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Manchester. The John Rylands Library, English MS 51

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Source
Manchester Digital Collections
Library
The John Rylands Library
Shelfmark
  • English MS 51
Biblissima authority file
Date
  • Beginning 15th century
Language
  • Middle English
  • Latin
Title
  • Pricke of Conscience; Richard of Maidstone's commentary on Psalms (Prycke of Conscience | Prick of Conscience)
Agent
Description
  • Extent:
    127 folios (viii+119+iii+8+iv) Leaf height: 177 mm, width: 120 mm.
    Binding:

    17th or 18th century, full reversed calf (tan suede) with blind tooling.


    Decoration:

    Rubrication

    Rubricated red initials and red paraph marks (pilcrows and other) highlight or denote internal textual division. Examples on folios 7v, 50r, 60r, 73r, 122r.

    Lines of text in Latin are in red ink.

    Red rubrication and large initials in red ink introduce each book and frequently a section of a book.


    Initials

    3-, 4- and 5-line initials in red ink introduce each book (apart from the fifth):

    7v : 3-line red initial ‘F’ introduces the first book
    14v: 4-line blank, unexecuted initial introduces the second book
    23v: 4-line red initial 'D' introduces the third book
    34r: 4-line red initial 'M' introduces the fourth book
    80r: 4-line red initial 'M' introduces the sixth book
    91r: 5-line red initial 'T' introduces the seventh book

    2-, 3-line red initials in blue and red ink introduce several sections:

    Red ink initial ‘A’ on 2 folios 94v and 107r
    Red ink initial ‘B’ on 2 folios 8v and 116r
    Red ink initial ‘D’ on 2 folios 117r and 120r
    Red ink initial ‘M’ on 2 folios 122v
    Red ink initial ‘N’ on 3 folios 52r, 114v, 115v
    Red ink initial ‘P’ on 2 folios 120v, 48r
    Red ink initial ‘T’ on 1 folio 117r
    Red ink initial ‘Thorn (th)’ appears on 4 folios 9v, 13r, 28v, 59v


    Acquisition:

    Purchased by The John Rylands Library from Bernard Quaritch Ltd in 1919 for £36; invoice dated 28 January 1919.


    Layout:

    Single column, 39 long lines. Ruled and no evidence of pricking. Ruling is very faint most easily visible on the verso of folios: 87v, 95v .

    Written height: 148 mm.
    Collation:

    Folios 5-123, 172-134:

    Quire 18 lacking 1 and 3
    Quire 28
    Quire 58
    Quire 38 lacking 6 and 7 after folio 23
    Quires 4-148
    Quire 1510 (folios 113-122)
    Quire 1610 lacking 10, perhaps blank (folios 123, 127-34)

    Catchwords framed in a decorative band can be found in the lower, inner margin of the verso of the final leaf of each quire: 24v, 32v, 40v, 48v, 56v, 64v, 72v, 80v, 88v, 96v, 104v, 112v.

    Secundo folio:and ȝaf (folio 5r).


    Script:

    'Untidy anglicana formata, with lapses into current anglicana' (Ker, 1983).


    Subject(s):
    Poetry, Medieval; Devotional literature, English (Middle); Christian literature, English (Middle)
    Abstract:

    Imperfect copy of the Pricke of Conscience, together with a commentary, usually attributed to Richard of Maidstone, which ends 'Graunt oon god and persones yre 1223'. Originally bound with other works, which are now missing. On folio 2r there is an index listing thirteen items:

    (1) "the prycke of concyence"
    (2) "vii salmes in Inglysche"
    (3) "the name of Ihesu"
    (4) "for fyshyng and fowlyng"
    (5) "a ballett of lente"
    (6) "Ayenst ye yoke of maryage wt mery ballett"
    (7) "A blynd ballett"
    (8) "A maryners boke"
    (9) "A ballet of eduerd ye iiiith kyng"
    (10) "byll' of bokes abbrogated"
    (11) "of the passyon of or lord Ihesu chryst"
    (12) "A ballet of or ladyes aultr"
    (13) "the bond of norfolke men"

    Only the first two are contained in this codex:

    (1) Folios 5r-116v, Pricke of Conscience, ed. Richard Morris, The pricke of conscience (see Bibliography below). Index of Middle English verse, no. 3428/61. Begins at line 76 'and ȝaf hym skylle witt and mynde'. Ends 'þat for vs made heuen erþe and al þinge. Her endeþ þe pricke of conscience. Finito libro reddatur gloria cristo. Qui scripcit carmen sit benedictus amen'. A leaf is missing after folio 5v which ends 'haue no knowings' (line 153); folio 6rbegins 'and amende wiþ al' (line 230). Two leaves are missing after folio 23v which ends 'soule and body' (line 1687), followed by the heading 'Of þe maner of gostly deþ'; folio 24r begins 'Whan þe soule' (line 1839).

    (2) Folios 117r-123v, (blank folios 124r-126v), 127r-134v, Commentary on the seven penitential psalms, usually attributed to Richard of Maidstone (- 1396). Index of Middle English verse, no. 3755/7. Begins 'To goddes worschipe þat der' vs bouȝt', and ends 'graunte oon god and persones þre. Amen amen amen. Explicit comentum super 7 ps' penitenciales in anglicis'. '1223' is written in what might be the main hand on folio 134v in a line by itself between persones þre and the three Amens; also on folio 135r.


    Foliation:

    Foliated i-iii, 1-138 (modern foliation). Folios 1-4, 124-126 and 135 135 are medieval flyleaves.


    Format:
    Codex
    Material:
    Parchment
    Provenance:

    'Thomas Day of Brystow': scribbled upside down on folio 125r end of 15th century.

    John Hardy, 1679/80-1740, 12 May 1708: inscription on folio 4r. Identified as John Hardy, 1679/80-1740, Presbyterian minister and Church of England clergyman.

    Maurice Johnson, 1688-1755, of Ayscoughfee Hall, near Spalding, Lincolnshire, 1710: inscription on folio 4r. Johnson was the founder of the Spalding Society. He noted on the recto of the front endpaper that 'My learned Friend The reverend Mr John Hardy' had the manuscript 'bound up by a Bookbinder at Nottingham' (presumed to be the present binding). The Johnson armorial bookplate of sixteen quarterings is on the inner upper cover (upper pastedown). Maurice Johnson sale at Sotheby's, 21 March 1898, lot 966.

    Bernard Quaritch, 1819-1899. Catalogue 328, item 584, and catalogue 344, item 29 (£36).


    Additions:

    Sporadic marginal annotations in black ink. Example on folios 37r.

    Some headings in Latin are underlined in red ink. Example on folio 122r

    Numerous drawn manicules, pointing directly at a sentence in the text. Found in several locations, on both the inner and outer margins. Examples on folios 14r, 14v, 26v, 74r.

    Between the innner upper cover and first front endpaper there is a tipped in note, a page with printed information about the manuscript.

    On folio 2r an index in pencil listing thirteen items (see summary of the manuscript above).

    Ink annotation and a small painted miniature. Amongst the notes is 'belonged to John Hardy 12th May 1708' and 'Ex libri Maur Johnson, 1710' (see provenance).

    On the recto of the front endpaper ink and pencil notes of ownership by later hands (see Provenance).

    Pen-trials is found on folio 125r.

    Library information written in pencil and ink on the inner upper cover (upper pastedown).

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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