A catalogue of Western manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries and selected Oxford colleges

MS. Bodl. 596

Summary Catalogue no.: 2376

Physical Description

Composite: fols. 1–85 || fols. 86–174 || fols. 175–214
Extent: 214 leaves
Dimensions (binding): 9.875 × 7 in.

Binding

"The binding is no doubt of 1605, in which year bp. William Cotton presented parts 2-3" (Summary Catalogue; subsequently rebound).

History

Provenance and Acquisition

A composite volume of three (not four, as in Summary Catalogue) sections, brought together only in 1605, although parts 2 and 3, which were presented by the same donor, may have been together earlier.

MS. Bodl. 596 – Part 1 (fols. 1-85)

Contents

1. (fol. 1)
Life of Adam and Eve (IPMEP 25)
Rubric: The lyfe of Adam
Incipit: Adam was made of oure Lord God in the same place that Ihesu was borne

On the text (later incorporated into the Gilte Legende) see Gilte Legende, ed. Hamer, III.19-20 and 42-6.

Language(s): Middle English
2. (fol. 12)
The Complaint of Christ
Incipit: This is Goddes owene compleynt

Printed in E.E.T.S. xv. 160-8.

Language(s): Middle English
3. (fol. 14v)
Notes on the Cinque Ports in 1293 (?)
Language(s): Latin
4. (fol. 15v)
Incipit: Cur mundus militat
Language(s): Latin
5. (fol. 17)
Rubric: Here bygynneth the Lamentacion of Oure Lady seynt Marye ...
Incipit: Whan that I Mary Ihesus moder sat in Jerusalem

In prose

IPMEP 828
Language(s): Middle English
6. (fol. 21v)
Rubric: Here bygynnith the tretys of Parce michi Domine
Incipit: By a forest syde walking as I went | Disport to take in o mornyng
Language(s): Middle English
7. (fols. 25, 34v)

On foll. 25, 34v have been added some short Latin distichs: the first is of st. Christopher

Incipit: Ha, premor & puer es: cur collo tam grauis heres ? | Ne turbet te res, quia quem fers celicus heres
Language(s): Latin
8. (fol. 26)
Rubric: Incipit bona & vtilis tabula Fidei Christiane
Incipit: Fides spes caritas vertutes cardinales

A summula theologica, containing the seven cardinal virtues, the seven deadly sins, the Pater Noster, the seven gifts of the Spirit, the Decalogue, etc., etc.

Language(s): Latin
9. (fol. 28v)
John Gerson, De modo vivendi omnium fidelium
Incipit: Ne potentes per potentiam suam oppriment
Explicit: inferni cogitent
Rubric: Incipit bonus & vtilis Modus viuendi secundum Deum
Jean Gerson, Œuvres complètes, vol. VIII (L'œuvre spirituelle et pastorale), éd. P. Glorieux, Paris, 1971, no. 399
Bloomfield 5127
Language(s): Latin
10. (fol. 30)
Rubric: Incipiunt Temptaciones Demonis temptantis hoininem de vij peccatis mortalibus ...
Incipit: Superbus sis, sublime extollaris
Bloomfield 1569
Language(s): Latin

A dialogue between the devil and an angel, followed by a form of confession in English:

11. (fol. 31v)
Form of confession
Incipit: I knowlethe me gilty and jelde me to God

By a man who has fallen into the seven deadly sins and broken the entire Decalogue.

Jolliffe C.21
Language(s): Middle English
12. (fol. 35)
Incipit: Excellentissime regie maiestatis dignetur piissima circumspeccio

A long Latin petition from the abbey of Westminster to the King, relating to a 'cedula contra immunitatem sanctuarii monasterii Westmonasterii & eiusdem priuilegia: beg. 'Excellentissime regie maiestatis dignetur piissima circumspeccio': apparently of about A.D. 1410.

Language(s): Latin
13. (fol. 38)
Minor historical lists and notes in Latin
(fol. 38)

A short chronicle of England (and Westminster) 1326-77 and 1377-89

(fol. 39)

A list and account of the kings of England from Alfred to 1377

(fol. 43)

A list and account of the kings of England who were also saints

(fol. 44)

A list of the kings of England and their burial places from Alfred to 1377, and (added) to 1413

(fol. 45)

A short chronicle of England, 600-1377: for fols. 47-53, see art. 8.

Language(s): Latin
14. (fol. 53v)
Chronicle of London

A list of the mayors, bailiffs, and sheriffs of London, 1189-1413, with additions to 1472

M.-R. McLare, The London chronicles of the fifteenth century: a revolution in English writing (2002), pp. 124-5.
Language(s): Latin
15. (fol. 64)

A few 16th cent. notes about Dewsbury, including a copy of the charter of 'Dominus Warren de Sandhal' (Sandall Magna), granting away the town.

Language(s): Latin
16. (fol. 47)
Coronation order
Rubric: Forma Regum & Reginarum coronacionis Anglie
Incipit: Legitur in annalibus Romanorum

Printed in the Henry Bradshaw Society's 2nd volume, see pp. 63, xxxix.

Language(s): Latin
17.

On fol. 53 follow some Latin theological notes on the appearance of the person of Christ,and about st. Anne and the Virgin Mary.

