MS. Douce 265
Summary Catalogue no.: 21839
Contents
Language(s): Middle English with Latin
Fol. i is a paper flyleaf (see Provenance).
Fols. ii–1 are an added bifolium from a Wycliffite table of lections (see Douce 265-a).
Fols. 2–3 are parchment leaves ruled for two columns, but blank apart from early modern notes (see Provenance).
[item 2 occupies quire I]
Table of lections of Type IContains New Testament lections only (cf. MS. Bodl. 183). Includes all feasts characteristic of the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible (Forshall, J. and Madden, F. (eds), The Holy Bible … in the earliest English versions made from the Latin Vulgate by John Wycliffe and his followers, 4 vols (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1850), vol. 4, pp. 683, 690–6), apart from Giles (1 September). The readings consist of the name of the liturgical occasion in red, abbreviated reference to a book and chapter of the Bible, an indexing letter in red, the opening words of a reading, ‘ende’ in red, the closing words of a reading and double strokes in red. Includes the temporal, followed by commemorations of the Virgin Mary, Trinity, Holy Ghost, Cross, angels, ‘ffor briþeren & sustris & salus populi’, peace, clear weather, rain, ‘in time of batlis’, ‘a man for him silf’, ‘for pestilence of bestes’, pilgrims, weddings, sinners, sick, ‘pistils for dede’ and gospels for the dead. Commemorations are followed by the sanctoral (both proper and common according to the rubric, but only proper is present). Larger initials at Conversion of St Paul, Candlemas, Annunciation, Nativity of John the Baptist, Nativity of the Virgin Mary, St Luke and Halloween.
Title ‘pope’ is erased (fol. 10r). Fol. 13v is ruled for the table of lections, but blank apart from an added note (see Provenance); fol. 14r–v is ruled for two columns, but blank.
[item 3 occupies quires II–XXX]
New Testament in the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible with usual prologuesUsual rubrics at the beginning of all prologues and books, e.g., ‘here endiþ þe gospel of Matheu and bigynneþ þe prolog on þe gospel of mark’ (fol. 44r); ‘Ierom on his prologe seiþ þis on mark’ (fol. 44v). Chapter numbers as red Roman numerals or written out as words in English. Running titles in red with blue paraphs on both rectos and versos, consisting of an abbreviated title of the biblical book only.
Corrections in a contemporary hand. No marginal glosses; added material within the text is not underlined. Indexing letters in the margins entered at the beginnings of lections, rather than consistently. The beginnings of lections are also highlighted with yellow wash within the text; the ends of lections are marked with double strokes in the margins and within the text. Crosses and ‘nota’ added in the margins. Added notes in a 15th-century hand in the margins of the Apocalypse, briefly describing the content of the seven visions. Fols. 244–263v are ruled for two columns, but blank, apart from fol. 261r which contains an extract from Heinrich Suso, Horologium Sapientiae, Cursus de aeterna sapientia, added in a 15th-century hand. The extract contains the beginning of the Cursus up to the end of the third stanza of the ‘Hymnus’ (‘Iesu dulcis memoria…’), starting ‘Salutem mentis & corporis…’ and ending ‘…sed quid inuenientibus’ (ed. Künzle (1977), pp. 606–7).
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
ruled for two columns with single vertical and double horizontal bounding lines extending the full height and width of page; 33 lines per page; written space: c. 115 × 80 mm.
Hand(s)
textura, black ink; the table of lections is by a different scribe
Decoration
4-line gold initials on blue and pink background, decorated with penwork sprays and gold leaves, at the beginnings of books.
2-line blue initials with red penwork at the beginnings of prologues and chapters.
Rubrics in red ink.
Binding
Red morocco over thick pasteboard, made for Thomas Rawlinson early in the 18th century. Gilt fillet lines and floral roll border round the outer edge of both covers. Gilt scallop shells in the four corners. A heraldic crest in the form of a bird with a scallop shell in its beak, surrounded by a wreath, at the centre of both covers. Six raised bands on spine edged with double gilt fillet lines. Gilt decoration on the panels between the raised bands. Gilt lettering ‘N. TESTAMENT IN ENGLISH’, ‘MSS.’ and paper label with ‘265’ on spine. Marbled paper pastedowns; laid paper flyleaves.
History
The table of lections and New Testament are codicologically separate and are the work of two different scribes, but the table of lections was written to accompany a New Testament since it omits all Old Testament readings.
Dialect survey:
- ony(10), ech(5)/eche(5), fier(9)/fire(1), ȝouun(10), lyf(9)/lif(1), lijk(10), myche(10), siȝ(8)/syȝ(1) (sg.), saien(5)/siȝen(1)/seien(1) (pl.), silf(10), sich(4)/ siche(6), þouȝ(8), þurȝ(2)/þourȝ(7)/þouȝr(1), birie (bury), verials (‘ferials’, table of lections, rubric)
- -iþ(9)/-eþ(1) (pres.ind.3sg.), -en(10) (pres.ind.pl.), -ynge(3)/-inge(7) (pres. part.), sche(10) (3sg fem.pronoun, nom.), þei(10) (3pl.pronoun, nom.), hem(10) (3pl.pronoun, oblique), her(10) (3pl.pronoun, possessive)
Provenance and Acquisition
Extract from Heinrich Suso’s Horologium Sapientiae added on empty leaves in a 15th-century hand.
