Christ Church MS. 146
Wycliffite New Testament; England (?Midlands), s. xvin.
Contents
Language(s): English. ‘Language probably of E Nhants on the Hunts/Beds border’ (Angus McIntosh, M. L. Samuels, et al ., A Linguistic Atlas of Late Mediaeval English, 4 vols (Aberdeen, 1986) 1:152, no linguistic profile given).
The table of lections for the year, both temporale and sanctorale, ed. FM, 4683–98. Fol. 10v is blank but ruled.
Fol. 10v is blank but ruled.
Ed. FM 4. In FM’s listing of manuscripts, this was number 92 (1:li); they dated it (surely too late) to ‘c. 1440’. The text is complete (Laodiceans does not appear), with all the prologues commonly found in later version Wycliffite bibles.
The order of contents is thus: [fol. 1ra-rb] FM 4:2 (cf Stegmüller, Bibl. 590 & 589), [fol. 1rb-34vb] Matthew, [fol. 35ra-rb] FM 4:86–87 (cf. Stegmüller, Bibl. 607), [fol. 35rb-49vb] Mark, [fol. 49vb-50ra] FM 4:141–42 (cf. Stegmüller, Bibl. 620), [fol. 50ra-75rb] Luke, [fol. 75va-vb] FM 4:233–34 (cf. Stegmüller, Bibl. 624), [fol. 75vb-95rb] John, [fol. 95rb-va] FM 4:303 (cf. Stegmüller, Bibl. 677), [fol. 95va-105rb] Romans, [fol. 105rb-va] FM 4:338 (cf. Stegmüller, Bibl. 685), [fol. 105va-115rb] I Corinthians, [fol. 115rb] FM 4:373 (cf. Stegmüller, Bibl. 699), [fol. 115rb-121vb] II Corinthians, [fol. 121vb] FM 4:396 (cf. Stegmüller, Bibl. 707), [fol. 121vb-125ra] Galatians, [fol. 125ra] FM 4:408 (cf. Stegmüller, Bibl. 715), [fol. 125ra-128ra] Ephesians, [fol. 128ra-rb] FM 4:420 (cf. Stegmüller, Bibl. 728), [fol. 128rb-130va] Philippians, [fol. 130va] FM 4:429 (cf. Stegmüller, Bibl. 736), [fol. 130va-132vb] Colossians, [fol. 132vb] FM 4:440 (cf. Stegmüller, Bibl. 747), [fol. 132vb-134vb] I Thessalonians, [fol. 134vb] FM 4:448 (cf. Stegmüller, Bibl. 752), [fol. 134vb-136ra] II Thessalonians, [fol. 136ra] FM 4:453 (cf. Stegmüller, Bibl. 765), [fol. 136ra-138vb] I Timothy, [fol. 138vb] FM 4:464 (cf. Stegmüller, Bibl. 772), [fol. 138vb-140vb] II Timothy, [fol. 140vb] FM 4:472 (cf. Stegmüller, Bibl. 780), [fol. 140vb-141vb] Titus, [fol. 141vb] FM 4:477 (cf. Stegmüller, Bibl. 783), [fol. 142ra-rb] Philemon, [fol. 142rb-va] FM 4:480 (cf. Stegmüller, Bibl. 793), [fol. 142va-150rb] Hebrews, [fol. 150rb-va] FM 4:507–508 (cf. Stegmüller, Bibl. 640), [fol. 150va-177rb] Acts, [fol. 177va-vb] FM 4:594–95 (cf. Stegmüller, Bibl. 809), [fol. 177vb-188ra] Catholic Epistles, [fol. 188rb-189rb] FM 4:638–40 (cf. Stegmüller, Bibl. 839), [fol. 189rb-200va] Apocalypse.
The scribe regularly corrects his text in two scripts, that of the main text and a smaller, thinner script (cf. fol. 83 and 83v, for instance); he also divided the chapters into sections, marked by a letter in the margin, but those are not used in item 4.
A lectionary for the full year. It follows immediately after item 2.
A table of contents by chapters. The break between items 3 and 4 is merely a space of two lines. Fol. 238vb is blank.
Fol. 239–242: all blank.
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
In double columns, each column 147 × 43 mm. , with 6 mm between the columns, in 41 lines to the column.
