About the Chronicle


The Chronicle’s journey: from Melrose Abbey to the British Library

This summarises Harrison, The Chronicle of Melrose Abbey, chapter 9 (‘From Melrose Abbey to the British Library’), though differing on the dating of some of the manuscript’s movements.

  • Melrose Abbey, fourth quarter of the 12th century to late 13th or mid-14th century: the main ‘internal’ evidence associating the earliest parts of the Chronicle with Melrose Abbey is the rubrication (in red ink) of certain foundations: Cîteaux (1098), Rievaulx (1132, Melrose’s mother-house), Melrose (1136), Kinloss (1150) and Holm Cultram (1150, both daughter-houses of Melrose). The growth of the text includes various references to Melrose and its abbots or monks as ‘our’ brother, and so on.
  • Dundrennan Abbey, late 13th and/or early 14th century: parts of the manuscript were known to be borrowed by abbots of Dundrennan in the second half of the 13th century (7 folios) and in the late 13th or early 14th century (at least 61 folios).
  • Lincolnshire, after 14 April 1286 and by the mid-14th century: there is a reference on Julius B XIII, f. 2r (Scribal profile 4) to Liber de prioratu sancti Iakobi de Est [Deping visible under ultra-violet light], ‘Book of the Priory of St James of Est Deeping’. This reference looks probably no later than the mid-14th century. Deeping St James was a Benedictine monastery in Lincolnshire, a cell of Thorney Abbey in Cambridgeshire. It might be that the book was given to Deeping St James from Thorney. At some point, then, after the completion of the Chronicle (datable after 14 April 1286), and after its parts had been borrowed and returned by abbots of Dundrennan, the manuscript was moved south. It has been suggested that an entry on f. 18r (‘Nigel is consecrated bishop of Ely’, Scribal profile 52) was added while at Thorney since Nigel was a benefactor of the abbey (Harrison, The Chronicle of Melrose Abbey, p. 175). This profile is palaeographically datable to the first half of the 14th century, and so it would also suggest the manuscript was in England by the mid-14th century. Harrison also highlights the proximity of Crowland Abbey, another Benedictine monastery in Lincolnshire. Like Deeping St James, Crowland was originally dedicated to St Guthlac, who is mentioned in a couple of additions in the Chronicle (Scribal profile 18, though this profile did not belong to a Crowland or Deeping St James scribe, being datable to the early 13th century). Harrison notes (The Chronicle of Melrose Abbey, pp. 174–5, n.2): ‘The Chronicle was most likely removed from Melrose sometime between 1291 (as part of the search of records relating to English suzerainty over Scotland: perhaps in this connection see Faustina B IX fo.54) and 1322 (when Melrose Abbey was sacked by English troops: Scotichronicon, vii. 10–13)’. Broun notes (The Chronicle of Melrose Abbey, p. 48): ‘It is tempting to suppose that the manuscript was removed south in the aftermath of Edward I’s conquest of Scotland in 1296. Perhaps the Chronicle had already reached safety in England before Melrose suffered during Edward II’s campaign in August and September 1322.’ Both of these suggestions are plausible.
  • Acquired by John Leland, probably after 1536 and before 1547: John Leland (d. 1552) began collecting manuscripts from 1536 and fell into ‘madness’ in 1547 (see the ODNB). If he acquired the manuscript from Thorney Abbey, as has been suggested, then this would have been before the abbey’s dissolution in December 1539 (Harrison, The Chronicle of Melrose Abbey, p. 176). While in his possession, the manuscript was likely split into two parts and associated with other items which were probably bound together. Leland also added many signposts to the Chronicle (Scribal profile 16).
  • Other probable owners in the 16th and 17th centuries: these include astrologer and mathematician John Dee (d. 1609); Matthew Parker, archbishop of Canterbury (1559–75); and Robert Glover (1544–88) (see Harrison, The Chronicle of Melrose Abbey, pp. 182–7).
  • Acquired by Sir Robert Cotton, early 17th century: while in the library of Sir Robert Cotton (d. 1631), the two composite manuscripts were rebound (with new quire numbers and foliations) and were bestowed with their current shelf-marks.
  • Gifted to the nation (British Museum in 1753; British Library in 1973): Cotton’s manuscripts were passed to his son, Sir Thomas Cotton (d. 1662), and then to his son, Sir John Cotton (d. 1702). John Cotton bequeathed the manuscripts ‘to the nation’ in 1702. After surviving the fire at Ashburnham House in Whitehall on 23 October 1731 (where the Cotton manuscripts were temporarily being stored), they came into the ownership of the British Museum at its inception in 1753. They then transferred to the British Library at its inception in 1973.