Trinity Hall : Novae Narrationes

Anonymous

Trinity Hall

<p style='text-align: justify;'>This manuscript was created in the late 13th or early 14th century. It is a compilation of legal precedents (or forms of pleading) for the drawing up of ‘counts’ or ‘narrations’, the formal statements with which plaintiffs opened their cases before the court.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Shanks recorded thirty-eight known manuscript examples of <i>Novae Narrationes</i>. Three distinct compilations, all probably made in the years 1285 - ca 1310 have been identified. These basic 'A', 'B', and 'C' texts were transmitted without much change, but the original arrangements of the topics differ, and copies were frequently made from two of the basic compilations: either A+B, or most commonly C+B. This manuscript appears to be a copy of an unusual form of the version C text, although it is not noted in the Shanks inventory.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>This manuscript had an 18th century owner P. (T?) Wright. It was subsequently owned by Alexander Murray, Lord Henderland (1736-1795), who was a prominent Scottish lawyer and politician. Although Dupplin Castle burnt down in 1827, Murray’s library, including a fine collection of manuscripts and early printed books, survived remarkably intact. The manuscript was acquired by Trinity Hall by the 1970s.</p>