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Notebook containing academic notes in Latin, [c. 1568]-[c. 1576], by Charles Bill (c. 1551-post 1611), of King's College, Cambridge, mainly on political philosophy and in particular Plato's Republic, probably compiled by Bill while studying for his BA (1572) and MA (1576).

A volume containing mainly notes in Latin on tragedy, and on Classical literature and philosophy, [1598x1600], in various hands, but mainly that of Emmanuell Giffard (MA 1603, d. 1633), of Christ's College, Cambridge, later MP for Rye and for Bury St Edmunds (see Alumni Cantabrigienses). Giffard received the book as a gift from John Stead (f. 78 verso), admitted to the same college as fellow-commoner 1598-9 (see Alumni Cantabrigienses).
The main subjects of study are the tragedies of Seneca (ff. 6-54 verso). A few medical notes are included (ff. 1-2).

A volume containing a copy, written in a late fourteenth- or early fifteenth-century hand, of the Polychronicon of Ranulf Higden to 1342 (ff. 1-307).
The text is written by one hand, except for notes on f. 1 verso, in anglicana, with variation in degree of currency and in ink; headings in fere-textura. There has been overwriting of the text in places, where letters were indistinct, notably on ff. 1-20. Correction of the text, despite first appearances, is all probably by the scribe, writing compactly (e.g. on ff. 52 and 62), as also is the inserted leaf containing omitted text (f. 279). There are six- to nine-line parti-coloured red/blue initials for the beginnings of chapters, infilled with good red and purple pen-work which includes beasts and foliage, with red/blue nerfs and flourished borders (f. 210 is a page where the pen-work was not completed); there are three-line blue initials for the index and two-line for chapters, all with red pen-work. The rubricator has mistaken many initials, including three of those which should form Higden's acrostic. On f. 52 are diagrams of Noah's ark. Headings, underlining, dates in the margin, paragraph marks and touching of initials in the text are all in red. An index to the Polychronicon is on ff. iii-xii.

The Explanatio in Psalmos attributed to Haimo of Halberstadt (ff. 1-68 verso), here imperfect by the loss of a quire at the beginning: ']ipse semper est rex iudeorum ... et corpore spirituali et subtili'. The text, corresponding to Migne, Patrologia Latina cxvi, cols. 237-693, begins in the commentary on Psalm 15 and, unaccountably, breaks off at the foot of the first column of f. 68 verso, where the remaining column would have sufficed to complete the commentary on Psalm 150. Written in England, the manner of writing in omissions and the 'dragon initials', but not the script, are suggestive of Canterbury or Rochester.
Written by one good hand. Punctuation by point and punctus elevatus; hyphens. Ink brown. Omissions are regularly made good by writing in small in the margin with a signe-de-renvoi, sometimes by the scribe, sometimes by another hand, sometimes, otiosely, by both (cf. N. R. Ker, English Manuscripts in the Century after the Norman Conquest (Oxford, 1960), p. 50). Nota marks are by the scribe. Spaces for tituli, at least up to f. 45, were originally left blank, perhaps to be filled in in red; they were later filled in in ink, by the scribe, in capitals. Between ff. 21 verso and 45, tituli, written small, now partly cropped, appear in the outer margin.

A parchment roll, written in England, [13 cent., second ½], containing the pedigree-chronicle of biblical history attributed to Peter of Poitiers [Petrus Pictaviensis]. Text is written in textura; ink, dark brown. The scribe uses red and blue for display script; two-line initials in blue.
On the Compendium Historiæ (or Promptuarium Bibliæ), see H. Vollmer, Deutsche Bibelauszüge des Mittelalters zum Stammbaum Christi mit ihren lateinischen Vorbildern und Vorlagen (Potsdam, 1931) and Thomas Jones, Y Bibyl Ynghymraec (Cardiff, 1940), pp. xiii-xxxiv, with a listing of 33 manuscripts. On the English derivatives see Albinia de la Mare, Catalogue of the Collection of Medieval Manuscripts Bequeathed to the Bodleian Library, Oxford, by James P. R. Lyell (Oxford, 1971), pp. 80-85, 461. See also Hans-Eberhard Hilpert, 'Geistliche Bildung und Laienbildung: Zur Überlieferung der Schulschrift "Compendium historiae in genealogia Christi", Compendium veteris testamenti des Petrus von Poitiers (+1205) in England', Journal of Medieval History, 11 (1985), 315-331 (p. 329). The texts preceding and following the Compendium in the present manuscript are also associated with it in BL, Royal 14.B.ix.

A pedigree chronicle of biblical and British history from Adam to Edward IV, written not before 1461 and probably not after 1466 (none of Edward IV's children are shown), evidently in the same London or Westminster workshop as that postulated by Albinia de la Mare, Catalogue of the Collection of Medieval Manuscripts Bequeathed to the Bodleian Library, Oxford, by James P. R. Lyell (Oxford, 1971), p. 82, as the place of production of a number of closely related pedigree-chronicles in roll or roll-codex form, some in Latin and some in English. The hand looks the same as that of Lyell MS 33 (see ibid., plate VI), while the layout, decoration and miniature of the Fall are very similar. Near the miniature of the Fall is a note in English, [17 cent.].
The preface and biblical history derive from the Compendium Historiæ in Genealogia Christi (otherwise known as the Promptuarium Bibliæ) of Peter of Poitiers; see H. Vollmer, Deutsche Bibelauszüge des Mittelalters sum Stammbaum Christi mit ihren lateinischen Vorbildern und Vorlagen (Potsdam, 1931) and Thomas Jones, Y Bibyl Ynghymraec (Cardiff, 1940), where thirty-three manuscripts are listed on pp. xvii-xx. The text as a whole belongs to category B identified by de la Mare, op. cit., p. 83, a group of manuscripts compiled in the reign of Edward IV with which ours has features other than the text in common. For the work of a closely related illuminator see R. M. Thomson, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Medieval Manuscripts of Corpus Christi College Oxford (Cambridge, 2011), p. 101.

