Walter de Gray Birch

Walter de Gray Birch (1842-1924) came up to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1860, and worked in the Department of Manuscripts at the British Museum from 1864 until 1902.

Anglo-Saxon charters:

  • Fasti Monastici Aevi Saxonici: or an Alphabetical List of the Heads of Religious Houses in England Previous to the Norman Conquest (London, 1872)
  • On an Unpublished Charter of Uhtred of the Huuiccas, in the Possession of the Dean and Chapter of Worcester (London, ?1878)
  • Cartularium Saxonicum: a Collection of Charters relating to Anglo-Saxon History, 3 vols. (London, 1885–93). Reprinted by Johnson Reprints (New York, 1964)
  • The Anglo-Saxon Charter of King Edward the Confessor to Coventry Minster (London, 1889), with facsimile and translation
  • The Anglo-Saxon Charter of Oslac Duke of the South Saxons, A.D. 780 (London, 1892), with facsimile and translation
  • Index Saxonicus: an Index to all the names of Persons in Cartularium Saxonicum (London, 1899)

The Cartularium Saxonicum was published in parts between 1883 and 1893. Parts 1–28 were published by Whiting and Co., London. The parts appeared regularly (six a year) until part 26 [BCS iii. 321–84], which was published in November 1887; priced at 2s 6d per part. Part 27 [BCS iii. 385–448] appeared in April 1890, evidently after some disruption; and part 28 [BCS iii. 449–512] appeared in August 1891. Parts 29–32 were published by Chas. J. Clark, 4 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London. Part 29 [BCS iii. 513–76] appeared in August 1892, with an explanatory note inside the front wrapper, dated August 1892. Part 30 [BCS iii. 577–624, with i–xvi] appeared in November 1892. The final double Part 31–2 [BCS iii. 625–96, with prelims and xvii–xxxv] appeared in March 1893.

Birch’s other publications in the field of Anglo-Saxon studies include:

  • J. M. Kemble, The Saxons in England (1849), new ed. (London, 1876)
  • The History, Art and Palaeography of the Manuscript Styled the Utrecht Psalter (London, 1876)
  • Memorials of St Guthlac of Crowland (Wisbech, 1881)
  • The Chronicles of Crowland Abbey (Wisbech, 1883)
  • Vita Haroldi: the Romance of the Life of Harold, King of England (London, 1885)
  • Domesday Book: a Popular Account of the Exchequer Manuscript So Called (London, 1887)
  • An Ancient Manuscript of the Eighth or Ninth Century formerly belonging to St Mary’s Abbey, or Nunnaminster, Winchester, Hampshire Record Society (London & Winchester, 1889)
  • Liber Vitae: Register and Martyrology of New Minster and Hyde Abbey, Winchester, Hampshire Record Society (London & Winchester, 1892)
  • Memorials of the See and Cathedral of Llandaff (Neath, 1912)

By the same author:

  • Index of the Styles and Titles of Sovereigns of England (London, 1879)
  • A Catalogue of Seals in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London, 1887–1900)
  • <to be continued>

 

Letters to Sir Frederic Madden (BL Egerton 2837–2848). Birch to Madden in Eg. 2848, fols. 307, 309, 315, 317, 319, 323.>

Letters to Birch (BL Add. 50205–6), 1871–1917.

Letters to E. A. Bond (BL Add. 71582), on the Utrecht Psalter, 1873–4.>