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MS. Ashmole 52

Summary Catalogue no.: 6936

Single-text codex of The Prick of Conscience, xiv2.

Contents

1. (fol. 1r-65r)
The Prick of Conscience
Incipit: þ e myth of þe fader almythty | þ e wit of þe sone alwitty
Explicit: T o whilke place he vs all bringe | þ at for vs vouched saue o(n) rode to he(n)ge
Final rubric: Amen

Main Version of The Prick of Conscience, belonging to Group I. Recorded as MV 60 in Lewis and McIntosh (1982), who also note that it is related to two other manuscripts: Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, McClean 131; and Dublin, Trinity College, 156 (D.4.8).

e-LALME notes the dialect of the scribe is in the ‘language of South Lincolnshire, with some other components suggesting a West Midland element’ (noLP_2488).

Text slightly reduced (9173/9624 lines).

No titles. Prologue begins fol. 1r first column, part I folio 3v first column, part II folio 7r second column, part III folio 12r second column, part IV folio 18v second column, part V folio 27v first column, part VI folio 43v first column, part VII folio 50v second column, Epilogue folio 64r second column.

Edited in Richard Morris's Prick of Conscience: A Corrected and Amplified Reading Text, Early English Text Society Original Series 342, eds Ralph Hanna and Sarah Wood (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013).

DIMEV 5398

Language(s): Middle English
2. (fol. 65v)
Counsels by a father and mother
Incipit: Son lett not ydelnesse ȝou enslombre | Nor wydnesse of clothys ȝou encombre
Explicit: ⟨⟩ ȝour loue precious put ȝour reflygth | ⟨⟩ reward ȝou as it is rygth

Four faded lines of English verse in a fifteenth century anglicana hand, partially legible under UV.

Edited in Rudolph Brotanek, Mittelenglische Dichtungen aus der Handschrift 432 des Trinity College in Dublin (Halle: Niemeyer, 1940), 49, which lists one other witness of this text in Cambridge, Trinity College R.4.20, fol. 171. Mentioned briefly in Robbins, 1954. DIMEV 4996

Language(s): Middle English

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment. Hannah Ryley and Daniel Sawyer note that several leaves in this manuscript are palimpsests (Ryley, 2022, p. 101; Sawyer, 2020, p. 98). Folios 27–30 and 35–38 show evidence of much larger textura script that has been removed, possibly originating from a liturgical manuscript (illegible under UV). Ryley describes this recycling as ‘exceptionally carefully executed’ (Ryley, 101).
65 leaves
Dimensions (leaf): 175 × 120 mm.
Foliation: Foliated in modern pencil.

Collation

1-78 (fols. 1-56), 88+1 (eighth leaf (upper half only) singleton addition, fols. 57-65). Three catchwords present on fols. 8v, 32v, and 48v, one trimmed on fol. 40v. No leaf signatures visible.

Condition

Good. Binding tight. Some liquid damage to fols 8r-v

Layout

Ruled for 36 lines in two columns. Ruled space: 135 × 100 mm.

Hand(s)

A neat and compact textura hand, more formal than the writing used for most copies of this poem (Sawyer, 2020, 98).

Decoration

Text opens (fol. 1r) with a ten-line rubricated initial ‘þ’. Thereafter moments of textual division are marked with two- or three-line rubricated initials, e.g. fols. 1r, 2v, 3v. The openings of Parts are marked with a rubricated three-line initial. The opening to Part II (fol. 7r) is marked with an un-filled three-line rubricated initial.

The first initial of every line is offset.

On fol. 2r, two Latin lines (which are presented as glosses in some manuscripts) are given in-line and rubricated - these are not attested in Hannah and Wood's edition.

Thereafter these Latin lines are given in-line in the same ink as the main text but delineated by a rubricated frame. Some are also given with a marginal gloss to their source, e.g. fol. 4v to ‘Job’, which is always written inside the frame in fols 1r-40r, and both inside and outside the frame after fol. 40v. Exceptions are the gloss to Part VI line 6096, fol. 41r (not attested in Hanna and Wood) which is written wholly outside the frame and mostly cropped, and evidence of a similarly cropped gloss to Part VI line 6595, fol. 44v.

As is typical in the corpus, the section on the fifteen days before Christ's coming (Part V ll.4758-4817) are annotated with rubricated roman numerals 1-15 in the margin of fol. 33r. The seven blisses (Part VII ll.7872-8629) are marked in the margins, this time with only a rubricated frame, on fols. 53v-57v.

Throughout the manuscript, top-line ascenders and occasional bottom-line descenders are extended into minute drawings of human faces and mythical creatures.

