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

MS. Ashmole 59

Summary Catalogue no.: 6943

Summary Catalogue no.: 6944

Summary Catalogue no.: 6945

Composite anthology of Middle English verse and prose in two parts, partially the work of John Shirley

Physical Description

Composite in two parts: A || B
Form: codex
Extent: x (modern end leaves, paper) + ii (fifteenth-century bifolium, parchment, containing table of contents, unfoliated) + 1-134 (fifteenth-century, paper) + 135-184 (sixteenth-century, paper) + iix (modern end leaves, paper)

Binding

Late seventeenth-century calf binding over pasteboards, with raised sewing supports and gold-tooled laurel wreath design on spine, typical of Elias Ashmole's collection.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

The manuscript consists of three codicological units which were produced separately and later joined, and which appear to be unrelated to each other. Provenance for each part has been recorded separately, and the provenance of the composite manuscript in its current state is recorded here.

The two composite parts were likely compiled together by Elias Ashmole, who bequeathed the complete manuscript to the Ashmolean Museum in 1692, in one volume, as part of his donation of 1,100 printed books and 600 manuscripts. The first composite part was likely acquired from the poet William Brown(e) (1590-c. 1640) after his death, from whom Ashmole also acquired other manuscripts (now MS Ashmole 40 and MS Ashmole 767). It is uncertain how or where Ashmole procured the second composite part.

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

MS. Ashmole 59 - flyleaves (i-ii)

Contents

Language(s): Middle English and Latin

1. (fol. i r)

blank

2. (fol. i v)

John Shirley's decorative ownership inscription ‘ma ioye A Shirley’, with a crown insignia above the ‘A’. Similar ownership inscriptions appear in Cambridge University Library, MS Ff.1.33 and British Library, Royal MS 20 B XV.

3. (fol. i v)
Latin verse
Incipit: Non homo mireris si copia tu fluat eris

A later hand, possibly William Brown(e), corrects ‘mireris’ to ‘leteris’. The first four lines of this verse also appear on folio 43r, along with another two lines not present here. They are also witnessed in British Library MS Additional 16165 (fol. iiiv).

4. (fol. ii r)
Table of contents

This list of texts does not correspond to the contents of the manuscript. As it is written in John Shirley's hand, it was likely taken from another of Shirley's poetic anthologies and added to this manuscript in error. This confusion was likely due to the coincidence of the first and last items in the table of contents being the same as the manuscript.

5. (fol. ii v)

A mid sixteenth-century hand notes the contents of the manuscript: ‘Certē peeces of Lydgates, Chaucers, and Gowres workes, but ye moste are Lydgates’.

Physical Description

Support: parchment 275 × 196 mm. 201-210 × 102-130 mm.

Hand(s)

Written by John Shirley.

Additions: Folio 1v, containing Shirley's ownership inscription, also contains three merchant’s marks in two styles which are not original but likely of the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century. The uppermost mark is smudged and difficult to identify, in a rough reverse 4 shape with a loop to the left and a flourished descender. The lower two marks are better preserved: a reverse 4 shape with a cross to the left and an initial h or b formed from the descender with flourishes. Both marks unidentified, although the style of combining a 4 with a letter is also seen in personal seal designs in late medieval England.

Erased writing visible under UV on folio i v, some with hints of rubrication. Folio ii v contains a fragment of faint writing in a later hand at the foot of the page and inverted.

History

Provenance

Analysis under UV light suggests the parchment of this bifolium may be recycled and once contained text which has now been erased.

The flyleaves contain the ownership mark and hand of John Shirley, but were likely taken from another of his manuscripts as the contents do not match those contained in the first codicological unit. The practice of surrounding a paper text block with parchment end leaves was Shirley's preferred method of construction (see British Library Additional MS 16165). No manuscripts survive which contain this collection of texts. It is unclear when this bifolium was attached to the manuscript, but it was likely before 1614.

A late fifteenth-century inscription at the top of folio ii r, now partly erased, reads ‘Iste liber datur in vadium dno David G 1486’. This ownership cannot be ascribed to the rest of the manuscript with any certainty, as the flyleaves were taken from another manuscript which may have belonged to this name.

The hand of the poet William Brown(e) (1590-c. 1645) is seen in annotations on folio ii v; he also records his name on folio 1r: ‘Liber W. Browne’; and folio 133v: ‘W. Browne Inter. Templi, 1614’.

MS. Ashmole 59 – Part 1 (fols. 1–133) ( mid xv.)

Anthology of Middle English prose and verse, predominantly by Lydgate but also containing Chaucer, Gower, and Scogan. In the hand of John Shirley

Contents

1. (fols. 1r-12v)
Ps.-Aristotle, Secreta secretorum
Rubric: Here begynneþe [þe] boke made of þe governance of Princes compyled by þat reno(m)med Phylosophre Daune Aristotiles and sent to þat excellent Emperour and Prince
Incipit: MArmaduke þe sone of patryke þe sage of alle langages
Explicit: to abstene þee frome to miche eting and superfluite is þe souerine medecyne generally
Final rubric: Et sic explicit Decretum Aristo(te)lis | And begynneþe þabstracte Brevyaire compyled of diuers balades &c
Language(s): Middle English

Middle English 'Marmaduke' prose translation. Edited in Secretum secretorum: Nine English Versions, ed. M A Manzalaoui, Early English Text Society o.s. 276 (Oxford, 1977), 203-224.

IMEP IX.

The following texts in the first part of the manuscript are marked with the rubric: ‘Here begynneþe boke cleped þe Abstracte Brevyayre compyled of divers balades, roundels, virilayes, tragedyes, envoyes, compleyntes, moralites, storyes, practysed and eke devysed and ymagyned, as it sheweþe here folowyng’
2. (fols. 13r-17v)
John Lydgate, Fall of Princes
Rubric: þe Tragedye of Rome by Lidegate
Incipit: ROme Remembre of þy fundaco(u)n | And of what people þou toke þy gynnyng
Explicit: Let þestates of þere burthe honurable | Voyde al raskayle and wedde þere semblable
Language(s): Middle English

Three extracts from Lydgate's Fall of Princes: II.4460-4592 (fols. 13r-15r), III.1569-1638 (fols. 15r-16v), II.2584-2639 (fols. 16v-17v). The second extract on folio 15r opens with the rubric ‘Lenvoye by Lidegate’, erroneously positioned one stanza early. The third extract on folio 16v opens with the rubric ‘þis moral Epistel sent kynge Amasias to kynge Johas made by Dann Johan Lidegate þe poete of Bury’.

IMEV 1168.

3. (fols. 17v-18r)
John Gower, Balade moral of gode counseyle
Rubric: Balade moral of gode counseyle made by Gower
Incipit: PAsse forþe þou pilgryme and bridel wele þy beest(e) | Loke not ageine for thing þat may betyde
Explicit: Remembre eke þat what men doþe amisse | þou haste or arte or may be suche as he is

Eight seven-line stanzas. Edited in English Works of John Gower, ed. George Campbell Macaulay, Early English Text Society e.s. 81, 82 (Oxford, 1900, 1901, repr. 1978), clxxiii.

IMEV 2737.

Language(s): Middle English
4. (fols. 18r-21r)
John Lydgate, How every thing draweþ(e) to his semblable
Rubric: Here nowe foloweþe a balade ryal made by Lydegate affter his resorte to his religyo(u)n with þe refrayde howe every thing draweþe to his semblable
Incipit: TRete every man as he is disposed | With holy men entrete of holinesse
Explicit: Prerogatyff moste souereine of honour | Un to his ymage list make þe semblable
Final rubric: Explicit
Language(s): Middle English

Imperfect, twenty four eight-line stanzas of twenty five, missing stanza 12. The final line and explicit are written in the margin, in the same hand. Edited in The Minor Poems, Vol. II: Secular Poems, ed. Henry Noble MacCracken, Early English Text Society o.s. 192 (Oxford, 1934, repr. 1961), 801-8.

IMEV 3800.

