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

MS. Eng. misc. c. 674

Summary Catalogue no.: Not in SC (late accession): no detailed description available

Guardbook

MS. Eng. misc. c. 674 – Part 1 (fol. 1)

Contents

1. (fol. 1)
Prayer

A fragment of prayer to God as creator and guardian of all to help the sinful petitioner - fragments of twelve lines, possibly couplets. Set out as verse with upper case letters at beginnings of each line. Not in New IMEV; Digital IMEV, no. 4028 (with transcription); IMEP XII.2 (with transcription)

Incipit: O precyous Lord vndur w All thyng dependeth b
Language(s): Middle English

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: paper

History

Origin: 15th century ; English

Provenance and Acquisition

Found in June 1977 in MS Ashmole 1518 between fols 77 and 78.

MS. Eng. misc. c. 674 – Part 2 (fol. 2)

Contents

2. (fol. 2)
Miracles of the Virgin (?)

Twenty-eight lines of verse from two different texts, reminiscent of the South English Legendary, and perhaps once circulating with it. The first text (recto) has a Jew desecrating a Christian object and casting it into a pit, then (verso) a miraculous voice telling how the Jew came to a bad end. The second text (recto, but probably not the next) has Our Lady embracing and kissing a faithful clerk, then (verso) the clerk having a vision of being brought out of this world to paradise which, with gratitude to our Lady, he reports to a bishop.

Language(s): Middle English

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: upper strip of a bifolium
Dimensions (leaf): c. 155

Layout

1 col.; width of the ruled space 105 mm.

Hand(s)

Anglicana formata

History

Origin: 's. siv–xv or a little later' (Hanna) ; England

Provenance and Acquisition

Formerly in the binding of Wood 396 (Henricus Loritus Glareanus’ Δωδεκάχορδον (Basil, 1547))

Removed c. 2000; accessioned with current shelfmark June 2021.

Bibliography

    Ralph Hanna, Bodleian Library Record 17(6): 488-92 (Oct. 2002)
    Thomas R. Liszka and Oliver Pickering, Journal of the Early Book Society 24 (forthcoming).

Additional Information

Record Sources

Fol. 1: description by Elizabeth Solopova. Fol. 2: description by Matthew Holford, June 2021, with thanks to Prof. Thomas Liszka.

Last Substantive Revision

2017-07-01: First online publication.