View sample images

MS. Bodl. Rolls 22

Summary Catalogue no.: 30445

Richard Spalding, Hymn to St. Catherine of Sinai (DIMEV 2983)

Incipit: Ketereyn þe curteys of all þ(at) I know: cu(m)lyest kepyng kaytefs ffro kare

Explicit: Qwer aungeles schul syng vs | With joye & with blysse

Twenty stanzas of 14 lines each (with acrostics). Versification: ababababccdccd

In the latter part is an acrostic giving the words 'Katerina. Ricardus. Spaldyng.'

Language(s): Middle English

Poem on the Five Joys of the Virgin (DIMEV 3498)

Incipit: Myldyst of mood & mekyst of maydyns alle | O modyrs mercyfullyst most chast þat euer was wyfe...

Explicit: Euyr lastyng to lyue yn þat mancione | ady graunt vs thys sayde supplycacione

Five stanzas of eight-lines each. The opening letters of each stanza combine to spell out 'MARIA'. The last six lines of the poem form the acrostic 'Pipwel' (see Provenance below), with the acrostic lightly drafted for a rubricator

Language(s): Middle English

Physical Description

Form: roll

Support: parchment

Dimensions (roll): 65.75 × 11.25 in.

Hand(s)

Ruth Kennedy notes that the roll was intended to be a neat and formal copy of the poem, and that Item 1 is in a current Anglicana book hand. In contrast, Item 2 was added in 'a shaky semitextura hand' at the foot of the parchment roll ('Pipwel's St Mary', Notes and Queries, 51 [2004], pp. 106–109 at p. 106)

Decoration

Pächt and Alexander iii. 832

Good border

Good initial

History

Origin: 15th century, beginning ; England

Provenance and Acquisition

On the basis of the acrostic 'Pipwel' in the last 6 lines of Item 2, MLGB3 suggests a link with Pipewell, Northamptonshire, Cistercian abbey of St Mary the Virgin (?). However, Ruth Kennedy argues that both the authorial and the scribal relicts show clear evidence of south Lincolnshire dialects' ('Spalding’s Alliterative Katherine Hymn: A Guild Connection from the South-East Midlands?', Viator 35 [2004] pp. 455-482, at p. 456). Reflecting on the scribal and authorial dialect of the text, Kennedy suggests 'Pipwel' refers to Pipwell Manor, close to Holbeach by the sea wall in Holland, Lincolnshire. This latitude, closer to that of Stafford, Derby and Nottingham than that of Coventry and Northamptonshire, would, according to Kennedy, account for some of the Northern forms and orthography in the poem ('Pipwel's St Mary', Notes and Queries, 51 [2004], pp. 106–109 at p. 106)

Date of acquisition not known; presumably after 1695 (see Summary Catalogue, V, p. 802).

Record Sources

Description adapted (March 2025) by Stewart J. Brookes from the Summary Catalogue (1905), with additional reference to published literature as cited. Decoration, localization and date follow Pächt and Alexander (1973)

Summary Catalogue, vol. 5, p. 808