5. (fols. 21v-22v)
John Lydgate, Prayer to our Lady
Incipit: OR dliectus meus shewde dilecco(u)n | desired me vnder his vmbracoun
Explicit: O filia Syon laudabilis nimis | Iam sonet vox tua in auribus
Language(s): Middle English and Latin

Nine eight-line stanzas. Edited in A.S.G. Edwards and A.W. Jenkins, ‘A Hymn to the Virgin: By Lydgate?’, Medieval Studies 35 (1973): 60-6.

IMEV 2816.

6. (fols. 22v-24v)
John Lydgate, Prayer to St. Edmund
Rubric: Here foloweþe a balade ryal of Invocaco(u)n to saint Edmunde at þinstance of kynge Henry þe sixst made by Lidgate
Incipit: GLorious martir þat of devoute humblesse | ffor Crystes sake was bounden til a tree
Explicit: Beoþe to his chirche defence and champioun | By cause it is of youre foundacyoun
Language(s): Middle English

Eight eight-line stanzas. Unedited.

IMEV 2445.

Includes an envoy comprising six eight-line stanzas (also unedited, IMEV 928. Titled in the scribe's hand ‘Envoy to Henry VI, Life of St Edmund’ and begins on folio 23v ‘Go lytel booke be ferful qwake for drede | ffor to appere in any so heghe presence’.

7. (fols. 24v-25r)
John Lydgate, Isopes Fabules
Rubric: Here begynneþe a notable proverbe of ysopus Ethiopyen(e) in balad by dann Johan Lidegate made in Oxenford
Incipit: AN olde proverbe haþe bee seyde and shal | Touchyng þe void of gredye coveytyse
Explicit: Lyche þe grehounde nought content w(i)t one cheese | Desireþe tweyne þer fore he dye boþe leese
Language(s): Middle English

Imperfect, containing only four stanzas of fable VII. Edited in The Minor Poems, Vol. II: Secular Poems, ed. MacCracken (1934, repr. 1961), 566.

IMEV 4178.

8. (fols. 25r-28r)
Henry Scogan, Moral Ballade
Rubric: Here foloweþe nexst a moral balade to my lord þe Prince to my lord of Clarence to my lord of Bedford and to my lorde of Gloucestre by Henry Scogan at a souper of feorþe m(er)chande in þe vyntre in london(e) at þe hous of Lowys Johan
Incipit: MY noble sonnes and eke my lordes dere | I youre fader called vnworþely
Explicit: God you conferme in vertuous goodnesse | So þat thorughe necgligence yee no thing leese
Language(s): Middle English

Twenty one eight-line stanzas. Three stanzas of another text interpolated between stanzas 13 and 14, without break but with marginal note - see next item.

IMEV 2264.

9. (fol. 27r)
Geoffrey Chaucer, Gentillesse
Rubric: Geffrey Chaucier made þeos thre balades nexst þat folowen
Incipit: þe first fader and foundour of gentylesse | What man þat claymeþe gentyle for to be
Explicit: þat maþe his heyre him þat wol him qweme | Al were he mytre crowne or dyademe
Language(s): Middle English

Three eight-line stanzas. Interpolated into Henry Scogan's poem Moral Ballade. Edited in A Parallel-Text Edition of Chaucer’s Minor Poems, in 3 vols., ed. Frederick James Furnivall, Chaucer Society 1st Series 21, 57, 58 (London, repr. 1967).

IMEV 3348.

10. (fols. 28r-29v)
John Lydgate, Fall of Princes
Rubric: Here foloweþe a balade by a gode Clerk made þat is cleped presbiter Johannes to advertyse þe hye prynces þat haue þe power of þe pepul to gov(e)rne hem & co(u)nsel and vertue
Incipit: ÞEre is no damage more man to purpose | Ne for to be drede is more lamentable
Explicit: ffor some tunges touchen ay treso(u)n | And gif no credence w(i)toute auisement
Language(s): Middle English

Imperfect extracts from Lydgate's Fall of Princes: II. 4593-4606, 4614-4627 (with the transposition of 4623-4624 and 4625-4627), 4624-4662, 4558-4560, 4820-4844 (with the transposition of 4840-4841 and 4842-4843).

IMEV 1168.

11. (fols. 29v-31v)
John Lydgate, Consulo quisque eris
Rubric: Here foloweþe a poetycal balade of wysdame made by þe Munke of Bury cleped Johan Lidegate
Incipit: COvnseyllier where þat ever þou be | Of plolicye for sight and prudence
Explicit: Twene vyce and vertue to sette a difference | To his plesaunce so grante oure pilgrimage
Language(s): Middle English

Fifteen eight-line stanzas. Edited in The Minor Poems, Vol. II: Secular Poems, ed. MacCracken (1934, repr. 1961),750-4.

IMEV 1294.

12. (fols. 31v-33v)
John Lydgate, Midsomer Rose
Rubric: Here foloweþe a balade made of þe transmutaco(u)ns of þis worlde w(i)t þe refrayde as a midsomer Roos
Incipit: LEt noman booste of konnyng ne vertue | Of tresore ricchesse or of sapience
Explicit: Called þe Ryver with þe red streme | To paradyse wardes un to Ihesu oure Roos
Language(s): Middle English

Imperfect: fourteen eight-line stanzas of fifteen, missing stanza 8. Edited in The Minor Poems, Vol. II: Secular Poems, ed. MacCracken (1934, repr. 1961), 780-5.

IMEV 1865.

13. (fols. 33v-34v)
John Lydgate, A dyte of womenhis hornys
Rubric: Here foloweþe nowe a moral balade withe Refrayde if hornes were awaye bytwene nature and bewte &c by Lidegate
Incipit: Off god and kynde procedeþe al beautee | Yitte crafft cane shewe aforeine appare(n)ce
Explicit: Noble Pryncesse of meeke benyvolence | Ben saumple your hornes caste a way
Language(s): Middle English

Imperfect: seven eight-line stanzas of ten, missing stanzas 5 and 8. Edited in The Minor Poems, Vol. II: Secular Poems, ed. MacCracken (1934, repr. 1961), 662-5.

IMEV 2625.

14. (fol. 34v)
John Lydgate, To fynde a freond at neode
Rubric: þan foloweþe nowe a notable moralisaco(u)n made by Lidegate of a fabul poetical . how(e) trees chose hem a kyng bytwene þe þe Ryal Cydre of þe hye mo(u)ntayne and þe thowthistelle of þe lowe valeye . þis moralisacio(u)n is in þis same boke to fore . And wryt a poletyke balade w(i)t refrayde, to finde a frende at nede
Incipit: Vhane Aurora toke of Tytan hir leve | Nought yoore agone in a gladde mornyng
Explicit: Gret coustume is a bowte þe tree | While þat þe bowes been(e) w(i)t frutyes lade
Language(s): Middle English

Imperfect: the first twelve lines of seventeen stanzas. Edited in The Minor Poems, Vol. II: Secular Poems, ed. MacCracken (1934, repr. 1961), 755-9.

IMEV 3034.

15. (fol. 35r-37r)
John Lydgate, To fynde a freond at neode
Rubric: Here begynneþe a Polletyke Balade ryale made by þat approbate Poete Lidegate þe Munk of Burye w(i)t with þe gode Refrayde, To fynde a freonde at neode
Incipit: Late whane Aurora of Tytane toke leve | Nought longe agone in a gladde mornyng
Explicit: ffor Maries sake be oure protecco(u)n | And helpe alle þoo þat calne þee at þeire nede
Language(s): Middle English

The perfect version of the previous text, in seventeen eight-line stanzas, with a variant copy of the first twelve lines. Edited in The Minor Poems, Vol. II: Secular Poems, ed. MacCracken (1934, repr. 1961), 755-9.

IMEV 3034.

