MS. Selden Supra 49

Summary Catalogue no.: 3437

Language(s): Middle English with Latin

Fol. i is ruled for two columns, but originally blank (see Provenance).

1. (fols. 2r–7v)

[item 1 occupies quire I]

Laid out one month per page, written in black and red, in English, not graded, approximately one-third full, nearly identical to the calendar of MS. Selden Supra 51. Included Botulph (17 June); 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). At the bottom of the page for February is a list of dominical letters, followed by ‘þus lettris fallen in þe lepe ȝeeris’; at the bottom of the page for April is a note in English on determining the date of Easter. Easter is called ‘Aȝenrisyng of oure lord’ in both Selden Supra 49 and 51. The feast and octave of Thomas Becket, most titles ‘pope’ and ‘abbot’ are erased.

Fol. 8r–v is ruled for the table of lections, but blank.

2. (fols. 9r–15r)

[item 2 occupies quire II]

Table of lections of Type I

Rubric: Here bigynneþ a rule þat telliþ in whiche chapiters of þe foure euangelistis ȝe may fynde þe gospels þat ben rad in þe chirche aftir þe vse of salisbirie markid wiþ lettris of þe abc ffirst ben sett sonedaies & ferials togidere and after þe sanctorum comyn & propre togidere of al þe ȝeer ffirst is writun a clause of þe bigynnynge þerof & a clause of þe ending þerof also

Includes the temporal, followed by commemorations and the sanctoral, all containing readings from gospels only. 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 a liturgical occasion in red, abbreviated reference to a book and chapter of the Bible, an indexing letter in black, the opening words of a reading, ‘ende’ in red, the closing words of a reading and double strokes in red. Larger initials or blue paraphs at Conception of Our Lady, Candlemas, Matthew, Annunciation, Mark, Nativity of John the Baptist, Peter and Paul, Mary Magdalene, Lammas, Lawrence, Assumption, Nativity of Our Lady, Holy Rood, Luke and All Saints. Commemorations are in the following order: Our Lady, Trinity, Holy Ghost, cross, angels, brothers and sisters, salus populi , peace, clear weather, rain, in time of battles, ‘a man for him silf’, pestilence of beasts, pilgrims, weddings, sinners, sick and dead. At the end ‘Thus eendiþ þis kalender of þe foure gospelers’. Fol. 15v is blank, apart from an early modern ownership inscription (see Provenance).

3. (fols. 16r–149r)

[item 3 occupies quires III–XIX]

Four gospels in the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible

With usual prologues, usual rubrics and chapter numbers in red as words or Roman numerals. Blue paraphs at the start of sections within the text. Running titles in red on both rectos and versos, consisting of the titles of gospels only, preceded by blue paraphs. Indexing letters in the margins entered at the start of lections, rather than consistently; double strokes at the ends of lections. Many corrections in the original or contemporary hands; cross-references to biblical books occasionally in the margins. Many medieval ‘nota’ in the margins throughout.

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: parchment

Extent: 150 leaves, c.

Dimensions (leaf): 101 × 145 mm.

Foliation: modern in pencil: 1–150

Collation

(fol. 1) parchment flyleaf | (fols. 2–7) I (6) | (fols. 8–150) II–XIX (8). Catchwords survive; some quire signatures survive, particularly at the beginning where they run consecutively starting with ‘a’.

Secundo Folio: ‘tewisday mt xxi’ (table of lections, fol. 10r); ‘marie þe modir’ (gospel, fol. 17r)

Layout

ruled for two columns with single vertical and double horizontal bounding lines extending the full height and width of page; 31 lines per page; written space: c. 71 × 105 mm.

Hand(s)

textura, black ink; the work of at least two scribes: (1) fols. 16r–31v; (2) fols. 32r–149r; the second scribe may have been also responsible for the calendar and the table of lections

Decoration

5- to 6-line initials on gold background, and 3-sided borders made of gold, blue and pink bars, decorated with foliage.

2-line blue initials with red penwork at the beginnings of prologues and chapters.

Rubrics in red; blue paraphs.

Binding

English, 16th century, brown leather over pasteboard. Rectangular figure at the centre of both covers, made of blind floral and geometric decoration, framed with blind fillet lines. Inside the rectangular figure is a rosette surmounted by a crown and stamped initials ‘T S’ (Thomas Stanley, see Provenance). Four raised bands on spine. Fragment of a paper label at the top of spine. Fragments of two ties, now lost. ‘49’ written in ink on the edge of textblock.

History

Origin: England ; 15th century, first quarter, before 1415 (?)

The calendar is similar to MS. Selden Supra 51.

Dialect survey:

ony(10), ech(4)/eche(6), fier(10), gouun(9)/ȝouen(1), lijf(3)/lyf(7), lijk(3)/ lyk(7), myche(10), saiȝ(1)/siȝ(4)/sai(1)/saw(1) (sg.), saien(2)/sawen(4) (pl.), silf(10), sich(2)/siche(7), þouȝ(8), þourȝ(1)/þoru(9)
-iþ(7)/-eþ(3) (pres.ind.3sg.), -en(10) (pres.ind.pl.), -inge(4)/-ynge(5)/-yng(1) (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

‘Codex thome stanley de Grays Inne’, 16th century (fol. 1v; see also fols. 2r, 15v, 16r, 74r, 149r).

A fragment of an account of ‘Holborne Empcions’, i.e., purchases in Holborn (?) (Madan, F. and Craster, H. H. E., Summary catalogue of western manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, vol. 2, part I (collections received before 1660 and miscellaneous MSS acquired during the first half of the 17th century), nos. 1–3490 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1922), no. 3437), for ‘Die Sab’[…]’, used as a pastedown for the binding. Contains various food items.

Feasts of Thomas Becket and most titles ‘pope’ and ‘abbot’ are erased, presumably at Reformation.

John Selden, 1584–1654.

Bodleian Library. Earlier shelfmarks: ‘19’, ‘A 9’ (fol. 1r).

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. 45. Previously described:

Summary Catalogue, Vol. 2 Part 1, p. 634

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. xlviii.

Madan, F. and Craster, H. H. E., Summary catalogue of western manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, vol. 2, part I (collections received before 1660 and miscellaneous MSS acquired during the first half of the 17th century), nos. 1–3490 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1922), no. 3437.

Hudson, A., ‘Lollard book production’, in Griffiths, J. and Pearsall, D. A. (eds), Book production and publishing in Britain 1375–1475 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), pp. 125–42, p. 140.

Scott, K. L. (gen. ed.), An index of images in English manuscripts from the time of Chaucer to Henry VIII, c.1380–c.1509: the Bodleian Library, Oxford, 3 vols (Turnhout: Harvey Miller Publishers, 2000–02), vol. 3, p. 76, no. 1014.

Dove, M., The first English Bible: the text and context of the Wycliffite versions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp. 59 n. 116, 301.

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2023-03-24: Add Solopova description.

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