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Manchester. The John Rylands Library, English MS 77

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Source
Manchester Digital Collections
Library
The John Rylands Library
Shelfmark
  • English MS 77
Biblissima authority file
Date
  • End 14th/beginning 15th century
Language
  • Middle English
Title
  • Later Version Wycliffe New Testament
Agent
Description
  • Extent:
    266 folios (iv+266+ii) Leaf height: 190 mm, width: 130 mm.
    Binding:

    Blind-stamped brown morocco, 19th century.


    Decoration:

    Running headers with numbers in black ink are present at the top of each folio.


    Rubrication

    Blue paraph marks (pilcrows) on several sections throughout, denote internal textual divisions. Examples on folios 6v and 104v.

    Red ink is used sporadically throughout the text: start and occasionally end of each book or a sections of a book are highlighted in red ink.

    Incipit (on folio 4r) and Explicit (on folio 266v) in red ink.

    Red rubrication and large initials introduce each book and frequently a chapter of a book.


    Initials

    There are a 7-line initial at the beginning of Matthew (folio 16v) and a 6-line initial at the beginning of Mark (folio 47v), pink and blue with white penwork and floral infill on burnished gold grounds, and with foliate extensions; at the beginning of the other books are 4- or 5-line initials of burnished gold on pink and blue grounds with white penwork and foliate extensions:

    13r: 3-line illuminated initial ‘S’
    16v: 7-line illuminated initial ‘T’
    47v: 6-line illuminated initial ‘T’
    69r: 4-line illuminated initial ‘L’
    104r: 5-line illuminated initial ‘I’
    128v: 5-line illuminated initial ‘P’
    141v: 5-line illuminated initial ‘P’
    153v: 5-line illuminated initial ‘P’
    166r: 5-line illuminated initial ‘P’
    170r: 5-line illuminated initial ‘P’
    173r: 5-line illuminated initial ‘P’
    176r: 5-line illuminated initial ‘P’
    180v: 5-line illuminated initial ‘P’
    184r: 5-line illuminated initial ‘P’
    188r: 5-line illuminated initial ‘P’
    188v: 5-line illuminated initial ‘G’
    198v: 5-line illuminated initial ‘T’
    235r: 5-line illuminated initial ‘I’
    238v: 5-line illuminated initial ‘P’
    242v: 5-line illuminated initial ‘S’
    245r: 5-line illuminated initial ‘T’
    248r: 5-line illuminated initial ‘T’
    248v: 5-line illuminated initial ‘T’
    249r: 5-line illuminated initial ‘I’
    251v: 5-line illuminated initial ‘A’

    Numerous 3-line initials in blue ink with red penwork infill and flourishes:

    Pen-flourished initial ‘A’ on 205 folios. Examples: 19r, 71r, 181v, 266r
    Pen-flourished initial ‘B’ on 39 folios. Examples: 22r, 119v, 174r, 243r
    Pen-flourished initial ‘C’ on 2 folios: 141r and 173r
    Pen-flourished initial ‘D’ on 2 folios: 141v and 238r
    Pen-flourished initial ‘E’ on 3 folios: 138v, 165v, 247r
    Pen-flourished initial ‘F’ on 8 folios: 158v, 167r, 170r, 176v, 177r, 188v, 191r, 194v
    Pen-flourished initial ‘H’ on 8 folios: 4r, 92r, 171v, 180r, 182v, 184r, 186v, 188r
    Pen-flourished initial ‘I’ on 15 folios. Examples: 18r, 72v, 135r, 185v
    Pen-flourished initial ‘L’ on 5 folios: 68v, 161r, 175v, 198r, 244r
    Pen-flourished initial ‘M’ on 6 folios: 16r, 47r, 236r, 237r, 245r, 246v
    Pen-flourished initial ‘N’ on 1 folio: 21v
    Pen-flourished initial ‘O’ on 2 folios: 15r, 163r
    Pen-flourished initial ‘P’ on 1 folios: 64v
    Pen-flourished initial ‘R’ on 1 folios: 128v
    Pen-flourished initial ‘S’ on 6 folios: 13r, 143v, 150v, 164v, 169r, 246r
    Pen-flourished initial ‘T’ on 44 folios. Examples: 16v and 103v, 157r, 229v
    Pen-flourished initial ‘W’ on 8 folios: 124r, 129v, 130v, 131r, 146v, 183r, 237v, 249r


    Acquisition:

    Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands in 1897 from Henry Yates Thompson, 1838-1928, and later transferred to The John Rylands Library. Accession no. R4991. On the recto of the front endpaper is The John Rylands Library bookplate, dated 1894, with the Latin motto "Nihill sine labore".


    Layout:

    Two columns, 36 lines written below top line. Frame and line ruling in fine dark brown ink: single vertical bounding lines extending to the top of the page and into the lower margin; double horizontal bounding lines extending the full width of the page; horizontal lines not crossing the intercolumnar space; double vertical and horizontal bounding lines occasionally traversing the central margin. Pricking is evident on the external margins of many folios, for example, folio 59r.

    Calendar: six to nine columns, 36 lines. Double vertical and horizontal bounding lines.

    Written height: 122 mm, width: 80 mm.
    Collation:

    Folios 3-268:

    Quires, except the last one, are numbered 1-32 on the last verso but one.

    Quire 110
    Quires 2-338

    Catchwords (some framed) are centered in the lower margin of the verso of the final leaf of each quire: 20v, 28v, 36v, 44v, 52v, 60v, 68v, 76v, 84v, 92v, 100v, 108v, 116v, 124v, 132v, 140v, 148v, 156v, 164v, 188v, 196v, 204v, 112v, 220v, 228v, 236v, 244v, 252v, 260v.

