MS. Bodl. 277
Summary Catalogue no.: 2124
Contents
Language(s): Middle English with Latin
Blank paper flyleaf at the beginning.
An apparently unique further revision preceded by chapter 1 of the General Prologue.
Includes 3 Ezra, found otherwise only in the Earlier Version of the Wycliffite Bible MSS, in a lightly revised form. Prologues to Isaiah and Baruch and to the books of the New Testament. In addition to the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible Prologue to Romans, the Earlier Version of the Wycliffite Bible prologue is included, possibly as an afterthought (see Collation).
Chapter numbers as red Roman numerals with blue paraphs in Old Testament and as alternating red and blue Roman numerals in New Testament. Running titles in red with blue paraphs on both rectos and versos in Old Testament, and in alternating red and blue capitals written across the opening in New Testament. Added material within the text is underlined in black throughout. Omissions added in the margins, often decorated with red penwork; some are in a cursive script with Secretary influence (e.g., fol. 87r–v). Occasionally an addition, originally written in the margin, is erased and entered within the text over an erasure in a contemporary hand (e.g., fol. 93v). There are two glosses in red in the margins in the hand of the original rubricator: ‘Pater noster’ at Matthew 15 (fol. 303v) and ‘Note þis decree’ at 1 Ezra 7:25–26 (fol. 137r), marking a passage on the observance of the law of God and the law of the king. Other marginal glosses by the original scribe, linked by sigla to the text. Very few glosses in New Testament. Added (?) note ‘of ymages’, fol. 200r, Wisdom 15. Parchment tabs at the beginning of books throughout, apart from some short prophetic books and New Testament epistles. The tabs have short titles of books (e.g., ‘Iudicum’) or the opening letters of such titles written on the recto in the hand responsible for most Carthusian additions (see below).
Fifteenth-century additions similar to those found in Latin bibles owned by the Carthusians (Doyle (1998); Hudson, A., ‘The Carthusians and a Wycliffite Bible’, in Kras, P. et al. (eds), Ecclesia, cultura, potestas: studia z dziejów kultury i społeczenstwa (Krakow: Societas Vistulana, 2006), pp. 731–42). Lections during the week for the year are marked in the margins throughout; their opening words are also often marked within the text. Such notation is absent in psalms and much of the four gospels, presumably because other copies of these texts with instructions existed (Hudson, A., ‘The Carthusians and a Wycliffite Bible’, in Kras, P. et al. (eds), Ecclesia, cultura, potestas: studia z dziejów kultury i społeczenstwa (Krakow: Societas Vistulana, 2006), pp. 731–42, p. 737). The markings include marginal letters in red P, S and T (‘Prima’, ‘Secunda’ and ‘Tertia lectio’); the first of these is often followed by an indication of day (e.g., ‘Feria ii, Feria iij, Sabbato’) and season (e.g., ‘Dominica in sexagesima’, fol. 17v; ‘On passyon Sunday’, fol. 229r).
A different set of readings is marked ‘In Refectorio’, followed by the number of leaves to be read. Occasionally these are accompanied by further comments in plummet indicating that these longer passages to be read in refectorio were compared with the text in another book, presumably a Latin bible (de Hamel, C., The book: a history of the Bible (London: Phaidon, 2001), pp. 184–5; Hudson, A., ‘The Carthusians and a Wycliffite Bible’, in Kras, P. et al. (eds), Ecclesia, cultura, potestas: studia z dziejów kultury i społeczenstwa (Krakow: Societas Vistulana, 2006), pp. 731–42, p. 738; Dove, M., The first English Bible: the text and context of the Wycliffite versions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 65):
- ‘In Refectorio iiij ff in alio libro xiiij et d(imidium)’ (fol. 1v)
- ‘In Refectorio iij ff in alio libro x ff et di(midium)’ (fol. 18r)
- ‘In Refectorio iiij fol in alio libro xiij ff’ (fol. 31r)
- ‘In Refectorio xix ffoliis et di(midium)’ (fol. 116r)
- ‘In Refectorio xij folia’ (fol. 135v)
- ‘In refectorio iij fol of þis boke’ (right margin)
- ‘and [or ‘et’] ix fol of þe latyn B…’ (lower margin; the rest is cut off; fol. 159r)
- ‘In Refectorio v ff’ (fol. 229v)
- ‘In Refectorio iiij fol et di(midium)’ (fol. 239v)
- ‘In Refectorio vi et di(midium) fol’ (fol. 265v)
- ‘In Refectorio’ (fols. 332r and 332v)
- ‘Dominica in Refectorio ii folia’ (fol. 371r).
