List of manuscripts in the Cotton library

This is a list of all manuscripts in the Cotton library. It is currently incomplete.

Robert Cotton organized his library by placing busts of various Roman emperors and ladies over each his book cabinets. The shelf of each cabinet had a letter assigned to it. Manuscripts were identified by the bust over the cabinet, the shelf letter, followed by its number (in Roman numerals) from the left side of the shelf. Thus, The Lindisfarne Gospels, Nero B IV, was the fourth manuscript from the left on the second shelf (shelf B) of the cabinet under the bust of Nero. A few of the cabinets had only one shelf so that the shelf letter was left out of the shelfmark. The British museum retained Cotton's organization when the Cotton's collection became one of the foundational collections of its library. This list is organized by the Cotton's system.

Augustus

*i - Two large portfolios containing a collection of sixteenth century maps, charts and plans of towns, buildings, fortifications and related items. Some of the items are plans for projects that were never completed.
*ii - A portfolio containing a large collection of mostly Anglo-Saxon charters, also contains a few later medieval charters, Papal Bulls, and some other items. Includes:
*Item 3 The Ismere Diploma
*Item 106 "Magna Carta: Exemplification of 1215"
*iii - A portfolio containg a miscellaneous collection of drawings and prints, many of them military in nature.
*iv - Troy Book by John Lydgate, edition of 1555 with some variations. According to heraldic evidence the manuscript was created between 1411 and 1458, probably during Lydgate' lifetime.
*v - Le Tresor des Histoires. Universial history, from the Creation to Pope Clement VI (died 1342). 15th century copy, lavishly illuminated.
*vi - "Le livre des proprietés des choses", translated from Latin to French by Jehan Corbechon under the [atronage of Charles V of France. 14th century, illuminated.

Caligula

*A.ii "A Pistil of Susan" (frag.) (probably by Huchoun)
*A.vi "Heliand"
*A.viii Miscellany
*A.ix "The Owl and the Nightingale"
*A.xiv Caligula Troper
*A.xv Easter Table Chronicle
*C.i Correspondence on relations between Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots
*C.vi Correspondence of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk,with the court of Henry VIII

Claudius

*A.iii Volume of liturgcal fragments
*B.v "Acts of the Council of Constantinople"
*B.vi Cotton Genesis (fragmentary)
*E.viii Adamus Murimuthensis, Chronicon Sui Temporis

Cleopatra

*A.ii "Life of St Modwenna"
*A.xvi Adamus Murimuthensis,Chronicon Sui Temporis
*B.iii Ailredus Rievallensis, Historia Angliae
*B.ix Miscellany
*B.xiii Miscellany
*C.viii Prudentius, "Conflict Of The Soul"
*D.i Miscellany. Includes:
**Item 1 - Vitruvius, De architectura
**Item 2 - Flavius Vegetius, De Re Militari
*E.vi Miscellany. Includes:
**Item 1 Sir Thomas More's letter to Henry VIII before execution (ff. 176v - 177)

Domitian

*i: Miscellany, includes works by Isidore of Seville, Bede, and Gerald of Wales
*viii: Collection of chronicles. Includes:
**Item III (ff. 30-70) Bilingual Canterbury Epitome (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle F)
*ix fragment of the Bilingual Canterbury Epitome (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle H), futhorc row

Faustina

*A.iii Cartulary of the Abbey of St Peter, Westminster
*A.v Miscellany
*A.viii Abbreviatio de Gestis Normannorum ad Gulielmum I Regem Angliae
*A.x "Additional Glosses to the Glossary in Ælfric's Grammar"
*B.iii Life of Saint Edith in Middle English Verse
*B.viii Register of Chapel of St Stephen, Westminster
*B.ix Chronicle of Melrose Abbey
*D.i Statutes of the Order of the Garter, revised under Edward VI

Galba

*A.v Irish Psalter
*A.xviii "Athelstan Psalter"

Julius

*A.x "Old English Martyrology"
*A.xi William Fitz Stephen's "Life of St Thomas Becket"
*A.xvi Ailredus Rievallensis, De Gestis Davidis Regis Scottorum
*B.xiii Miscellany
* * * Item 1 Hugh of Saint-Victor's Chronicle from Deeping Priory
*C.xii Ailredus Rievallensis, De Regibus Saxorum
*E.iv "Beauchamp Pageants," c. 1484-90
*E.vii "Ælfric's Lives of Saints"
*E.viii Lydgate, ‘Kings of England sithen William Conqueror’,The Three Kings of Cologne,Brut Chronicle.
*F.vi Charges brought against Cardinal Wolsey, 1529

