again, its present whereabouts not being made known.

Phillipps MS. 8126. See CM above.The entry in H. Ormont's Catalogue des Manuscrits Latins et Français de la Collection Phillipps (Paris, 1909, p. 195), “3098. Breton de Legibus Angliæ. Cambridge, McClean MS. 143,” refers to a Britton and not to a manuscript of the earlier treatise in Latin. Until the appearance of James's Catalogue of the McClean MSS. in the Fitzwilliam Museum (1912) the whereabouts of the Phillipps MS. 8126 (=McClean 145), which had been sold from the Phillipps Library in June, 1896, was unknown to me. The kindness of the Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Sydney C. Cockerell, Esq., who very graciously allowed the MS. to be photographed entire, has since made it possible for me to examine the MS. in detail. In a list of some thirty MSS. of Bracton's treatise occurring in the article by Mr. Milman, “A Plea for a New Print of Bracton,” in the Law Magazine and Review, N. S., Vol. I (1872), there is mention of one said to have been at that time in the possession of Sir Thomas Winnington at Stamford Court. All attempts to ascertain if the MS. is yet at the same place have proved unavailing.By this same list Queens' College, Cambridge, is credited with a Bracton MS., but James's catalogue of the MSS. in that college shows a Britton instead of a Bracton. Though a stray folio or two of some Bracton MS. may be found occasionally, bound out of place in some other manuscript volume, and though there may yet be brought to light entire texts of the treatise which are now hidden, the manuscripts described above must, for the present at least, form the basic material from which a new text of Bracton is to be derived. In the following pages the printed text (the texts of the three editions are practically identical), using the method of notation applied to the MSS., is referred to as V.For Vulgate. This name has already been applied to it by Maitland. See Bracton and Azo, p. XXXVII, and footnotes in following pages.