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

MS. Douce 258

Summary Catalogue no.: 21832

Contents

Language(s): Middle English with Latin

Fol. i is a paper flyleaf.

1. (fols. 1r–39r)

[items 1–2 occupy quires I–VI]

Sequences ‘Commendation of the Souls’ and Psalms of the Passion, characteristic of the Sarum Books of Hours, in English,

‘Commendation of the Souls’ consists of psalm 118 (fragmentary because of the loss of leaves, verses 1–7 (fol. 1r–v) and 27–176 (fols. 2r–17v)) followed by a translation of ‘℣. Requiem eternam dona eis domine. ℟. Et lux perpetua luceat eis. Kyrie eleyson. Christe eleyson. Kyrie eleyson.’ This is followed by psalm 138 (fols. 18r–20v), a translation of ‘Requiem eternam dona eis domine. Et lux perpetua luceat eis.A porta inferi erue Domine animas eorum. Credo videre bona domine in terra viventum. Requiescant in pacem. Amen.’ and a translation of the prayer ‘Tibi Domine commendamus animas famulorum famularumque tuarum…’: ‘To þee lord we bitaken þe soules of þi seruauntis bothe men an wymmen. so þat þei þat ben deede to þe worlde mown lyue to þee. & alle þe synnes þat þei han do by frelte of worldly lyuyng þou lord waishe hem aweye bi þe forȝeuenesse of þi most merciful pitee. Bi crist oure lord. So be it’ (fol. 20v). The Psalms of the Passion comprise psalms 21–30 (fols. 20v–39r) with a rubric ‘These ben þe psalmes of þe passion’. Psalm 23 is omitted by the scribe as noted in a rubric on fol. 26v: ‘Seke in þe eende of þis boke & þer þou schal fynde Domini est terra’.

The text of psalms comes from Richard Rolle’s The Prose Psalter (Index of printed Middle English prose 271, ed. Bramley (1884)). Only the translation, with verses underlined, and commentary are included; the Latin text is omitted, though psalms are preceded by Latin incipits.

2. (fols. 39r–45v)
The Wycliffite commentary on the Athanasian Creed (ed. Arnold (1869–71), vol. 3, pp. 71–81, and Hudson (2012–14), vol. 3, pp. 1182–94)
Explicit: but if crist were euene wyth þe fa…||
(Hudson (2012–14), vol. 3, p. 1192).
4. (fols. 48v–69v)
General epistles in the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible: James, with the usual prologue–3 John, 1–6
Rubric: Here bigyneþ a prolog on þe pistles of cristen feythe þat ben seuene in ordre þat is to seye oon of James and tweyne of peter & iii of ioon & on of Iudas

Imperfect at the end because of the loss of leaves. Usual rubrics in red, e.g., ‘Ierom on þis pistlis seiþ al þis’. Chapter numbers in red as Roman numerals or written out as words.

No marginal glosses; added material within the text is not underlined. Corrections in the margins in a medieval hand.

Fol. 70 is a paper flyleaf.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: 71 leaves, c.
Dimensions (leaf): 181 × 125 mm.
Foliation: modern in pencil, i + 1–11 + 12/13 + 14–34 + 35a + 35b + 36–70

Collation

(fol. i) paper flyleaf | (fols. 1–6) I (8–2) missing 2–3 | (fols. 7–38) II–V (8) | (fols. 39–45) VI (8–1) missing 8 | (fols. 46–52) VII (8–1) missing 1 | (fols. 53–68) VIII–IX (8) | (fol. 69) X (8–7 (?)) single leaf. Catchwords survive. Quire signatures in Rolle’s Psalter run consecutively [a] to [f] and in gospels and epistles [a] to c.
Secundo Folio: ‘wisnessis’ (fol. 3r)

Layout

ruled for a single column with single vertical and double horizontal bounding lines extending the full height and width of page; 26 lines per page; prickings survive; written space: c. 127 × 82 mm.

Hand(s)

textura, change of scribe on fol. 46r; black and brown ink

Decoration

Fragment of a border on damaged fol. 1r, made of pink, blue and gold bars and penwork sprays.

