MS. Dugdale 46
Summary Catalogue no.: 6534
Contents
Language(s): Middle English with Latin
Fol. i is a paper flyleaf (see Provenance).
Romans has a second prologue ‘Romaynes ben þei þat of Iewis…’ with a rubric ‘þis prologe telliþ þe peple of rome what manere men it weren sum time’ (Dove, M., The first English Bible: the text and context of the Wycliffite versions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 206; 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. 301–3). A bifolium is missing after fol. 41 (missing text: 1 Corinthians 7:30–9:11); an early modern note in the margin points this out. Galatians starts on a new quire (quire X, fol. 68r); the verso of the last leaf of the previous quire is largely blank, with only about one-fifth of the first column occupied by text.
Usual rubrics at the beginning of prologues and books, e.g., ‘Here bigynneþ prologe to romayns’ (fol. 3v); ‘þus seiþ ierom in his prologe on þis pistil to romayns’ (fol. 4r). In Romans and Philippians – 1 Timothy the rubrics are in red; in 1 Corinthians – Ephesians they are in black underlined in red; in 2 Timothy and later they are added in black by one of the scribes (or an early owner) in spaces originally left blank (they are in the wrong order in 2 Timothy and its prologue on fol. 112v). The running titles on fols. 5r–67r and 110r–122r consist of abbreviated titles of epistles written on the rectos in black, probably in the hand that supplied rubrics in 2 Timothy and later. On fols. 68r–109 (from the beginning of Galatians to the end of 1 Timothy 4) and on fols. 123–end (most of Hebrews) the running titles are in red on the rectos. The chapter numbers are in black Roman numerals on fols. 1r–85r and 109v–end, in red Roman numerals on fols. 85v–91v, and vary between red and black on fols. 100v–109v.
Corrections in the margins and within the text in medieval hands. Partially cut off gloss in a red frame against 1 Corinthians 16:15 on fol. 53r ‘stephan…womma[n]’ (the Earlier Version of the Wycliffite Bible in Forshall and Madden (1950) has a gloss ‘the womman’ at this point; cf. MS. Fairfax 21). The only other marginal gloss is an explanation of ‘amen’ on fol. 88r. Added material within the text is underlined in red in 2 Corinthians and occasionally texts that follow. The indexing letters are very occasionally entered at the beginnings of lections. ‘noon of hem myȝte be saued þoruȝ his owne meritis’ is underlined in red with a drawing of a pointing hand on fol. 3r, postmedieval (?). Notes in the margins in a 17th-century hand (Henry Fairfax (?), see Provenance).
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
Ruled in ink with single vertical and single or double horizontal bounding lines extending the full height and width of page. Quires I and X–XI are ruled for a single column, quires II–IX for two columns, quire XII has the recto of the first leaf ruled for a single column (to match the facing verso of quire XI), the rest of the MS. is ruled for two columns. The number of lines varies from quire to quire and sometimes within the same quire: 18 lines per page in quires I–II, 25 in quires III–V, 26 in quire VI, 27 in quire VII, 28 in quires VIII–IX, 19–20 in quires X–XI, 20–23 in quire XII, 25 in quires XIII–XIV, 23 in quire XV, 25 in quire XVI, 28 in quires XVII–XVIII. Written space: c. 143–158 × 98–106 mm. . Prickings survive.
Hand(s)
textura of widely variable size and degree of formality, but perhaps the work of a single amatuer (?) scribe; black ink. The appearance of script changes sometimes from quire to quire (e.g., quires I and II are in different styles, but the verso of the last leaf of quire I matches the recto of the first leaf of quire II; see also a change of ruling and scribal style at the start of quire III, fol. 15r) and sometimes unpredictably within the same quire and more than once on the same page (e.g., fols. 41r, 47v, 63v, 67r, 81v, etc.). Partially filled last line of the first column on fol. 67r and a line outside the ruled space on fol. 100r suggest that the text may not have been copied consecutively. Possibly at least partly in the same hand as MS. Harley 2396 (English Wycliffite sermons) and Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College MS. 179/212 (Matthew–Mark in the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible). MS. Harley 2396 also has very considerable variation in scribal style, sometimes on the same page, and changes in ruling from one to two columns for no apparent reason (Hudson, A. and Gradon, P., English Wycliffite sermons, 5 vols (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983–96), vol. 1, pp. 81–2).
Decoration
2- to 5-line plain red initials at the beginnings of books, 1- to 3-line similar initials at the beginnings of prologues and chapters.
Rubrics in red, black or underlined in red.
Binding
Brown leather over pasteboard, late 17th century, probably made for Charles Fairfax (see also MS. Fairfax 11). Blind fillet-line and roll border with geometric designs round the outer edge of both covers. Floral decoration (thistle flowers (?)) at the centre and in four corners on both covers. Two paper labels on spine, one fragmentary with ‘[4]6’ written in ink, another with ‘M.S. | Dugdale | 34’ also written in ink. Paper label with ‘F(?)’ on the upper cover. Edges of textblock dyed red.
History
The presentation of the text is highly variable: the number of lines per page changes from quire to quire and sometimes within the same quire; the style of rubrics and running titles differs between texts and groups of texts, rather than quires; and the style of handwriting varies occasionally from quire to quire, but also unpredictably on the same page. There is, however, also evidence of efforts to give some uniformity to the appearance of the book, e.g., the ruling in quire XII changes on the verso of the first leaf, rather than on the recto; the scribal hand in quire I is very different from that in quire II, but the verso of the last leaf of quire I matches the recto of the first leaf of quire II.
Dialect survey:
- ony(10), eche(10), fier(8), ȝouen(10), liif(8)/lyf(2), lyke(2)/like(3)/lyk(1), myche(4)/meche(5)/miche(1), siȝ(1) (sg.), siȝen(1) (pl.), silf(10), siche(1)/ suche(9), þouȝ(10), þoruȝ(6)
- -iþ(5)/eþ(5) (pres.ind.3sg.), -en(10) (pres.ind.pl.), -inge(5)/-ynge(4)/-ende(1, fol. 8v) (pres.part.), sche(10) (3sg.fem.pronoun, nom.), þei(10) (3pl.pronoun, nom.), hem(10) (3pl.pronoun, oblique), her(1)/here(1) (3pl.pronoun, possessive)
Provenance and Acquisition
Henry Fairfax (1588–1665), Church of England clergyman; see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Fol. i verso contains Pater noster and the Apostles’ Creed with a title ‘Ex antiquo MSS’, probably in his hand. The same page contains a note about the authorship of the Prologue to Romans, stating that the information was supplied by ‘M Fetherstonhaugh’, minister at Bentham. Notes probably in his hand in the margins of the epistles. Erased early modern (?) note in the lower margin of fol. 96v; text on the same page freshened up in an early modern (?) hand.
Charles Fairfax (1597–1673), antiquary and genealogist; see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: ‘C(arolus) Fairfax ex dono fratris H(enrici) F(airfax) 1619’ (fol. 1r). Signatures on fols. i recto (in Latin and English), 138v. See also MS. Fairfax 11.
William Dugdale (1605–1686), antiquary and herald; see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
Ashmolean Museum: bequeathed by Dugdale.
Bodleian Library: transferred from the Ashmolean Museum in 1858.
Record Sources
Bibliography
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2023-03-24: Add Solopova description.