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Manchester. The John Rylands Library, English MS 895

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Source
Manchester Digital Collections
Library
The John Rylands Library
Shelfmark
  • English MS 895
Biblissima authority file
Date
  • 15th century
Language
  • English
  • Latin
Title
  • Process of The Passion; The Gospel of Nicodemus (Acts of Pilate | Acta Pilate)
Agent
Description
  • Extent:
    125 folios. Leaf height: 230 mm, width: 137 mm.
    Binding:

    Contemporary binding of bevelled oak boards and pink-stained deer-skin; two strap-and-pin fastenings (only the upper pin and lower strap remain).


    Decoration:
    There are 4- or 5-line initials in blue with red penwork infill and flourishes on folios 2v, 12r, 14v, 24v, 33r, 40v, 46v, 58v, 62v, 66r, 69v, 73v, 80r, 100r and 109r.
    Numerous 2-line initials in in blue with red penwork infill and flourishes on folios 4v, 6v, 8v, 16v, 18r, 22r, 29r, 32r, 104v, 119v and 123v.
    Blank spaces on folios 14v, 58v, 62v, 69v and 100r may have been intended for pictures.


    Acquisition:

    Purchased by the John Rylands Library in 1937 from the London booksellers Maggs Bros for £30; invoice dated 19 February 1937.


    Layout:

    One column, 21 long lines. Written space: 140 x 65 mm and (folios 115-117 140 x 55 mm.

    Written height: 140 mm, width: 65-55 mm.
    Collation:
    Quire 116lacking 1 and 16 (folios 1-14)
    Quires 2-912
    Quire 1012 lacking 1, 2, 11 and 12 (folios 111-118)
    Quire 1112 lacking 5-8 after folio 122
    Quire 12, blank, after folio 125

    Secundo folio:lete hym (folio 1r).


    Script:

    Secretary influenced short-r anglicana formata, in one hand throughout. Dr Ian Doyle informed Ker that British Library, Egerton 2658, and Trinity College, Dublin, 71 (Rolle's English psalter) are probably in the same hand. Latin pieces on folios 18r-19v and 22v, Christ's prayers to the Father on folios 23v-24v, St Michael's message to Christ, and 'Ecce rex noster... adoremus eum' on folio 90r, are in red ink.


    Subject(s):
    Christian literature, English (Middle); Passion narratives (Gospels); Theology--History--Middle Ages, 600-1500
    Abstract:

    The manuscript contains the stories of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ, based on Pseudo-Bonaventura's Passio et Resurrectio Christi, together with the Gospel of Nicodemus and the Harrowing of Hell.

    (1) Folios 1r-110v, A processe of the Passion, Resurrection and Ascension. Imperfect, beginning 'lete heme go þus a lyue, he wolle trane al þe peple to hym' (i.e. the Council of the Jews) and ends 'fro these fallyng thinges whiche but lyght and shorte, whiche woundeth and sleeþ oure hertes. And wiþ all', the last three words being catchwords (i.e. immediately after the sending down of the Holy Ghost). Apparently based predominantly on the Passio et Resurrectio Christi, although a number of other legends relating to the Passion occur, e.g. the story of the Devil and Pilate's wife, the death of Judas, the legend of the Cross. With numerous marginal additions to the story in a slightly later hand. Some of the prayers are in red.

    (2) Folios 111r-125r, A prose version of the Gospel of Nicodemus, much abbreviated in places. When complete this portion of the one manuscript apparently consisted of twenty-two folios, but two are now missing at the beginning and six lower down. Imperfect; begins 'ken hem abyde. We had no myght ne power þer to, sayde þese knyghtes, whate for drede and sorwe of the noyse and grysily sight þat we sawe' (this is the middle of chapter xiii of the Gesta Pilati as printed by Tischendorf, 1853; the manuscript originally began with chapter xii); ends (folio 125) 'And also Pylate lete wryte a þystle to þe Cite of Rome and to þe Emperour Tyberyas Cesar of all Cristes Passyon. Now god for hys much myght yeue vs grace such byleue to have, Wher þorowe We mowe come to endles blysse. Amen.'

    According to Ker, the two parts probably formed a continuous narrative, as in British Library Egerton MS 2658 and Stonyhurst MS 43, but the transition between the Resurrection and the Gospel of Nicodemus occurred on a missing leaf.

    'A wanton wyfe and a backe dore Sonne will make a ryche man poore' is in the blank space after the text, folio 125r, 16th century: see Oxford dictionary of English proverbs, under 'Nice wife'.

    There are several missing leaves:

    (1) A leaf before folio 1r, which begins 'lete hym go thus': Stonyhurst MS 43 B. xliii begins, 'Passio domini nostri Ihesu cristi sit nostra salus et proteccio. That tyme yt oure lord Ihesu Cryst was xxx ȝere'.

