MS. Fairfax 11

Summary Catalogue no.: 3891

Language(s): Middle English with Latin

Fols. i–iii are paper and parchment flyleaves.

1. (fols. 1r–6v)

[items 1–2 occupy quires II–IV]

Sarum calendar in Latin

Written in black, red, blue and gold, laid out one month per page, graded to nine lessons. Feasts in red include Ambrose (4 April), Augustine of Canterbury (26 May), Thomas Becket and his translation (29 December and 7 July), Augustine of Hippo (28 August), Thomas of Hereford (2 October), the translation of Edward the Confessor (13 October) and Edmund Rich (16 November). On 2 March, ‘Theaddee’, bishop, in red, as ‘festum duplex’, marked ‘non sarum’ in the original hand (Chad (?), promulgated in 1415). Wulstan, bishop of Worcester (19 January) is in black, his translation (7 June) is in black marked ‘non sarum’. Thomas of Hereford, though a non-Sarum saint, is not marked as such. Includes Richard of Chichester (3 April), but not John of Beverley, David, Frideswide or Winifred (promulgated in 1415 under archbishop Chichele; see Pfaff, R. W., The liturgy in medieval England: a history (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), pp. 440–1). Does not include Botulph (17 June). The months are headed by notes on the number of hours in day and night, and verses on the ‘Egyptian’ days which correspond to Hennig, J., ‘Versus de mensibus’, Traditio 11 (1955), pp. 65–90, set III. The feasts of Thomas Becket are not erased. Added numbering of the days of the months in an early modern hand.

2. (fols. 7r–18v)

Table of lections of Type I

Rubric: Here bigynneþ a rule þat telliþ in whiche chapitriis of þe bible 3&e moun fynde þe lessouns pistlis & gospels pistlis & gospels[sic] þat ben rad in þe chirche aftir þe vss of Salisbury markid with lettris of þe a.b.c. at þe bigynnyng of þe chapitris toward þe middil or eende aftir order as þe lettris stonden in þe a.b.c. first ben sett sonedaies & ferials to gidere & after þe sanctorum comoun & propre to gidere of al þe ȝeer first writen a clause of þe bigynnyng þerof & a clause of þe eending also

Includes the temporal, commemorations, and the sanctoral, both the proper and common according to the rubric, but only the proper is present. 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). Commemorations are in the following order: the Virgin Mary, Trinity, Holy Ghost, Cross, angels, ‘ffor briþeren & sistren & salus populi’, peace, clear weather, rain, ‘In time of batels’, ‘A man for him silf’, ‘ffor pestilence of bestis’, pilgrims, weddings, sinners, sick, dead. The 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 and the closing words of a reading. Larger initials with penwork at Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Pentecost, Trinity, Conception of our Lady and Candlemas.

Final rubric: Thus eendiþ þe kalender of lessouns pistlis & gospels þat ben rad in þe chirche bi al þe ȝeer aftir þe vse of Salisbury

Followed by an alphabet, a list of Old English letters, including ash, wynn, eth and thorn, and a note on medieval punctuation by Fairfax (?) (see Provenance).

3. (fols. 19r–198v)

[item 3 occupies quires V–XXVIII]

New Testament in the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible with usual prologues

Running titles in red on both rectos and versos, consisting of a title of a biblical book, a chapter number (on pages containing the beginnings of chapters), and gold or blue paraphs. Usual rubrics in red. Chapter numbers as words in English or Roman numerals, usually in the form ‘þe i cº’. Indexing letters, entered at the beginnings of lections, rather than consistently, and double strokes, marking the ends of readings, in the margins inside the bounding lines framing each page. Contains many corrections throughout, a few by the main scribe and many in other contemporary hands (most in a smaller script between lines).

Fols. 199–201 are blank.

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: parchment, paper flyleaves; lower margin of fol. 149 is cut off

Extent: 204 leaves, c.

Dimensions (leaf): 277 × 190 mm.