Full pricking frequently visible in the upper halves of leaves to about fol. 130; bounded and ruled in black and brownish ink.
Hand(s)
Written in gothic textura semiquadrata.
Punctuation by double point, virgula, punctus interrogativus, and occasional point.
Decoration
Headings in red. At the openings of the books, five-line gold leaf lombards with navy flourishing and floral designs; at the openings of the chapters, two-line blue lombards with red flourishing. The text is divided by blue paraphs preceding red-slashed capitals. Chapter numbers in red within the column. Running titles in the text hand and ink, often red-slashed, a few in red, identify the book. See AT no. 440 (44), dating c. 1440.
Binding
Brown leather over wood, s. xviex, early rebacked. Blindstamped with two rolls: Oldham’s HM.f (2) surrounded by his HM.h (11). Both are London stamps, and Oldham reports (53) another book, datable 1572, with both. Sewn on five thongs taken straight into the board, as in Pollard’s Figure 4, but not staggered. Short leather straps with large ornate brass clips and clasps. The seating of the upper one, upper board, with three nails, is probably original, but the remainder, the clips themselves, the seating of the lower, and the clasps in the lower board all appear repairs. Signs that there was a chain-staple in Watson’s position 6, presumably a ChCh intervention (see Appendix I).
History
Provenance and Acquisition
There are erased indications of earlier ownership: ‘To his frynde’ (fol. 242 upside down, s. xviin); fol. 242v has an inscription in the same hand, a pentrial, and two Latin verses (another pair occurs on the rear pastedown), along with erased ownership inscriptions, incl. ‘Thomas [two of the erasures with surname]’ and ‘Iohn har’, both s. xviex. The two annotations, s. xvi (fol. 108v: ‘nota’; fol. 131v: ‘Good’), appear to be in another hand.
Donated by Thomas Ballow: ‘Liber Ædis Christi ex dono Thomæ Ballowe Artium Magistri et eiusdem Collegij Studentis Octob. 21o 1629o’ (fol. ivv). The Donors’ Register (MS LR 1) for 1631 [sic] (p. 74a) records Ballow’s gift of a printed copy of Sextus Empiricus (Geneva, 1621) and ‘Nouum Testamentum Mss Anglo-Saxonice’. He was the son of the William Ballow (who gave our MSS 90 and 91) and he matriculated at Christ Church in 1621. He received degrees of BA, MA, and DD in 1624, 1627, and 1661, respectively. After an appointment as Whyte Professor of Moral Philosophy 1630–34, he served in a number of parishes: as vicar of Sutton with Seaford (Sussex) 1639 (from which he was sequestered in 1645), as vicar of Westley Waterless (Cambs.) 1649, as canon of Chichester 1660, and as rector of South Stoke (Oxon.) 1663–79 and of Felpham (Sussex) 1669–70 (AO, 64). Ballow’s Sextus Empiricus is no longer in Christ Church’s collection; it was presumably considered surplus to requirements when another copy of the same edition arrived in Wake’s gift (incidentally, that copy, now Wn.2.6, was once in Queen’s College, having been donated by Christopher Potter (1591–1646) in 1634; it presumably became surplus to their requirements when another copy was given to them by their major donor, Thomas Barlow).
At the front pastedown are two former ChCh shelfmarks, the earlier being that of the 1676 Catalogue, ‘A.12’, cancelled (see Appendix I) and replaced by the New Library’s ‘G.10’, written by Edward Smallwell (see Appendix IV). He also adds, at fol. i, a note, ‘The New Testament of Wickliffe’s Translation Vide E.4’, cross-referring to our MS. 145 (where there is a similar note by him). At the same flyleaf, a paper slip glued in noting that ‘This MS of Wiclifs NT corresponds almost verbatim with the copy printed by Lewis & Baber [(London, 1731)]’ and signed ‘TVS 1827’, that is Thomas Vowler Short, Censor (1819–29) and Librarian (1822–29) of Christ Church, and later bishop of St Asaph (on whom, see A. R. Buckland, rev. M. C. Curthoys in Oxford DNB, and, for an image of his handwriting, see Curthoys, 206). He was presumably interested in the Wycliffite volumes in the collection while he prepared for publication A Sketch of the History of the Church of England to the Revolution 1688(Oxford, 1832).
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.