16. (fols. 37r-38v)
Geoffrey Chaucer, Balade of Fortune
Rubric: Here foloweþe nowe a compleynte of þe pleintyff ageinst ageinst fortune translated oute of ffrenshe in to Englisshe by þat famous Rethorissyen(e) Geffrey Chaucier
Incipit: This wrecched worldes transmutaco(u)n | As wele and woo nowe poure and nowe hono(u)r
Explicit: ffor to folowe by wordes þe curyoustee | Of hem þat vsen for to make in ffraunce
Language(s): Middle English

Imperfect: the Envoy from Chaucer's Complaint of Venus is erroneously added to the end of the text (also witnessed in British Library, Harley MS 2251), to form nine eight-line stanzas plus two envoy stanzas. Each envoy stanza is titled in the margin ‘Lenvoye de ffortune’ and ‘Lenvoye by Chaucyer’. Edited in A Parallel-Text Edition of Chaucer’s Minor Poems, in 3 vols., ed. Frederick James Furnivall, Chaucer Society 1st Series 21, 57, 58 (London, repr. 1967).

IMEV 3661 and 3542.

17. (fols. 38v-39v)
Geoffrey Chaucer, Chaucer's Chronicle
Rubric: Here nowe folowe þe names of þe nyene worshipfullest Ladyes þ(a)t in alle cronycles and storyal bokes haue ben founden(e) of trouþe of constaunce and vertuous or reproched womenhode by Chaucier
Incipit: GRete Rayson Cleopatre is þy Kyndnesse | Be putte in mynde and also þyne hyenesse
Explicit: Where þat of yowe þe goddes hade grete pitee | And lyche seemewes transfourmed him and þee
Language(s): Middle English

The sole witness of this text, in nine eight-line stanzas. Edited in Odd Texts of the Minor Poems, in 2 vols., ed. Frederick James Furnivall, Chaucer Society 1st Series 23, 60 (London, 1868, 1880, repr. 1967), App. v-viii.

IMEV 1016.

18. (fols. 39v-41r)
John Lydgate, Balade in Commendation of Our Lady
Rubric: Here foloweþe nexst a devoute balade by Lidegate of Bury made at þe reverence of oure lady Qwene of mercy
Incipit: A Thowsande stories I kouþe to you reherce | Of olde clerkis touching þe matere
Explicit: Vn knowing him bare Tryste by gret myracle | And of Ihesus manhode truwe tabernacle
Language(s): Middle English

Eveven seven-line stanzas. Edited in The Minor Poems, Vol. I: Religious Poems, ed. MacCracken (1911, repr. 1961), 254-60.

IMEV 99.

19. (fols. 41r-43r)
John Lydgate, Amor et Pecunia
Rubric: Nowe foloweþe here nexst a questyo(u)n made in wyse of balade by þat Philosofre Lidegate daun Johan . Wheþer is moste p(re)fered in þe worlde þ(a)t nowe is, Amor vincit omnia . or Mentiris quod pecunia
Incipit: EChe man to folowe his owen fantasye | Lyche as it falleþe in fallþe in his opynioun
Explicit: Suche love graunted in trouþe and stabulnesse | Shal haue his guerdo(u)n and his mede
Language(s): Middle English and Latin

Seventeen eight-line stanzas. Six lines of Latin verse have been added to the end of the text, with the rubric ‘Versus philosophorum’, as a continuation of the same text. The first four lines agree with those on the flyleaf i v. The Middle English is edited in The Minor Poems, Vol. II: Secular Poems, ed. MacCracken (1934, repr. 1961), 744-9.

IMEV 698.

20. (fols. 43v-44r)
Geoffrey Chaucer, The Complaint of Venus
Rubric: Here begynneþe a balade made by þ(a)t worþy knight of Savoye in frensche calde s(ir) Otes Graunson translated by Chauciers
Incipit: There nys so hye comfort to my plesaunce | Whane þat I am in any hevynesse
Explicit: To folowe worde by worde þe curyoustee | Of Granson flour of hem þ(a)t make in ffraunce
Language(s): Middle English

Complete text, with the same envoy from item 17 Balade of Fortune added to the end. Eight eight-line stanzas plus envoy. Edited in A Parallel-Text Edition of Chaucer’s Minor Poems, in 3 vols., ed. Frederick James Furnivall, Chaucer Society 1st Series 21, 57, 58 (London, repr. 1967).

IMEV 3542.

21. (fols. 44v-45v)
John Lydgate, Invocation to St. Anne
Rubric: Here begynneþe a devoute Invocaco(u)n to sainte Anne by þat solempne Religious Lidegate made at þe commaundement of my ladye Anne Countasse of Stafford
Incipit: THowe first mouver þar causest al thynge | To haue his keping thorugh(e) þy provydence
Explicit: He graunte vs mercy in his exyle here | Sith he vs bought w(i)t his blode so dere
Language(s): Middle English

Eleven seven-line stanzas. Edited in The Minor Poems, Vol. I: Religious Poems, ed. MacCracken (1911, repr. 1961), 130-3.

IMEV 3671.

22. (fols. 45v-47v)
John Lydgate, A Lover’s Lament
Rubric: Here folowþe nexst a compleynte made by Lydegate for þe departing of Thomas Chaucier in to ffraunce by hes s(er)vauntz vpon þe kynges ambassate
Incipit: Every maner creature | disposed vn to gentylesse
Explicit: þat of mercy shee not disdeyne | To bee my souerine ladye dere
Language(s): Middle English

Fifteen eight-line stanzas. Edited in The Minor Poems, Vol. II: Secular Poems, ed. MacCracken (1934, repr. 1961), 420-4.

IMEV 746.

23. (fols. 47v-49r)
John Lydgate, Beware of Doublenesse
Rubric: Nowe here foloweþe a balade made by Lidegate of wymen(ne) ffor desporte and game per Antyfrasim
Incipit: The worlde is nowe full of al variaunce | In every thing who þat taþe gode hede
Explicit: Sette on youre brest youre selff & assure | A mighty sheelde of doubulnesse
Language(s): Middle English

Imperfect: eleven eight-line stanzas of thirteen, stanzas 8 and 10 missing. Edited in The Minor Poems, Vol. II: Secular Poems, ed. MacCracken (1934, repr. 1961), 438-42.

IMEV 3656.

24. (fols. 49r-52r)
A Holy Meditation
Rubric: Here nowe foloweþe an holy meditacio(u)n made by þe Religious man Lidegate daun Johan þe Munk of Bury
Incipit: Affter þe stormy tyme cessinge þe rayne | Whane for þabsence of colde þeorþe is fayne
Explicit: If þowe do þus þane shal þy soule weende | To hevens blisse which þat haþenone ende
Final rubric: Amen þer Shirley
Language(s): Middle English

Ninety couplets. Once thought to have been written by Chaucer - for this debate, see Germaine Dempster, ‘Chaucer’s ‘Wretched Engendering’ and ‘An Holy Medytacion’, Modern Philology 35:1 (1937): 27-9. Edited in The Minor Poems, Vol. I: Religious Poems, ed. MacCracken (1911, repr. 1961), 43-8.

IMEV 131.

25. (fols. 52r-54r)
John Lydgate, Valentine to Our Lady
Rubric: Here foloweþe nowe a glorious Invocaco(u)n to oure blessed ladye made by þat vert(u)ous Lidegate in balade wyse in cheosing of Valantynes at þat selff feeste with þe Refrayde I love one best of alle
Incipit: SAinte Valentyne of custume yeere by yeere | Men haue in vsaunce with þis Regyoun
Explicit: Have on vs mercy whane we for helpe calle | ffor love of hir þat þus excelliþe alle
Language(s): Middle English

Twenty seven-line stanzas. Edited in The Minor Poems, Vol. I: Religious Poems, ed. MacCracken (1911, repr. 1961), 304-10.

IMEV 3065.

26. (fols. 54r-56v)
John Lydgate, To King Henry VI on his Coronation
Rubric: Nowe here foloweþe nexst a balade made by þat solempne clerk Lidegate daun Johan . presented to kynge henry þe sixst his soverin(e) Lorde. þe daye of þat royal solempnysaco(u)n of his coronaco(u)n at Westm(inster)
Incipit: MOost noble Prynce of cristen Prynces alle | fflouring in yowþe and vertuous Innosence
Explicit: And god shal sende þee frome þe heven dovne | Grace and gode hure to þy roial estate
Final rubric: Lenvoy to þe kinge henry þe sixst by Lidegate
Language(s): Middle English

Eighteen eight-line stanzas. Edited in The Minor Poems, Vol. II: Secular Poems, ed. MacCracken (1934, repr. 1961), 324-30.

