MS. Rawl. C. 237

Summary Catalogue no.: 12098

Summary of Contents: Originally a single-volume New Testament with MS. Rawl. C. 238.

Language(s): Middle English with Latin

Fols. i–ii are blank paper flyleaves.

1. (fols. 1r–6r)

[item 1 occupies quire I]

Added calendar in English

In a 15th-century hand somewhat later than the hand of the biblical text, laid out one month per page, written in red and black.

Presumably unfinished: there are very few feasts in black in August, September and December. January is headed by a Latin verse on the ‘Egyptian’ days which corresponds to Hennig, J., ‘Versus de mensibus’, Traditio 11 (1955), pp. 65–90, set III. February is headed by a note in English on the number of days in the month. Contains many late 15th-century additions in English which supply the missing Sarum feasts and provide references for lections, consisting of abbreviated titles of Old Testament and New Testament books, chapter numbers and indexing letters. David and Chad (1 and 2 March) are in the original hand, but John of Beverley (6 May) and Winifred (3 November) are added, suggesting a date before or around 1415 (see Pfaff, R. W., The liturgy in medieval England: a history (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), pp. 438–41). Also added are Visitation (2 July, promulgated in 1481), Transfiguration (6 August, promulgated in 1457), Francis (4 October) and deposition of Osmund (4 December, canonised in 1456). The feast and translation of Thomas Becket (July) are crossed out.

2. (fols. 7r–151v)

[item 2 occupies quires II–XX]

Four gospels in the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible, with usual prologues

Usual rubrics, e.g., ‘Here endiþ þe gospel of mathew and bigynneþ þe prolog of mark’, ‘Here endiþ þe prolog of Mark and bigynneþ þe gospel of Mark as Ierom seiþ pleynli þat þis is þe firste chapiter þis in þis wyse’ (fol. 50r–v). Prologue to Matthew occupies a separate leaf (fol. 7r–v), the second column on its verso is left blank. Running titles are usually in black (sometimes in red) on the rectos, or occasionally on both rectos and versos, consisting of abbreviated titles of biblical books. Chapter numbers in red, usually as Roman numerals in the form ‘vi c(apitulum)’, some preceded by paraphs. Many chapter numbers are not filled in by the rubricator and added in black ink as Roman numerals. Corrections in the original or contemporary hands; omitted passages frequently supplied in the margins. No marginal glosses; added material within the text is not underlined. Indexing letters surrounded by double strokes in the margins mark the beginnings of lections; the ends of lections are only occasionally marked with double strokes. Further indexing letters and occasionally notes stating a liturgical occasion for a reading are added in the margins, and the beginnings and ends of readings are marked with special signs within the biblical text, probably by a late 15th-century hand that made additions to the calendar. On fol. 100r the passage ‘But wo to ȝou farisees þat tiþen mynte and ruwe & eche erbe & leuen doom & þe charite of god’ (Luke, 11:42–3) is marked with a bracket by the same (?) late 15th-century owner.

Fols. 152–153 are blank paper flyleaves.

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: parchment, paper flyleaves

Extent: 155 leaves, c.

Dimensions (leaf): 128 × 86 mm.

; leaves were trimmed in rebinding, occasionally causing the loss of text and decoration in the margins

Foliation: modern in pencil, i–ii + 1–153

Collation

(fols. i–ii) paper flyleaves | (fols. 1–6) I (6) | (fols. 7–70) II–IX (8) | (fols. 71–77) X (8–1) 8 (?) cancelled, no loss of text | (fols. 78–101) XI–XIII (8) | (fols. 102–105) XIV (4) no loss of text | (fols. 106–145) XV–XIX (8) | (fols. 146–151) XX (6) the last two leaves of this quire are bound at the beginning of MS. Rawl. C. 238 | (fols. 152–153) paper flyleaves. Catchwords survive. Most leaf-signatures survive and run consecutively: +, a–i on fols. 7–85, and a–i on fols. 86–151 in MS. Rawl. C. 237; k–z on fols. 3–114 and a–i on fols. 115–182 in MS. Rawl. C. 238.

Secundo Folio: ‘The book of’ (fol. 7r)

Layout

ruled for two columns, with single vertical and double horizontal bounding lines extending the full height and width of page; prickings occasionally survive; 30 lines per page (33 on fols. 1–2); written space: c. 92 × 60 mm.