Incipit: Legitur in annalibus Romanorum
Language(s): Latin
18. (fol. 65)
Record and Process of the Renunciation and Deposition of Richard II
Rubric: Deposicio Regis Richardi secundi per Parliamentum, cum processu & omnibus actibus
Incipit: Memorandum quod die lune
Explicit: reddidit sub his verbis
The deposition of Richard II : "the record and process of the renunciation and deposition of Richard II" (1399) and related writings, ed. D. Carlson (2007)
David R. Carlson, 'The 'Renunciation' and 'Protestation' of Richard II and Henry IV in 1399: Textual Genesis and Radiation', Mediaeval Studies 79 (2017), 249-74
Language(s): Latin
19. (fol. 80v)
Fragmentary account of events from 30 Sept. - 2 Nov. 1399 including the coronation of Henry IV and the parliament of 6 Oct. 1399

An English translation is printed in Archæologia xx. 275-281, the end after 'les enemys de Fraunce' (Nov. 2, 1399) being wanting.

Language(s): Anglo-Norman

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

Decoration

Good initials. (Pächt and Alexander iii. 863)

History

Origin: 15th century, beginning (after 1415) ; English

Provenance and Acquisition

This first MS. appears from a contemporary foliation to have lost about 125 leaves at the beginning, but on the first remaining leaf is a coat of arms, (gules, a chevron azure between three garbs or, imperfect). The MS. is clearly connected with Westminster Abbey.

Arms of Baron, fol. 1: perhaps (as suggested by Ralph Hanna, The English Manuscripts of Richard Rolle: A Descriptive Catalogue (2010), p. 155) for William Baron, who also owned MS. Douce 322.

The first part was presented by sir Richard Spencer in 1603

MS. Bodl. 596 – Part 2

Contents

1. (fol. 86)
John Lydgate, The Life of Our Lady
Incipit: (prol.) O thoughtfull herte plunged in distresse
Incipit: O floure of vertu
Final rubric: Explicit vitam beate Marie Virginis

A 16th cent. hand adds the author's name. Spaces are left for miniatures, but only four are filled in with pen-and-ink drawings, on foll. 89, 96, 98, 104v.

Language(s): Middle English

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

Decoration

Pächt and Alexander iii. 1084, pl. CI:

Good miniatures (sketches).

Good borders.

Good initials.

History

Origin: 15th century, third quarter ; English

Provenance and Acquisition

Fol. 174v annotated by John Stow (Alexandra Gillespie, ‘Stow’s “owlde” Manuscripts of London Chronicles’, in John Stow (1525-1605) and the Making of the English Past: Studies in Early Modern Culture and the History of the Book, ed. by Ian Gadd and Alexandra Gillespie (The British Library, 2004), p. 61).

Presented (with part 3) by bp. William Cotton in 1605.

MS. Bodl. 596 – Part 3 (fols. 175-214)

Contents

1. (fol. 175v)
Bede, Vita S. Cuthberti
Rubric: Liber de uita & miraculis sancti Cuthberti Lindisfarnensis episcopi

Preceded by the 'Prefatio Bedę presbiteri' and a list of chapters: wanting one leaf at the end, the text ending 'tabulis minus diligenter'.

Language(s): Latin
2. (fols. 201-2)
Bede, Vita S. Cuthberti metrica (fragment)
Incipit: Noxia qui dixit
Explicit: defertur ad horas||
Language(s): Latin
3. (fols. 203-206v)
Historia de sancto Cuthberto

The first part is lost, and the text begins in ° 8 'dedit. Et hi sunt termini', ends 'super congregationem Abyron'.

Language(s): Latin
4. (fol. 206v)
Lethaldus Miciacensis, Life of St. Julian of Le Mans
Final rubric: Explicit Vita beatissimi Iuliani
Language(s): Latin
5. (fols. 211v-213)
Office of St. Julian

With neums. Described in detail Hartzell, no. 261.

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

Hand(s)

Script of fols. 175v-206v attributed by Michael Gullick to Simeon of Durham.

Musical Notation:

Neums

Decoration

Good initials. (Pächt and Alexander i. 451, pl. XXXVII)

History

Origin: 11th century, end - 12th century, beginning ; English, Durham, cathedral priory

Provenance and Acquisition

Although earlier literature suggested that fols. 206v-213r might have been produced in Normandy or Western France, Barker-Benfield demonstrates that the whole of fols. 175-214 was written at Durham (perhaps for export). The Durham bishop William of St Carilef had previously been abbot of Saint-Vincent at Le Mans.

Canterbury, Kent, Benedictine abbey of St Augustine (originally of St Peter and St Paul): "Liber sancti Augustini Cantuarie. Di. ix, Gra. iii [altered to:] v cum A" (fol. 175 (blank recto)), s. xiii/xiv. (MLGB3: evidence from an ex-libris inscription or note of gift to an institution).

Presented (with part 2) by bp. William Cotton in 1605.

Additional Information

Record Sources

Description adapted (2024) from the following sources, with additional reference to published literature as cited.
Summary Catalogue (1922)
Pächt and Alexander (1973).

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (13 images from 35mm slides)

Bibliography

    Printed descriptions:

    St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury, ed. B. C. Barker-Benfield, CBMLC 13 (2008), BA I.443 (vol. 1, pp. 604-6) [fols. 175-214]
    K. D. Hartzell, Catalogue of Manuscripts Written or Owned in England up to 1200 Containing Music (Boydell Press in association with the Plainsong and Medieval Music Society, 2006)
    S. J. P. van Dijk, Latin Liturgical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, vol. 2: Office Books (typescript, 1957), p. 361
    S. J. P. van Dijk, Latin Liturgical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, vol. 3: Rituals and Directories (typescript, 1957), p. 35

    Online resources:

Last Substantive Revision

2024-10: Description revised to incorporate all information from Summary Catalogue with reference to published literature.