IMEV 2211.

27. (fols. 56v-57r)
John Lydgate, On Kissing at Verbum caro factum est
Rubric: A folowing begynneþe þis balade nest folowing of þe Lenvoye of þe same to þe Qweene . And þane shoule yee rede nexst a devoute seyinge of verbu(m) caro factu(m) est
Incipit: YEe devoute peple wheoche haue observaunce | Mekely in churches to kysse stoone or tree
Explicit: And ay haue mynde of Crystes passyoun | Which(e) for þy sake werde þe crowne of thorne
Final rubric: Nowe endeþe here þe dyte of verb(u)m caro factu(m) est
Language(s): Middle English

Four eight-line stanzas. Edited in The Minor Poems, Vol. I: Religious Poems, ed. MacCracken (1911, repr. 1961), 116-7.

IMEV 4245.

28. (fols. 57r-58v)
John Lydgate, A Complaint for my Lady of Gloucester and Holland
Rubric: and nexst foloweþe a Pytous complaynte of a Chapellayne of my lordes of Gloucest(er) Humfrey &c whome gode assoyle þat noble Prynce
Incipit: A Solytarye ful sore compleyninge | Hevy sate weeping on a Ryver syde
Explicit: þat clere troyth may þanne shewe his face | Boþe wychche and bawde far aweye to chace
Language(s): Middle English

Imperfect, lines 1-110 only due to the loss of a leaf. Fifteen seven-line stanzas and one five-line stanza with the beginning of the next line as a catchword,. Edited in The Minor Poems, Vol. I: Religious Poems, ed. MacCracken (1911, repr. 1961), 608-13.

IMEV 92.

29. (fols. 59r-v)
John Lydgate, Fall of Princes
Rubric: Tragedye made by Lidegate
Incipit: His kyngdame eke brought to destruco(u)n | Loo here þe fyne of prynces vicyous
Explicit: Lych Syrynes with voyces malodyous | Blannndisshe youre eris to make you lechcherous
Final rubric: Explicit
Language(s): Middle English

Extract from Lydgate's Fall of Princes: 31 lines, III.1608-1639.

IMEV 1168.

30. (fol. 59v)
Garter list
Rubric: Here folowen þe names of þe ordre of knightes of þe Garter
Language(s): Middle English

IMEP IX.

31. (fols. 59v)
John Shirley, Shirley's Bookplate
Incipit: Yee þat desyre in herte and have plesau(n)ce | Olde stories in bokis for to rede
Explicit: Whane yee þis boke haue over redde and seyne | To Johan Shirley restore yee it ageine
Language(s): Middle English

John Shirley's bookplate in seven lines, a variant of which also appears in Cambridge, Trinity College R.3.20.

IMEV 4260.

32. (fols. 59v-62r)
John Lydgate, An Epistell to Sibille
Rubric: Lenvoye by Lidegate | Here foloweþe an Epistel made by þe same Lidegate sende to Sibille with þeschewing of ydelnesse
Incipit: The chief gynnyng of grace and of vertue | To exclude slouþe is ocupaco(u)n
Explicit: Let hie labour avoyding ydelnesse | Vsinge hir handes in vertuous besynesse
Final rubric: Lenvoye
Language(s): Middle English

The sole witness. Twenty one seven-line stanzas - stanza 18 is repeated. Edited in The Minor Poems, Vol. I: Religious Poems, ed. MacCracken (1911, repr. 1961), 14-18.

IMEV 3321.

33. (fols. 62r-64r)
John Lydgate, The Mumming at Bishopswood
Rubric: Nowe here nexst folowyng ys made a balade by Lydegate sente by a pour syant to þe Shirreves of London(e) acompanyed with þeire breþerne vpon(ne) Mayes daye at Busshopes wod(e) at an honurable dyner eche of hem bringginge his dysshe
Incipit: MIghty fflourra goddes of fresshe floures | Whiche cloþed hast þe soyle in lousty grene
Explicit: And al þat may youre hyenesse qweeme and pleese | In any parte or doone youre hertes eese
Language(s): Middle English

Sixteen seven-line stanzas. Edited in The Minor Poems, Vol. II: Secular Poems, ed. MacCracken (1934, repr. 1961), 668-71.

IMEV 2170.

34. (fols. 63r-65r)
John Lydgate, Stabat mater dolorosa
Rubric: Here nowe filoweþe nexst a devoute Invocaco(u)n to oure Ladye with þe þe refrayde Stabat mater dolorosa
Incipit: HEyle goddes moder dolorous | By þe crosse stonding forwepped
Explicit: þowe helpe me in þat stronge stour | Whane þey frome hens wolde me take
Language(s): Middle English

The sole witness. Twenty three couplets. Edited in Religious Lyrics of the XVth Century, ed. Carleton Fairchild Brown (Oxford: Clarendon, 1939), 22-5.

IMEV 1048.

35. (fols. 65r-66r)
John Lydgate, A devowte invocacioun to Sainte Denys
Rubric: And nowe foloweþe here a dovowte Invocaco(u)n made by Lydegate to sainte Denys at þe request of Charlles þe Frenshe Kynge to let it bee translated oute of Frenshe in to Englisshe
Incipit: O þow chosen of gode protectour of ffraunce | þow richchest rubye of þeire felicitee
Explicit: To fore þe heghe devyne magestee | And preye þe lord taccepte oure preyer
Language(s): Middle English

The sole witness. Nine eight-line stanzas. Edited in The Minor Poems, Vol. I: Religious Poems, ed. MacCracken (1911, repr. 1961), 127-9.

IMEV 2566.

36. (fols. 66r-67r)
John Lydgate, A lament of the Virgin Mary
Rubric: Here nowe foloweþe a pytous lamentaco(u)n of oure ladye shewde to saint Auncyo(u)n of Cristes passyo(u)n made by John | Lidegate
Incipit: IN þe tourret of a toure I stode musinge on þe moone | A comly qweene of honour Appered in goostly sight(e) soone
Explicit: ffor þee mankynde þe trouth to telle Bethenke þee wele telle on have doo | Aske þowe me helpe and I shal doo and save þee Quia amore langveo
Language(s): Middle English

Eleven eight-line stanzas with refrain. Edited in Religious Lyrics of the XIV Century, ed. Brown (1924), 234-7.

IMEV 1460.

37. (fols. 67r-v)
Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, on the Virtues of the Mass
Rubric: Here nexst foloweþe þe wrytinge of þe doctoure saint Austyne what mede man resceyveþe þ(a)t devoutely hereþe his messe
Incipit: NOwe vnderstonde beþe more and lesse | What mede yee resceyve to here yo(ur)e messe
Explicit: þis grace and pardone for to have | þeire bodye and soule for to save
Language(s): Middle English

The sole witness. Seventeen couplets. Edited in Peter J. Lucas, ‘The Versions by John Shirley, William Gybbe and Another of the Poem On the Virtues of the Mass: A Collation’, Notes and Queries n.s. 28 (1981): 394-8.

IMEV 2373.

38. (fols. 67v-68r)
Against Swearing
Rubric: And nowe folowen þe wordes of monisshone of oure lord ih(es)u crist saide to saint Jerome and to saint Gregorie
Incipit: Who so ever he beo þat useþe to swere by þe holy membres of oure lorde ih(es)u Criste
Explicit: god sende yowe grace of Amendement and beware in penaunce of god
Language(s): Middle English

Prose. IMEP IX.

39. (fols. 68r-68v)
A hymn on the Five Joys
Rubric: Nowe foloweþe here nexst a devoute and holy salutaco(u)n of oure ladye made by an holy Ankaresse of Maunsffeld
Incipit: HEille glorious virgyne grounde of al oure grace | Heyle mayde and moder in virgynitee
Explicit: Heyle sawe to seeke vs synners sende socour | þees ioyes fyve surmountinge in oure mynde
Language(s): Middle English

Five eight-line stanzas. Shirley attributes the text to an anchoress of Maunsfeld. The text has been attributed to Lidgate by Stow in BL Add.29729. Edited in Religious Lyrics of the XIV Century, ed. Brown (1924), 53-4.

