The Harvard Law School’s Collection
of Medieval English Statute Books and
Registers of Writs

Ames Projects

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LISTINGS IN THE HOLLIS CATALOGUE

 

A general introduction to the HLL collection of manuscript statute books and registers of writs may be found here.

Listed below are the 58 manuscripts that comprise the collection. All of these manuscripts may be viewed in the Harvard University Library’s image-viewer called ‘Mirador’. (As an image-viewer we find this preferable to the former Page Delivery Service [PDS]. It does not at this point, however, always give as much detail in the left-hand navigation pane as does the PDS, which may still be reached through a link at the top of the Mirador view-screen.) All the manuscripts have sequence numbers listed in the left-hand margin in Mirador. Most of them have foliation accompanying the sequence numbers. (We warn that the foliation may change on the basis of our fuller descriptions.) We list below: the HLS Call Number, the general description taken from the HOLLIS Catalogue at the commencement of the project in 2014 (these will gradually be updated to reflect the more precise general description in the Ames metadata), the HOLLIS number, the number of images (which is slightly more than twice the number of folios), a link to Mirador, and a number for a note on the manuscript, which follows underneath it.

The categories in the HOLLIS descriptions are crude. By and large, if something is described as ‘Statuta vetera’ what we would expect to find in it is Magna Carta and a collection of statutes prior to 1327; if it is described as ‘Statuta nova’ what we would expect to find in it is a collection of statutes that postdate 1327, and if it is described as ‘Magna Carta cum statutis’ the statutes could be of any date, but a copy of Magna Carta will begin the collection.

Preliminary descriptions of 57 of the manuscripts may be reached by clicking here. We have not yet tackled HLS MS 172, other than what we say about it below.

 

