MS. Ashmole 1517
Summary Catalogue no.: 8179
Contents
Language(s): Middle English with Latin
Paper leaves containing a list of passages missing from the lectionary, gospels and epistles (see below) and their transcripts from some other manuscript in Elias Ashmole’s hand. The leaves are pasted to the second paper flyleaf at the beginning and paginated 1–23 in the original hand and 1–27 in a modern hand.
[item 1 occupies quire I]
Table of lections,imperfect at the beginning because of the loss of one leaf, starting at Wednesday of the second week after the octave of Epiphany. Includes the temporal and commemorations only, which suggests that the table may have been originally preceded by a calendar-lectionary (see MS. Selden Supra 51 and Solopova, Manuscripts of the Wycliffite Bible, introduction, ‘Liturgical materials’). The entries consist of the name of the liturgical occasion in red, abbreviated reference to a book and chapter of the Bible, 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. The entries for Old Testament readings are also accompanied by letters and numbers in the margins in red, used to identify the readings in the Old Testament lectionary (see below). Larger initials with penwork at Ash Wednesday and Ascension. Commemorations are in the following order: Our Lady, Trinity, Holy Ghost, cross, angels, ‘salus populi’, brothers and sisters, peace, clear weather, rain, in time of battles, ‘a priest for hym silf’, pestilence of beasts, pilgrims, sinners, sick, dead and weddings.
[item 2 occupies quires II–XXI]
Matthew 2:5–Jude 2:23 in the Later Version of the Wycliffite BibleImperfect at the beginning and end because of the loss of leaves. Also missing are the end of Matthew (after 27:62) and the beginning of Mark (before 1:11); the end of Mark (after 16:9) and the beginning of Luke (before 1:30); the end of Luke (after 24:51) and the beginning of John (before 1:19); the beginning of Romans (before 2:13). The leaves at the start of books were undoubtedly removed because of the illumination they contained: at the beginning of Mark and Luke there are fragments of leaves with illuminated borders, and there are offsets of illumination on fol. 27r (the beginning of Mark) and fol. 64r (the beginning of John) which used to face the missing leaves. All prologues to the gospels are missing, otherwise usual prologues. Running titles in black preceded by blue paraphs on both rectos and versos, consisting of abbreviated titles of biblical books. Usual rubrics in red; chapter numbers as red Roman numerals or words. Blue paraphs at the start of sections within the text. Indexing letters in the margins entered at the start of lections, rather than consistently; double strokes at the ends of lections. Many drawings of hands pointing at the text in the margins, including some marking passages of possibly Lollard interest, such as Matthew 23:14. Corrections in the original or contemporary hands; longer omitted passages are added in the margins often enclosed in decorative frames embellished with penwork. Alternative translations (e.g., fols. 24r, 52v, 64v, etc.) are occasionally written out in the margins. Added material within the text is underlined in red in the epistles.
[item 3 occupies quires XXII–XXV]
Old Testament lectionary of Type IIImperfect at the beginning because of the loss of one leaf. Includes readings for the temporal, commemorations, proper and common. Only the first four readings for commemorations and the last three readings for the proper are preserved, because of a missing quire after fol. 187. The readings are preceded by rubrics in red, introductory statements (e.g., ‘The lord seiþ þes þingis’, fol. 166r) underlined in red, and numbers. The lectionary is subdivided into five sections marked with letters A, B, C, D, E in the upper margin. References for Old Testament readings in the table of lections (fols. 1r–5v) are accompanied by letters and numbers, e.g., a1, a2, a3, etc., identifying the section where each reading occurs and its number within the section (a similar system is used in the calendar-lectionary and Old Testament lectionary of MS. Selden Supra 51). Added material within the text is underlined in red.
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
Ruled for two columns with single vertical and single horizontal (on most leaves visible only at the top of the page) bounding lines extending the full height and width of page; 39 lines per page; written space: c. 139 × 197 mm.
Hand(s)
at least two different scribes, one responsible for New Testament, writing large, even, upright, highly professional textura; the second responsible for the table of lections and Old Testament lectionary, writing a more informal textura; black and brown ink
Decoration
The gospels and the Epistle to the Romans originally had illuminated borders at the beginnings, now all missing (see Text).
4- to 6-line red and blue ‘puzzle’ initials with red and purple penwork at the beginnings of 1 Corinthians–Jude.
3-line blue initials with red penwork at the beginnings of chapters and prologues.
Rubrics in red; blue paraphs at the start of sections within the text.
Binding
Light brown leather over pasteboard, late 17th or early 18th century. Double blind fillet lines round the outer edge and c. 35 mm away from the spine on both covers. Geometric design on the edges of covers. Rebacked in the Bodleian: ‘W 5 – 12 – 59’ written in pencil on the lower pastedown. Five raised bands edged by double blind fillet lines on spine. Gilt lettering on spine: ‘Ash. | 1517’. Laid paper flyleaves with watermarks, perhaps contemporary with the binding.
History
Originally the manuscript may have contained a calendar-lectionary at the beginning and a complete New Testament. The Old Testament lectionary is similar to that in MS. Selden Supra 51.
Dialect survey:
- any(10), eche(6)/ech(4), fyre(10), gouun(10), lif(10), like(5)/lyk(2)/lyke(2)/ lik(1), myche(1)/miche(9), saw(8) (sg.), sawen(6) (pl.), self(10), sich(2)/ siche(7), þouȝ(8), þorow(7)/þorou(3)
- -iþ(9)/-eþ(1) (pres.ind.3sg.), -en(10) (pres.ind.pl.), -inge(2)/-ing(1)/-ynge(7) (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
‘john m(?)[…]th’ (fol. 64r), possibly a reference to a missing beginning of St John’s gospel, 16th century (?).
‘ Edmu(n)d peyson ’, 16th century (fol. 143r).
Flourished ‘I’ with the letters T, H, R, A, V written inside it, 16th century (fol. 192r).
Pen trials and names in several 16th-century hands, including: ‘Hary Danyell of sancte martyns farmar vnto John Gylbard of London’; ‘wyllym storky, dunston chaypman’, ‘ william breges ’ (fol. 192v).
Elias Ashmole (1617–1692), see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: transcript of missing passages (see Text); autograph on fol. 1r.
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford: donated by Ashmole to Oxford University in 1677.
Bodleian Library: transferred from the Ashmolean Museum in 1860.
Record Sources
Bibliography
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2023-03-23: Add Solopova description.