IMEV 1406.

40. (fols. 68v-69r)
John Lydgate, On the Image of Pity
Rubric: Here foloweþe a devoute exortaco(u)n to meeve men(ne) devoutely to þe ymage of pyte by orisounes and preyers
Incipit: O wrechched synner what so ever þowe be | With hert indurate herder þane þe stoone
Explicit: þat holsome stories shewed in figure | May rest with vs in moste duwe remembrance
Language(s): Middle English

Imperfect: four eight-line stanzas of five. Edited in The Minor Poems, Vol. I: Religious Poems, ed. MacCracken (1911, repr. 1961), 297-9.

IMEV 2588.

41. (fols. 69r-70v)
John Lydgate, Deus in Nomine Tuo saluum me Fac
Rubric: Nowe foloweþe þe salme of deus in no(m)i(n)e tuo translated owte of latyne in to englisshe by Lydegate daun Johan
Incipit: GOd in þy name make me sauf and sovnde | And in þy vertue me deme and iustefye
Explicit: With oyle of mercye to meschef medcynable | þowe heele myne hert whyle I haue lyves space
Language(s): Middle English

Imperfect: eight eight-line stanzas of nine. Missing stanza added on folio 134v. Edited in The Minor Poems, Vol. I: Religious Poems, ed. MacCracken (1911, repr. 1961), 10-12.

IMEV 951.

42. (fols. 70v-71v)
Seven Wise Counsels
Rubric: Here nowe foloweþe þe doctryne of many gret Clerkes approved made in baladewyse and translated oute of divers langages in to englisshe
Incipit: By sapience tempre þy courage | Of hasty yre daunte þy passiouns
Explicit: With hole herte body wille and mynde | To be contente with suche as þey fynde
Language(s): Middle English

Nine seven-line stanzas. Edited in Max Förster, ‘Kleine Mitteilungen zur mittelenglische Lehrdichtung, VI.’, Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen 104 (1900): 293-309.

IMEV 576.

43. (fols. 71v-72r)
Of the Four Complexions
Rubric: Here nexst foloweþe þe foure complexcyons of man kynde with þe doomis of hem made by discrete Clerkes
Incipit: Off gifftes large to love haþe gret delite | Ioyous and gladde aye of laughing chere
Explicit: Coward of kynde whane he shoulde be a man | þowe shalt him knowe by visage pale and wane
Language(s): Middle English

Imperfect: three seven-line stanzas, missing the stanza on Fleumaticus. Each stanza is followed by Latin hexameter couplet. Edited in Henry Axel Person, Cambridge Middle English Lyrics (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1953; rev. ed. 1962), 50-2.

IMEV 2624.

44. (fol. 72r)
John Lydgate (attributed), Four things that make a man fall from Reason
Rubric: þe philosofar writeþe for a souereine notabilite þat foure thinges makeþe þe prudence of man to falle
Incipit: Worship wymen and vnweldy age | Make men fonde for lak in þere resoun
Explicit: And bookis þat poetes wrot and radde | Seyne wymen mooste make men to madde
Language(s): Middle English

One seven-line stanza, attributed to Lydgate. Edited in The Minor Poems, Vol. II: Secular Poems, ed. MacCracken (1934, repr. 1961), 709.

IMEV 4230.

45. (fol. 72r)
Prophecy of Merlin
Rubric: Profecia merlini
Incipit: Gens erit australis rector regni generalis | Et regit injuste, periet quoque postea juste
Language(s): Latin

Two-lines, unedited.

46. (fols. 72r-v)
Þe seynge of wyse men
Incipit: Þat man is wys and weele fortunate | Þat by oþer men can leorne to eschieve
Explicit: He may be cleped felix men may defiyse | Þus may harme be cleped profitable
Language(s): Middle English

The sole witness. One seven-line stanza and one six-line stanza. Unedited.

IMEV 3286.

47. (fol. 72v)
Six Biblical questions and answers
Incipit: Who was ded ande never borne , Adam þ(a)t was oure first beforne
Explicit: Who spake or þ(a)t he was borne , John baptiste of olde in þe moder wombe
Language(s): Middle English

The sole witness. Six couplets. A seventh is added in a later hand. Edited by Max Förster, ‘Kleinere mittelenglische texte’, Anglia 42 (1918): 145-224.

IMEV 4111.

48. (fol. 72v)
Þe Ten Commandments
Incipit: þowe shalt haue one god and no moo | þou shalt not swere in veyne al so
Explicit: þy neghboires wyf coveyte þou nought | hors oxse asse no oþ(er) ought
Language(s): Middle English

Imperfect: five of twelve couplets. Edited by Speculum Christiani, ed. Gustaf Holmstedt, Early English Text Society o.s. 182 (1933, repr. 1988), lxxiv-lxxv.

IMEV 3685.

49. (fol. 73r)
Devoute & vertuos wordes
Incipit: þere is none so wyse man but he may wisdame Leere | þere is none so stronge man but he may fynde his peere
Explicit: þere is none so fals man but some man may him leve | þere is none so meke a man but some man may him greve
Language(s): Middle English

Four long lines. Edited by Religious Lyrics of the XVth Century, ed. Brown (1939), 285.

IMEV 3538.

50. (fol. 73r)
Thou that weared the crown of thorns
Incipit: þou þat werred þe crowne of thornes | ffell dovne þe pryde of wom(m)ens hornes
Explicit: Lord for þy peyneful passyo(u)n | To save oure soule frome dampnaco(u)n
Language(s): Middle English

The sole witness. Eight lines with couplet. Edited by Historical Poems of the XIV and XV Centuries, ed. Rossell Hope Robbins (New York: Columbia UP, 1959), 139.

IMEV 3698.

51. (fol. 73r)
And ever the higher that thow art
Incipit: And ever þe hyer þat þowe erte | So muche lower bee þyne herte
Language(s): Middle English

The sole witness. One couplet. Unedited.

IMEV 299.5.

52. (fol. 73r)
Poem on good counsel
Incipit: Love gentyl Ihesu fervently Adversete take pacyently | Prosperyty vse it mekely Heven to reioyse þus esely
Explicit: So I prey yow what is come(th) or was loke who is him þ(a)t wele done has | Nowe lorde Ih(es)u I crye þee nowe mercy To do penaunce or þat I hens dye
Language(s): Middle English

Eight lines. Edited in Cambridge Middle English Lyrics, ed. Person (1962), 25.

IMEV 317.

53. (fol. 73r)
Augustinian prose text
Rubric: Augustinius dicit
Incipit: Quod prima die quando anima exit de corpore, exit ad Jherusalem
Language(s): Latin

In nine parts, unedited.

54. (fols. 74v-75r)
Chronicle of England in Latin with dates
Rubric: Here nexst foloweþe a truwe cronicle of Englisshe vercefyed in Latyne. withe þe diuers dates. abstracte by Cronicles of Englande
Incipit: HIc nato xpo [Cristoforo] mundi numerus datur isto - v M1 iiijxx xix
Explicit: Finis adest mundi queratur vila secundi - M1 cccc &c
Language(s): Latin

Thirty seven leonine verses, each with a date. Unedited.

55. (fols. 75r-77r)
John Lydgate, Verses on the Kings of England (to Henry VI)
Rubric: Nowe here folowen þe names of þe Kinges of England frome þe conquest of Duc William of Normandye | Duc and Kynge William conquerour
Incipit: Tis mighty William Duke of Normandie | As bookis olde maken mencyo(u)n
Explicit: Of vertuous lyff chosyn him for his knight | Longe to reioysshe and regne here in his right
Language(s): Middle English

Fifteen seven-line stanzas. Edited in Historical Poems of the XIV and XV Centuries, ed. Robbins (1959), 3-6.

IMEV 3632.

