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

MS. Rawl. D. 1220

Summary Catalogue no.: 13954

Contents

(fols. 1r-12v)
The Wise Book of Philosophy and Astronomy (imperfect)
The Middle English Wise Book of Philosophy and Astronomy, ed. Carrie Griffin (2013), MS. listed p. xxviii.
Language(s): Middle English
(fols. 13r-29v)
The Book of Destinary
Ibid.
Language(s): Middle English

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

Decoration

Good miniatures (coloured drawings). Copied from a Netherlandish blockbook. (Pächt and Alexander iii. 1110, pl. CIII)

Accompanying Material

Various parchment fragments have been bound up by Rawlinson as fly-leaves at both ends, from leases, &c., of no interest; a lease of a house in “Leister” Fields, a surrender at the court baron of Stebunheath, alias Stepney, in 1670, sale of a fourth part of a merchant vessel going from Ireland to the West Indies, by Josia Willard to Jonathan Leigh, apothecary, of London for £531 13s. 4d., in 1717, &c.

History

Origin: 15th century, third quarter ; English (dialect probably of N. W. Suffolk, LALME I, 151)

Provenance and Acquisition

“Iste liber constat Nycholas (sic) Sywhat, cum magno gaudio et honore. Amen.” Nicholas Sywhat was mayor of Norwich in 1535. “Margere Sywhat wyffe unto Nycolas Sywhat lyethe beryid at ye sowthe porche in ye chercheyerd of Sent Edmonde in Norwych, before ye bay wyndow of ye howse of ye forseyd Nycolas Sywhat in ye aley be her childeme, Jorge Coventre, Harry Coventre, Elyzabet Coventre, Secely Sywhat, ye xvj day of June, ye xiiijte yere of Kynge Harri ye viijth [1522], on whose soulys God have merci.”

Matth. Stenham”, 17th century.

Richard Rawlinson, 1690–1755

Bequeathed to the Bodleian in 1755

MS. Rawl. D. 1220, endleaves

Contents

Grammar

Two leaves (one fragmentary) from a thirteenth-century copy of a Latin poem on grammar and prosody. Two other leaves of this poem, now obliterated, formed an old cover of the volume. Two lines are: “Quinque vocales sunt, a prior, e. que secunda, I suecedit eis, o quarta sit, v. que postrema.”

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

History

Origin: 13th century

Additional Information

Record Sources

Description adapted from the following sources, with additional reference to published literature as cited.
Otto Pächt and J. J. G. Alexander, Illuminated Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, III (1973), no. 1110
W. D. Macray, Catalogi codicum manuscriptorum Bibliothecæ Bodleianæ...viri munificentissimi Ricardi Rawlinson, J.C.D., codicum...complectens, Quarto Catalogues V, 5 fascicles, 1862–1900).

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (43 images from 35mm slides)

Last Substantive Revision

2025-10: Revised to incorporate all information from printed catalogues with reference to published literature.

Data

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Tabular data derived from the TEI-XML files is available in a GitHub repository.