    (2) A leaf between folio 14v, which ends 'and comanded watyr', and folio 15r, which begins 'þinges he sayde hem'.

    (3-4) Two leaves between folio 110v, which ends 'and sleeþ oure hertes', followed by the catchword 'And wiþ all', and folio 111r, which begins 'ken hem abyde. We had no myght'.

    (5-6) Two leaves between folio 118v, which ends 'wende to hys dysciples', and folio 119r, which begins 'Furthe[...] þey wreten and sayden'.

    (7-10) Four leaves between folio 122v, which ends 'and þow layst dede in', and folio 123r, which begins 'de a lytell'.


    Foliation:

    Folios 111r-124r have medieval foliation: iii-x, xiii-xv, xv (sic), xx, xxi.


    Format:
    Codex
    Material:
    Parchment
    Provenance:

    Early marks of ownership include: 'John Senlegerknight' (folio 57r), perhaps Sir John St Leger, c.1516-1593/6 of Annery, Devon; Roberte Worthye (folio 125v); Henry Freme (folio 124r)

    John Hockmon.Inscribed 'John Hockmon 1576' inside the inner lower cover.

    Thomas Taylor. Inscribed 'Tho: Taylor 1756' inside the inner lower cover. Probably identifiable as Thomas Taylor of Ogwell and Denbury, Devon. The National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, holds a painting by Arthur Devis, Arthur Holdsworth conversing with Thomas Taylor and Captain Stancombe by the River Dart, 1757. Holdsworth was Taylor's brother-in-law.

    Col. Pierce Thomas Henry Taylor of Newnton Priory, Tetbury, Gloucestershire. He was the great great grandson of Thomas Taylor: see Burke's Landed Gentry (1863), pp. 1481-2. Sale by Puttick & Simpson on 21 December 1904 of A selection from the Library of Col. Taylor (removed from Newnton Priory); sold to one 'Turner' for £16.

    George Dunn, 1864-1912, of Woolley Hall near Maidenhead. Ex libris inner upper cover. The manuscript must have been bought by Dunn at some date after 1904. Lot 604 in the Dunn sale of 2 February 1913; sold to another 'Turner' for £50.

    The manuscript next appears at Sotheby's sale on 15 December 1916, where it was lot 635 in the 'Other Properties' section. Unfortunately Sotheby's have no record of where the manuscript came from before this auction. It was sold to 'Jordon' for £28. It was later acquired by Maggs Bros in 1937 from an unrecorded source.


    Additions:
    Manicules on folios 38r-38v, 45v, 60v, 68v, 72v, 75v and 83r.Two stick figures (birds?) have been drawn in the margin of folio 64v.There is a sketch of a naval vessel with a sea-monster's head at the prow on folio 66v.
Place
  • Preferred form
    • England (United Kingdom)
    Original form
    • England
    Other form
    • Angleterre
    • Angleterre (?)
    • Angleterre.
    • Angleterre ?
    • Anglaterra
    • Inglaterra
    • Engeland
    • Angleterre (Salisbury ?)
    • Anglaterra (Salisbury?)
    • Inglaterra (Salisbury?)
    • England (Salisbury?)
    • [Oxford?]
    • [England]
    • England, Norwich?
    • England, Canterbury, St. Augustine's Abbey?
    • England, Cornwall?
    • England, St. Albans?
    • England, North?
    • England, York?
    • England, Witham?
    • England, Winchester or St. Albans
    • England, Reading or Leominster
    • England, Cirencester?
    • England, Sherborne?
    • England, Worcester?
    • England, Bury St. Edmunds?
    • England, Tewkesbury?
    • England, East Anglia?
    • England, Peterborough?
    • England, Mercia?
    • England, Canterbury, Christ Church?
    • England, Canterbury, St. Augustine's?
    • England, Winchester?
    • England, Oxford?
    • Flanders (possibly executed in England)
    • England and Netherlands
    • England, Canterbury?
    • England, West Midlands?
    • England, London?
    • England, Crowland?
    • England, Wessex?
    • England, Reading?
    • England, Northeast?
    • England, Southeast?
    • England, Ely?
    • England, Winchester or Hereford?
    • England, Salisbury?
    • England, Oxford or Salisbury
    • German (but made in England)
    • England, South East (?)
    • England. Peterborough (?) or Lincoln (?)
    • Hereford?, England
    • England, Durham ?
    • England, Durham?
    • England, probably Durham
    • England, Oxford (?)
    • England, possibly Oxford
    • England (?Oxford)
    • England, Durham (?)
    • England, London/Westminster
    • Unknown, possibly London and Cambridge
    • Royal Chancery, London; Cambridge
    • Engeland (?)
    • England (II)
    • I. England
    • [Engeland]
    • see more
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  • Provided by The University of Manchester. Zooming image © University of Manchester Library, All rights reserved. Images and Metadata made available for download are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). Images and Metadata made available for download are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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