56. (fols. 77r-v)
Prose text of Thomas of Canterbury
Rubric: Here now foloweþe nexst a scripture in latyn prosed in feyre cadence whiche saint Thomas of Caunturbury martyre and martyr lefft wryten in auricalco he beinge Archebusshoppe
Incipit: CUm Ego Thomas Cantuar(ia) Archie(pisco)pus exul ab Anglia
Language(s): Latin

Prose. Unedited.

57. (fol. 78r)
Merlin's Prophecy
Rubric: Prophecia Merlini doctoris perfecti
Incipit: Whane lordes wol leese þeire olde lawes | And preestis beon varyinge in þeire sawes
Explicit: þat is islande of Albyoun | Nexst to his confusyoun
Language(s): Middle English and Latin

Imperfect: eight lines only. Edited in Walter William Skeat, ‘Merlin’s Prophecy’, Athenaeum 108 (1896): 874.

IMEV 3943.

58. (fol. 78r)
Prophecy
Rubric: Alia prophesia
Incipit: Cesaris imperium per tempora longa patebit
Explicit: Ealli cum bruto cuntos ⟨⟩gos supabunt
Language(s): Latin

Nine lines. Unedited.

59. (fols. 78r-83r)
Doctrine of Saint Augustine
Rubric: Nowe filoweþe here nexst þe doctryne of þat solempne and holy doctour saint Austyne . articled in prose for pe savaco(u)n boþe of bodye and soule to alle cristen naco(u)n
Incipit: Knowe þy self seyþe and techeþe vs saint Austyne þat gloryous doctour
Explicit: Were a man made of eorþe of claye made of claye and eorþe þou arte and to eorþe shalt owe tomne agoyne
Final rubric: Explicit. Nowe eondeþe here þe prose of þe holy doctour saint Austyne
Language(s): Middle English

Prose. Unedited.

IMEP IX.

60. (fols. 83r-v)
Cur mundus militat
Rubric: and nexst filowynge begynneþe a ensaumple of þe same putte in vercyfical metre […] of Ryme
Incipit: WHy is þis worlde beloved þat fals is and veyne | Such alle haue welthes been in vncerteyne
Explicit: But for alsmuche as every man most dyd | Here is no wye but sorowe leve sik⟨⟩
Language(s): Middle English

Twenty couplets. The verse ‘Car mundus militat sub vana gloria’ is written in the margin of folio 83r. Edited in A Selection of Religious Lyrics, ed. Douglas Gray (Oxford: Clarendon, 1975), 89.

IMEV 4160.

61. (fols. 83v-84r)
Words of Jerome
Rubric: Here nowe nexst folowe þe wordes of Jerome þe prophete
Incipit: Quando senes erunt sine sensu
Explicit: Bestia eirentalis et leo ocadentalis rumersum mundiun submyabrunt
Language(s): Latin

Prose. Unedited.

62. (fol. 84v)
Prophecy
Incipit: Velit aut nolit totus mundus
Explicit: Rustica gens optima flens set pessima gaudens
Language(s): Latin

Contains the name ‘Sibille la sage’ in between prophecies. Unedited.

63. (fols. 84v-98r)
John Lydgate, Summum Sapientie
Rubric: Here folowen nowe þe seyinges of wysemen of Prophetes of Poetes of Philosophres of hooly men of gret and Autorysed Clerkes of þe olde testament and of þe nuwe
Incipit: þE tyme approcheþe of necessite | To reherce þe material sentence
Explicit: þane after þis worlde transmygraco(u)n | In heven have youre habitacyo(u)n
Language(s): Middle English

One hundred and sixteen seven-line stanzas. Names of the philosophers written in the margins as glosses to the text. Edited in Förster, ‘Kleine Mitteilungen zur mittelenglische Lehrdichtung, VI.’, 293-309.

IMEV 3487.

64. (fols. 98r-99v)
John Lydgate, Stans Puer ad Mensam
Rubric: And here nowe foloweþe nest a doctryne of Curteysye cleped in Latyne . Stans puer ad mensam d(omi)n(i) . translated in to Englisshe in balade wyse by Lidegate þe religious of Bury
Incipit: My dere chylde first þy self enable | With al þyne herte to vertuous desciplyne
Explicit: If ought be amisse in worde sillabul or dyte | Put al defaute vpon Iohn Lydegate
Final rubric: Explicit
Language(s): Middle English

Fourteen seven-line stanzas. Edited in The Minor Poems, Vol. II: Secular Poems, ed. MacCracken (1934, repr. 1961), 739-44.

IMEV 2233.

65. (fols. 99v-128v)
The Three Kings of Cologne
Rubric: Here nowe foloweþe an holy solempne and a trewe cronicle of oure cristen feyth(e) . translated oute of Latyn(e) in to Englissh(e) by þe grettest doctours of oure nacio(u)n . licenced by þe chirche þat entreteþe of þe birth(e) of Cryste affter holy scripture
Incipit: The vertue and þe might of almighty god of heven þe fader
Explicit: and þere so abyden(e) in to þis daye &
Final rubric: Thus nowe here endeþe þis wondrefull(e) and honourable translacio(u)n of þeos thre holy kynges of Ynde þ(a)t first worshiped Cryste in Bedleme affter his birth(e)
Language(s): Middle English

Prose, in thirty-eight chapters, with chapter numbers written in outer margin. Edited in The Three Kings of Cologne: An Early English Translation of the Historia Trium Regum, ed. N. Trübner, Early English Text Society o.s. 85 (Oxford, 1886).

IMEP IX.

66. (fols. 128v-130r)
Prester John continuation
Rubric: And foloweþe nest þe cronycle of þat mighty Patryarch(e) cleped Prestre Johan nowe of Ynde
Incipit: PRestre Johan þat is lord of Ynde and all þe kynges þat beon under his dominaco(u)n
Explicit: and also þe sarasines þat been of Machametis lawe and oþer turkes have þeos
Language(s): Middle English

Prose. On folio 129v the account of the place where John is baptized is signalled with ‘C(a)p(itu)lu(m) xxxix’ as if this text is a continuation of the previous. The bottom two-thirds of the last folio (130) has been cropped with the gutter still present, but the empty space beneath the final line of this text suggests that none of the main text has been lost, but it is likely that it was once followed by a final rubric (following the pattern of Shirley's other texts). There is evidence in the gutter of further writing lower on the page, closer to the margin than the Prester John continuation. Unedited.

IMEP IX.

67. (fol. 130v)
The morow off screfte
Incipit: I am a knowe to god and to our Lady seynt mary and to all þe blyssyd company of heven
Explicit: as mych þat I haue noȝt loued my god bow all oþer thyngys and haf more
Language(s): Middle English

Incomplete confessional text in prose, in a different hand and darker ink to John Shirley, also of the fifteenth century. This is the sole witness (see Joliffe, A Checklist of Middle English Prose Writings of Spiritual Guidance, 165-6), although this style of confessional text is commonplace. The bottom two-thirds of the page has been cropped with the loss of text, visible from the remnants of ascenders. Unedited.

IMEP IX.

68. (fol. 130v)
(blank)
Language(s): None.
69. (fol. 131v)
Recipe for the stone
Rubric: Pulvis p(ro) petr(a) comendedus ter in die si infirm(u)s volu(er)it est iste
Incipit: Take persley sed the sed of saxifrage
Explicit: & habebit cito enixilin(e) remedatu(r)um est
Final rubric: Explicit
Language(s): Middle English and Latin

Prose. Begins in English and changes to Latin half way through. In a different hand, also of the fifteenth century. Unedited.

IMEP IX.

70. (fol. 131v)
Recipe for all manner of sickness
Rubric: A gode powder ffor all maner of sekenes yn a manys stomak and for the dropese and for the gaundys
Incipit: Take the sede of smallache and layoff
Explicit: ffore days next thenne
Language(s): Middle English

Prose. In a different hand, also of the late fifteenth century. Unedited.

IMEP IX.

71. (fol. 132r)
Recipe for a cough
Rubric: For hem þ(a)t haþ a perelless coche
Incipit: Take sauge rewe and comyn and powder of peper
Explicit: wse ther of a sponfull at nytte and another at moro
Language(s): Middle English

Prose. In the same hand as the previous. Unedited.

