MS. Holkham misc. 40

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

Language(s): Middle English with Latin

Fols. i–iii are paper flyleaves, blank apart from modern notes.

1. (fols. 1r–133r)

A collection of sermons with a prologue translated from Robert of Gretham’s Anglo-Norman verse Mirror (Paues (1904), pp. xiv–xv; Blumreich (2002); Duncan and Connolly (2003); O’Mara and Paul (2007)). Rubrics in red, most are not filled in after fol. 112r; corrections in a contemporary hand; medieval ‘nota’ and pointing hands in the margins; Latin notes in the margins (16th century (?)).

Incipit: (preface) Many men hyt ben þat inwysse to heren

Incipit: (text) ‘Cum appropinquasset Iesus Iherosolimam …’ Ihesus cam ner a cyte

2. (fols. 133r–162va)

Middle English translation of the General and Pauline epistles (Paues (1904), pp. 18–122; Morey, J. H., Book and verse: a guide to Middle English biblical literature (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2000), pp. 346–50) in the following order: 1 Peter, 2 Peter, James, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, the epilogue to the Catholic epistles (‘Suster þus haueþ…’), Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, Hebrews, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus.

3. (fols. 162va–257rb)

Four gospels in the Earlier Version of the Wycliffite Bible with usual prologues

Only some of the prologues, but not the gospels, have rubrics (e.g., ‘here bygynneþ þe prologe of Ion’). The text is complete, but subdivided into readings for the temporal, Sarum sanctoral and commemorations. The beginning of each reading is marked with a rubric in red, specifying the day on which it is appointed to be read; the end of each reading is marked with ‘ende’ in red. Includes readings for Thomas Hereford (fol. 218r) and Bavo of Ghent (220r), non-Sarum saints. Chapter numbers in red as Arabic numerals, usually in the form ‘c(apitulu)m 3ᵐ’. Running titles in red on both rectos and versos, consisting of the name of the evangelist or ‘prologus’. Added material within the text is underlined in brown ink. Corrections in contemporary hands. Occasionally cross-references to biblical books in the margins in red by the rubricator (e.g., fols. 167r, 170r, 195v). Added glosses in the margins in a medieval hand, e.g., ‘n(ot)a wat crist badde his apostlys’ (fol. 168v). At the beginning of gospels notes on the number of chapters in each (e.g., ‘luc h(ab)et xxiiij cᵐ’), 15th century.

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: parchment (of mediocre quality with numerous rough edges and flaws), paper flyleaves

Extent: iii (paper) + 257 + iii (paper) leaves, c.

Dimensions (leaf): 282 × 189 mm.

; leaves were cropped in rebinding, occasionally causing the loss of text in the margins

Foliation: modern in pencil, i–iii + 1–260; contemporary in ink, in Roman and Arabic numerals, up to fol. 179 (Matthew 23), I–XXVIIII + XXIX + XXX–CIII + 104–179

Collation

(fols. i–iii) paper flyleaves | (fols. 1–256) I–XXXII (8) | (fol. 257) single leaf | (fols. 258–260) paper flyleaves. Catchwords survive; quire signatures run consecutively a–z, a–i.

Secundo Folio: ‘mirrour makeþ’ (fol. 3r)

Layout

Leaves occupied by Mirror are ruled in plummet for a single column.

Leaves occupied by epistles and gospels are ruled for two columns. The switch happens on fol. 133v, the second page of the epistles, presumably to avoid having different ruling on facing pages. The written space is similar throughout. Single vertical and double horizontal bounding lines extending the full height and width of page; prickings survive; 37–45 lines per page (varies from quire to quire); written space: c. 145–189 × 123–125 mm.

Hand(s)

five scribes: (1) fols. 1r–16v; (2) fols. 17r–25r; (3) fols. 25r–133r; (4) fols. 133r–162v (epistles); (5) fols. 162v–257r (gospels); textura, black and brown ink

Decoration

2- to 3-line plain red initials at the beginnings of gospels; similar 1- to 3-line initials at the beginnings of prologues and chapters.

Rubrics in red ink.

