MS. e Mus. 76
Summary Catalogue no.: 3679
Contents
The interpolated or 'eight-book' version, for which see Ann Killian, “Menacing Books: The Prick of Conscience and the Rhetoric of Reproof,” Yearbook of Langland Studies 31 (2017), 5–41.
Robert E. Lewis and Angus McIntosh, A Descriptive Guide to the Manuscripts of the “Prick of Conscience”, Medium Ævum Monographs, New Series 12 (Oxford: Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature, 1982), 106–7 (MV 73).Condition of a bond of William Ayer to Geoffrey Skole (or possibly 'Skold') relating to tenements in the parish of 'Brumfyld' [Broomfield] in Essex, not dated; 16th century addition.
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
Ruled in ink for one column of 40 lines; ruled space 205 × 125 mm.
Hand(s)
One scribe, mixed hand: anglicana with some secretary forms.
Notation on a three-line stave added in the margin of fol. 47r.
Decoration
Five-line puzzle initial T in red and blue, flourished in red and blue, fol. 1r, extending into a partial penwork border; elsewhere initials in blue, flourished in red, usually of 2-3 lines.
Binding
Quarter-leather binding with marbled boards (18th century?); fragment of an earlier vellum binding (?) on the front pastedown.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Perhaps written in Essex (cf. dialect), and with some evidence of Essex provenance to the 16th century. Fol. 45r, ‘Purgatorium quod Ric. FizNychol’, 15th century (?): for Richard FitzNichol of Halstead, Essex, active c. 1430, see Cal. Inquisitions Post Mortem XXIV.179 and Feet of Fines for Essex IV 1423-1547, no. 81.
Fol. 43r, ‘Walter Ly(?)..linge his writing hand you shall see and understande […] ’ , 16th century
Document related to Broomfield, Essex, added in the 16th century, fol. 127v.
Acquired by the Bodleian before 1680; 'olim 213', fol. 1r.
Record Sources
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2021-11: Description fully revised.