A formulary or commonplace book compiled by Richard de Bury, otherwise Richard Aungerville, civil servant, diplomat, Privy Seal 1329-1333, Lord Chancellor and bishop of Durham from 1333, containing his transcriptions of some 1,500 documents, mostly official administrative and courtesy correspondence, both foreign and domestic, mainly of English origin or sent to Englishmen from the court of Rome (ff. 1-105 verso, 116 verso-173, 179-239); together with a treatise on eloquence (ff. 105 verso-116).
Some five hundred of the letters were published in The Liber Epistolaris of Richard de Bury, ed. by N. Denholm-Young (London, 1950); a further three hundred, calendared by Denholm-Young, were previously published in Thomas Rymer's Foedera (London, 1816-30) and elsewhere. Full indexes are provided by Denholm-Young.

A volume containing a Latin account of early British history in the form of a pedigree-chronicle from Aeneas and Julius Caesar to Yvor son of Cadwaladr and the Saxons, in the hand of Thomas Edenham (see ff. 4 verso, 7 and f. 41 verso ('Ednham' at foot of page)) at 'Berford' in 1483 (ff. 44 recto-verso, 67, 70, 79 verso, 80, 86 verso, 88 verso, 94 and 96 verso). Folios 4-19 verso were evidently written in 1487 (f. 18 verso). Thomas Edenham, O.F.M., was a native of Edenham, Lincolnshire (f. 7). The contents of ff. 31 verso-37 ('De ciuitate Lincolnie et eius preconiis') suggest that he remained within the diocese of Lincoln. The diocese offers several places called Barford (medieval 'Berford'): near Kettering, near Banbury and near Bedford; none has an obvious Franciscan connection.
Written by a single scribe in a secretary script with anglicana traits. Headings, paragraph marks, roundels and their connecting lines, foliation, underlining of proper names and most dates are in red.

A processional, use of Sarum, [15 cent., first ½]. Temporale (ff. 1-127); dedication of a church (ff. 127-9); proses for St Andrew, St Nicholas, Purification of BVM, Invention of the Holy Cross and St Katherine, Salve Regina and Regina celi (ff. 129 verso-135); sanctorale, including Saints Edward the Confessor, Edmund the king and Edmund of Abingdon (ff. 136-166); commune, comprising introits (ff. 166-171), votive masses (ff. 171-183) and litanies of the saints (ff. 183-188 verso). Staves and rubrics in red, initials of noted text are calligraphic, in ink, embodying grotesque profiles, etc.; initials of unnoted text in blue with red penwork. A few medieval additions of text and music.

A breviary, use of Sarum, [14/15 cent.], comprising the sanctorale, ending imperfectly in the office of St Martin at the end of quire 12. Includes the translation of St Leonard, with nine lessons. The festa nova of Saint Chad, Saint David and Saint Winifred are not included. Memoranda of the offices of Saint John of Beverley, Saint Osmund, Saint Ethelreda and Saint Frideswyde are added in the margin. Gathered in twelves. Text defective by loss of one leaf after f. 50, three after f. 53, two after f. 63, one after f. 65 and two after f. 73.

Liber de regimine principum of Giles of Rome (Egidius Romanus), on ff. 1-262 verso. The text is defective by the loss of two leaves, cut out, after f. 192 (breaking off in Book III, part 2, cap. 17, resuming in cap. 19) and the loss of a quire after f. 198 (breaking off in Book III, part 3, cap. 4, resuming in cap. 11). Written by a single secretary hand. Blue initials with red penwork, 6-line on f. 1 and 5-line on f. 178 (for Book III). Capitula at the beginning of each part of each Book; sidenotes provided by the scribe throughout; no index. This manuscript is not included by C. F. Briggs either in his 'Manuscripts of Giles of Rome's De regimine principum in England, 1300-1500: a handlist', Scriptorium, 47 (1993), pp. 60-73, or the list in his Giles of Rome's De Regimine Principum (Cambridge, 1999).

[A transcript of] Alfred of Beverley's Historia de gestis regalibus regum Britannie videlicet a Bruto Britonum rege primo usque ad Normanorum tempora .
There are two slips of parchment either end of the manuscript: the first is part of a 16th century deed bearing the signature of one George Hygons; the second part is a letter from T. Duffus Hardy, Public Record Office to W. W. E. Wynne, 30 January 1863.

A classified collection of ecclesiastical letters, including compilations by Master Bernard; a version of the treatise De legibus et consuetudinibus Anglie which was long attributed to Ranulf de Glanville, chief justiciar of England (the treatise is here called liber curialis - 'Incipit prologus in librum qui uocatur Curial, in qua continentur leges Anglie'); collections of writs and precedents of legal instruments; a collection of writs under the rubric 'Incipiunt brevia que emanant a curia domini regis'; royal letters, including letters relating to the Mise of Lewes, 1264, letters of Otto, Emperor of the Romans to King John, documents relating to the election of John de Stafford as abbot of Burton, 1260, etc.; transcripts of documents relating to Burton Abbey; and transcripts of charters of Anglo-Saxon kings, 800-1048, including a copy of the will of Wulfric, founder of Burton Abbey.