MS. Laud Misc. 182

Summary Catalogue no.: 781

Language(s): Middle English with Latin

Bible (later Wycliffite version) (extracts)

Language(s): Middle English

1. (fols. 1r–287v)

[item 1 occupies quires I–XXXVI]

Complete chapters from Old Testament and New Testament in the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible

Imperfect at the beginning, starting at Genesis 1:18 because of the loss of leaves. Includes Genesis 1–4, 6–7, 11, 14, 18, 22; Exodus 1–8, 20, 25, 32, 33; Deuteronomy 1, 27–28; 1 Kings 1, 2, 4, 10–17; 3 Kings 3, 9; Job 1–2; Psalms 1–2, 4–6, 36, 50, 70, 98; Daniel 2–3 (rubrics in red pointing out the differences between the Latin and Hebrew texts in chapter 3); 2 Maccabees 7; Matthew, prologue, 1–9, 23–28; Mark 14–16; Luke 1–4, 22–24; John, complete with usual prologue; 1 Corinthians 1, 13; Hebrews 1, 11; Acts 1, 7, 13; 2 Peter 2; Jude, complete; Apocalypse, complete with usual the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible prologue. Old Testament material is largely historical, rather than prophetic; its arrangement agrees with the order of books in the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible; all books between Psalms and Daniel are excluded.

Running titles in red consisting of the titles of biblical books and sometimes chapter numbers. Rubrics in red containing the titles of biblical books and stating how many chapters are included, e.g., ‘Here enden ten chapitris of genesis and here bigynneþ þe firste chapitre of exodi’ (fol. 18r). Chapter numbers in red, usually as Roman numerals, followed by ‘c(apitulum)’ or ‘chapitre’. The beginnings of periods are highlighted in red. Glosses in the margins in Old Testament; added material within the text is underlined in red. Indexing letters occasionally appear in the margins of the gospels and the Apocalypse. Frequent dittographic repetitions are crossed out in red within the text, but otherwise there are few corrections. Psalms are written as prose and have English titles and numbers as part of titles; only psalms 36, 50, 70, 98 have Latin incipits. Spaces left for initials at the beginnings of psalm verses but not filled in.

2. (fols. 288v–319v)

[item 2 occupies quires XXXVII–XL]

Brief educational (?) and moral (?) extracts from Old Testament and New Testament in the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible, each followed by an abbreviated title of the book and chapter number

Extracts from the following books and chapters are included: Genesis 1–2, 4–9, 11–12, 14, 18–22, 24, 25, 27–8, 32–3, 35–9, 41–5, 46–50; Exodus 1–20, 22–23, 25–6, 33–5, 37, 40; Leviticus 6, 19, 23, 25; Numbers 5, 7, 11–12, 14–16, 20–22, 25, 29; Deuteronomy 4, 6–7, 11, 13, 15, 18, 21, 27, 30, 32; Joshua 5, 7, 10; Judges 1, 9, 11, 13, 15–16, 19–20; 1 Kings 3, 5, 9–10, 12–13, 18–19, 24, 26, 28, 31; 2 Kings 6–7, 12, 15–16, 18, 24; 3 Kings 1, 3, 6, 8–12, 17–19, 21–2; 4 Kings 1–2, 13; 2 Chronicles 7; Job 3, 6, 9–10, 13, 31, 40, 41; verses from Psalms 5–6, 50, 71, 88, 95, 115, 118, 138; Proverbs 5–6, 11, 21, 24, 26, 28, 30; Ecclesiastes 1, 7, 10; Song of Songs 2, 4; Wisdom 1–2, 12–4; Ecclesiasticus 1, 10, 22–3, 25, 34, 42, 45, 49; Isaiah 11, 14, 30, 37–8, 46; Jeremiah 7, 10, 15; Lamentations 2; Baruch 4; Ezekiel 37; Daniel 4, 13; Hosea 13; Zechariah 5; 1 Maccabees 6; 2 Maccabees 5, 9; Matthew 2–3, 5–6, 9, 13, 16, 18, 19, 21, 24, 27, 28; Mark 2–3, 6, 9, 10; Luke 2–3, 6, 17, 21; John, 5–7, 13; Romans 1, 7, 8; 1 Corinthians 3, 13; 2 Corinthians 3, 5, 11; Galatians 3; Ephesians 4; 1 Thessalonians 1; Hebrews 4; Acts 2, 5. Fol. 228r is ruled but blank.

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: parchment

Extent: 320 leaves, c.

Dimensions (leaf): 166 × 114 mm.

