MS. Rawl. poet. 32
Summary Catalogue no.: 14526
Fifteenth-century anthology made up of composite parts, comprising poems on good manners and religious devotion, the Brut chronicle, and the Libelle of English Policy
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Binding
White parchment binding over pasteboards, c. seventeenth century [?].
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Fol. 2r contains a table of contents in a near-contemporary hand, suggesting that although the composite parts were produced seperately they were bound into one volume soon after in the fifteenth century.
Fol. 205r bears the ownership mark ‘ Rychard Turnowre’ in a c. 1500 hand.
The whole volume identifiable as item 34 in the 1577 catalogue of the books of John Thynne at Longleat (Kate Harris, 'An Augustan Episode in the History of the Collection of Medieval Manuscripts at Longleat House;,English Medieval Book, ed. A.S.G. Edwards, et al. (British Library, 2000), 233-247 at 234)
The manuscript was owned by Thomas Thynne, Viscount Weymouth (1640–1714); listed in the Longleat catalogue of 1702 (Harris, op. cit., 234). The shelfmark ‘IX. D. 69’ on fol. 2r is in the hand of George Harbin (1665-1744), Thomas Thynne's librarian, who shelfmarked many other manuscripts in the collection at Longleat. Harbin was a librarian from 1699, and died in 1744..
It was then owned by Richard Rawlinson (1690–1755).
From this period, there is a letter on fol. 1r by E. U[mfreville] (1702?-86), who annotated many of Rawlinson's manuscripts, dated 25 March 1750 containing information about the contents of the manuscript.
Bequeathed to the Bodleian in 1755 by Richard Rawlinson on his death.
MS. Rawl. poet. 32 - pastedown and endleaf (fols. 1-2)
Contents
Language(s): Middle English
Formerly pastedown.
Fifteenth-century hand.
Sometimes attributed to Chaucer, for instance by Caxton, 1477[?].
This is the only recorded source of this poem.
Table of contents for the whole volume, in a fifteenth-century hand.
Blank except for pen trials.
Physical Description
MS. Rawl. poet. 32 – Part 1 (fols. 2-37)
Contents
Language(s): Middle English
Outer half of fol. 2r excised. Written below the explicit on fol. 29v are ‘G. E.’ and ‘J. Tþ’.
DIMEV 1418Physical Description
Layout
Frame ruled in graphite, in 23-28 long lines. Ruled space 175 × 155 mm.
Hand(s)
One hand in a secretary script with elaborate ascenders and descenders.
Decoration
Fol. 3r opens with a four-line blue initial with red flourishing.
Cato Major, fols. 2r-29v, contains Latin subheadings in red.
Fol. 30r, beginning Stans puer ad mensam, contains a three-line red Lombardic capital. All lines across fols. 30r-31v underlined in red.
Fol. 32v, beginning Erthe upon Erthe, opens with a two-line space for a decorated initial ‘W’ but lacks initial. All lines across fols. 32v-35r have the first letter of each line in red, and brackets in red.
Fols. 35v-37v, containing The xxx virtues of the mass, have the first letter of each line in red, and brackets in red.
History
MS. Rawl. poet. 32 – Part 2 (fols. 28-53)
Contents
Language(s): Middle English
Ends imperfectly. MS Rawl. Poet contains 128 of 130 stanzas in rhyme royal. The catchword at the foot of fol.53v reads ‘I say you platly’ (the first line of stanza 129), suggesting the text was originally complete but the last leaf has been lost. Between fols. 53 and 54 survives a stub in parchment.
DIMEV 2490Physical Description
Layout
No ruling. 28-32 long lines per page. Ruled space 190 × 115 mm.
Hand(s)
A formal secretary script with elements of Anglicana Formata.
Decoration
Fol. 38r, beginning Fabula duorum mercatorum, opens with a five-line decorated initial in red with black flourishing.
History
MS. Rawl. poet. 32 – Part 3 (fols. 54-168)
Contents
Language(s): Middle English
blank.
This is the only recorded witness of this poem.
Untitled in the manuscript and written under the same heading as the previous text.
Index to the following item.
Prose. From Brut to Edward IV's accession, A.D. 1461, interrupted at AD 1066 (fols. 115v-116r).
The text opens with an elaborate decorated initial T on fol. 57r containing 3 banderoles which read ‘me gra(tia) | plena | d(omin)us tec(um)’
Lister M. Matheson, The Prose Brut: The Development of a Middle English Chronicle, Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies (1998).blank.
Physical Description
Layout
Fols. 54v-56v in two columns, unruled, with 32-42 long lines. Written space c. 210 × 140 mm.
Fols. 57r-168r in one column, unruled, with 33-39 long lines.
Hand(s)
Four scribes, all writing in a Secretary script (fols. 54-56v, 57r-68v, 68v-115v, 116r-168r).
Decoration
Fol. 54v, beginning Proverbs, opens with a two-line space for a decorated initial ‘W’ but lacks initial.
All lines across fols. 54v-55r have the first letter of each line in red, and brackets in red.
Fols. 55r-56v,The ten commandments and the table of kings from the Brut Chronicle, have rubricated title and explicit, the first letter of each line in red, and brackets in red.
Fol. 57r opens the Brut Chronicle (fols. 57r-168r) with a ten-line cadel initial containing banderoles.
Flourished ascenders on the top line.
Rubricated lombardic capitals throughout, with occasional red underlining. Titles and explicits in red.
History
MS. Rawl. poet. 32 – Part 4 (fols. 169-193)
Contents
Language(s): Middle English with (art. 3) marginal apparatus in Latin
blank.
Thirty-four stanzas in rhyme royal. Ends with two provers written in red.
DIMEV 3941blank.
Physical Description
Layout
Fols. 169v-172r: no ruling, 24 long lines consistently, written space 225 × 130 mm.
Fols. 173r-193r: frame ruled, with 29-31 long lines per page, ruled space 200 × 120 mm.
Hand(s)
One hand in a scretary script with elaborate ascenders and descenders.
Decoration
Fol. 169v opens The Fifteen O's of Christ with a four-line flourished initial in black ink. Other first initials are flourished over fols.169v-172v.
Final rubric in red.
Fol. 173r opens Libel of English Policy with two-line red Lombardic capitals, also on fols. 190v and 191v. Fol. 190r has a two-line space for a missing Lombardic capital.
Across 173r-193r, the first letter of each line is in red until fol. 189v, and glosses are signalled in red, with occasional red underlining.
History
MS. Rawl. poet. 32 – Part 5 (fols. 194-205)
Contents
Language(s): Middle English
R. T. could refer to Richard Turnowre, whose name appears on fol. 205r.
Abbeviated version; this text pr. EETS o.s. 211, pp. 295-320.
Note containing dimensions of St Paul's Cathedral, London.
Physical Description
Layout
No ruling. 34-38 long lines per page. Ruled space 230 × 150 mm.
Hand(s)
Three hands in a secretary script (fols. 194r-204r, 204v, 205r.
Decoration
Fol. 194v, beginning A processe of philosophers, opens with a four-line red Lombardic capital. Also on fol. 197r.
Paraphs rubricated across 194r-204r. Rubricated explicit.
Fol. 204v, containing The age of the worlde, rubricates the first words of each section and line breaks.
Teeth, Bones, and Veins, fol. 205r, in red.
History
Additional Information
Record Sources
Digital Images
Digital Bodleian (2 images from 35mm slides)
Bibliography
Online resources:
Printed descriptions:
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2022-09-16: Charlotte Ross Revised with consultation of original.