2-line blue initials with red penwork at the beginnings of psalms; 1-line blue or red initials at the beginning of psalm verses and contrasting red or blue paraphs at the beginning of commentary entries in Rolle’s Psalter.

2-line gold initial on blue and pink background at the beginning of Athanasian Creed.

2-line blue initials with red penwork at the beginning of gospel readings.

3- to 5-line blue initials with red penwork at the beginning of epistles; 2-line similar initials at the beginning of the prologue and chapters.

Rubrics in red ink.

Binding

Paper over pastebord. Brown leather spine with gilt decoration. Red leather label on spine with gilt lettering ‘PSALMS. | &C. | MS.’; paper label with ‘258’. Marbled paper flyleaves.

History

Origin: England ; 15th century, first quarter

Two parts, fols. 1r–45v and fols. 46r–48v, though codicologically separate and written by diferent scribes, have similar ruling and dimensions of written space, and may have been produced to be bound together.

Dialect survey (General epistles):

  • ony(10), ech(7)/eche(3), fier(4)/fire(1), ȝouen(1), lijf(10), lijk(5), myche(6), saȝ(1) (sg.), sayen(1) (pl.), self(10), such(2), þouȝ(1)
  • -eþ(7)/-iþ(1) (pres.ind.3sg.), -en(10) (pres.ind.pl.), -yng(2)/-ynge(8) (pres. part.), þei(10) (3pl.pronoun, nom.), hem(10) (3pl.pronoun, oblique), her(10) (3pl.pronoun, possessive)

Provenance and Acquisition

Note about the manuscript by R. Farmer on the upper pastedown.

Francis Douce (1757–1834); see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: bookplate on fol. i recto; notes on the upper pastedown and fol. 70.

Bodleian Library: received in 1834 with the bequest of Douce.

Record Sources

Elizabeth Solopova, Manuscripts of the Wycliffite Bible in the Bodleian and Oxford College Libraries, Exeter Medieval Texts and Studies (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2016), no. 14. Previously described:

Bibliography

    Arnold, T., Select English works of John Wyclif, 3 vols (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1869–71).
    Bramley, H. R., The Psalter: or Psalms of David and certain canticles (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1884).
    Madan, F., Summary catalogue of western manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, vol. 4 (collections received during the first half of the 19th century) nos. 16670–24330 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1897), no. 21832.
    Colledge, E., ‘The recluse: a Lollard interpolated version of the Ancren Riwle’, Review of English Studies 15 (1939), pp. 1–15, 129–45 at p. 131.
    Haring, N. M., ‘Commentaries on the Pseudo-Athanasian creed’, Medieval Studies 34 (1972), pp. 208–54 at p. 245.
    Braswell, L., Index of Middle English prose, 18 vols (Cambridge, 1984– ), vol. 4 (1987), pp. 52–4.
    Hudson, A., ‘Lollard book production’, in Griffiths, J. and Pearsall, D. A. (eds), Book production and publishing in Britain 1375–1475 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), pp. 125–42, p. 141.
    Ogilvie-Thomson, S. J., Index of Middle English prose, 18 vols (Cambridge, 1984– ), vol. 8 (1991), p. 45.
    Scott, K. L. (gen. ed.), An index of images in English manuscripts from the time of Chaucer to Henry VIII, c.1380–c.1509: the Bodleian Library, Oxford, 3 vols (Turnhout: Harvey Miller Publishers, 2000–02), vol. 2, p. 38, no. 478.
    Dove, M., The first English Bible: the text and context of the Wycliffite versions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 299; siglum P.
    Hanna, R., The English manuscripts of Richard Rolle: a descriptive catalogue (Exeter: University of Exeter, 2010), pp. 149–50.
    Hudson, A., Two revisions of Rolle’s English Psalter Commentary and the related canticles, 3 vols, EETS 340, 341, 343 (2012–14). See vol. 1, p. lxvi.

Last Substantive Revision

2023-03-24: Add Solopova description.