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

Foliation: modern in pencil, 1–320

Collation

(fols. 1–7) I (8–1) missing 1 | (fols. 8–312) II–XXXIX (8) | (fols. 313–319) XL (8–1) missing 8. Catchwords, decorated with penwork, survive. Quire signatures occasionally survive and run consecutively [a]–z, 3, &, c(on) on fols. 1–208, and possibly also consecutively on fols. 209–287, a(?)–k(?). Quires XXXVII– XL (fols. 289–319) are numbered 1–4.

Secundo Folio: ‘þat ben mouyd’ (fol. 2r)

Layout

(fols. 1r–287v) ruled in plummet for a single column, with single vertical and double horizontal bounding lines extending the full height and width of page; prickings occasionally survive; 22 lines per page; written space: c. 100 × 69 mm.

(fols. 288r–319v) ruled in ink for a single column, with single vertical and double horizontal bounding lines extending the full height and width of page; 22 lines per page; written space: c. 102 × 68 mm.

Hand(s)

textura, black ink; the two parts, fols. 1r–287v and fols. 288v–319v, are the work of two different scribes

Decoration

Spaces left for 3-line initials at the beginnings of books and 2-line initials at the beginnings of prologues and chapters; guide-letters provided, but the initials are not filled in. 2-line spaces are left for initials at the beginnings of extracts (fols. 288v–319v).

Rubrics in red ink.

Binding

Brown leather over pasteboard, 16th century. Blind fillet-line border with floral corner-pieces and an oval centrepiece with arabesque designs on both covers. Five raised bands on spine with daisy-like decorations between the bands. Fragmentary paper labels on spine, one with handwritten and two with typewritten text, including ‘Laud. | D | 14.’ and ‘Laud | 182’.

History

Origin: England ; 15th century, first quarter

Differences in the apparatus provided for chapters on fols. 1r–287v (e.g., indexing letters appear only in New Testament; glosses only in Old Testament) probably going back to exemplar or exemplars. The presentation of extracts (fols. 288v–319v), including ruling, the size of script and the intention to include coloured initials, matches that of chapters.

Dialect survey (fols. 1r–287v):

ony(9)/any(1), ech(10), fier(10), ȝouen(9)/ȝoue(1), lijf(4)/lyf(7) lyk(4)/liche(1)/ lijk(5), myche(10), siȝ(9) (sg.), sien(1)/saien(1)/siȝen(4) (pl.), silf(9)/self(1), sich(1)/siche(2), þou(2)/þouȝ(4), þorou(1)/þoru(4)
-iþ(9)/-eþ(1) (pres.ind.3sg.), -en(10) (pres.ind.pl.), -ynge(9)/-yng(1) (pres. part.), sche(10) (3sg.fem.pronoun, nom.), þei(10) (3pl.pronoun, nom.), hem(10) (3pl.pronoun, oblique), her(3) (3pl.pronoun, possessive)

Provenance and Acquisition

James Beresford, 16th century (fol. 319). Latin verses, possibly in his hand, from the preface to Bartholomew Clerke’s translation of Baldassarre Castiglione’s Libro del cortegiano (Balthasaris Castilionis comitis de curiali siue aulico libri quatuor: ex Italico sermone in Latinum conuersi, London, 1571):

‘ Tullius, Osorius, Clerckus, flos, gloria, laurus … … laurea lauta suae ’.

Notes in 16th- or 17th-century hands in the margins, including ‘Omnia totalis 30lb 3s-4d’ (fol. 7r); ‘Mr Henrie St George’ (fol. 44v), ‘Miles’ (fol. 199r), ‘henry asley(?)(?) is my name(?)’, ‘Denys’ (fol. 319v).

William Laud (1573–1645); see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: ‘Liber Guilielmi Laud Archiep(iscop)i Cantuar’: et Cancellarij Vniuersitatis Oxon. 1633’ (fol. 3r).

Bodleian Library: first donation from Laud, 22 May 1635. Earlier shelfmark ‘D. 14’ (binding, upper pastedown, fol. 1r).

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. 32. Previously described:

Quarto Catalogue, col. 164

Quarto Catalogue, col. 165

Summary Catalogue, vol. 2, part 1, p. 34

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. xlvi.

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. 781.

Coxe, H. O., Catalogi codicum manuscriptorum Bibliothecae Bodleianae pars secunda codices Latinos et Miscellaneos Laudianos complectens (Oxford, 1885), reprinted with corrections, additions and an introduction by R. W. Hunt (Oxford: Bodleian Library, 1973), no. 182.

Ogilivie-Thomson, S. J., Index of Middle English prose, 18 vols (Cambridge, 1984– ), Handlist XVI, pp. 24–5.

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. 85, no. 650.

Dove, M., The first English Bible: the text and context of the Wycliffite versions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 301.

Kuczynski, M. P., ‘An unpublished Lollard Psalms Catena in Huntington Library MS. 501’, Journal of the Early Book Society 13 (2010), pp. 95–138 at pp. 106–8.

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