Christ Church MS. 140
John Foxe, Syllogisticon; England, s. xviex
Physical Description
Binding
Present binding of stiffened leather covered, apart from spine, with grey paper, s. xx. This replaces the previous binding which is in situ as fol. 73 and was a parchment wrapper (= part 2 of MS.).
Christ Church MS. 140, Part 1 - main MS.
Contents
Language(s): Latin
fol. iiir-v: blank
Title-page to following work, imitating the layout of the printed book. At bottom left, in secretary script, the publication details from the title-page: ‘Londin. excudebat Jo: Daius. cum gratia et privilegio regineae maiestatis’.
fol. ivv: blank
London: John Day, [1560 × 1565] [STC 11249]. The main text of ‘argumenta et probationes’ is preceded by the dedicatory letter to John Harding (fol. 1r-v, with lower half of fol. 1v blank), and the ‘EPISTOLA HORTATORIA AD PONTIFICOS ET ROmanae Ecclesiae Sectatores [corrected to ‘Sectarios’] quos vulgo papistas appellant. Epistola hortatoria Ioannis Foxi.’ (fol. 2–10, with fol. 10v blank).
This copy listed by Peter Beal as FxJ 15 in his on-line Catalogue of English Literary Manuscripts 1450–1700 [last accessed 10th December 2015].
On the work, see V. Norskov Olsen, John Foxe and the Elizabethan Church(Berkeley CA, 1973), 136–41, and on its place in the author’s career, Elizabeth Evenden and Thomas S. Freeman, Religion and the Book in Early Modern England(Cambridge, 2011), chapter 2 (esp. 33).
fol. 66v-75: blank, except for fol. 73 which is the former wrapper (see binding).
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
Written in one current and uneven italic script, with no ruling and becoming more cramped towards the end of the volume, so that the number of lines varies from 27 to 34.
Hand(s)
Italic script.
Decoration
This copy was designed for private edification and not to be pleasing to the eye. There are frequent corrections, with words crossed out with double strokes, and occasional marginal additions. Throughout, in imitation of the printed work from which it is transcribed, the text-block of each page is surmounted by running headers in capitals.
History
Provenance
Kitchin dated this manuscript ‘saec. xvii’ while Peter Beal, in his on-line Catalogue of English Literary Manuscripts 1450–1700, estimates ‘mid-16th century’, which is more appropriate given the script. However, given the first watermark, which is known as one of John Spilman’s, it must date after the establishment of his mill in c. 1588 (Allan Stevenson, ‘Tudor Roses from John Tate’, Studies in Bibliography, 20 (1967), 15–34 (27n); H. R. Woudhuysen, Sir Philip Sidney and the Circulation of Manuscripts 1558–1640(Oxford, 1996), 327).
There is no internal evidence to reveal the creator of this manuscript who, because of the paper stock, must have been working, at the earliest, at the very end of the 1580s. Early in its life, a reader, who adds the publication details at the foot of fol. 1 (and so has a copy of the printed book on the desk), adds marginalia in a secretary script. These are often Biblical citations (eg fol. 11, 18v [vertical], 21, 40v, 63v) but on occasion note the use of Church Fathers (eg fol. 29v-30).
The only certain moment in the history of the volume is provided by a note at the centre left of fol. iii: ‘Edward Gregory’ (s. xviii). There were two Housemen of that name, father and son. The elder was born 1677 or 1678, matriculated 24 May 1694, took his BA in 1698, was ordained deacon the following year and priest on 16 March 1701, becoming vicar of Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire in 1708. It was in that year and place that his son was born; he matriculated on 3 July 1724 and took his BA in 1728, being ordained deacon the same year and priest in 1730, at the same time as he was instituted Rector of St Olave’s, Chichester (AO, AO mod., CCEd). Judging from the likely date of the script, it is perhaps more likely that it is the son who signed the manuscript.
It would, however, be legitimate to doubt whether the manuscript came to ChCh directly from him: it does not appear in the New Library catalogue or show any sign of having been given a shelfmark placing it in that arrangement or in the Wake Archive. This might suggest a late date of arrival, possibly post-1800, as additions were still being made to the New Library catalogue up to the turn of the century. The Donors’ Register (MS LR 1) does not shed light on this and we are left with the only certainty being that it had arrived in time to appear in Kitchin’s 1867 catalogue (50).
Christ Church MS. 140, Part 2- fol. 73 (former wrapper)
Contents
What served as the outer side of the wrapper was previously the verso of the folio, providing the opening of ch. 24, while the inside, once the recto, provides the end of ch. 21 and the start of ch. 22.
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
35 long lines; the page is lightly ruled in plummet, with double horizontal borders at top and bottom extending to the edges (space between lines: 7mm; height of minims: 3mm)
There is pricking close to the edge of what would have been the outer margin.
Hand(s)
Textura rotunda with shaded ascenders
Decoration
The chapter titles are rubricated and there are running headers on each page: ‘vita domini Ihesu’.
History
Additional Information
Record Sources
Availability
For enquiries relating to this manuscript please contact Christ Church Library.
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2017-07-01: First online publication.