Showing 14 results

Archival description
Advanced search options
Print preview View:

2 results with digital objects Show results with digital objects

Explanatio in Psalmos

The Explanatio in Psalmos attributed to Haimo of Halberstadt (ff. 1-68 verso), here imperfect by the loss of a quire at the beginning: ']ipse semper est rex iudeorum ... et corpore spirituali et subtili'. The text, corresponding to Migne, Patrologia Latina cxvi, cols. 237-693, begins in the commentary on Psalm 15 and, unaccountably, breaks off at the foot of the first column of f. 68 verso, where the remaining column would have sufficed to complete the commentary on Psalm 150. Written in England, the manner of writing in omissions and the 'dragon initials', but not the script, are suggestive of Canterbury or Rochester.
Written by one good hand. Punctuation by point and punctus elevatus; hyphens. Ink brown. Omissions are regularly made good by writing in small in the margin with a signe-de-renvoi, sometimes by the scribe, sometimes by another hand, sometimes, otiosely, by both (cf. N. R. Ker, English Manuscripts in the Century after the Norman Conquest (Oxford, 1960), p. 50). Nota marks are by the scribe. Spaces for tituli, at least up to f. 45, were originally left blank, perhaps to be filled in in red; they were later filled in in ink, by the scribe, in capitals. Between ff. 21 verso and 45, tituli, written small, now partly cropped, appear in the outer margin.

Pedigree-chronicle from Adam to Edward IV,

A pedigree chronicle of biblical and British history from Adam to Edward IV, written not before 1461 and probably not after 1466 (none of Edward IV's children are shown), evidently in the same London or Westminster workshop as that postulated by Albinia de la Mare, Catalogue of the Collection of Medieval Manuscripts Bequeathed to the Bodleian Library, Oxford, by James P. R. Lyell (Oxford, 1971), p. 82, as the place of production of a number of closely related pedigree-chronicles in roll or roll-codex form, some in Latin and some in English. The hand looks the same as that of Lyell MS 33 (see ibid., plate VI), while the layout, decoration and miniature of the Fall are very similar. Near the miniature of the Fall is a note in English, [17 cent.].
The preface and biblical history derive from the Compendium Historiæ in Genealogia Christi (otherwise known as the Promptuarium Bibliæ) of Peter of Poitiers; see H. Vollmer, Deutsche Bibelauszüge des Mittelalters sum Stammbaum Christi mit ihren lateinischen Vorbildern und Vorlagen (Potsdam, 1931) and Thomas Jones, Y Bibyl Ynghymraec (Cardiff, 1940), where thirty-three manuscripts are listed on pp. xvii-xx. The text as a whole belongs to category B identified by de la Mare, op. cit., p. 83, a group of manuscripts compiled in the reign of Edward IV with which ours has features other than the text in common. For the work of a closely related illuminator see R. M. Thomson, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Medieval Manuscripts of Corpus Christi College Oxford (Cambridge, 2011), p. 101.

Biblia Ecclesie Cathedralis Norwicensis,

  • NLW MS 21878E [RESTRICTED ACCESS].
  • File
  • [mid 13 cent.].

A Bible, from Norwich Cathedral Priory, the Books in the usual order of thirteenth-century Bibles (see N. R. Ker and A. J. Piper, Medieval manuscripts in British libraries (Oxford, 1969- ), I, 96-7) except that it lacks the Prayer of Manasses and includes the Prayer of Solomon after Ecclesiasticus. The prologues are the standard set with some omissions and divergencies. Written in Italy by one scribe. The running-titles and chapter numbers in alternate red and blue and the small chapter initials in red and blue were executed in Italy; the large initials in divided red and blue at the beginning of the General Prologue and each Book are the work of an English illuminator. On f. 344 verso there is a list of the names of ten magistri, six of whom are known to have been in Oxford at the beginning of the fourteenth century. Substantial glossing by English hands of the thirteenth-fifteenth centuries.

Biblia,

  • NLW MS 22050A [RESTRICTED ACCESS].
  • File
  • [13 cent., second ½].

A pocket Bible, the books in the usual order and with the usual prologues of thirteenth century French Bibles (see N. R. Ker and A. J. Piper, Medieval manuscripts in British libraries (Oxford, 1969- ), I, 96-7) except that a prologue to the Book of Wisdom is wanting. Decoration of good quality: historiated initials on f. 1 (St Jerome writing) and f. 4 (the seven days of the Creation in roundels and a crucifixion) and initials embodying monsters, lions, birds, cats, etc. for all Books and prologues. Followed on ff. 471-508 verso by the dictionary of Hebrew names and, on ff. 510-16, added in a contemporary hand, a Franciscan list of liturgical readings for the temporale, sanctorale and commune. On f. 518 verso in an English hand of the second half of the thirteenth century are the verses Pocula ianus amat februarius algeo clamat (Walther 14217).

Horae (use of Sarum),

  • NLW MS 22051A [RESTRICTED ACCESS].
  • File
  • [c. 1380x1500].

A Book of Hours of the use of Sarum, [c. 1380x1400], in original binding but wanting many leaves. Contains: Kalendar (ff. 5-9 verso), Hours of BVM (ff. 10-39 verso), Penitential Psalms, Gradual Psalms and Litany (ff. 40-54 verso), Office of the Dead (ff. 55-78 verso) and Commendation of Souls (ff. 80-7 verso), with added prayers on f. 79, contemporary, and ff. 87 verso-9, after 1457. Illuminated initials, mostly 3-line, and borders, the dominant colours gold, blue and maroon, the initials on f. 25 (St Catherine) and f. 46 (face of Christ) historiated. From the workshop, probably in London, which produced, among other manuscripts, the Balknap Hours (J. R. Abbey Sale, Sotheby's 1 Dec. 1970, lot 2869) and Bodley MS 581 (after 1391). The Kalendar includes, in the original hand, Chad and Edward, the litany (all that survives, the Virgins) Ethelreda, Mildreda, Radegunde and Osyth. A hand of second half 15 cent. (which adds Osmund, canonized 1457) added to the Kalendar, in red, the feast and translation of Cuthbert and the invention of Oswin (relics at Tynemouth), besides other synodal Sarum feasts in black.

