MS. Rawl. C. 259

Fol. i–v are paper and parchment flyleaves.

[item 1 occupies quire I]

Written in black and red, not graded, less than one-quarter full. Includes Dunstan (19 May), Alban (22 June), Leonard (6 November) and Martin (11 November), all in red, and Alphege with a red capital (19 April). Also includes Benedict Biscop (12 January), Brigid of Kildare (1 February), Edward the Martyr (18 March), Benedict of Nursia (21 March), Pancras (12 May), Botulph (17 June), the translation of Swithin (15 July) and Edmund the Martyr (20 November), all in black. Does not include David, Chad or other saints whose feasts were promulgated after 1415 under Archbishop Chichele (Pfaff, R. W., The liturgy in medieval England: a history (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), pp. 438–41). The translation of Thomas Becket (7 July) is erased, but not his feast (29 December). Includes the following entries in the original hand in the lower margins: ‘Anno domini m.ccc.lxi in festo sancti mauri abbatis erat ventus validus’ (fol. 1r), and ‘Anno domini mcccxlviii in festo sancti michaelis incipiebat prima pestilencia lond.’ (fol. 5r). The entries commemorate ‘Grote Mandrenke’ storm on 16 January 1362 and the arrival of the Black Death in London in 1348. Fifteenth-century additions, including the translation of Edward the Confessor (13 October); ‘ffro þe tyme þat adam hadde synned in to þat tyme þat crist dyed & ros .v. þousand ȝer .ij. cc. & xxx’ (fol. 1r); notes on blood letting (fol. 1v). Days are numbered throughout in an early modern hand.

[item 2 occupies quires II–XXV]

Two prologues to Romans, ‘First vs bihoueþ vndirstonde…’ and ‘Romayns ben in þe cuntrey…’ (Dove, M., The first English Bible: the text and context of the Wycliffite versions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 206). the Earlier Version of the Wycliffite Bible prologue to Philemon, ‘He makiþ homeli lettris to filemon…’ (Dove, M., The first English Bible: the text and context of the Wycliffite versions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 208). Rubrics in red or black, most with usual wording, e.g., ‘Here bigynneþ þe prolog on matheu’; ‘Ierom in his twei prologis on matheu seiþ pleynli þus. Here bigynneþ þe book of matheu’ (fol. 7r).

Matthew ends on fol. 25v, where the end of the second column is left blank, and Mark starts on a new leaf (fol. 26r). John, the prologue to Romans, and Philippians start on new pages as well. Running titles on both rectos and versos, consisting of abbreviated titles of biblical books; chapter numbers are added to some running titles in a medieval hand. Chapter numbers in red, most as Roman numerals. Red or blue paraphs at the start of sections within the text. Many corrections over erasures within the text and in the margins in contemporary and later hands; some text crossed out in red. No marginal glosses with very few exceptions; added material within the text is underlined in red. Indexing letters in the margins, entered at the beginning of lections rather than consistently; double strokes at the ends of lections; letters and strokes in red may be original, but many letters in black were probably added in the 15th century. Numerous added pointing hands and ‘nota’ in the margins.

Includes the temporal, followed by the proper (containing Silvester, Martin and Lawrence as the only non-biblical saints), common and commemorations. Each reading is preceded by a rubric, stating the liturgical occasion, the title of the biblical book and the chapter number. The readings begin with statements that introduce them at Mass (e.g., ‘The lord god seiþ þese þingis’, fol. 205r) underlined in red. Indexing letters in the margins in the original hand at the start of most readings and double strokes at the ends of readings. The readings used for more than one occasion are not repeated and instead rubrics contain references to liturgical occasions earlier in the lectionary. The reading for the first Mass on Christmas morning is preceded by a lengthy rubric explaining that it is performed by two voices; the part of one of the voices is underlined in red in the text that follows (fols. 207v–208r). Running titles in red above each column, preceded by blue paraphs, consisting of an abbreviated title of a biblical book and a chapter number. On the final page much of the second column is left blank and the table of lections starts on a new page.

[item 4 occupies quires XXXII–XXXIII]

Includes the temporal, commemorations and the sanctoral (no common, in spite of the rubric). Commemorations are in the following order: Our Lady, Trinity, Holy Ghost, cross, angels, ‘ffor briþ’ and s’ & salus populi’, peace, clear weather, rain, ‘in tyme of batels’, ‘a man for himsilf’, for pestilence of beasts, pilgrims, weddings, sick and dead. Includes all feasts characteristic of the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible, apart from Giles (1 September) (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. 4, pp. 683, 690–6). The entries consist of the name of the liturgical occasion in red, abbreviated title and chapter of the biblical book, an indexing letter in red, the opening words of a reading, ‘ende’ in red and the closing words of a reading. More than a half of the last page is left blank.

Fols. 251v–252v, originally ruled for a table of lections, but blank, contain: (1) a list of New Testament books (Romans–Apocalypse) added in a 15th-century hand (fols. 251v–252r); (2) a rubric ‘The tokenys of þe doom’, followed by references to chapters in the gospels in the same hand; and (3) two short notes in a 16th-century hand with references to historical events in the 1550s. More historical notes in the same hand on paper fly-leaves 255v–256r.