, originally possibly identical with MS. Bodl. 183; leaves were trimmed in rebinding, occasionally causing the loss of decoration in the margins

Foliation: modern in pencil: i–iii + 1–201

Collation

(fols. i) fol. i is a paper flyleaf, originally conjoint with the upper pastedown | (fols. ii–iii) I (6–4?) missing 1–4 | (fols. 1–4) II (4) | (fols. 5–10) III (6) | (fols. 11–122) IV–XVII (8) | (fols. 123–125) XVIII (4–1) 4 cancelled, no loss of text | (fols. 126–165) XIX–XXIII (8) | (fols. 166–170) XXIV (6–1) 1 cancelled, no loss of text | (fols. 171–194) XXV–XXVII (8) | (fols. 195–198) XXVIII (4) | (fols. 199–200) XXIX (4–2) missing 3, 4 | (fol. 201) paper flyleaf conjoined with the lower pastedown. Catchwords survive; leaf signatures run consecutively a–z (fols. 19–198).

Secundo Folio: ‘Twelfþe Isaye’ (fol. 8r, table of lections); ‘his sterre’ (fol. 20r, gospel)

Layout

ruled for two columns with single vertical and double horizontal bounding lines extending the full height and width of page, and a further set of double bounding lines in all margins; prickings survive; 32–4 lines per page; written space: c. 185 × 125 mm. ; nearly identical to MS. Bodl. 183

Hand(s)

textura, the same hand as in MS. Bodl. 183 (de Hamel, C., The book: a history of the Bible (London: Phaidon, 2001))

the calendar and the table of lections are in a different style and probably the work of a different scribe; black ink

Decoration

Possibly decorated by the same artist as MS. Bodl. 183 (de Hamel, C., The book: a history of the Bible (London: Phaidon, 2001)).

Gold and blue KL monograms with red and purple penwork in the calendar.

6- to 9-line initials on gold background and full or three-quarters borders made of pink, blue and gold bars decorated with floral designs, interlace and gold disks at the beginnings of books. Starting with St John’s gospel these alternate with 6- to 8-line red and blue ‘puzzle’ initials and penwork borders.

2- to 3-line gold or blue initials with red or purple penwork at the beginnings of prologues and chapters.

Catchwords decorated with geometric designs, and occasionally drawings (e.g., flowers, fol. 43v; king’s head, fol. 122v) in ink, and red and yellow wash.

Rubrics in red; blue and gold paraphs at the beginnings of sections within the text.

Binding

Brown leather over pasteboard, late 17th century, probably made for Charles Fairfax. Blind fillet-line and roll borders on both covers with floral cornerpieces and floral decorations at the centre. Imprints from metal decorations at the centre and around the edges of covers. The metal decorations were added on top of blind-tool designs on the binding, presumably soon after it was made, and left holes and rust marks on fols. ii–2 and 196–200. Fols. ii, iii, 199 and 200 are medieval parchment flyleaves. Fols. ii and 200 served as pastedowns of a medieval binding and have imprints from a medieval document. Heavily repaired and rebacked in the Bodleian; 19th-century spine and paper flyleaves. Five raised bands on spine, framed by blind fillet lines. Gold lettering on spine ‘MS. | FAIRFAX | 11’.

History

Origin: England ; 15th century, first quarter (before 1415 (?))

Probably made in London for a patron connected to Hereford cathedral (see Solopova, E., ‘Manuscript Evidence for the Patronage, Ownership and Use of the Wycliffite Bible’, in Poleg, E. and Light, L. (eds), Form and Function in the Late Medieval Bible (Leiden: Brill, 2013), pp. 333–49). The calendar may have been made for a church of Augustinian canons: it is graded to nine lessons in accordance with secular use; Augustine of Hippo and Ambrose are in red, Ambrose is ‘festum duplex’. The feast (19 January) and translation (7 June) of Wulstan, bishop of Worcester, who undertook rebuilding work in Hereford cathedral and churches in Hereford, are included in black. The feast (19 January) is often present in the 15th-century Sarum calendars, whereas the translation is a non-Sarum feast (marked as such in the calendar) and is rare. Thomas of Hereford, a non-Sarum saint, is in red, graded to nine lessons. It is unlikely that the manuscript was made for the diocese or cathedral of Worcester, because of the absence of Worcester feasts, apart from Wulstan, and the fact that the calendar is graded for secular use.