Officium mortuorum,

  • NLW MS 22252A [RESTRICTED ACCESS].
  • File
  • [15 cent.].

The office of the dead, substantially as in F. Procter & C. Wordsworth, Breviarum ad usum insignis ecclesiae Sarum (Cambridge, 1879-1886), II, 271-82 (ff. 1-50, one leaf wanting before f. 1 and one after f. 46); antiphons, responses and versicles are all noted for music; written in textura, rubrics and staves in red, plain red initials, perhaps mid 15 cent. Added prayers in cursive hands on f. 50v. Quire 8 (ff. 51-8) is from an earlier manuscript, perhaps first half 15 cent., written in textura with blue initials and red penwork; it begins and ends abruptly, containing part of the litany followed by psalm 118. Quire 9 (ff. 59-63), in a cursive hand, on paper, second half 15 cent., concludes psalm 118 and has collects and a post-communion from masses for the dead (including that for a bishop) and part of the commendation of souls.

Breviarium,

  • NLW MS 22253A [RESTRICTED ACCESS].
  • File
  • [mid 15 cent.].

A breviary, use of Sarum, from Lanteglos by Fowey, Cornwall, mid 15 cent. Comprises temporale (ff. 1-182), dedication of a church (ff. 182-8 verso), benedictions (f. 189 recto-verso), calendar (ff. 190-5 verso), psalter (ff. 197-281 verso, four leaves wanting after f. 230 and two after f. 296, with litany on ff. 275-8 verso), commune (ff. 282-321 verso), sanctorale (ff. 322-451 verso). On ff. 451 verso-75, added by three hands, are offices for nova festa including Saints David, Chad, John of Beverley and Winifred, the Visitation, St Osmund, and the Transfiguration; the first four are included in the calendar by the primary hand, the last three, together with the feast of the Name of Jesus, are added. Also added to the calendar by hands of second half 15 cent. are Saints Bridget, Patrick, Beuno and 'Willeus' (patron saint of Lanteglos by Fowey) and the dedication of the church of Lanteglos. Willeus is also added to the litany on f. 275 verso. Plain red and blue initials.

Chronicle of the Brute,

A mid 15th century manuscript in English prose entitled Here begynneth a booke which is called Brute, the Cronycles of Englonde. There is an introductory paragraph (as in Harley MSS 1337, 2182 and 6251 and Stowe MS 71) beginning 'This booke treteth and telleth of the kynges and principal lordes that euer were in this londe ...' followed by a long rubric (as in Harleian MS 2182), mainly defaced, beginning 'The prolog of this booke declareth hou this [londe] was callyd Albyon ...'. The text begins on p. 2 and, like the majority of the manuscripts of the English Brute (see F. W. D. Brie, Geschichte und Quellen der mittelenglischen Prosachronik The Brute of England, 1905, p. 62), this manuscript ends with the capture of Rouen by Henry V in 1419. Illuminated initial and border on p. 1; chapter-initials in blue, with red flourishes; headings in red.

Historia de gestis regalibus regum Britannie,

[A transcript of] Alfred of Beverley's Historia de gestis regalibus regum Britannie videlicet a Bruto Britonum rege primo usque ad Normanorum tempora .
There are two slips of parchment either end of the manuscript: the first is part of a 16th century deed bearing the signature of one George Hygons; the second part is a letter from T. Duffus Hardy, Public Record Office to W. W. E. Wynne, 30 January 1863.

Abbey of Burton-on-Trent,

A classified collection of ecclesiastical letters, including compilations by Master Bernard; a version of the treatise De legibus et consuetudinibus Anglie which was long attributed to Ranulf de Glanville, chief justiciar of England (the treatise is here called liber curialis - 'Incipit prologus in librum qui uocatur Curial, in qua continentur leges Anglie'); collections of writs and precedents of legal instruments; a collection of writs under the rubric 'Incipiunt brevia que emanant a curia domini regis'; royal letters, including letters relating to the Mise of Lewes, 1264, letters of Otto, Emperor of the Romans to King John, documents relating to the election of John de Stafford as abbot of Burton, 1260, etc.; transcripts of documents relating to Burton Abbey; and transcripts of charters of Anglo-Saxon kings, 800-1048, including a copy of the will of Wulfric, founder of Burton Abbey.

The Hengwrt Chaucer old covers

Oak boards and their tanned leather covers, the boards possibly medieval in date, removed from the Hengwrt Chaucer (Peniarth MS 392) before the manuscript was rebound in 1956.

The Hengwrt Chaucer,

A late fourteenth-, or early fifteenth-century manuscript of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, lacking VIII(G)554-1481 (i.e., the Canon’s Yeoman’s Prologue and Tale); X(I)1180-end lost).
Doyle and Parkes’s ‘Scribe B’, the scribe of the Hengwrt Chaucer, has long been identified as having also been responsible for writing other manuscripts, including the Ellesmere Chaucer (Huntington Library MS 26 C 9). He was identified in 2006 by Linne Mooney as Adam Pinkhurst, a London-based scrivener associated with Chaucer.

Chaucer, Geoffrey, -1400