The notes suggest that the Latin book was much smaller than MS. Bodl. 277, presumably a portable ‘Parisian’ bible: four leaves in MS. Bodl. 277 correspond once to 14½ leaves in ‘another book’ and to 13 leaves on the second occasion. Several notes suggest that the text was indeed compared to a Bible, e.g., a note about omitted names of towns in Joshua 15:33 (fol. 66v); ‘þe prologe wantyth’ at the beginning of Jeremiah (fol. 229r) and ‘prologus car’’ at the beginning of Ezekiel (fol. 249v). Other notes include ‘Cantatur in Choro’ at the beginning of the psalter (fol. 167r); ‘turne to þe boke Ieremie & leve & leve[sic] þe boke of kynges for þat is next after ebre vse’ at the beginning of 1 Kings (fol. 78v; see Hudson, A., ‘The Carthusians and a Wycliffite Bible’, in Kras, P. et al. (eds), Ecclesia, cultura, potestas: studia z dziejów kultury i społeczenstwa (Krakow: Societas Vistulana, 2006), pp. 731–42, p. 737); ‘id est canonicum’ added to a rubric introducing Canonical epistles (fol. 365v), and ‘Odyr wyse callyd Epistole Canonicales’ (fol. 366r).
Marginal divisions A–H, found in other Carthusian bibles combined with ‘primo’, ‘secundo’ and ‘tertio’, appear in many parts of the text (Saenger (2005), p. 92 n. 71). Unlike the indexing letters they run across chapters and again suggest that the text was compared with a Latin bible. They often (though not always) start at the beginnings of books, and if a prologue is present, A is used to mark the prologue, whereas B corresponds to the beginning of the first chapter in a book (e.g., Canonical epistles, fol. 365v). If a prologue is not included, A is missing and B appears at the beginning of the first chapter (e.g., Genesis, Joshua, I Kings, Tobit, Judith, Esther, Job). At the beginning of Ezechiel (fol. 249v) a note about a missing prologue is accompanied by A, whereas B corresponds to the beginning of the first chapter. In books that do not have a prologue A tends to appear at the start of the book (e.g., Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Judges, 2 Kings, 3 Kings). Occasionally the subdivisions are accompanied by comments which suggest comparison to another manuscript, such as ‘capitulum vij’ (fol. 194v) at subdivision ‘G’ marking ‘What nede is it to a man…’ which appears at the beginning of Ecclesiastes 7 in the Earlier Version of the Wycliffite Bible, but belongs to the end of chapter 6 in the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible. On fol. 294v the subdivision ‘E’ is accompanied by a note ‘ii col(umna)’; on fol. 195v ‘G’ is accompanied by ‘vi’ and on fol. 198r another ‘G’ is marked ‘c(apitulum) viij’.
[quires I–XXV]
Imperfect at the end because of the loss of a leaf after fol. 106, ends at 22:11.
Begins imperfectly at 2:16.
without a rubric.
Usual notes on the differences between the Hebrew and Latin texts in red in chapters X–XV.
‘Iob was a very man in kynde…’ at the end of the second column on fol. 158v in red, by the original rubricator, with a rubric ‘a glose’.
Laid out as prose, with alternating red and blue capitals at the beginning of verses. Psalm numbers in the margins as red Roman numerals, and occasionally also as Arabic numerals (e.g., fol. 184r). Most psalms have titles in English, underlined in red. Latin incipits in the margins. Glosses in the original hand in the margins, starting at psalm 92, commenting on the interpretation of psalms, particularly those that have ‘no title in Hebrew or Jerome’. Textual divisions marked with larger initials and borders at psalms 26, 38, 52, 68, 97, 109.
Rubric ‘þe scripture of Ezechie kyng of Iuda’ at chapter 38 that starts with a small gold initial.
Chapter 6 with a gold initial and rubric ‘Heere biginniþ þe saumple…’.
Notes in red on the passages not found in Hebrew in chapters 3, 12.
Chapter 3 with a rubric ‘þe preier of abakuc…’.
Most of the last leaf is blank.
[quires XXVI–XXXI]
19 lines of the first column, containing the prologue, are left blank and are framed with a square border. The box may have contained pasted decoration, possibly including an indication of ownership; the edges of the box are smudged and rough as if the decoration was ‘lifted off’ (see Hudson, A., ‘The Carthusians and a Wycliffite Bible’, in Kras, P. et al. (eds), Ecclesia, cultura, potestas: studia z dziejów kultury i społeczenstwa (Krakow: Societas Vistulana, 2006), pp. 731–42, p. 732).
Fols. 375v–377v are mostly blank; a woodcut is pasted to fol. 376v.
A note about the countries where the four gospels were written in a contemporary hand on fol. 377r: ‘Matthew in iudee. Mark in ytalie. luyk in aca⟨ye⟩ Ioon in asy⟨ae⟩’.
