MS. Douce 370

Summary Catalogue no.: 21945

Language(s): Middle English with Latin

Fols. i–iv are parchment and paper flyleaves (see Provenance).

(fols. 1r–269v)

Genesis–2 Chronicles in the Earlier Version of the Wycliffite Bible

With prologues to Genesis (‘Broþer ambrose to me…’), Joshua (‘At þe last eendyd þe fyue bookis…’), 1 Kings (‘Þe tonge forsoþe…’), 2 Chronicles (‘Eusebeus Jerome senden gretynge…’) and two prologues to 1 Chronicles (‘Ȝif þe makynge of þe seuenty…’ and ‘Þe boke of paralipomenon…’). 3 Kings ends halfway through the first column of fol. 210v and is followed by a rubric introducing 4 Kings; the rest of this page is blank and 4 Kings starts on a new quire. Quire XXVI, containing the end of 3 Kings, consists of 10 leaves; all other quires consist of 8 leaves. Two bifolia are misbound in quire XVII (the end of Joshua and the beginning of Judges), see Collation.

Rubric: Heere bigynniþ the epystle of saynt Ierom preest of alle bokes of goddis storye

Final rubric: Here endiþ þe secounde boke of Paralipomenon / Blesside be þe hooly trynite

Rubrics in red at the start of the prologue to Genesis and at the start of books and prologues on fols. 121–end (quires XVI–XXXIV); and in black with red paraphs elsewhere. Chapter numbers in Roman numerals in red, in black with red paraphs, or in black. Corrections in the original or contemporary hand, with many passages erased and rewritten (e.g., fols. 5v, 6r, 6v, 18v, 19r, 53v, 105r, 229r, 250r, etc.).

Words written out in the margins throughout enclosed in frames drawn in black ink (outlined in red on fols. 161v–176v, quire XXI), apparently randomly chosen from the text (e.g., ‘syster’, ‘agar’, ‘wode’, ‘I swore’, ‘wyf’, ‘wyf’, ‘olde’, ‘wyfe’, ‘a ladder’, ‘lya’, ‘gate’ on fols. 14r–22r). The words appear at different intervals, sometimes three on the same page and sometimes separated by an interval of several pages. The word appearing against the first line on fol. 20v (‘lya’) refers to the last word on the previous page. Sometimes there are differences in the spelling of words in the margins and in the text (e.g., fols. 46r, 46v); and sometimes the words in the margins do not seem to correspond to anything in the text (e.g., fol. 48r). A penwork initial on fol. 14 avoids a word in a frame, indicating that the words were written before the text was flourished. There are no marginal glosses; added material within the text is not underlined; lections are not marked. ‘Nota’, pointing hands and ‘hedera’ in the margins. The commandments (Deuteronomy 2, fol. 104r) are underlined in red with a gloss ‘comaundementes’ in the upper margin. Fols. 270–280 are parchment and paper flyleaves (see Provenance).

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: parchment

Extent: 284 leaves, c.

Dimensions (leaf): 206 × 144 mm.

Foliation: modern in pencil, i–iv + 1–280

Collation

(fols. i–iv) flyleaves | (1–200) I–XXV (8) the second and the third bifolia are misbound in quire XVII (fols. 129–136); the order should be 129, 131, 130, 132, 133, 135, 134, 136 | (fols. 201–210) XXVI (10) | (fols. 211–266) XXVII–XXXIII (8) | (fols. 267–269) XXXIV (8–5 (?)) missing 4–8 (?) | (fols. 274–280) parchment flyleaves. Catchwords survive. Quire signatures [a]–z on fols. 1–184, a–d on fols. 219–250, and a–b on fols. 259–269.

Secundo Folio: ‘demaundiþ’ (fol. 2r)

Layout

ruled for two columns, with single vertical and horizontal bounding lines extending the full height and width of page; 44–8 lines per page; written space: c. 160–165 × 110–115 mm.

Hand(s)

textura; probably the work of several scribes; changes in the style of writing on fols. 211r, 235, 259r; such changes do not correspond to textual divisions, but occur at the beginning of quires or leaves

Decoration

2- to 5-line blue initials with red penwork at the beginning of books; 2- to 3-line similar initials at the beginning of prologues and chapters (the initial ‘þ’ tends to be larger, e.g., 11 lines high at the beginning of Genesis and Exodus); some chapters have simple red 1-line initials.

Rubrics in red.

Binding

Stamped white leather over wood boards, 16th century. Sewn on six thongs. Ornamented metal bosses and corners on both covers. Fittings of two clasps, now lost.

History

Origin: England ; 14th century, end

Frequent variation in all aspects of the presentation of the text (the size of initials, ruling, scribal style, the form of chapter numbers, running titles, etc.).

Dialect survey (Genesis and Exodus):

eny(10), eche(6)/ech(4), fier(4)/fyer(6), ȝeuen(3)/ȝouen(1)/ȝeue(5)/ȝyuen(1), lyf(9)/lif(1), lyke(8)/lyche(2), myche(9)/mych(1), seeyȝ(4) (sg.), seeȝen(3)/ seeyn(2) (pl.), self(10), siche(8)/syche(2), þorou(1)/þor3(7)/þoru(2) -iþ(7)/-eþ(2)/-yþ(1) (pres.ind.3sg.), -en(10) (pres.ind.pl.), -yng(3)/-ynge(5)/
-ing(1)/-inge(1) (pres.part.), sche(10) (3sg.fem. pronoun, nom.), þei(9)/þey(1) (3pl.pronoun, nom.), hem(10) (3pl.pronoun, oblique), her(10) (3pl.pronoun, possessive)

Provenance and Acquisition

‘talard’, 15th century (?), fol. 1r.

‘George Rawdon of carlton | Mathe Sadlar of ffellonglaye | with grace of god wyfe to | George Rawdon of carlton’, 16th century (fol. 174v). Fellongley, Warwickshire (?).

‘1756 Jan(uar)y 17th Bo(ugh)t this Book of Mr J(oh)n Cooke of Upingham’ – John Jackson (?) (d. 1794); see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry Jackson, John, d. 1807, traveller.

Francis Douce (1757–1834); see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: bought at Jackson’s sale in 1794 (lot 345); notes on flyleaves; stamp on fol. 1r.

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. 18. Previously described:

Summary Catalogue, vol. 4, p. 610

Bibliography

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. 1, p. li; base text of the Earlier Version of the Wycliffite Bible from 4 Kings to 2 Chronicles; siglum B.

Skeat, W. W., ‘On the dialect of Wycliffe’s Bible’, Transactions of the Philological Society (1895), pp. 212–19 at pp. 216–17.

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. 21945.

Fristedt, S. L., The Wycliffe Bible, 3 vols (Stockholm: Almquvist & Wiksells, 1953–73), vol. 1, p. 15. 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. 41, no. 494. de Hamel, C., The book: a history of the Bible (London: Phaidon, 2001), p. 180.

Dove, M., The first English Bible: the text and context of the Wycliffite versions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp. 18, 141, 199, 299.

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2023-03-24: Add Solopova description.

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