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

MS. Barlow 11

Summary Catalogue no.: 6423

Contents

Richard Fox, Fourme and order of the ceremonies perteinyng to the solempne profession of benediction and consecration of holy virgins

With music and English rubrics

Bishop Fox used the Latin ordinal (based upon Chapter 58 of the Bendecitine Rule), but added explanations and instructions in Middle English (Barry Collett, 'Holy Expectations: The Female Monastic Vocation in the Diocese of Winchester on the Eve of the Reformation' in The Culture of Medieval English Monasticism, ed. James G. Clark [Boydell, 2007], p. 147)

Annotations in the margins are by Thomas Barlow and reflect his historical and liturgical interests (Mary C. Erler, 'Bishop Richard Fox’s Manuscript Gifts to his Winchester Nuns: A Second Surviving Example', Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 52 [2001], p. 336)

Language(s): Middle English and Latin

Ten fragments of leaves of liturgical manuscripts taken out of this volume are now MS. Lat. liturg. b. 7, fols 73-82, and nine others are MS. Lat. liturg. d. 16, fols 96-104

Two non-liturgical fragments are MS. Lat. misc. b. 12, fol. 77, and MS. Eng. misc. b. 4, fol. 98. See also B.Q.R. 5, 284

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
vi + 34 pages
Dimensions (binding): 317.5 × 222.25 mm.
Dimensions (leaf): 311 × 216 mm.
Musical Notation:

Notation on staves (see van Dijk 1957).

Binding

White leather on paper boards, 17th century

History

Origin: 16th century, early (c. 1516 (?)) (see Erler) ; England

Provenance and Acquisition

From Wherwell, a convent dedicated to the Holy Cross and St Peter (p. 13)

Mary C. Erler notes that c. 1517 Bishop Richard Fox gave copies of the ordo for female religious profession to four Hampshire nunneries: Nunnaminster, Wherwell, Wintney, and Romsey. Two of these manuscripts have been identified: the copy sent to Nunnaminster is CUL Mm 3.13 and that sent to Wherwell is MS Barlow 11 (Reading and Writing during the Dissolution: Monks, Friars, and Nuns 1530–1558)

On fol. vi is 'Jun. vii MDCLXvii. Liber Thomae Barlow è Coll. Reg. Oxon. ex dono viri et amici optimi Thomae Clutterbucke summi Angliae cancellarii Edouardi Clarendoniae comitis capellani et ecclesiae sanctae Mariae Southamptoniae rectoris', in Barlow's hand. For discussion of the gift, see Erler, 'Bishop Richard Fox’s Manuscript Gifts to his Winchester Nuns', Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 52 (2001), p. 336

Bequeathed to the Bodleian in 1691 by Thomas Barlow (Summary Catalogue, Vol. 2 Part 2, p. 1043)

Record Sources

Description adapted (April 2023) by Stewart J. Brookes from the Summary Catalogue (1937), with additional reference to published literature as cited. Page sizes follow W. H. Frere (1901), i. 124

Bibliography

    Printed descriptions:

    W. H. Frere, Bibliotheca musico-liturgica, London 1901, i. 124
    S. J. P. van Dijk, Latin Liturgical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, vol. 3: Rituals and Directories (typescript, 1957), p. 74

Last Substantive Revision

2023-04-24: Description revised to incorporate all the information in the Summary Catalogue (1937)