HLS Call No General Description HOLLIS No Images Link to Mirador Notes
HLS MS 10 Magna carta cum statutis 3697026 849 Link 1
  1. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 12 Magna carta cum statutis 3701472 102 Link 2
  2. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 19 Statuta nova 3735469 206 Link 3
  3. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 20 Statuta nova 3735517 281 Link 4
  4. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 21 Statuta nova 3735619 500 Link 5
  5. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 22 Registrum brevium 3746405 210 Link 6
  6. Hall, Early Registers, p. xxvi, dates to the 15th century. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 23 Registrum brevium 3757950 422 Link 7
  7. Hall, Early Registers, p. xxvi, dates to the 14th century. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 24 Registrum brevium with tracts 2432997 196 Link 8
  8. Hall, Early Registers, p. xxvi, dates to the 13th century, after 1275; early 14th century before Edward II. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 24b [Registrum brevium with tracts] 2432997 2 Link 9
  9. A single sheet, inserted in HLS MS 24, containing the explicit of the Excepiones ad cassandum brevia and the incipit of the Tractatus de bastardia with a portion, but not the whole, of that treatise. A learned introduction to this leaf may be found in J. S. Arkenburg, ‘The Story Behind a Stray Manuscript Leaf’, Harvard Library Bulletin, n.s. 8.4 (1997) 46–54 (online). He dates it to the 13th century. A preliminary description of this manuscript is incorporated in the description of HLS MS 24.
HLS MS 25 Registrum brevium 3758489 446 Link 10
  10. Hall, Early Registers, p. xxvi, dates to the 15th century. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 26 Registrum brevium 3758826 532 Link 11
  11. Hall, Early Registers, p. xxvi, dates to the 15th century. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 27 Registrum brevium 3758944 381 Link 12
  12. Hall, Early Registers, p. xxvi, dates to the 15th century. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 28 Magna carta cum statutis 3784024 301 Link 13
  13. Both HOLLIS and Hall, Early Registers, p. xxvi, note that this manuscript contains a register of writs, which Hall dates to the 14th century. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 29 Statuta nova 3784077 453 Link 14
  14. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 30 Statuta nova 3784077 476 Link 15
  15. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 32 Magna carta cum statutis 3804796 289 Link 16
  16. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 33 Magna carta cum statutis 3804851 695 Link 17
  17. Hall, Early Registers, p. xxvi, (but not HOLLIS) notes that this manuscript contains a register of writs, which he dates to the 14th century. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 34 Registrum brevium 3808183 720 Link 18
  18. Hall, Early Registers, p. xxvi, dates to the 15th century. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 36 Magna carta cum statutis 3813510 226 Link 19
  19. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 38 Registrum brevium judicialium 3818429 260 Link 20
  20. Hall, Early Registers, p. xxvii, dates to the 14th century. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 39 Magna carta cum statutis 3861147 341 Link 21
  21. Both HOLLIS and Hall, Early Registers, p. xxvi, note that this manuscript contains a register of writs, which Hall dates to the 13th century, after 1275 – early 14th century before Edward II. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 40 Statuta nova 3862241 753 Link 22
  22. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 42 Statuta nova 3872981 725 Link 23
  23. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 45 Registrum brevium 3887031 214 Link 24
  24. Hall, Early Registers, p. xxvi, dates to the 14th century. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 48 Statuta nova 3935200 131 Link 25
  25. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 49 Statuta vetera, registrum brevium 3935210 195 Link 26
  26. Description taken from Baker, English Legal Manuscripts, 1, no. 72; HOLLIS has it as ‘Magna carta cum statutis’. Hall, Early Registers, p. xxvi, notes that the register is fragmentary and dates to the 14th century. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 52 Registrum brevium 3944450 271 Link 27
  27. Hall, Early Registers, p. xxvi, dates to the 14th century. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 53 Registrum brevium 3956590 721 Link 28
  28. Hall, Early Registers, p. xxvi, dates to the 15th century. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 54 Magna carta cum statutis 3990350 329 Link 29
  29. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 55 Magna carta cum statutis 4002366 261 Link 30
  30. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 56 Magna carta cum statutis 4002379 489 Link 31
  31. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 57 Magna carta cum statutis 4015060 266 Link 32
  32. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 58 Magna carta cum statutis 4015114 350 Link 33
  33. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 59 Magna carta cum statutis 4028490 325 Link 34
  34. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 60 Registrum brevium 4028549 477 Link 35
  35. Hall, Early Registers, p. xxvi, dates to the 14th century. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 61 Registrum brevium 4028596 451 Link 36
  36. Hall, Early Registers, p. xxvi, dates to the 14th century. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 80 Statuta vetera and tracts 4199033 349 Link 37
  37. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 101 Magna carta cum statutis 4563783 377 Link 38
  38. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 155 Registrum brevium 1384 5520528 541 Link 39
  39. Hall, Early Registers, p. xxvi, dates to the 14th century. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 160 Statuta vetera 5554947 156 Link 40
  40. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 161 Statuta vetera and tracts 5610637 309 Link 41
  41. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 162 Statuta vetera and tracts 5610732 425 Link 42
  42. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 163 Statuta nova 5680920 827 Link 43
  43. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 165 Registrum brevium 5680961 631 Link 44
  44. Hall, Early Registers, p. xxvi, dates to the 15th century. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 166 Registrum brevium 5684268 412 Link 45
  45. Hall, Early Registers, p. xxvi, dates to the 14th century. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 168 Registrum brevium 5699706 569 Link 46
  46. Hall, Early Registers, p. xxvi, dates to the 15th century. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 170 Statuta nova, 1 Edw. III to 9 Henry V 9023062 665 Link 47
  47. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 172 Magna carta  (Sheriff's) 2702311 1 Link 48
  48. Not yet described. This is not a statute book, but a single sheet of Magna Carta. HOLLIS dates this copy to ca. 1327, but a hasty examination of the document (which is not easy to read) suggests that it is copy of the Charter issued around the time of Confirmatio cartarum (Oct. 1297). The date on the charter seems to be 28 March in the 26th year of the reign of the reign of a King Edward, which would be 28 March 1298, if the Edward in question were Edward I.
HLS MS 173 Statuta vetera 9026846 283 Link 49
  49. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 174 Statuta vetera 9026892 345 Link 50
  50. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 175 Statuta vetera and tracts 9028033 552 Link 51
  51. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 177 Statuta vetera 6857104 419 Link 52
  52. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 179 Statuta vetera and officium senescalli 9027080 445 Link 53
  53. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 182 Statuta vetera and legal forms 9027203 475 Link 54
  54. The ‘forms’ are counts, derived from Novae Narrationes. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 184 Statuta vetera, registrum brevium and tracts 9027248 368 Link 55
  55. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 185 Statuta nova 1 Edw. III to 9 Hen. VI 9027301 468 Link 56
  56. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 193 Registrum brevium, yearbooks, and tracts 4161989 483 Link 57
  57. Not in Hall, Early Registers. This is not, as suggested by the HOLLIS title, a register of writs, at least as that term is normally understood, but a collection of some writs and extracts from treatises but principally extracts from Year Books, designed to illustrate ‘placita personalia’. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
HLS MS 213 Magna carta cum statutis et tractatibus 9860534 194 Link 58
  58. A preliminary description of this manuscript may be found here.
Total (approximate) 23,140

 


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