Binding

Typical Holkham binding of light brown straight-grained morocco over wood boards, 19th century. Gilt and blind decoration round the outer edge of both covers. Four raised bands on spine; gilt decoration on the raised bands and on the panels between the bands. Gilt crest of Thomas William Coke on the front cover. Gilt lettering on spine: ‘THE MYRROUR | & GOSPELS’ and ‘MS. | MEMB. 672’. Gilt edges of textblock.

History

Origin: England ; 15th century, first quarter

Dialect survey (gospels):

eny(9)/ony(1), iche(2)/eche(7)/ech(1), fijr(8)/fyer(2), lyfe(1)/lyf(1)/lyif(1)/lijf(7), lyic(1)/lijc(5)/liche(4), miche(2)/myche(8), see(1)/seeȝ(1)/saw(3) (sg.), seyen(3)/ sayen(1)/seyne(1) (pl.), self(10), siche(7)/syche(2), þouȝ(3), þoru(8)/þurȝ(1)/ þerwȝ(1)
-eþ(6)/-eth(1)/-iþ(3) (pres.ind.3sg.), -en(9)/-yn(1) (pres.ind.pl.), -yng(9)/ing(1) (pres.part.), sche(10) (3sg.fem.pronoun, nom.), þai(1)/þei(9) (3pl. pronoun, nom.), hem(10) (3pl.pronoun, oblique), her(9)/þeire(1) (3pl. pronoun, possessive)
According to Hanna (2003, p. 148), the fourth scribe of the Mirror, who copied more than 70 per cent of its text, wrote Type III London English, but with some Type II relics, probably inherited from the exemplar, e.g., ‘hij’, ‘-ande’ in pres. part. (Hanna (2003), pp. 148–9).

Provenance and Acquisition

John Forest, rector of Ramsden Bellhouse: ‘Iohannes Forestius rector de Ramseton in Comitatu essex est proprius et indubitatus possessor huius libri 1552’ (fol. 7r).

Sir Edward Coke (1552–1634); see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: autograph on fol. 1r; item 212 in the catalogue of his books (Hassall (1950), p. 15).

Thomas William Coke, first earl of Leicester of Holkham (1754–1842); see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: name and crest on the book-plate on the upper pastedown; crest on the binding.

Bodleian Library: acquired from the collection of the Earls of Leicester at Holkham Hall, near Wells, Norfolk. Former shelfmark: Holkham Hall MS. 672.

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. 26; with additions from notes by Peter Kidd.

Bibliography

Paues, A. C., A fourteenth century English Biblical version (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1904).

Hassall, W. O., A catalogue of the library of Sir Edward Coke (New Haven, Conn. and London: Yale University Press/Oxford University Press, 1950).

Ker, N. R., Piper, A. J., Watson, A. G. and Cunningham, I. C., Medieval manuscripts in British libraries, 5 vols (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969–2002), vol. 3, p. 420.

Hudson, A. and Spencer, H. L., ‘Old author, new work: the sermons of MS. Longleat 4’, Medium Aevum 53 (1984), pp. 220–38 at p. 237 n. 50.

Hudson, A., ‘Lollardy: the English heresy?’, Lollards and their books (London: Hambledon Press, 1985), pp. 141–63 at p. 141 n. 3.

Spencer, H. L., English preaching in the late Middle Ages (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993), pp. 277, 373 nn. 64, 66, 406 n. 141, 451 n. 88, 468 nn. 97–8, 473 n. 30, 495 n. 41.

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. 60 no. 567.

Blumreich, K. M. (ed.), The Middle English ‘Mirror’: an edition based on Bodleian Library, MS. Holkham misc. 40 (Arizona: Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2002).

Duncan, T. G. and Connolly, M. (eds), The Middle English ‘Mirror’: sermons from Advent to Sexagesima (Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2003).

Hanna, R., ‘English biblical texts before Lollardy and their fate’, in Somerset, F. and Havens, J. C. (eds), Lollards and their influence in late medieval England (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2003), pp. 141–53.

Hanna, R., London literature, 1300–1380 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), pp. 16, 28, 41 n. 21, 217 n. 44 and passim , 219 n. 54, 306–7.

Dove, M., The first English Bible: the text and context of the Wycliffite versions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 300.

O’Mara, V. and Paul, S. (eds), A repertorium of Middle English prose sermons (Turnhout: Brepols, 2007), pp. 2047–165.

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