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

Physical Description

Composite: two parts

MS. Ashmole 59 – Part 1 (fols. 1–133)

Contents

1.
Ps.-Aristotle, Secreta secretorum (Middle English 'Marmaduke' prose translation )
Language(s): Middle English
2.
John Gower; John Lydgate; Geoffrey Chaucer; Henry Scogan, poems
Language(s): Middle English
3.
Poems
Language(s): Middle English
4.
Religious texts
Language(s): Middle English
5.
Prophecies
Language(s): Middle English
6.
Historical texts
Language(s): Middle English
7.
The Three Kings of Cologne
Language(s): Middle English

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: paper
Extent: ii + 133 + i fols.
Dimensions (leaf): 275 × 197 mm.
Dimensions (written): 200 × 90–130 mm.

Layout

1 column, 29 lines.

Hand(s)

Written by John Shirley (fol. 52 'fiat Amen - per Shirley'; fol. i verso, his motto 'ma ioye. a Shirley').

Decoration

Penwork initials

History

Origin: 1447 × 1456 ; English, London

Provenance and Acquisition

Written before 1456 (Shirley's death), and after the death of Humfrey duke of Gloucester in Feb. 1447 (fol. 57).

Fol. 59v.: 'whane yee þis boke haue overredde and seyne / To Johan shirley restore yee it ageine'.

Fol. ii: 'iste liber datur in vadium domino Dauid ..... Anno Domini millesimo CCCCmo lxxxvito

John Stowe, 1525?-1605: his hand on fol. 17v and passim.

William Browne, 1590/1–1645?: 'Liber W. Browne', fol. 1; 'W. Browne Inter. Templi, 1614', fol. 133v.

Elias Ashmole, 1617–1692.

Bequeathed by him to the Ashmolean Museum.

Transferred to the Bodleian Library in 1860.

MS. Ashmole 59 – Part 2

Contents

1.
John Lydgate, Life of Our Lady (imperfect)
Language(s): Middle English

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: paper

History

Origin: 16th century, second half ; English

Additional Information

Record Sources

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

Last Substantive Revision

2017-07-01: First online publication.