Nero

*A.ii Anglo-Saxon Prayerbook
*A.v Comput of Philippe de Thaon,
*A.x "Pearl", "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", "Patience", and "Cleanness"
*B.i Royal diplomatic correspondence concerning Portugal
*B.viii Royal diplomatic correspondence concerning Russia
*B.xi Royal diplomatic correspondence concerning Russia
*C.iv Winchester Psalter
*C.v Marianus Scotus, Chronicle; Bartholomew Cotton, Historia Anglicana
*C,vii Miscellany
*C.ix Miscellany
*C.x
** Item 1 Autograph diary of Edward VI
** Item 2 Letters of Edward VI to Henry VIII and Katherine Parr
*C.xi Robert Fabyan, Chronicle of England and France
*D.ii Order of Ceremony for the Knights of the Bath
*D.iv "Lindisfarne Gospels"
*D.x Adamus Murimuthensis. Chronicon Sui Temporis

Otho

*A.x Æthelweard, Chronicon de Rebus Anglicis
*A.xii "Battle of Maldon" (destroyed in 1731)
*A.x Aethelweard's Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
*B.x "Mary of Egypt" (fragmentary)
*B.x.165 Anglo-Saxon rune poem (destroyed in 1731)
*B.xi.2 fragment of the Parker Chronicle (the Winchester Chronicle)
*C.i Volume conting fragments of the four Gospels, dialgues of Gregory, Ælfric's "De creatore et creatura" and other pieces in Old English.
*C.ii Adamus Murimuthensis, Chronicon Sui Temporis
*C.v "Otho-Corpus Gospels" (fragmentary)
*C.ix Letters of the Grand Masters of Rhodes to Henry VIII
*E.i Latin-Old English Glossary
*E.iv Letters of Intelligence from Paris to the Court of Elizabeth I
*E.xiii Legal Miscellany

Tiberius

*A.ii Coronation Gospels. Carolingian
*A.iii Miscellany. Includes:
**Item 1 - Regularis Concordia
**Item 43 - Rule of St. Benedict
*A.vi Abingdon Chronicle I (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle B)
*A.ix Abbreviatio de Gestis Normannorum ad Gulielmum I Regem Angliae
*A.xiii Worcester cartularies
*A.xiv Bede, Ecclesiastical History
*B.i Abingdon Chronicle II (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle C. Singed by the 1731 fire.
*B.ii Miscellany, including Miracles of St Edmund, in verse
*B.iv Collection of Chronicles, Histories and related material. Includes:
**Item 1 - Worcester Chronicle (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle D)
*B.v Scientific Miscellany
*B.viii The Coronation Book of Charles V of France
*C.i Miscellany.
*C.ii Bede, "Ecclesiastical History"
*C.vi "Tiberius Psalter"
*C.ix Historia Vitae et Regni Ricardi Secundi from Evesham Abbey
*E.x "History of Richard III". Damaged in 1731 fire.

Titus

*A.xix Ailredus Rievallensis, De Gestis Davidis Regis Scottorum
*B.i Order for the tournament on the Field of the Cloth of Gold, France, 1520
*B.ii Horoscope of Elizabeth I
*B.viii Sir Walter Ralegh's autograph journal of his second voyage to Guiana, 1617-18
*C.xvi The Travels of Sir John Mandeville
*D.iv Latin Epigrams of Sir Thomas More, on the coronation of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon, 1509
*D.xxvi "Ælfwine's Prayerbook"

Vespasian

*A.i "Vespasian Psalter"
*A.viii New Minster Reformation Charter
*A.xviii Ailredus Rievallensis, De Gestis Davidis Regis Scottorum
*A.xix Miscellany
*B.ix History of the foundation of the hospital and priory of St Bartholomew, Smithfield
*B.xi Chronicle Of Hagnaby Abbey
*B.xx Goscelin of Saint-Bertin, "Lives of the Canterbury saints"
*C.i Correspondence of the Spanish royal court with the court of Henry VIII
*D.vi Miscellany
*D.xii Latin Hymnal with Old English gloss
*D.xiv Ælfric's "De duodecim abusivis"
*E.iv Miscellany

Vitellius

*A.viii Annals of Lacock Abbey
*A.x Statutes of Lichfield Cathedral
*A.xii Penitential of Bartholomew, Bishop of Exeter
*A.xiii Genealogy of the Dukes of Normandy
*A.xv Nowell Codex ("Beowulf", "Judith")
*A.xx Descriptio Constantinopolis
*B.ii Diplomatic letters to Henry VIII. Singed by fire.
*B.iv Bull of Pope Leo X, 1521, granting Henry VIII the title "Defender of the Faith". Badly damaged by fire, 1731
*B.v Letters of Pope Adrian VI to Henry VIII
*B.viii Letters of Pope Clement VII to Henry VIII
*C. iii Anglo-Saxon Herbal
*C.viii Miscellany,including Epistles of St. Paul from Durham
*C.xi Treaty of Marriage between Louis XII of France and Mary Tudor
*C.xii Miscellany
*C.xvii The Manner of Sir Philip Sidney's Death
*E.ii Grandes Chroniques de France
*E.vii Giraldus Cambrensis, Life and Miracles of St Ethelbert
*E.XVIII Psalter with interlinear Old English Gloss
*F.xi Vitellius Psalter (Irish)