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
Ruled in plummet for two columns with double vertical and horizontal bounding lines extending the full height and width of page; a further set of bounding lines comprising double lines in the lower and outer margins and single lines in the upper margin; 64 lines per page; written space: c. 290 × 180 mm. . Fol. 1r, containing chapter 1 of the General Prologue, has further 8 lines of text in the lower margin in both columns in order to start Genesis at the head of fol. 1v
Hand(s)
textura, black ink
Decoration
Full borders made of gold, pink and blue bars, decorated with foliage, flowers, gold disks, human figures and grotesques, at the beginning of Genesis, 1 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 1 Ezra, Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, gospels, Romans and the Apocalypse (particularly sumptuous at Genesis, Psalms, Mathew, Romans and the Apocalypse).
4- to 9-line gold initials and three-quarters borders made of gold, pink and blue bars, decorated with foliage, flowers and gold disks, at the beginning of the chapter from the General Prologue and most books. Some books do not have borders, and start with initials decorated with sprays of foliage extending into margins (e.g., minor prophets and some epistles).
3- to 7-line initials, gold or on gold background, at the beginnings of prologues.
3-line blue initials with red penwork at the beginnings of chapters.
As in other Wycliffite bibles the borders are painted avoiding the text in the margins, including corrections, psalm numbers and glosses, suggesting that such text was added before the manuscript was passed to the illuminator. Pächt and Alexander (1973) suggest with a query that the decoration could be of London origin.
Large woodcut of Henry VI, damaged, pasted in on fol. 376v. (Pächt and Alexander iii. 880, pl. LXXXIV)
Rubrics in red ink.
Binding
Brown leather over boards. Blind fillet-line border and rectangular blind roll floral decoration with floral corner-pieces on both covers. Raised bands on spine. Gold lettering ‘BIBLE | WICKLIFFE’ and a fragment of a paper label with handwritten ‘Bodl 277’ on spine. Marbled paper pastedowns, turn-ins with circular stamps containing ‘IHS’ monogram. Fragments of a large woodcut (Hodnett, no. 2514) pasted to fol. 376v, depicting a group of English martyrs kneeling before a king (Henry VI); includes an antelope, his badge (animal with two horns and tusks) and the coat of arms of England (three lions passant quartered with three fleurs de lis). Fol. 377 was a pastedown of an earlier binding and contains on the verso staining from a red (leather?) binding. The red is similar to that of parchment tabs which mark the beginning of most books (see Hudson, A., ‘The Carthusians and a Wycliffite Bible’, in Kras, P. et al. (eds), Ecclesia, cultura, potestas: studia z dziejów kultury i społeczenstwa (Krakow: Societas Vistulana, 2006), pp. 731–42, p. 734). Since the tabs have book titles in a hand responsible for most Carthusian additions, both the red leather binding and the tabs must date from the time when the manuscript was in the possession of the London charterhouse.
History
Old Testament and New Testament are codicologically separate and there are differences in their execution. Decoration of London origin (Pächt and Alexander (1973)).
Dialect survey:
- ony(10), ech(8)/eche(2), fijr(5)/fire(4)/fuir(1), ȝoue(7)/ȝouen(2)/ȝiuen(1), lijf(10), lijk(10), myche(10), sawȝe(2)/siȝ(3)/siȝe(1)/sayȝ(1) (sg.), saien(4)/ siȝen(2)/sauȝen(1) (pl.), self(5)/silf(5), sich(2)/siche(8), þouȝ(8), þorouȝ(10)
- -iþ(8)/-eþ(2) (pres.ind.3sg.), -en(10) (pres.ind.pl.), -ynge(10) (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
May have originally contained a coat of arms or another indication of ownership on fol. 302r (see Text).
King Henry VI: two inscriptions in different, probably early 16th-century hands on fol. 375r, one crossed out, the second reading ‘Hic liber erat quondam henrici sexti qui postea donabatur domui Cartusiensium quæ Londino contigua est’. Hudson (2006, p. 736) argues against a possibility that the book belonged to Henry V, but not against a suggestion that this may be the English bible known to have been owned by Henry IV (Summerson (1997); Meale (1989)).
Charterhouse, London: 15th-century Carthusian additions; text compared with a portable Latin bible.
Sir George More (1553–1632), see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
Bodleian Library: presented by More in 1604. Earlier shelfmarks: ‘Th. B. 24. 9’, ‘NE. C. 7. 1 (2124)’ (upper pastedown).
Record Sources
Digital Images
Digital Bodleian (14 images from 35mm slides)
Digital Bodleian (1 image of woodcut)
Bibliography
Online resources:
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2023-03-23: Add Solopova description.