MS. e Mus. 110
Summary Catalogue no.: 3552
Contents
Language(s): Middle English with Latin
Fols. i–v are paper and parchment flyleaves, mostly blank (see Provenance).
[item 1 occupies quire I]
Capitula -list of New Testament arranged by book and chapterWith rubrics (e.g., ‘Matters in þe gospel of…’; ‘Matters in þe pistle to…’) in a different hand than the rest of the manuscript. The books are in the usual order, but Philemon is missing. The table is the same as in MS. Selden Supra 51 (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. xlvii). Laid out in two columns, with chapter numbers in the margins as red Roman numerals. The second column and most of the first column on the last page are left blank.
[item 2 occupies quires II–XVII]
New Testament in the Later Version of the Wycliffite BibleWith usual prologues and usual rubrics in black preceded by red paraphs (e.g., ‘Here begynneþ a prologe on matheu’; ‘Ierom in hise twey prologis on matheu seiþ pleynly þus’). John ends three-quarters down the first column on fol. 60v, the rest of the column is left blank and the prologue to Romans starts at the beginning of the second column on the same page. Running titles on both rectos and verses, in black ink preceded by red paraphs. Chapters have two numbers up to fol. 76r: one in black ink in the hand of the main scribe, consisting of an abbreviated ‘c(apitulu)m’ usually followed by an Arabic numeral, another in red ink with ‘c(apitulu) m’ usually followed by a Roman numeral; both are preceded by a single large red paraph. Chapters after fol. 76r have a single number, usually in black ink.
Red paraphs are sometimes used to mark units within the text, such as the beginnings of parables on fol. 12r. Corrections in the margins in a contemporary hand and over erasures within the text. No marginal glosses; added material within the text is occasionally underlined in red; lections are not marked. ‘Nota’ written in the margins in a medieval (?) hand mark the following passages: Luke 11 (‘a woman of þe company reride hir voice & seide to him blessid be þe wombe…’, fol. 39r); Ephesians 4 (‘to ech of us grace is ȝouun by þe mesure of þe ȝiuyng of christ…’, fol. 80r); Acts 13 (‘y haue foundun dauiþ þe sone of iesse a man after myn herte…’, fol. 102v); Apocalypse 2 (‘þat haþ iȝen as flawme of fier & hise feet lijk latoun…’, fol. 120r); Apocalypse 20 (‘& whane a þousinde ȝeeris schulen be endid sathanas schal be vnboundun of his prisoun…’, fol. 126v). At the end ‘Here endiþ apocalips of John’ in the original hand, followed by an addition in a contemporary hand: ‘what is softer þan christes ȝok & liȝter þen christes charge. þat is a mon to be proued in al þinges. abstene fro trespas. to wilne good. not wilne yuel. to loue al men. haten noon. to geten euerlastyng þynges. to be not taken or disseyued bi temperal þinges. to wilne not to do an oþer man þat þat is heuy or greuous to hym selff to suffre’.
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
ruled in plummet for two columns, with single vertical and horizontal bounding lines extending the full height and width of page; 48 lines per page; written space: c. 192 × 120 mm.
Hand(s)
textura; black and brown ink; possibly the work of several scribes with well-matched hands
Decoration
3- to 7-line blue initials with red penwork at the beginnings of books; 2- to 3-line similar initials at the beginnings of prologues and chapters.
Exaggerated ascenders and descenders in the top and bottom lines decorated with human faces, profiles and arabesque designs.
Rubrics in red, red paraphs within the text.
Binding
Brown leather over thick pasteboard, 18th century. Double blind fillet-line border round the outer edge of both covers; blind roll arabesque decoration next to the spine. Seven raised bands on spine, framed by double blind fillet lines. Gold lettering on spine ‘E MVS. | 110.’; ‘110’ painted white at the top of the spine. Laid paper pastedowns and flyleaves. Fols. ii and 139 served as pastedowns of a medieval binding, probably with seven sewing stations matching the ones on the present binding.
History
Dialect survey:
- ony(1), ech(5)/eche(5), fier(7)/fiyr(3), ȝouun(10), liyf(10), liyk(10), myche(10), siȝ(2)/siȝe(2)/say(1)/saye(3)/saiȝ(1) (sg.), saien(2)/sayen(2)/sien(2)/siȝen(1) (pl.), silf(5)/self(5), siche(9)/suche(1), þouȝ(8), þorou(10)
- -iþ(8)/-eþ(2) (pres.ind.3sg), -en(10) (pres.ind.pl.), -ynge(3)/-yng(4)/-ing(3) (pres.part.) sche(10) (3sg.fem. pronoun, nom.), þei(1) (3pl.pronoun, nom.), hem(10) (3pl.pronoun, oblique), her(10) (3pl.pronoun, possessive)
Provenance and Acquisition
Robert Parsons: ‘Constat Roberto Personi’, 15th century (fol. 1r).
Sir Thomas Herbert (1606–1682); see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: name on fols. v recto, 1r; motto in Welsh ‘Paub yn y eruer’ on fol. v recto.
Bodleian Library: presented by Herbert in 1666. Former shelfmark: ‘e Musaeo (62)’ (fols. ii verso, v recto).
Record Sources
Bibliography
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2023-03-24: Add Solopova description.