    Secundo folio:adversariis (folio 14r).


    Script:

    Written in gothic textura by a single scribe.


    Subject(s):
    Bible. English (Middle English) Versions Wycliffe; Christianity; Bible. New Testament; Bible. Apocrypha; Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles; Bible. Epistles of Paul--Theology
    Abstract:

    Later Wycliffite version of the New Testament, with a calendar of Epistles and Gospels, and prefaces to the Gospels.

    (1) Folios 4r-12r, 'Here bigynneþ þe calender of pistlis and gosp[els] þat ben red bi al þe ȝer in þe chirche after þe vse of Salisbery.' Forshall and Madden, iv. 683-98, but the text here and in English Manuscripts 76, 78, 80 and 91 differs substantially from theirs, which goes with the earlier Wycliffite version. A table for the common of saints is not provided here or in English Manuscripts 76, 78, 80 and 91: cf. Forshall and Madden, p. 696, footnote. The commemorations are those in English MS 76, but they come before the proper of saints. The word 'pope' has been blotted out; so too the name of St Thomas at 29 December and 7 July. folios 3r and 12v are left blank.

    (2) (a) Folios 13r-15v, 'Seynt austyn seiþ in þe secunde book of cristen doctryne... be more holpen.' (b) Folios 15r-16v, 'Oure lord ihesu crist verri god and verri man seiþ in þe gospel... for þe lawe. amen. ihesu for þi merci.' Printed hence by Rev. J[onathan] T[yers] Barrett D.D. (see Bibliography below). Both (a) and (b) are prefaces to the Gospels.

    (3) Folios 16r-266v, New Testament in the later Wycliffite version. Forshall and Madden, no. 158. They note that this copy is the basis of the text in Scholz and Tregelles's English Hexapla edition of the New Testament (see Bibliography below). There are the usual prologues. Fairly frequent omissions by homoeoteleuton have been supplied neatly in the margins. Folios 267r-266v are left blank.


    Foliation:

    Foliated (i-ii) 1-270 (modern foliation); folios 1 and 2 are medieval vellum flyleaves.


    Format:
    Codex
    Material:
    Parchment
    Provenance:

    Early inscriptions: 'This booke [...] my moder (?) iiiil vis viiid And hit wisse (?) and holy mon [...] And hit was overseyn And redd by doctor Thomas Ebbrall and Doctor Yve or þt my moder bought hit', folio 267v, 15th/16th century. 'Carvyle', folio 2v, 15th/16th century. 'Mr edgcombs booke', folio 2v, 16th century. Thomas Eborall -1471, master of Whittington College, London, and his successor William Ive -1486.

    John Picard/Pickard/Pickerde, Rector of Pluckley, Kent. 'John Picard pastour of pluckleye'. He noted on folio 268v that he had 'bene at pluckleye thes 30 yeares I praise god and as muche synce as the thirde of Aprill 1598. The 20 daye of June nowe'. Pickard died in 1616 according to Hasted's History and topographical survey of the county of Kent (1797-1801), vol. 7, p. 477.

    J.T. Barrett [Rev. Jonathan Tyers Barrett, admitted Peterhouse, Cambridge, 1801, D.D. 1821, Prebendary of St Paul's, 1825, Rector of Attleborough, 1839-51, died 1851 aged 66: Inscription on the recto of the front endpaper.

    Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex 1773-1843. His sale on 31 July 1844, lot 432.

    Lea Wilson, F.S.A., Wycliffe scholar. An armorial bookplate with the Latin motto "Facta non verba" on the inner upper cover (pastedown) indicating that the codex was once owned by Wilson.

    Bertram Ashburnham, 4th Earl of Ashburnham, 1797-1878. A book label on the inner upper cover (pastedown) identifying the codex as having once been part of the Earl of Ashburnham's library.

    Henry Yates Thompson, 1838-1928. He purchased the Ashburnham Appendix in May 1897 and almost immediately resold the manuscript to Mrs Rylands.


    Additions:

    Only a few marginal additions and sketches have been made to the manuscript by a later, non-medieval hand:

    On folios 82r and 82v a sketch of a man’s head and on folio 115r a sketch of the head of a hooded man in the upper outer margin.

    Doodle in the outer margin of folio 245v.

    Vertically-oriented annotation by a later hand in the outer margin of folio 231v.

    Corrections

    Numerous marginal insertions and corrections have been made in various ways by the original scribe. A variety of signes-de-renvoi are used that link corrections, commentary, annotations, and other marginal content to the main text:

    Omission of words or sentences by means of strikethrough line in black and red ink. Examples, on folios 85r, 181r, 192r, 253r, 257r.

    Corrections and abbreviations of words by means of superscription. Example, on folio 154v.

    Errors in the text have been erased and reinscribed with thicker black style (that resembles the rest of the script) to write the correct words. Examples on folios 138r, 158r.

    A caret-like mark (˄) is regularly used, placed in the text to indicate where the correction needs to be made. Corrections typically appear in the left or right margins beside the line containing the error. Examples on folos 33r, 40r.

    A small number of words and phrases are underlined in black ink to possibly indicate a part of text that needed correction. Examples on folios 154v, 166v, 172v, 182v.

    Throughout, present in the margins of the majority of folios are numerous guide marks in the form of double slashes, etc. left as instructions for the decorator from the scribe for a paraph to be inserted. Examples on folios 25r, 36v.

    Ink and partly erased notations and pen-trials on folios 1r, 81r.

    Ownership inscriptions on some folios (see Provenance).

    Library and provenance notations in pencil and ink on the verso of the first upper endpaper.

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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