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Posted:
04 Mar 2017
Language:A Latin and English
B Latin
C Latin and English
D English and Latin
E Latin
F Latin and English
G English, with Latin
Origin:England, Cambridge or Norwich
Date: A 14th c., ca. 1360 – 1390; 15th c., ca. 1425 – 1475; 16th c., ca. 1546 – 1558
B 14th c., ca. 1352 (with later additions)

C 16th c., ca. 1525 – 1550, and ca. 1560 – 1590; 17th c., ca. 1691

D 18th c., ca. 1740 – 1760; 16th c., ca. 1550 – 1590

E 14th c., ca. 1380 – 1400

F 17th c., ca. 1626 – 1645 and ca. 1645 – 1650

G 16th c., ca. 1525 – 1550; 18th c., 1727
Material: A Parchment
B Parchment

C Parchment

D Parchment

E Parchment

F Parchment

G Parchment
Collation: 1 (singleton), 214, 36, 46, 5 (singleton), 64, 75
Physical Description: 75 pages, (paginated in ink 1 – 17, (18 omitted in error) 19 – 29; pagination corrected and continued by cataloguer) ruled in ink, crayon and hard-point
A (pp. i – ii) 274 x 170 (ca. 270 x 150) mm, unruled

B (pp. 1 – 28) 270 x 176 (211 x 136) mm, 32 long lines, ruled in brown ink

C (pp. 29 – 40) 276 x 180 (210 x 138) mm, 32 long lines, ruled in brown ink

D (pp. 41 – 52) 275 x ca. 180 (216 x 150) mm, 23 long lines, ruled in crayon

E (pp. 53 – 54) 276 x ca. 165 (ca. 250 x 150) mm, unruled

F (pp. 55 x 62) 270 x 176 (ca. 250 x 152) mm, 37 long lines, ruled in hard point

G (pp. 63 – 72) 272 x 178 (234 x 130) mm, 40 long lines, ruled in hard point
Rubric:(p. 1) Hic incipient statute colegii scolarum sancti trinitatis Norwico in universitate Cantebrigg’
Incipit:In nomine sancta et individue trinitatis parties filii et spiritus sancti. Nuper noe Willelmus de Norwico
2o folio: (p. 3) [cus] todem cum assensu
Explicit: (p. 69) secundum serium per Dr Warren in collectani deduci (?; script poor, document faded)
Contents: A p. i, Titles, in English and Latin; p. ii, Account of death and burial of William Bateman (14th c. account much faded, copied below in 15th c. hand) 16th c. pedigree
B pp. 1 – 15, Statutes of the College; pp. 15 – 19, List of books given and promised by Bishop William Bateman; p. 20, List of vestments and plate given by Bishop William Bateman; pp. 21 – 23, Confirmations by Bateman, with signum to be added to books given by him; pp. 24 – 26, Interpretatio Fundatory (late 14th / early 15th c.); pp. 26 – 28, Confirmation of Statutes (in two mid – later 15th c. hands)

C pp. 29 – 34, Benefactions of William Dalling (Master 1471 – 1510), John Puregold (d. 1526) and Robert Goodknape (d. ca. 1512); p. 34, Establishment of Scholarship by William Spicer, (d. 1536) Fellow of Clare College (mid-16th c. hand); p. 35, ‘Formal words of our Corporation’ (temp. Elizabeth I); pp. 36 – 37, Benefaction of Lawrence Mopted, (d. 1557) Master of Corpus Christi College; pp. 37 – 38, Benefaction of Gabriel Dunn, (d. 1558) canon of St Paul’s Cathedral, London, dated 1560; pp. 39 – 40, Benefactions of Henry Harvey, (d. 1558) dated 1662, and Archbishop Matthew Parker (1504 – 1575); p. 40, Benefaction of William Ayloff (d. 1691)

D p. 41, List of clerical Fellows, mid 18th c.; p. 42, Pedigree of William Bateman (18th c., copied from p. i, with footnote that some of the original text is illegible); pp. 43 – 52, Establishment of three Fellowships by Richard Nix, (1447 – 1553) Bishop of Norwich (in later 16th c. hand)

E p. 53, List of regulations confirmed by Archbishop Simon Sudbury (ca. 1316 – 1381)

F pp. 55 – 59, Commemoration and Benefaction of Dr Thomas Eden, (Master 1626 – d. 1645) signed by Eden, p. 59; p. 60, Copy of Thomas Eden’s will

G pp. 36 – 67, Copy of the will and codicil of Dr Walter Hewke (Master 1512 – d. 1517); p. 68, List of endowed Fellowships and their incumbents, 28 May 1727
Script: A Documentary cursive
B Gothic bookhand (textualis) (very formal for titles, almost formal charter hand for main text); Gothic bookhand (textualis), pp. 25 – 27; formal documentary cursive (almost Goth bookhand (cursive) pp. 27 – 29

C Documentary cursive

D Documentary cursive (pp. 41 – 42); Charter hand (pp. 43 – 52)

E Documentary cursive

F Documentary cursive

G Documentary cursive
Decoration: A p. 23, Ink drawing of signum (sable, a cross pateé argent above a crescent ermine) to be added to Bateman’s books.
B None

C None

D None

E None

F None

G None
Provenance: Statues of Trinity Hall, compiled in mid-14th c., annotated 14th – 18th c., kept as part of the College muniments 18th – 21st c.
Binding: 14th / 15th c.(?), limp, reversed leather, fold to protect fore-edge, ‘The Master’s Statute Book’ in ink, 18th c. on lower cover (cover currently upside down and back to front). Currently stored within 20th c. slip cover, black leather over paste boards, silver-tooled title and College arms on upper cover
Notes:MS 20, now called ‘The Master’s statute Book’, is actually comprised of several booklets, including previously separate MSS. The original Master’s Statute Book, almost certainly written by the same scribe as Trinity Hall Muniments no. 73, (77) the Exemplar Statutorum sealed in 1352, comprises section C, (pp. 1 – 28) with singletons A and E being the original flyleaves. Section D (pp. 41 – 52) would appear to be the ‘old vellum book with green strings’ referred to by Dr Warren and cited in Dale 1911; this supposition is supported by the contents, and by the footnote appended to the Pedigree on p. 42. It may be suggested that sections F and G were once part of the ‘old vellum booklet’ referred to by Dr Warren and cited in Dale 1911, although some leaves may have been lost from this original volume. It should be noted that, although Dale 1911 and Clarke 2002 say Warren copied the statutes and book-lists from the Master’s Statute Book, this is not the case; the order of and details in the text prove that Warren was in fact copying from Muniments no. 73 (77). Although the text is very similar and almost certainly by the same scribe, the order of the lists of books and plate are somewhat different, with some items added to MS 20 in slightly later 14th c. documentary cursive hands, perhaps copied from the Exemplar when it was available. Annotations indicate that MS 20 section C was used to check the books and plate during the 14th and 15thcenturies.
Another copy of the Statutes and lists of books and plate was written at the some time, although by a different scribe, and is now Cambridge, CUL Archives, Luard 39. This was almost certainly the copy kept in Norwich for consultation by the bishop and cathedral priory. More detailed research into the contents of MS 20, particularly in conjunction with the early documents of Trinity Hall, will clarify several issues.

The MS conserved and slip-cover provided by the benefaction of Mr Charles Bird (Trinity Hall 1972 – 1976).
Bibliography:A.W. W. Dale ed., Warren’s Book (Cambridge, 1911), 3, 27 – 50, 227 – 236, 241 – 248; P. D. Clarke ed., The University and College Libraries of Cambridge. Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues 10 (London, 2002), 634 – 648, UC57, UC58