MS. Laud Misc. 24

Summary Catalogue no.: 658

Language(s): Middle English with Latin

Fol. ii is a parchment flyleaf.

(fols. 1–120r)

Matthew–Mark in the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible with usual prologues

Running titles on rectos only, preceded by red paraphs, consisting of the abbreviated titles of the two gospels, without chapter numbers. Usual rubrics, e.g., ‘Here bigyneþ a prolog on þe gospel of Matheu’; ‘Þus seiþ ierom in his prolog of matheu’ (fols. 1r, 2r). Chapter numbers in red as Roman numerals, usually in the form ‘cº ii’. No marginal glosses; added material within the text is occasionally underlined. Indexing letters in the margins entered at the beginnings of lections, rather than consistently; the beginnings of lections are also marked with red or blue paraphs within the text; the ends of lections are marked with double strokes. A few short notes in the margins in an early modern hand. Fol. 120v is ruled, but originally blank; fols. 121r–122v are parchment flyleaves, originally blank (see Provenance).

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: parchment

Extent: 263 leaves, c.

Dimensions (leaf): 155 × 108 mm.

Foliation: modern in pencil, i–ii + 1–123

Collation

(fols. i–ii) upper pastedown and a conjoint flyleaf | (fols. 1–120) I–XV (8) | (fols. 121–123) parchment flyleaves and lower pastedown. Catchwords survive; quire signatures run consecutively +, b–p.

Secundo Folio: ‘a calf’ (fol. 2r)

Layout

ruled for one column, with single vertical and double horizontal bounding lines extending the full height and width of page; prickings survive; 21–3 lines per page (varies from quire to quire); written space: c. 95 × 61 mm.

Hand(s)

textura, black ink

Decoration

5-line gold initials on blue and pink background, and borders made of penwork sprays with gold leaves and disks at the beginnings of gospels.

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

Rubrics in red ink.

Binding

Contemporary binding, white leather over boards, fragments of a strap-andpin fastening. Labels on spine with typewritten: ‘Laud. | C | 6.’ and ‘Laud | 24’. Parchment flyleaves and pastedowns.

History

Origin: England ; 15th century, first quarter

Dialect survey:

any(10), ech(7)/eche(3), fier(9)/fer(1), ȝouun(3)/ȝouen(5)/ȝiuen(2), lif(10), lik(9)/like(1), myche(10), siȝ(6)/sauȝ(1) (sg.), sayen(3)/siȝen(2) (pl.), silf(10), siche(5)/sich(1), þouȝ(5), þorowȝ(3)/þorow(2)
-iþ(9)/-iþ(1) (pres.ind.3sg.), -en(10) (pres.ind.pl.), -ynge(10) (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

‘london’, ‘ludens’, ‘Lex dei iusta est’, 16th century (?), fol. 122v.

William Laud (1573–1645); see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: ‘Liber Guilielmi Laud Archiep(iscop)i Cantuar’: et Cancellarij Vniuersitatis Oxon. 1634’, fol. 1r.

Bodleian Library: first donation from Laud, 22 May 1635. Earlier shelfmark: ‘C.6’ (upper pastedown and spine).

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. 28. Previously described:

Quarto Catalogue, col. 67

Summary Catalogue, vol. 2, part 1, p. 29

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. 661.

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. 24.

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. 72, no. 634.

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

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