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

MS. Rawl. C. 257

Summary Catalogue no.: 12118

Contents

Language(s): Middle English with Latin

Fols. i–ix are paper and parchment flyleaves.

(fols. 1r–209v)
New Testament in the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible, with usual prologues

Imperfect at the beginning because of the loss of one leaf, starting at Matthew 2:3. Includes the Epistle to the Laodiceans. Contains two prologues to Romans, ‘Romayns ben in þe cuntre…’ and ‘Romaynes ben þei þat of iewis…’ (Dove, M., The first English Bible: the text and context of the Wycliffite versions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 206). Usual rubrics, e.g., ‘Here endiþ þe gospel of matheu and bigynneþ þe prolog on mark’; ‘þis seiþ Ierom in his prolog on mark & her bigynneþ þe gospel of mark’ (fol. 23v). Chapter numbers in red, most as Roman numerals. Starting from fol. 90r the chapter numbers are preceded by blue paraphs. Running titles on both rectos and versos consisting of abbreviated titles of books in red, preceded, starting from fol. 90r, by blue paraphs. No marginal glosses; added material within the text is occasionally underlined in red. Many corrections in the original or contemporary hands. Indexing letters in the margins are entered at the beginnings of readings, rather than consistently; double strokes in the margins at the ends of readings.

The gospels occupy eleven 8-leaf quires, followed by two leaves (fols. 88–89). John ends in the middle of its last verse on fol. 89v and the last four lines of the second column on this leaf are left blank. The verse is completed by the second scribe on a new quire, fol. 90r, before the start of the prologue to Romans.

Notes in English in a 15th-century hand drawing attention to passages on leprosy (fols. 45r, Luke 5; 59r, Luke 17), the poor (fol. 116v, 2 Corinthians 9), ‘But I drede lest as þe serpent disseyuyde eue wiþ his littil fraude so ȝoure wittis ben corrupt & fallen doun fro þe symplenesse þat is in crist’ and ‘false apostlis’ (fol. 117r, 2 Corinthians 11), pentecost and ‘dyuerse langagis’ (fol. 151r, Acts 2), the burning of books by Jews and Greeks who ‘used curious arts’ (fol. 170r, Acts 19), ‘& munistre ȝe in ȝoure feiþ’ (187r, 2 Peter 1), etc.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment, paper flyleaves
Extent: 223 leaves, c.
Dimensions (leaf): 205 × 152 mm.
; leaves were trimmed in rebinding occasionally causing the loss of decoration
Foliation: modern in pencil, i–ix + 1–214

Collation

(fols. i–ix) paper and parchment flyleaves | (fols. 1–7) I (8–1) missing 1 | (fols. 8–87) II–XI (8) | (fols. 88–89) XII (2) two singletons (?) | (fols. 90–201) XIII–XXVI (8) | (fols. 202–209) XXVII–XXVIII (4) | unnumbered blank parchment bifolium and two paper flyleaves at the end. Catchwords survive. Quire signatures in an early modern hand in the form of letters in the inner margin on the first recto of each quire.
Secundo Folio: ‘schulen take’ (fol. 2r)

Layout

ruled for two columns, with single vertical and single horizontal bounding lines extending the full height and width of page; 35–6 lines per page; written space: c. 117 × 75 mm.

Hand(s)

three scribes (1) fols. 1–35va, (2) fols. 35va–89v, (3) 90r–209v; textura, black ink

Decoration

5- to 6-line gold initials on blue and pink background with penwork sprays decorated with gold disks at the beginnings of gospels.

6- to 7-line ‘puzzle’ initials with red penwork and one-sided penwork borders at the beginnings of other books.

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

Rubrics in red ink.

Binding

Dark brown leather over wood boards, 17th century (?). Blind-roll border round the outer edge of both covers. Blind-roll rectangular frame with floral corner-pieces on both covers; gilt branch with an acorn and four leaves in the middle of both covers. Rebacked in the Bodleian (?). Four raised bands on spine, framed with blind fillet lines. Gilt lettering on spine: ‘WICKLIFFES | NEW | TESTAMENT’ and ‘RAWL. | MS. | C. 257’.

Metal fittings of two leather ties and clasps, now lost.

History

Origin: England ; 15th century, first quarter

Codicological break between the gospels and the rest of New Testament; perhaps originally conceived to contain only the gospels.

Dialect (first scribe)

ony(10), ech(10), fier(10), gouun(10), lijf(10), lijk(10), mych(10), saiȝ(1)/siȝ(7)/ saiȝ(2) (sg.), sayen(1)/sayen(1)/siȝen(1)/saiȝen(1) (pl.), silf(2)/silff(8), such(2)/ suche(4), þouȝ(3), þorouȝ(5)

-iþ(8)/-eþ(2) (pres.ind.3sg.), -en(10) (pres.ind.pl.), -inge(2)/-ynge(8) (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

Thomas Rawlinson (1681–1725); see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: no. 821 in his sale, March 1733/4 (?).

Richard Rawlinson (1690–1755); see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: bought in Thomas Rawlinson’s sale for £1 9 s. 0 d . Paper label with ‘41. 10th Days sale’ pasted to the upper pastedown.

Bodleian Library: bequeathed by Rawlinson and accessioned in 1756.

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. 40. Previously described:

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. xlix; siglum m – epistle to Laodiceans and Prologue to Romans.
    William D. Macray, Catalogi codicum manuscriptorum Bibliothecæ Bodleianæ partis quintæ fasciculus secundus, viri munificentissimi Ricardi Rawlinson, J.C.D., codicum classem tertiam, in qua libri theologici atque miscellanei, complectens; accedit in uniuscujusque classis codicum contenta index locupletissimus (Oxford, 1878), col. 112.
    Powell, M. J. (ed), The Pauline epistles contained in ms. Parker 32, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, EETS e.s. 116 (1916), p. xxxii. Dove, M., The first English Bible: the text and context of the Wycliffite versions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp. 206, 134, 301.

Last Substantive Revision

2023-03-24: Add Solopova description.