Heraldic treatise

MSS/0379

Heraldic treatise

15th century

Item

Vellum; ff. iv + 65.
Sextodecimo.
Original wooden boards covered with white leather. Modern dark green case.

Treatise on heraldry attributed by Sir Edward Bysshe, Clarenceux (edition of the Tractatus de Armis (1654)) to John de Bado Aureo whose identity has not been established; 15th century. Text illustrated by 60 small shields which differ from those in the printed edition. Other manuscripts in the BL and elsewhere vary from this manuscript; some relate to a different treatise by Nicholas Upton. The introduction (fol. 1) refers to the work's composition at the request of Anne, formerly Queen of England (Anne of Bohemia, d. 7 June 1394); some of the shields used to illustrate the text in this MS relate to persons connected with Richard II. Outline drawings of unusual supporters added to the arms of St George (fol. 30v) and to the royal arms (fol. 47). See further the note by John A.Goodall, FSA, in SA MS Register. Ker, MMBL, I (1969), 313.

SAL/MS/379

Owned, after 1553, by John Cock, Portcullis pursuivant (signature, fol. iii). Later in the collection of Joseph Smith (1682-1770), British Consul in Venice; his sale, Baker & Leigh, 21 Feb. 1773 (see note, fol. 65v, that acquired by ‘L. Cla').

Latin