Additions:

Remnants of parchment tabs on folios 27 and 33, marking ll. 3862-4007 (likely marking l. 3966 which is the beginning of Part 5) and ll.4762-4915 (containing the fifteen days before Christ's coming). Recorded in Sawyer, 2016, p. 110.

Fifteenth-century annotations on fol. 23v.

‘Jhus | my S⟨⟩’ in upper margins of fols 40v-41r, fifteenth century.

The shelf mark ‘52 Ash’ and the Summary Catalogue number ‘6936’ are recorded on folio 1r. The shelf mark ‘A.52’ is recorded on fol. 62r.

A modern hand annotates the start of each part in pencil in the upper margin of the page.

Binding

Late seventeenth-century calf binding over pasteboards, typical of Elias Ashmole's style. The edges of both boards are decorated with concentric tool framing, with triple tooling on the margin closest to the spine on both boards. The board edges are tooled with a repeating semi-circle pattern, also typical of Ashmole's bindings.

There are two clasps anchored to the upper board with two pins, on leather fore-edge flaps which are reinforced with parchment. Each clasp contains Ashmole's coat of arms. The facing catch plates are anchored to the lower board with two pins. The sewing supports are laced into the boards using shortened single-hole lacing without channels.

The spine shows no raised sewing supports, but the inner boards reveal four sewing stations. The spine is decorated with six rows of the same semi-circle design as the board edges. The spine shows Ashmole's crest in gold and the shelf mark ‘Ash: 52’There are no end bands. The edges of the pages have been stained red - also typical of Ashmole's bindings.

History

Origin: 14th century, second half ; English, north, possibly South Lincolnshire based on dialectal evidence

Provenance and Acquisition

There are no names recorded in the manuscript.

Remnants of parchment tabs on folios 27 and 33, marking Part 5 ll. 4684 and 4988. Recorded in Sawyer, 2016, p. 110.

The front and back flyleaves are recycled from sixteenth century account records from Devon, cut down from much larger pages. It is dated 'quarto die octobr(e) anno xxi reg(nante) ⟨⟩ but the name of the monarch is trimmed. This could refer to the twenty first year of Elizabeth's reign (1578-9). It mentions the name John Clyfton, who was sheriff of Devon in 1580. The document also mentions the names Bridgewater, Beaford, Bulkeworthy, Bydelcombe, Lancras, and Paynton. Lancras, Beaford, and Bulkeworthy are all parishes in the same part of Devon (see TNA E 117/2/7/fo29). These three parishes are mentioned in earlier documents as the property of Giles Daubney de Daubney, knight, in 1504-5 (see TNA CP 25/1/294/81, number 129).

The manuscript was later owned by Elias Ashmole, who is responsible for the current binding of the manuscript. Ashmole is known to have recycled parchment for his bindings (see for instance MS Ashmole 396), so it is possible he is responsible for bringing together this manuscript with its flyleaves. He does not mention acquiring the manuscript in his diary or correspondence.

It was bequeathed to the Ashmolean Museum by Elias Ashmole in 1692 as part of his donation of 1,100 printed books and 600 manuscripts.

The manuscript was kept in the Ashmolean until 1860, when the collection was transferred to the Bodleian Library .

Record Sources

Description by Charlotte Ross (May 2025). Previously described in the Quarto Catalogue (W. H. Black, A descriptive, analytical, and critical catalogue of the manuscripts bequeathed unto the University of Oxford by Elias Ashmole Esq...., Quarto Catalogues X, 1845).
Quarto Catalogue, col. 91
Summary Catalogue, vol. 2, part 2, p. 1123

Bibliography

    Printed resources:

    Brotanek, Rudolph, Mittelenglische Dichtungen aus der Handschrift 432 des Trinity College in Dublin (Halle: Niemeyer, 1940)
    Lewis, Robert E., and Angus McIntosh, A Descriptive Guide to the Manuscripts of the Prick of Conscience (Oxford: Society for the Study of Mediaeval Languages and Literature, 1982)
    Richard Morris's Prick of Conscience: A Corrected and Amplified Reading Text, Early English Text Society Original Series 342, eds Ralph Hanna and Sarah Wood (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013)
    Robbins, Rossell Hope, ‘A Late Fifteenth-Century Love Lyric’, Modern Language Notes, 69.3 (1954): 153–60
    Ryley, Hannah, Re-using Manuscripts in Late Medieval England: Repairing, Recycling, Sharing (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022)
    Sawyer, Daniel, Reading English Verse in Manuscript: c.1350-c.1500 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020)
    Sawyer, Daniel, ‘Navigation by Tab and Thread: Place-Markers and Readers' Movement in Books’, Spaces for Reading in Later Medieval England, ed. C. Griffin (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), 99-114

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2025-05-02: Charlotte Ross. Revised with consultation of original.