The text is edited fom this manuscript by Myers, 1959, and described in some detail by Ogilvie-Thompson, 1991.
1. (fol. vii verso) Summary of contents, added by Thomas Barlow: 'De Curijs Regijs, de Placitis Aulæ Regis, De Officio Marescalli, De Privilegijs et feodo Camerarij, De Hospitio Regis, videlicet de Thesaurario, Officio Marescalli Aulæ Regiæ, de Officio Hostiarij, Emptoris, Clerici Coquinæ, Clerici Pantriæ et Butellariæ, Pincernæ, Elemosinarij, &c. sub Ed. .I. vide Fletam, Seu Commentarium Juris Anglicani, ab Anonymo conscriptum, e Seldeno editum Lond: 1647. lib.2. Capp.2.3.4. &c. pag.66.67. | Fleta (seu libri sic dicti Author) floruit sub Ed.I. vid: Seldenum in Dissertat: ad fletam. pag.454.'
2. (fols. 1r-2r) Prologue: 'In the moneth of Juyn the yere of oure lord MCCCClxxviij. We Edward by the grace of god king of England ... by the ordonaunces and direccions here folowing in writing.' (ed. Myers, pp. 211-2); fol. 2v is blank but for a short later addition (pr. Myers, p. 213 note a); there is an added heading 'orders in his maties household' in the upper margin of fol. 1r, and a one-line erasure, perhaps the original heading, on the top ruled line.
3. (fols. 3r-16r) The 1478 ordinance of the household of Edward IV: 'First it is ordeyned that after any suche assignacions that the king at eny tyme for the expenses and charges of his household ... but stand for nought and voide and of noon auaille.' (ed. Myers, pp. 213-23); fol. 16v blank except for scribbles.
4. (fols. 17r-20v) List of provisions, fuel, candles, etc. assigned to each member of the household: 'My lord of Yorke. xx. tall(wood) shides viij. ffag(ots). iiij b(undles) col(es). | Duke and duchesse … iiij yomen. | iiij. Gromes.' (ed. Myers, pp. 223-8).
Coxe Catalogus, states 'At the end is a transcript of the above MS. on 30 leaves of paper', of which there is now no obvious trace.
None.
Parchment, c. 293 x 203 mm.
ff. vii (paper) + 20 + vii (paper), foliated in 20th-century pencil: 1-20; the endleaves foliated in modern pencil: i-vii, 21-27.
Two quires of ten leaves each: 1-210 (fols. 1-20).
Ruled in pale purple ink; the first two and last two horizontal lines extending the full width of the page, between single vertical bounding lines extending the full height of the page; the ruled space c. 180-5 x 80-5 mm.
Written with 31 lines per page, 'below top line', in secretary script.
Secundo folio: 'Right wisnesse'.
Sewn on four cords and bound in plain 17th-century parchment over pasteboards; the spine inscribed downwards by a contemporary hand 'Orders fo ye Kinges Household. 19. Eduardi. 4. Anno. 1478'; and with a blue-edged Library label inscribed with the shelfmark '134'.
1. Written in England after June 1478; unidentified 15th/16th-century owners: scrawled inscriptions on fol. 2v (pr. Myers, p. 213 n.; Ogilvie-Thompson, p. 78), fol. 10r-v (cf. Myers, p. 219), and in the margin of 11r: 'Be yt knowen to all men that [I gyve haffe of … ??]'.
2. Thomas Barlow (1607-91) (on whom see DNB; cf. MS. 55), with his summary of contents on fol. vii verso.
3. Sir Joseph Williamson (1633-1701), 1671 (on whom see DNB; Magrath, Queen's, II, pp. 43-50), major benefactor to Queen's College library (cf. MS. 161; and p. 56 in the College Benefactor's Register): inscribed by him below Barlow's note, 'Mem. | This MS. was given me by my worthy friend Dr. Barlow Provost of Queen's Colledge in Oxon. 1671. [signed] Joseph Williamson'.
4. Queen's College, 1701: bequeathed by Williamson, among his 'library of printed books and books of heradry and genaligy, as well manuscripts as printed'; included in the early 18th-century shelflist in MS. 557; former College shelfmark 'H. 33' inscribed on the front pastedown, crossed through in pencil and altered to '134', repeated on the college bookplate. Inscribed 'This MS. would form a valuable addition to what has been already printed respecting the Royal Household. | [signed] J Hunter | June 20. 1832' (fol. ir).
Coxe, Catalogus, p. 24.
J. R. Lander, 'Council, administration and councillors, 1461 to 1485', Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research 32 (1959), pp. 138-80, at p. 150 n. 4 (carried over from p. 149).
A. R. Myers, The household of Edward IV: the black book and the Ordinance of 1478 (Manchester, 1959), pp. 211-28, 266-9.
Ogilvie-Thomson, IMEP, pp. xviii, 78.
