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MS. Add. A. 369

Summary Catalogue no.: 29620

Contents

(fols 14v-121v)
Palladius, De re rustica (15th-century English verse translation, DIMEV 1071, NIMEV 654)
Language(s): Middle English
Rubric: De preceptis rei rustice
Incipit: Consideraunce is taken atte prudence/ What mon me moost enfourme and husbondrie/ No rethorik doo teche or eloquence. As sum haue doon hemself to magnifie
Explicit: Doon in and dreynt a cruste vpon it make/ And fille it to the brinke vntil it take

'rhyme royal' stanzas (rhyming ababbcc)

An alphabetical index of subjects ('tabula') precedes, in which the references appear to be to the leaves of the manuscript which was before the scribe, rendering the index of little use. Daniel Wakelin notes that the 'finding aid is a form without real function', made without thought as to readers mgiht use it (Designing English: Early Literature on the Page (Bodleian, 2018), p. 85

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: 125 leaves
Dimensions (binding): 9.875 × 7.5 in.

Condition

A-B are wanting, a leaf being lost. Two leaves are also wanting after fol. 92; fols 93 and 97 should follow fols 94 and 98. Fol. 121 has lost the upper part; and the last forty- three lines of Book xii, with all of Book xiii, are lost, the manuscript ending abruptly.

History

Origin: 15th century, middle ; England

Provenance and Acquisition

'Thomas Nevet' and' 'William Nevet' (16th century) occur on fol. 122v

Kept in the Library at Colchester Castle where it had been 'lying long unnoticed' and still in Colchester Castle when the manuscript was edited by Barton Lodge from 1873-1879: see p. vii of Palladius on Husbondrie, ed. by Barton Lodge and Sidney J. H. Herrtage, Early English Text Society, O. S. 52 and 72 (1873 and 1879; reprinted as one vol. in 1973)

Bought for £40 in September 1886 from B. Quaritch (whose letter of 14 September is at fol. 2). No. 35680 in Quaritch's General Catalogue (1887)

Record Sources

Description adapted (July 2025) by Stewart J. Brookes from the Summary Catalogue (1905)
Summary Catalogue, Vol. 5, p. 657
Summary Catalogue, Vol. 5, p. 658

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (1 image from 35mm slides)

Surrogates

Wakelin, Daniel, Designing English: Early Literature on the Page (Bodleian, 2018), p. 84, reproduces fol. 8v in colour

Bibliography

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2025-07-22: Description revised to incorporate all the information in the Summary Catalogue (1905) and other printed sources