A catalogue of Western manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries and selected Oxford colleges

MS. Laud Misc. 36

Summary Catalogue no.: 676

Contents

Language(s): Middle English with Latin

Fol. i is a paper flyleaf, blank apart from modern notes.

(fols. 1r–163r)
Gospels in the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible

Imperfect at the beginning because of a missing leaf, starting at Matthew 1:8, with usual prologues, apart from the missing prologue to Matthew. Also missing is much of Luke 12:48–13:11, because most of fol. 103a is cut off, leaving only a strip containing three lines. Running titles in black on both rectos and versos, consisting of the name of the evangelist with chapter numbers added in a medieval hand on fols. 1–23. Chapter numbers in red usually in the form ‘cap(itulim) iij’. Rubrics in red at the beginnings of prologues and gospels (e.g., ‘here endiþ þe gospel of Mathew & begynneþ þe prolog vpon Mark’; ‘here endiþ þe prolog vpon Mark & bigynneþ þe gospel of Mark’). Corrections in the original hand. Glosses in the margins explaining individual words and phrases in the hand of the original scribe and, at the beginning of Matthew, in an early modern hand. Added material within the text is underlined in black. Many added drawings of pointing hands and ‘nota bene’ in the margins. Some mark passages of potentially Lollard interest, e.g., Christ’s commandment to the apostles ‘Nyle ȝe welde golde neiþer siluer ne money in ȝoure girdlis’ (Matthew, 10:9, fol. 12v), or Matthew 24:15 (fol. 36r), 24:23 (fol. 36v). Red and blue paraphs within the text. Fol. 163v is blank apart from early modern notes (see Provenance).

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment, laid paper flyleaves
Extent: 166 leaves, c.
Dimensions (leaf): 164 × 113 mm.
Foliation: modern in pencil, i + 1–103 + 103a + 104–163 + i

Collation

(fol. i) paper flyleaf | (fols. 1–7) I (8–1) missing 1 | (fols. 8–158) II–XX (8) | (fols. 159–163) XXI (4 + 1) fol. 162 is an added singleton | (fol. i) paper flyleaf. Catchwords survive; leaf signatures run consecutively a–x.
Secundo Folio: ‘myenes’ (fol. 2r)

Layout

ruled in plummet for a single column, with single vertical and double horizontal bounding lines extending the full height and width of page; prickings survive; 25 lines per page; written space: c. 122 × 79 mm.

Hand(s)

Anglicana with Secretary influence, black ink

Decoration

4-line blue initials with red penwork at the beginnings of gospels; 3-line similar initials at the beginnings of prologues; 2-line similar initials at the beginnings of chapters.

Rubrics in red ink.

Binding

Brown leather over pasteboard, 16th century. Blind fillet-line border round the outer edge of both covers; blind fillet-line rectangular figure at the centre of both covers. Rebacked in the Bodleian with the original spine relaid. Three raised bands on spine framed by blind fillet lines. Two paper labels on spine (one fragmentary) with typewritten ‘Laud. | C | 24.’ and ‘36’. Catches of two clasps (now lost) made of yellow metal on the lower cover. Fragment of a Latin manuscript recovered from the binding is stored as MS. Lat. th. c. 10 (see Provenance).

History

Origin: England ; 15th century, second quarter

Dialect survey:

  • eny(9)/ony(1), ech(2)/eche(7)/iche(1), fier(10), ȝouen(10), lijf(10), lijk(10), myche(10), siȝ(4)/say(2) (sg.), saien(1)/sayen(5)/siȝen(1)/syen(1) (pl.), self(10), suche(9)/such(1), þouȝ(6)/þough(1), þorouȝ(2)/þoruȝ(2)
  • -iþ(7)/-eþ(3) (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(9)/here(1) (3pl.pronoun, possessive)

Provenance and Acquisition

‘It(e)m (?) payd to thomas ix lb’, 15th century (fol. 163v).

Transcripts (?) and a reworking (?) of memorial verses from St Paul’s Cathedral, London (16th century, early, fol. 163v). The first is a version of verses on the memorial of William Worsley, dean of St Paul (d. 1499); see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, with a modified last line: ‘Vermibus hie donor et sic ostendere conor Hie veluti ponor sic erit orbis honor’. Followed by ‘Mr Will(elm)us Worley l(egum) doctor decani eccl(es)ie s(anc)ti P(auli) London’. The actual version is printed by Weever (1767), p. 158. The second is a transcript of memorial verses at St Paul’s for Roger Niger, Bishop of London (d. 1241), written as prose: ‘Huius erat manibus domino locus iste dicatus christe suis p(re)cibus veniam des tolle reatus’ (see Stow and Mottley (1733–35), bk III, p. 670).

Richard Johnson (‘Richarde Jhonsons liber’, upper and lower pastedowns), Georgine Dulake (lower pastedwon), ‘Amey ffeamne’ (lower pastedown), 16th century. Signature ‘Ricardus Jhonson’ written in a formal script also occurs in Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Laud misc 104, a mid-15th century copy of The Pater Noster of Richard Ermyte (Index of printed Middle English prose 150), an exposition of the Lord’s prayer wrongly attributed to Richard Rolle. Richard Johnson, originally from Salisbury diocese, is reported by Foxe to have been persecuted and charged with the possession of Wyclif’s Wycket in the late 1520s and early 1530s (Hudson, A., The premature reformation: Wycliffite texts and Lollard history (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988), pp. 479, 489).

Ogilivie-Thomson argues that the owner of MS. Laud misc. 36 is ‘R. Johnson’, a book-collector described in Doyle, A. I., ‘Books belonging to R. Johnson’, Notes and Queries 197 (1952), pp. 293–4. However, according to Doyle’s tentative identification, ‘R. Johnson’ is likely to be a signature of Robert Johnson and R. Johnson’s signatures (including a date and a price) are different from the signatures in Laud misc. 36.

William Watts (fl. c. 1590–1649), Church of England clergyman and author; see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: upper pastedown.

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: second donation from Laud, 16 June, 1636. Earlier shelfmark: ‘C 24’ (upper pastedown, binding).

MS. Laud Misc. 36, former pastedown

Contents

Summary of Contents: Fragment of a Latin manuscript of a very large format ( c. 10 mm between the ruled lines), recovered from the binding.

Language(s): Latin

The Fifteen Os of St Bridget

Contains on the recto a fragmentary end of prayer 12, a fragmentary prayer 13, and the beginning of prayer 14.

The verso is blank.

History

Origin: 15th century

Additional Information

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. 31. Previously described:

Bibliography

    Stow, J. and Mottley, J., A survey of the cities of London and Westminster (London: J. Read, 1733–35).
    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. 676.
    Weever, J., Antient funeral monuments, of Great-Britain, Ireland, and the islands adjacent (London: W. Tooke, 1767).
    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.
    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. 36.
    Ogilivie-Thomson, S. J., Index of Middle English prose, 18 vols (Cambridge, 1984– ), Handlist XVI, pp. xvi, 15.
    Hudson, A., The premature reformation: Wycliffite texts and Lollard history (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988).
    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. 638.
    Dove, M., The first English Bible: the text and context of the Wycliffite versions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 301.

Last Substantive Revision

2023-03-24: Add Solopova description.