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Cromwell Manuscripts

 Collection

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Manuscripts collected by Cromwell, consisting of twenty-five Greek and two Slavonic manuscripts. The manuscripts are chiefly Patristic and include sermons and lives of saints.

Dates

  • Creation: 11th-16th century

Extent

2.64 Linear metres (24 boxes)

Language of Materials

  • Greek, Ancient (to 1453)
  • Greek, Modern (1453-)
  • Church Slavic; Old Slavonic; Church Slavonic; Old Bulgarian; Old Church Slavonic

Preferred Citation

Oxford, Bodleian Libraries [followed by shelfmark and folio or page reference, e.g. MSS. Cromwell 1].

Please see our help page for further guidance on citing archives and manuscripts.

Full range of shelfmarks:

MSS. Cromwell 1-14, 17-26

Collection ID (for staff)

CMD ID 12837

Abstract

Manuscripts collected by Oliver Cromwell.

Biographical / Historical

Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), Lord Protector, was Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1 January 1651 till his resignation on 3 July 1657. Details can be found in the Dictionary of National Biography.

Other Finding Aids

Falconer Madan, et al., A summary catalogue of western manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford which have not hitherto been catalogued in the Quarto series (7 vols. in 8 [vol. II in 2 parts], Oxford, 1895-1953; reprinted, with corrections in vols. I and VII, Munich, 1980), vol. II, nos. 276-99, and vol. V, nos. 27676-27678.

Full descriptions, in Latin, are in Catalogi codicum manuscriptorum Bibliothecae Bodleianae pars prima recensionem codicum Graecorum continens (Oxford, 1853, reprinted with corrections by H. O. Coxe, Oxford, 1969).

The illuminated manuscripts in this collection are described in detail in I. Hutter, Corpus der Byzantinischen Miniaturenhandschriften. Oxford Bodleian Library, 4 vols. (Stuttgart, 1977-1982).

Our best descriptions for medieval items in this collection are in Medieval Manuscripts in Oxford Libraries under MSS. Cromwell.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Cromwell presented the bulk (22 Greek and 2 Salvonic MSS) of the collection to the Bodleian in 1654. MSS. Cromwell 15-16 and 27 were given to the Library in 1727.

Title
Cromwell Manuscripts
Status
Published
Author
Collection Level Description by Emily Tarrant; EAD version 2020 by Alice Whichelow
Date
EAD version 2020
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Bodleian Libraries Repository

Contact:
Weston Library
Broad Street
Oxford OX1 3BG United Kingdom