Hand(s)

informal and irregular textura; changes of ink and scribal style throughout, e.g., in MS. Rawl. C. 238, fols. 17r, 136r, 139r, etc.; calendar in a different 15th-century hand with initials in a different style

Decoration

Plain KL monograms in red and blue ink in the calendar.

3- to 4-line gold initials on blue and burgundy background at the beginnings of books.

Border made of a gold bar in the right margin with penwork sprays and gold leaves in the lower margin at the beginning of Matthew.

2- to 4-line blue initials with red penwork at the beginnings of prologues and chapters.

3-line gold initial at the beginning of the prologue to John and a penwork initial at the beginning of the gospel (fol. 121r–v).

Rubrics in red ink.

Binding

Nearly identical bindings on both volumes. Brown leather over pasteboard, late 17th or early 18th century, rebound for Stamford in 1693 (?). The text, originally in a single volume, was probably broken between two volumes at the time of rebinding: Stamford’s signature appears in each volume. Rebacked in the Bodleian; 19th-century spines. Double blind fillet-line border round the outer edge of both covers. Four raised bands on spines. Panels between the bands are framed with double blind and gilt fillet lines. Gilt lettering on spine: ‘PURVEY’S | NEW | TESTAMENT’, ‘VOL. I.’, ‘RAWL. | MS. | C. 237.’ Laid paper pastedowns and flyleaves dating from the 17th- or early 18th-century binding.

History

Origin: England ; 15th century, first quarter, before 1415 (?)

Dialect survey:

eny(8)/ony(2), ech(5)/eche(5), fier(9)/fiȝer(1), ȝouen(6)/ȝouen(3)/ȝeuen(1), lijf(10), lijk(10), myche(10), siȝe(4)/siȝ(4) (sg.), saien(5)/siȝen(1) (pl.), silf(10), sich(1)/such(1)/suche(8), þouȝ(8), þoruȝ(9)/þorow(1)
-iþ(7)/-eþ(3) (pres.ind.3sg.), -en(10) (pres.ind.pl.), -inge(6)/-ynge(4) (pres. part.), sche(10) (3sg.fem.pronoun, nom.), þei(10) (3pl.pronoun, nom.), hem(10) (3pl.pronoun, oblique), her(10) (3pl.pronoun, possessive)

Provenance and Acquisition

Added calendar in a different, somewhat later 15th-century hand.

In use late in the 15th century: the calendar updated and references to lections added; lections marked within the text; indexing letters and notes stating the liturgical occasions added in the margins; a table of lections added on a flyleaf. The same late 15th-century owner may have also marked a passage on Pharisees of possibly Lollard interest at Luke 11.

The feasts of Thomas Becket are crossed out, presumably at Reformation.

Thomas Grey, second Earl of Stamford (1653/4–1720); see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: ‘Stamford 1693’ (fol. 1r).

Richard Rawlinson (1690–1755); see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Bodleian Library: bequeathed by Rawlinson and accessioned in 1756. Earlier shelfmarks: ‘Rawl. no. 544’, ‘22’ (MS. Rawl. C. 237, upper pastedown).

Record Sources

Elizabeth Solopova, Manuscripts of the Wycliffite Bible in the Bodleian and Oxford College Libraries, Exeter Medieval Texts and Studies (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2016), no. 39. Previously described:

Quarto Catalogue, cols. 105–6

Summary Catalogue, vol. 3, p. 209

Bibliography

Forshall, J. and Madden, F. (eds), The Holy Bible … in the earliest English versions made from the Latin Vulgate by John Wycliffe and his followers, 4 vols (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1850), vol. 1, p. xlix.

William D. Macray, Catalogi codicum manuscriptorum Bibliothecæ Bodleianæ partis quintæ fasciculus secundus, viri munificentissimi Ricardi Rawlinson, J.C.D., codicum classem tertiam, in qua libri theologici atque miscellanei, complectens; accedit in uniuscujusque classis codicum contenta index locupletissimus (Oxford, 1878), col. 105.

Madan, F., Summary catalogue of western manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, vol. 3 (collections received during the 18th century), nos. 8717–16669 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1895), no. 12098.

Scott, K. L. (gen. ed.), An index of images in English manuscripts from the time of Chaucer to Henry VIII, c.1380–c.1509: the Bodleian Library, Oxford, 3 vols (Turnhout: Harvey Miller Publishers, 2000–02), vol. 3, pp. 48–9, nos. 861, 862.

Dove, M., The first English Bible: the text and context of the Wycliffite versions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 301.

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2023-03-24: Add Solopova description.