IMEP IX.

72. (fols. 132v-133r)
Treatise on Egyptian Days
Incipit: Therre ben iiy fryydays in the yere that who that euer fast
Explicit: the fyrst munday of feverre(re) and þe last munday of may and the last munday of december
Language(s): Middle English

Prose. In the same hand as item 68. Edited in English Language Notes, 13 (1975), 90.

IMEP IX.

73. (fol. 134r)
Ps.-Aristotle, Secreta secretorum

(English verse tr. by John Lydgate and Benedict Burgh )

Incipit: God all myghty saue and cons(er)ue owre kynge | In all vertye to hys Encrese off glorye
Explicit: W(it) drede and loue to haue memorye | Of hys enmyes conquest and victory
Language(s): Middle English

Imperfect, first five lines only of a prayer to Henry VI. In a different hand and ink to John Shirley, also of the fifteenth century. Possibly the hand of the annotation ‘John tatt’ (see Provenance below). Edited in Rossell Hope Robbins, Historical Poems of the XIV and XV Centuries (New York, 1959), 196.

IMEV 935.

74. (fol. 134v)
John Lydgate, Deus in Nomine Tuo saluum me Fac
Incipit: ffor why good lord thou haste me saved & kepte
Explicit: That I might amend whyles I haue tyme & space
Language(s): Middle English

Imperfect, one stanza of eight. The rest of this poem appears on folios 69v-70v, lacking this stanza. This extract is copied in a different hand and ink to John Shirley, also of the fifteenth century, possibly the hand of the recipes (items 69 and 70).

75. (fol. 134v)
Illegible verse
Incipit: thou be dred the nowne consyens
Explicit: sylf ye thou mayst not parde
Language(s): Middle English

Unidentified verse in seven lines, heavily damaged and corrected. Fifteenth-century hand.

76. (fol. 134v)
Recipe for sciatica
Incipit: the tyme for to delate | ffore the scyetica pascio
Explicit: and wrappit w(i)t a towel & go to bed fore the hete thereof wil senk out the ache
Language(s): Middle English

Prose, heavily damaged and illegible in parts. In the same hand as the recipes (items 69 and 70).

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: paper
Extent: ii + 133 + i fols.
Dimensions (leaf): 275 × 197 mm.
Dimensions (written): 200 × 90–130 mm.
Dimensions (ruled): 200 × 140 mm.
Two watermarks throughout, both similar with bull's head design surmounted by a diagonal cross, similar to Piccard VII 661-4 (1449-51) and Briquet 15101-3 (1441-62). Possibly from the same stock. R.J. Lyall notes that two watermarks are used in this first codicological unit, of a variety that was rare before 1445 and unknown before 1440 (R.J. Lyall, ‘Materials: The Paper Revolution’, Book Production and Publishing in Britain 1395-1475, eds J. Griffiths and D. Pearsall (21)).
Foliation: Uniform in brown ink.

Collation

12 (fols. i-ii, parchment flyleaves, unfoliated), 2-312 (fols. 1-24), 410 (fols. 25-34), 5-612 (fols. 35-58), 712-1 (fols. 59-69, first folio excised with loss of text), 810 (fols. 70-79), 9-1212 (fols. 80-126), 13 (collation uncertain).

Some disruption to the original collation of this first part has occurred. The present system of quire numbers runs from i-xi (excluding the final quire which is not numbered), but a previous system can be seen which is now cancelled which ran from xiii-xxiii (also excluding the final quire). Margaret Connolly suggests both systems are in Shirley's hand (John Shirley (1998), 150), and that Shirley is responsible for assembling the twelve gatherings into one codicological unit (151). Catchwords are present at the end of most quires, with the exception of those missing the last leaf. The tenth quire (fols. 92-103) ends with a list of five variations of catchword, all in the same hand, with four cancelled. None match the text at the beginning of the eleventh quire.

Condition

The flyleaves display more damage than the paper text block, with wormholes and wear to the outer margins. The outer leaves (folios 1r and 133v) are particularly discoloured, suggesting this first part existed for a time without a binding. The condition of the paper leaves is good, with only minor wear and discolouration to the outer margins. Gutters fragile. Occasional tears.

Layout

1 column, between 29-30 lines, frame ruled only.

Hand(s)

Predominantly in one hand, John Shirley (parchment flyleaves and folios 1-130r), in a consistent secretary script of the mid fifteenth century. A second fifteenth-century hand on folio 130v, also in a secretary script but displaying some anglicana influences. A third hand on folio 131v, also of the fifteenth century, in a more formal anglicana script. A fourth hand on folios 131v-132r in a scruffy secretary script of the late fifteenth-early sixteenth century. A fifth hand on folios 132v-133r and 134r in a neat secretary script of the mid fifteenth century.

Decoration

Every text opens with a three or four line lombardic capital, in the same ink as the main text but often with added flourishes or decorations. Every initial is accompanied by a decorated cross symbol in the left margin - a design Shirley also uses in another manuscript, Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.3.20, there referred to as a ‘lozenge feature’. In the Secreta secretorum and The Three Kings of Cologne, the same flourished lombards and cross symbols are used to mark points of textual division within the text.

The beginning of some texts are marked with the planetary symbol for Mercury, a simplified caduceus ☿, in the margin. It is unclear if these are Shirley's additions or by a later hand.

When the rubric to a text falls at the top of a page, the ascenders of the top line are flourished. The first letter of the page and some top-line ascenders in the main text are occasionally, but inconsistently, flourished.

Additions: Shirley writes a note to the reader in between two texts on folio 59v: ‘whane yee þis boke haue overredde and seyne | To Johan shirley restore yee it ageine’. Shirley also annotates his own name in the margin: ‘no(ta) p(er) Shirley’, for instance folios 1v, 2v, 3r.

Every text is accompanied by a running title at the top of the page in Shirley's hand.

The hand of William Brown(e) can be identified throughout in marginal annotations, often unrelated to the text. On folios ii v and 20v the phrase ‘Prayer is an worke of the’ is inverted in the lower margin. Brown(e) leaves comparable marginal annotations in MS Ashmole 40.

Annotations appear throughout in several hands. A later hand (sixteenth century?) annotates the Secreta secretorum and the Cur mundus militat in a faded light brown ink. Another late hand of a similar period highlights ‘a leson’ in Gower's Balade moral of gode counseyle on folio 17v. A seventeenth-century hand correctly identifies Chaucer's Gentillesse on folio 25r and notes that it is ‘Printed toward the end of Chaucers works’. The same hand leaves the same note on folio 37r at the beginning of Chaucer's Balade of Fortune. A fifteenth-century hand annotates ‘Wysdome the gyfte of ' on folio 83r, now trimmed.’

Erased writing on folio 14r-v, illegible under UV.

Pen trials on folios 63v-64r, 65v in a sixteenth-century hand (possibly that of John Snowe, see Provenance below). On folio 64r, possibly in the same hand, is a marginal drawing of an irregular shape with a grid pattern and containing several faces, possibly emulating a coat of arms.

A later hand has numbered the texts in red pencil, imperfectly.

History

Origin: 1447 - 1456 ; English, London

Provenance

The first composite part and the parchment flyleaves containing the table of contents are predominantly in the hand of John Shirley, 1366?–1456. The first part was written between Shirley's death in 1456 and the death of Humfrey duke of Gloucester in Feb. 1447 (which is described on folio 57). The dating of the parchment flyleaves is unclear. Other hands appear only on folio 130v and on the paper leaves at the end of the first part.

It is possible these parts were in the possession of the Walsingham family, or one of their supporters, in the sixteenth century. A sixteenth-century hand writes ‘Fra. Walsingham memorandum remayning’ and ‘memorand’ on folio 131r, likely Sir Francis Walsingham (c.1532-1590), principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I. The same hand leaves numerous annotations on folio 133v: ‘Babington’ (likely a reference to the Babington Plot, a plan in 1586 to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I which was discovered by Walsingham), ‘Actuall and criminall’, ‘Accused and condempned’, ‘Nowe sure a goodly peece of worke | desireth and thirsteth | desireth | desireth and thirs’, ‘memorandum his’.