Note by Robart Hornbe on fol. 13v recording that his mother gave him this book on 17 March 1543: ‘memorandum (?) yt my mother hathe gyvin to me Robart Hornbe herfore this newe testament yn xvij day of marche ye yere of ower lord god xliij in ye yere of ower soverayne lord king henry ye viij xxxiiij’. Followed by more text in the same hand, crossed out.
Title ‘pope’ erased in the table of lections, presumably at Reformation.
Thomas Rawlinson (1681–1725); see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: binding; fol. i verso.
Sir Peter Thompson (1698–1770), merchant and book collector; see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: bought at Rawlinson’s sale in 1733 (lot 365) for £4 (note on fol. 3v).
May have been owned by William Herbert (1718–1795); see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: notes on fol. 1r–v. He is known to have bought books from Peter Thompson and to have collected bibles (see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography).
Gustavus Brander (1719/20–1787), merchant and antiquary; see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: lot 1096 in his sale 13 February, 1790.
Francis Douce (1757–1834); see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: bought at Brander’s sale for £3 13 s . 6 d .; bookplate on the upper pastedown, notes on fols. i verso, 2r, 3v, stamp on fol. 4r. Added a bifolium from a Wycliffite table of lections (?).
Bodleian Library: received in 1834 with the bequest of Douce.
MS. Douce 265-a
Contents
Language(s): Middle English with Latin
A bifolium bound with MS. Douce 265.
Contains the end of the temporal and most of the commemorations; probably written to accompany a New Testament. Starts with the Ember Saturday before the 18th Sunday after Trinity and ends with the commemoration of the sick. New Testament readings consist of the name of a liturgical occasion in red, abbreviated reference to a book and chapter of the Bible, an indexing letter in red, the opening words of a reading, ‘ende’ in red, the closing words of a reading and double strokes in red. Old Testament readings are written out in full with added material within the text underlined in red, each preceded by a rubric stating the liturgical occasion. Some Old Testament readings derive from the Earlier Version of the Wycliffite Bible (e.g., Ecclesiasticus 24, Genesis 24), whereas others from the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible (e.g., Jeremiah 14, Jeremiah 23, Ecclesiasticus 44) (see the description of a similar table in MS. Bodl. 531). Does not include Wednesday after the 25th Sunday after Trinity, an entry characteristic of the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible (Forshall, J. and Madden, F. (eds), The Holy Bible … in the earliest English versions made from the Latin Vulgate by John Wycliffe and his followers, 4 vols (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1850), vol. 4, pp. 683–98). Commemorations are in the following order: the Virgin Mary, Trinity, Holy Ghost, Cross, angels, ‘ffor breþeren & sistris & salus populi’, peace, clear weather, rain, ‘In tyme of bateils’, ‘a man for him silf’, ‘ffor pestilence of beestis’, pilgrims, weddings, sinners and sick. Shares variants with Forshall and Madden’s (1850) manuscripts EMRXk, including a rubric ‘treno(rum) ii’ for an Old Testament reading for ‘clear weather’; the presence of the entry ‘Commemoracioun of oure ladi in alle oþire tymes of þe ȝeer’; and the order of commemorations, e.g., angels after the Cross (Forshall, J. and Madden, F. (eds), The Holy Bible … in the earliest English versions made from the Latin Vulgate by John Wycliffe and his followers, 4 vols (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1850), vol. 4, pp. 697–8). Running titles in red with blue paraphs written across a two-leaf opening.
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
ruled in ink with double vertical and double horizontal (upper margin) bounding lines extending the full height and width of page; the lower margin has a single horizontal bounding line and an additional set of two bounding lines; 36 lines per page; written space: c. 117 × 95 mm.
Hand(s)
textura, black ink
Decoration
1-line blue initials with red penwork at the beginning of Old Testament readings.
Rubrics in red ink.
History
A leaf from a Wycliffite New Testament with a table of lections (?).
Dialect survey:
- biried(1), lijc(1), wijs(1) -eþ(3) (pres.ind.3sg.), -en(10) (pres.ind.pl.), -yng(2)/ynge(1)/-inge(2)/-ing(1) (pres.part.),
- þei(5) (3pl.pronoun, nom.), hem(8) (3pl.pronoun, oblique), her(3) (3pl. pronoun, possessive)
Provenance
Bound with MS. Douce 265 by Francis Douce (?).
Record Sources
Additional Information
Record Sources
Digital Images
Digital Bodleian (1 image from 35mm slides)
Bibliography
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2023-03-24: Add Solopova description.