MS. Tanner 201

Summary Catalogue no.: 10027

Summary of Contents: A late fifteenth-century manuscript of the Memoriale Credencium, a sophisticated manual of religious instruction, with shorter theological prose treatises.

1. ff. 2r–3v

Seven Deadly Sins

Rubric: Here begynnyth the knowledge of the vii dedly synnes

Incipit: Pryde wroth and envy be synnes of the feynde

Explicit: that the wille of god be doon before thyne owne will so be hit amen deo gracias

Prose treatise on the seven deadly sins incorporating the seven virtues contrary to the sins and the seven works of bodily and spiritual mercy. Glossed by a later c. seventeenth-century owner?

Preceded by two verses (DIMEV 3171, DIMEV 3765.5) for which see Martha Powell Harley, 'A Reconsideration of the Middle English Verses in Bodleian Library MS. Tanner 201', Bodleian Library Record 13.3 (1989), 195-201

Language(s): Middle English

2. f. 4r

Ten Commandments

Incipit: There by x commaundementis of the which

Explicit: and on cristyn forth beleue thou stodfastly amen

Language(s): Middle English

3. ff. 4v–6r

Prose prayer

Incipit: O blyssed lord that madyst all thing of nought

Explicit: and presyng be to this for all thy grace amen

Fols. 2r-6r ed. as one text, Marta Powell Harley, 'A Fifteenth-Century Manual of Religious Instruction in Bodleian Library, MS. Tanner 201', Fifteenth Century Studies 15 (1989), 147-64

Language(s): Middle English

4. ff. 7r–106v

Memoriale Credencium (IPMEP 448)

Rubric: Man and woman þit wilneþ to fle synne and lede clene lyf taketh hede to þis litul tretys þat ys write in englisch tong for lewed men þat konne not vnderstonde latyne ne frenssche and þis ys ydrawe out of holy wrytt and þe techyng of holy doctoures to fore þis tyme

Incipit: þisse tyme þat moyses and aaron were ysend thurgh goddes owne mouthe to kyng pharao þat was kyng of egypt

Explicit: Thys tretys ys ymade to ensample of þe commune puple þat can nouȝt vnderstonde latyn ne frensh and for cristenmen þat leueþ in god shuld haue þynges þat here beþ wrytt ofte yn mynde and hit is yclepyd memoriale credencium

Language(s): Middle English

ed. from this MS. by J. H. L. Kengen, Memoriale credencium: A Late Middle English Manual of Theology for Lay People(Nijmegen: Department of Middle English, University of Nijmegen, 1979/1980

5. f. 106v

Prayer

Incipit: Oure swete lorde ihesus cryste ȝyue vs grace to worship god

Explicit: þat graunte vs god þat sytt in trynyte. Amen

Prayer appended to the Memoriale in the same hand.

Final rubric: Explicit tractatus qui vocatur memoriale credencium

Language(s): Middle English

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: parchment

i + 105 + vii. i and i-vii are flyleaves. F. 113 (vii) is the back pastedown.

Dimensions (leaf): 210 × 145 mm.

Foliation: Modern pencil foliation replacing earlier erroneous foliation. Ff. 1-113.

Collation

1⁶, ff. 1r-6v; 2¹⁶, ff. 7r-22v, catchword; 3¹⁶, ff. 23r-38v, catchword; 4⁸, ff. 39r-46v, catchword; 5⁸, ff. 47r-54v, catchword; 6⁸, ff. 55r-62v, catchword; 7⁸, ff. 63r-70v, catchword; 8⁸, ff. 71r-78v, catchword; 9⁸, ff. 79r-86v, catchword; 10¹⁰, ff. 87r-96v, catchword in large well-drawn scroll; 11¹⁰, ff. 97r-106v end of text; 12⁸ (wants ii), ff. 107r-113v.

Layout

Pricking: Round holes visible on edge of fore edge, some cropped off. Ruling not visible. Texts 1-3, c. 32 lines, 160 × 100 mm.

Text 4 - c. 23/24 lines, c. 150 × 100 mm.

Hand(s)

Scribe 1 (ff. 2r-6r) writing in a small cursive hand. Characteristics: double compartment g; 2-shaped r; B-shaped w; double compartment a. Body height: 1 mm.

Scribe 2 (ff. 7r-86r) writing in a cursive hand. Characteristics: B-shaped w; double compartment a; B-shaped s in final position; long s in medial position; 2-shaped r; double compartment g; hooked l, h; frequent use of þ. Body height: 2-3mm.

Scribe 3 (ff. 87r-end) writing in a large Anglicana Formata hand with Textura influences. Characteristics: double compartment a; open B-shaped w with small feet at the top of the backstrokes; rounded s in initial and final position, in final position alternates with the B-shape variant; long s in medial and initial position; 2-shaped and short r used regularly with the short form also in final position; rounded open and closed 8-shaped g used regularly; rounded d with oblique upper stroke, with a variant terminating with a looped ascender; frequent use of ȝ and þ; descenders extend in otiose hairlines but not much below the line of writing. Body height: 2mm.

Decoration

Good initial. (Pächt and Alexander iii. 1164). Illuminated initial for Memoriale credencium f. 7r. Four-line capital M in gold on a quartered ground of rose and blue with white line decoration. Sprays of feathering grow from the three corners sporting green tinted oval lobes with pairs of gold balls and terminating in a gold elongated cone with spikes and a green tinted 'feather'. Two-line blue initials with red pen-work flourishing forming a border.

Three-line blue initials with red pen-work flourishing forming a border.

Later drawings: Inside front cover on pastedown - crude drawing of a knight in armour and side view of leg of armour.

Additions:

Fol. 1r - 6 lines of text c. fifteenth century. Very small hand c. 1mm. Short devotional tract regarding sin. Fol. 112r - 4 lines of Latin in ?two later hands.

Binding

Medieval binding, 1450-1500. Size: 210 x 145 mm. Undecorated white leather, mitred and pasted on 5 mm thick oak boards with 10 mm bevelled edge, cushion bevel. Boards cut flush with quires. Original sewing. Six double thongs across the spine. Remains of two leather straps on fore edge attached by round headed 'proud' nails. Pewter catches remain on the back cover. Inside back board is visible.

History

Origin: 15th century, second half / late ; English

Provenance and Acquisition

Fol. 107r: various inscriptions by Richard Horne - 'Thys ys Rycharde ____ ys boke', 'Thys ys Rychard Horne/ Boke ____' in a sixteenth-century hand.

Fol. 107r: John Robinson wrote 'Iohannes Robinsonus me possidet' in a c. sixteenth/seventeenth-century hand.

Fol. 2r: 'W. Sancroft' written on top fore edge.

Thomas Tanner, 1674–1735

Bequeathed by him to the Bodleian in 1735.

Record Sources

Adapted (2024) from description by Rebecca Farnham and Orietta Da Rold for the Manuscripts of the West Midlands project, August 2003-June 2004 with reference to additional literature as cited. Previously described in the Quarto Catalogue (A. Hackman, Catalogi codicum manuscriptorum Bibliothecæ Bodleianæ pars quarta codices viri admodum reverendi Thomæ Tanneri, S.T.P., episcopi Asaphensis, complectens, Quarto Catalogues IV, repr. 1966, with corrections, from the ed. of 1860).

Summary Catalogue, Vol. 3, p. 87

Quarto Catalogue, Col. 637

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (1 image from 35mm slides)

Bibliography

Online resources:

MWM: Manuscripts of the West Midlands

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2024-10: Encoded description from MWM with reference to additional bibliography.