Written by the same scribe as MS. Bodl. 183, and illuminated by the same artist; MS. Bodl. 665 may be also the work of this scribe (de Hamel, C., The book: a history of the Bible (London: Phaidon, 2001)); see, however, Peikola, M., ‘The Wycliffite Bible and “Central Midland Standard”: assessing the manuscript evidence’, Nordic Journal of English Studies 2 (2003), pp. 29–51, pp. 39–40. Probably not made in Hereford, which preserved its distinctive use in the late Middle Ages (Pfaff, R. W., The liturgy in medieval England: a history (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), pp. 466–80); does not include Æthelberht (20 May), a non-Sarum feast. Written before 1415 (?): does not include most saints promulgated under archbishop Chichele; Chad (?) is marked as ‘non-Sarum’.

Dialect survey:

ony(10), ech(10), fier(10), ȝouen(10), lijf(9)/liyf(1), lijk(10), myche(10), say(7)/ sai(1) (sg.), saien(6) (pl.), silf(10), sich(2)/siche(5)/suche(2), þouȝ(8), þoru(8)/ þoruȝ(2)
-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

Half-erased and cropped off 16th-century notes on fols. 107v, 115r and 122v. The notes on fol. 115r include the name ‘Thomas Chenies’.

Sir William Sinclair, laird of Roslin (d. 1580/5): ‘William Santclair of Roislin, Knecht’ (fols. 1r, 18v); ‘die secundo aprilis anno mº vº lxi’, followed by a signature of William Sinclair (?), fol. 81v, at the end of Luke’s gospel. Many of his manuscripts were acquired from religious houses whose libraries had been broken up during the Scottish Reformation (Mapstone (1996)). Later owned by ‘D. Sinclair of Roisling’ (fol. 1r).

Charles Fairfax (1597–1673), antiquary and genealogist; see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: ‘bought in Scotland’ (fol. 1r); ‘Wickliff’s Translation of the New Testament’ (fol. ii recto); signatures on fols. iii recto, 1r, 18v, 19r, 198v. See also MS. Dugdale 46.

Thomas Fairfax (1612–1671), nephew of Charles Fairfax; see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Bodleian Library: bequeathed by Thomas Fairfax in 1671.

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. 22. Previously described:

Summary Catalogue, Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 776

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (7 images from 35mm slides)

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. xlviii.

Madan, F. and Craster, H. H. E., Summary catalogue of western manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, vol. 2, part I (collections received before 1660 and miscellaneous MSS acquired during the first half of the 17th century), nos. 1–3490 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1922), no. 3891. van Dijk, S. J. P., Handlist of the Latin liturgical manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford (unpublished typescript; 6 vols. in 7, Oxford, 1957–60), vol. 3, Rituals and directories, fol. 156.

Pächt, O. and Alexander, J. J. G., Illuminated manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, 3 vols (Oxford, 1966–73), vol. 3 (1973), no. 839, pl. LXXXI.

Thomson, J. A. F., The later Lollards, 1414–1520 (London: Oxford University Press, 1967), p. 207 n. 2.

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. 140 n. 29.

Mapstone, S., Scots and their books in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: an exhibition in the Bodleian Library, Oxford (Oxford: Bodleian Library, 1996), p. 3, no. 2.

Scott, K. L., Later Gothic manuscripts, 1390–1490, Survey of manuscripts illuminated in the British Isles 6 (London: Harvey Miller, 1996), vol. 2, p. 29.

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, pp. 48–9, no. 517. de Hamel, C., The book: a history of the Bible (London: Phaidon, 2001), p. 179, figs. 125–6.

Peikola, M., ‘The Wycliffite Bible and “Central Midland Standard”: assessing the manuscript evidence’, Nordic Journal of English Studies 2 (2003), pp. 29–51, p. 39.

Dove, M., The first English Bible: the text and context of the Wycliffite versions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp. 58, 59, 72–3, 247, 281.

Solopova, E., ‘Manuscript Evidence for the Patronage, Ownership and Use of the Wycliffite Bible’, in Poleg, E. and Light, L. (eds), Form and Function in the Late Medieval Bible (Leiden: Brill, 2013), pp. 333–49, pp. 346–8.

S. J. P. van Dijk, Latin Liturgical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, vol. 3: Rituals and Directories (typescript, 1957), p. 156

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