At some point, the manuscript was in the possession of John Stow (1525?–1605), whose hand appears on folios i r and 17v (identified by Connolly, John Shirley (1998), 150).

It is unclear when the flyleaves and first part were joined, however it was before 1614 as both contain the ownership marks and annotations of the poet William Brown(e), author of Britannia’s Pastorals (1613–16) and Oxford alumnus (matriculated 30 April 1624). His name appears on folio 1r: ‘Liber W. Browne’; and folio 133v: ‘W. Browne Inter. Templi, 1614’, and his annotations on the parchment flyleaves and throughout the text block. Browne is known to have owned other manuscripts with Lydgate and Lydgatean material, such as BodL MS Ashmole 45, BL Additional MS 34360, BL Lansdowne MS 699, Durham V ii 15, and Durham V ii 16.

The parchment flyleaves and first part likely circulated as a separate bound codex before being compiled with the second part. The final folio 134 is significantly worn and displays wormholes typical of wooden boards. A note on this folio in an early hand, possibly sixteenth-century, records that there are ‘136 1/4 folio’, which would include the parchment flyleaves and first part. Evidence of prior sewing can also be seen in the gutters of both the flyleaves and first part, and the remnants of the old threads can still be seen which run through both elements.

Several names are recorded in the margins throughout which cannot be identified with certainty. A late sixteenth-century hand records the name ‘John Snowe’ three times (folios 56v, 66v (heavily cancelled), and 69v), and the name ‘Godmershame’ on folio 90v, presumably the village of Godmersham in Kent. ‘Brother ’ inverted in the lower margin of folio 78v in a sixteenth-seventeenth century hand. The same ‘Godmersham’ inscription appears on folio 133v, now cancelled. Several names are also recorded on folio 134v: ‘Tomas Situn’ (all but the first ‘T’ now erased and only visible under UV), ‘Iste liber constat bono d(om)ino’. A now trimmed note in the corner of folio 131r reads ‘John tatt in an early hand (perhaps fifteenth century).’

A bookseller's cypher consisting of the letter ‘v/b’ above the letter ‘m’ divided by a line, is written in the outer margin of folio ii r. Connolly suggests a date of the seventeenth century (John Shirley (1998), 166 n.13).

The manuscript was later owned by Elias Ashmole (1617–1692), who acquired other manuscripts from Brown(e).

MS. Ashmole 59 – Part 2 (xvi.)

Extracts from Lydgate's verse.

Contents

1. (fols. 135r-181v)
John Lydgate, Life of Our Lady
Rubric: Folio 135r is a title page containing the rubric ‘Here beginneth a booke of our blessed Lady Maiden Moder & Wife of our Lord Ihesu Compiled by Daune Johan Lidgate Monke of Bery at the exhortation of our most excellent Prince King Henry ye fifte. In honour glory and Worship of her Natiuite and of her most holy liuinge and conuersation from her birthe to her Purification’, written centrally in the style of an early printed book's title page. A similar rubric appears in another Shirley manuscript, TCC R.3.22 (folio 1r). The text begins on folio 136r.
Rubric: Of the Natiuitie of our Lady and how she was offred up on þe Temple Cap i
Incipit: O fflowre of vertue ful long kepyt in close | ffull many a yeare with wholesom leaues swete
Explicit: Petra dat huic nitidum fugit host(em) flum(in)e visum | Rostro non ledit geminos pullos bene nutrit
Final rubric: Here endeth the booke of the Life of our Lady made by Dan John Lidegate monke of Bury at thinstaunce of the most Christen kyng Henry the fift
Language(s): Middle English and Latin

Imperfect, lacking the prologue and Books V and VI. Folio 180v begins with the title ‘Comparatio Turturio’ as if commencing another item; this is in fact lines 1-301 of chapter 26 of Book VI.

IMEV 2574.

2. (fols. 181v-182r)
John Lydgate, Envoy to Life of Our Lady
Incipit: Go litel booke and submit the | Unto al them that shal rede the
Explicit: Blesse us marie the most holly vergyne | That we regne in h(e)ven w(i)t the ordres myne
Final rubric: Here endeth the Life off our Lady
Language(s): Middle English and Latin

Envoy, in the same hand.

3. (fol. 182v)
blank
Language(s): No linguistic content; Not applicable
4. (fols. 183r-v)
John Lydgate, Fall of Princes
Incipit: In his studye allone as Bochas stode | His penne in hond of sodeyn aventure
Explicit: Now was she ma(n)nysshe now was she ffemynyne | Now coulde she reyne now could she falsly shyne
Language(s): Middle English

Extract - one leaf only, containing lines 1-63 of Book VI.

IMEV 1168.

5. (fols. 184r-v)
John Lydgate, Song of Vertu
Incipit: Off Rethoriciens men lerne ffresshe language | Off holy saintes procedith p(ar)fitnes
Explicit: Cleyme of his mercy to haue possession | hym to dwell aboue the sterris Clere
Language(s): Middle English

Imperfect, lacking stanzas 1-5 due to the loss of a leaf. Edited in The Minor Poems, Vol. II: Secular Poems, ed. MacCracken (1934, repr. 1961),835-8.

IMEV 401.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: paper
Dimensions (leaf): 280 × 250 mm.
Dimensions (written): 240-260 × 110 mm.
Dimensions (ruled): 240 × 115 mm.
Two watermarks throughout, similar to Piccard 31681 (Sankt Germain, 1556); and Piccard 31768 (Narwa, 1541).
Foliation: Foliated in same hand as Part 1, inconsistently, in brown ink.

Collation

110 (fols. 135-144), 218+1 (fols. 145-184, with the addition of the nineteenth folio)

Condition

Paper condition good, gutters delicate and wear to final folio.

Layout

Folios 136r-143v: 1 column, between 25-40 lines, no ruling.

Folios 144r-184v: 1 column, between 32-39 lines, frame ruled only.

Hand(s)

The hand changes noticeably at folio 143v. The first hand is an untidy cursive secretary of the sixteenth century. This hand copies the first sixteen pages without ruling and in varying levels of size and legibility, ending at the foot of folio 143v mid-stanza. The second hand continues the stanza at the top of folio 144r, in a neater secretary script with anglicana influences. This hand is more consistent in size and writes within frame ruling.

Decoration

The first letter of stanzas in the first scribe's pages of Life of Our Lady are minimally flourished, without the use of colour.

Section titles are provided by the second scribe of Life of Our Lady interlinear in a textualis script in the same ink.

The division between books 2 and 3 of Life of Our Lady is marked with a decorative Explicit and Incipit in a textualis script with flourished ascenders and descenders, in the same ink. The second explicit of this text on folio 182r is similarly decorated.

The beginning of the extract of Fall of Princes opens with a one-line Lombardic capitol, unfilled, which extends above the stanza.

Additions: A later hand annotates the chapter numbers of Lydgate's Life of Our Lady in the margin.

Pen trials on folios 159r and 184r-v.

History

Origin: 16th century, second half ; English

Provenance

This second part likely circulated independently before it was bound with the first part, from evidence of prior sewing in the gutter.

There are no names or marginal annotations in this part to suggest provenance. It is likely the two parts were bound together by Ashmole, as was his practice.

Additional Information

Record Sources

Description by Charlotte Ross (April 2023), with consultation of the original. Previous summary description based on Watson, 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) and supplementary sources.

Bibliography

    A. G. Watson, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts c.435–1600 in Oxford Libraries (Oxford, 1984), no. 32 [fols. 1–133]
    Secretum secretorum: Nine English Versions, ed. M A Manzalaoui, Early English Text Society o.s. 276 (Oxford, 1977)
    R. J. Lyall, ‘Materials: The Paper Revolution’, Book Production and Publishing in Britain 1395-1475, eds J. Griffiths and D. Pearsall (Cambridge, 1989)
    Eleanor Prescott Hammond, ‘Lydgate and the Duchess of Gloucester’, Anglia 27 (1904): 381-98.

Last Substantive Revision

2017-07-01: First online publication.