MS. Bodl. 979

Summary Catalogue no.: 3052

Language(s): Middle English with Latin

Fol. 1 is a parchment flyleaf (see Provenance).

(fols. 2r–311v)

New Testament in the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible with usual prologues

Missing John 5:13–6:51 (after fol. 121), John 7:40–9:15 (after fol. 123), John 20:16–Romans 1:20 (after fol. 139), Romans 9:11–13:5 (after fol. 150), 1 Corinthians 1:12–2:8 (after fol. 154) and Colossians 1:16–3:10 (after fol. 195), all because of the loss of leaves (see Collation). Fols. 304–305, containing the Apocalypse 7:14–9:20, are misbound after fol. 303 (their correct place is after fol. 297). Usual rubrics in red, e.g., ‘here eendiþ þe gospel of matheu & bigynneþ þe prologe on mark’ (fol. 42v); ‘Ierom in his prologe on mark. seiþ þis’ (fol. 43r).

Final rubric: Here eendiþ þe apocalips of ioon þe laste book of þe newe testament

Chapter numbers in red as Roman numerals. Running titles in red on both rectos and versos, consisting of an abbreviated title of the book and a chapter number on pages containing the beginnings of chapters. Indexing letters occasionally appear in the margins. Corrections in a contemporary hand. Several lines are left blank at the end of the second column on the last leaf (fol. 311v).

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: parchment

Extent: 319 leaves, c.

Dimensions (leaf): 132 × 87 mm.

; trimmed in rebinding

Foliation: modern in pencil, 1–279 + unnumbered leaf + 280–318

Collation

(fol. 1) parchment flyleaf | (fols. 2–121) I–XV (8) | (fols. 122–123) XVI (8–6) central bifolium of a quire (?) | (fols. 124–139) XVII–XVIII (8) a quire is missing after fol. 139, fols. 140–142 are modern parchment | (fols. 143–149) XIX (8–1) missing 1 | (fols. 150–153) XX (8–4) missing 2–5 | (fols. 154–160) XXI (8–1) missing 2 | (fols. 161–192) XXII–XXV (8) | (fols. 193–198) XXVI (8–2) missing 4–5 | (fols. 199–293) XXVII–XXXVIII (8) | (fols. 294–299) XXXIX (8–2) 5 and 6 are misbound after fol. 303 | (fols. 300–309) XL (8+2) fols. 304–305 are misbound leaves from quire XXXIX | (fols. 310–311) XLI (4–2 (?)) two singletons (?) | (fols. 312–318) parchment flyleaves. Catchwords survive. Quire signatures (Arabic numerals) occasionally survive, running consecutively [1]–23.

Secundo Folio: ‘bigat Salatiel’ (fol. 3r)

Layout

ruled in ink for two columns with single vertical and double horizontal bounding lines extending the full height and width of page; 32 lines per page; written space: c. 100 × 60 mm.

Hand(s)

textura, black and brown ink

Decoration

Initials not filled in, apart from fol. 1r–v, which has 2- and 3-line blue initials with red penwork at the beginning of Matthew and its prologue.

6- to 8-line spaces left for initials at the beginnings of the gospels, 1 Corinthians, Deeds, and the Apocalypse; 4- to 5-line spaces at the beginnings of epistles; 2- to 3-line spaces at the beginnings of prologues and chapters.

Letters in the top line are occasionally taller and decorated with penwork, sometimes with anthropomorphic designs (e.g., a profile head on fol. 178r).

Rubrics in red ink.

Binding

Red velvet over pasteboard, English, 16th century. The remains of two ties on both covers. ‘979’ written in white paint and fragments of two paper labels on spine. Parchment pastedowns and flyleaves. Gilt (later addition) edges of textblock.

History

Origin: England ; 15th century, first quarter

Unfinished: chapter initials not filled in.

Dialect survey:

ony(10), ech(10), fier(10), ȝouen(10), lijf(9)/lyf(1), lijk(10), myche(10), siȝ(7) (sg.), siȝen(7) (pl.), silf(10), sich(2)/siche(6), þouȝ(8), þoruȝ(10)
-iþ(5)/-eþ(5) (pres.ind.3sg.), -en(10) (pres.ind.pl.), -ynge(7)/-yng(1)/-inge(2) (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

‘Thomas Atkingsonne’ (fols. 73v, 217v), ‘Richard(?) Savage berton vpon humbe[.]’ (fol. 118v), ‘Jhon Tyrwh’ (fols. 145r), ‘Thomas Manton’ (fol. 177r), ‘…mermaducke ys one of the best gentle men’ (fol. 182r), ‘Robert’ (fol. 191v) as well as other partially erased 16th-century inscriptions in the margins.

Sir William Waad (1546–1623), diplomat and administrator (see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography): ‘Wy. waad de givr 1602. m(ay) 1. tu mástr támus badlez librari in de divíniti skul in áskfurd’ and ‘mistur wád. av káventri’ (fol. 1r), ‘Wy Waad’ (lower pastedown). On his spelling, see Dobson (1968), vol. 1, pp. 129–31.

Bodleian Library. Former shelfmark: ‘Arch. B. 63’ (upper pastedown), ‘B. 20.’ (fol. 1r).

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. 11. Previously described:

Summary Catalogue, vol. 2, part 1, p. 578

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. xlviii.

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), no. 3052.

Dobson, E. J., English pronunciation, 1500–1700, 2nd edn, 2 vols (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968).

Scott, K. L., ‘Limning and book-producing terms and signs in situ in late-medieval English manuscripts: a first listing’, in Beadle, R. and Piper, A. J. (eds), New science out of old books: studies in manuscripts and early printed books in honour of A. I. Doyle (Aldershot: Scolar Press, 1995), pp. 142–88 at p. 18.

Dove, M., The first English Bible: the text and context of the Wycliffite versions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 299.

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2023-03-24: Add Solopova description.

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