MS. Bodl. 531
Summary Catalogue no.: 2249
New Testament in the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible; England, 15th century, first quarter
Contents
Language(s): Middle English with Latin
Fol. i is a paper flyleaf blank apart from modern notes.
Old Testament readings are written out in full, many preceded by introductory statements, such as ‘Þe lord god seiþ þes þingis’. Entries for New Testament readings consist of the name of the liturgical occasion in red, abbreviated reference to a book and chapter of the New Testament, an indexing letter in red, the opening words of a reading, ‘ende’ in red, the closing words of a reading and double strokes in red. Includes feasts characteristic of the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible (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. 4, pp. 683, 690–6), apart from Giles (1 September). Some Old Testament readings derive from the Earlier Version of the Wycliffite Bible (e.g., Ecclesiasticus 24, Genesis 24), whereas other from the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible (e.g., Jeremiah 14, Jeremiah 23, Ecclesiasticus 44) (see MS. Douce 265-a).
Includes the temporal, followed by commemorations and the sanctoral. The temporal is imperfect because of the loss of leaves after fol. 2: missing readings from Saturday of the third week in Advent to Friday of the fourth week after the octave of Epiphany. Commemorations are in the following order: the Virgin Mary, Trinity, Holy Ghost, Cross, Angels, ‘of briþeren & sistris & salus populi’, peace, clear weather, rain, ‘In time of batels’, ‘A man for him silf’, ‘ffor deeþ of bestis’, pilgrims, weddings, sinners, sick, ‘Pistils at masse of requiem’, ‘Gospels at masse of requiem’. The sanctoral is preceded by a rubric, ‘Here enden þe commemoraciouns & bigynneþ þe sancrorum boþe of þe comyne and propre to gidre’ (fol. 28r).
Running titles in red with blue paraphs, e.g., ‘þe þridde sundai in aduent’. Corrections in a contemporary hand.
Missing Matthew 9:33–12:39, because of the loss of leaves after fol. 44. Running titles in red preceded by blue paraphs, most consisting of an abbreviated title of the biblical book on the verso and a chapter number on the recto. Chapter numbers in red usually in the form ‘Cᵐ’ followed by a Roman numeral. Indexing letters in the margins, entered at the beginnings of readings rather than consistently; double strokes in the margins at the ends of readings. The beginnings and ends of readings are also highlighted red in the text. Added material within the text is underlined in red. No marginal glosses. Corrections in a contemporary hand.
At the end added in a different hand: ‘Deus qui eximie castitatis’ (15th century, second half (?)), the opening words of a prayer to St Cuthburga, the first abbess of Wimborne (printed in Perkins (1899), p. 5).
Note signed ‘By me Ryc(ardus) merton chanon’, late 15th century (?), denying a charge brought against him: ‘where as hyt was alegyt agaynyst me by the malytyose mynde of marget mukkulton to myltiply wordys as concerninge the bronunge of thomas donsturfyld howse whyc I vtterly deny by fathe and pristehode neuer to speke to hym in the cause nor neuer to haue knolege in cause lyk that hyt sholde be soo’. Pen trials, some by the same hand.
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
ruled in ink for two columns with double bounding lines in the upper, left and right margins, and single bounding lines in the inner and lower margins, all extending the full height and width of page; a further set of double bounding lines in the lower margin; 36–8 lines per page; written space; c. 103 × 148 mm.
Hand(s)
textura, black ink
Decoration
5- to 6-line red and blue ‘puzzle’ initials and penwork borders at the beginnings of books.
2- to 4-line blue initials with red penwork at the beginnings of prologues and chapters.
Rubrics in red.
Binding
Brown leather over pasteboard, c. 1600 (?), made for Edwin Sandys (?) (see Provenance). Gilt and blind fillet-line border round the outer edge of both covers. Gilt decoration with a medallion, filled with diamond-shaped figures, at the centre of covers. Six raised bands on spine, framed by gilt fillet lines. Gilt decoration on the panels between the raised bands. ‘531’ written in white paint on spine. Fragments of two ties on both covers. Paper pastedowns and flyleaves.
History
Dialect survey:
- ony(6)/eny(4), eche(8)/ech(2), fier(10), ȝouun(8)/ȝouen(1)/ȝyue(1), lijf(9)/ lyf(1), lijk(10), myche(8)/moche(2), siȝ(4)/sawȝ(1)/saiȝ(2)/saie(1) (sg.), saien(4)/ seien(1)/seie(1) (pl.), silf(10), suche(7)/such(1)/siche(2), þouȝ(8), þourȝ(6)/ þurȝ(3)/þorouȝ(1)
- -iþ(7)/-eþ(3) (pres.ind.3sg.), -en(10) (pres.ind.pl.), -ynge(5)/-inge(5) (pres. part.), she(10) (3sg.fem.pronoun, nom.), þei(10) (3pl.pronoun, nom.), hem(10) (3pl.pronoun, oblique), her(10) (3pl.pronoun, possessive)
Provenance and Acquisition
Added line from a collect to St Cuthburga in Latin, 15th century, second half (?) (see Pfaff, R. W., The liturgy in medieval England: a history (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), pp. 381–4).
Late 15th-century addition by Richard Merton, canon, mentioning Marget Mukkulton and Thomas Donsturfyld (fol. 236v). See Elizabeth Solopova, ‘Manuscript Evidence for the Patronage, Ownership and Use of the Wycliffite Bible’, in Form and Function in the Late Medieval Bible, ed. Eyal Poleg and Laura Light, Library of the Written Word 27 (Leiden: Brill, 2013), 345–46.
‘Mary Pygott…’, 16th century (?), added before the leaves were trimmed in rebinding, partially erased (fol. 187v).
‘John Auncelle’; ‘T. Levrett off Chearnys’; half-erased note ‘And ther was a man god saue…’, 16th-century, lower pastedown.
Sir Edwin Sandys (1561–1629); see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and Owners of Incunabula.
Bodleian Library: gift of Edwin Sandys in 1603 (Madan, F. and Craster, H. H. E., Summary catalogue of western manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, vol. 2, part I (collections received before 1660 and miscellaneous MSS acquired during the first half of the 17th century), nos. 1–3490 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1922)). Earlier shelfmarks: ‘Th. T. 11. 1’ (fol. i recto); ‘NE E. 1. 2’ (fol. i verso); ‘2’ written in black ink on the fore-edge of textblock.
Record Sources
Bibliography
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2023-03-24: Add Solopova description.