Old and New Testaments in the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible, Chapter 1 of the General Prologue, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 3 Kings, 4 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Prayer of Manasseh, 1 Ezra, 2 Ezra, 3 Ezra, Tobit, Judith, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Prologue to Isaiah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations of Jeremiah, Prayer of Jeremiah, Prologue to Baruch, Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Prologue to Matthew, Matthew, Prologue to Mark, Mark, Prologue to Luke, Luke, Prologue to John, John, The earlier version of the Wycliffite Bible’s Prologue to Romans, The later version of the Wycliffite Bible’s Prologue to Romans, Romans, Prologue to 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians., Prologue to 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Prologue to Galatians, Galatians, Prologue to Ephesians, Ephesians, Prologue to Philippians, Philippians, Prologue to Colossians, Colossians, Prologue to 1 Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians, Prologue to 2 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, Prologue to 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy, Prologue to 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Prologue to Titus, Titus, Prologue to Philemon, Philemon, Prologue to Hebrews, Hebrews, Prologue to Acts, Acts, The Catholic epistles. Prologue to James, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, Prologue to the Apocalypse, Apocalypse — 1415 × 1425 (?); England, London (?)

Title

Old and New Testaments in the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible, Chapter 1 of the General Prologue, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 3 Kings, 4 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Prayer of Manasseh, 1 Ezra, 2 Ezra, 3 Ezra, Tobit, Judith, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Prologue to Isaiah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations of Jeremiah, Prayer of Jeremiah, Prologue to Baruch, Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Prologue to Matthew, Matthew, Prologue to Mark, Mark, Prologue to Luke, Luke, Prologue to John, John, The earlier version of the Wycliffite Bible’s Prologue to Romans, The later version of the Wycliffite Bible’s Prologue to Romans, Romans, Prologue to 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians., Prologue to 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Prologue to Galatians, Galatians, Prologue to Ephesians, Ephesians, Prologue to Philippians, Philippians, Prologue to Colossians, Colossians, Prologue to 1 Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians, Prologue to 2 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, Prologue to 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy, Prologue to 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Prologue to Titus, Titus, Prologue to Philemon, Philemon, Prologue to Hebrews, Hebrews, Prologue to Acts, Acts, The Catholic epistles. Prologue to James, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, Prologue to the Apocalypse, Apocalypse — 1415 × 1425 (?); England, London (?)

Shelfmark

MS. Bodl. 277

Place of origin

England, London (?)

Date

1415 × 1425 (?)

Language

Latin

Middle English (1100-1500)

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment, paper flyleaves

Physical extent

377 leaves, c.

Hands

textura, black ink

Decoration

Full borders made of gold, pink and blue bars, decorated with foliage, flowers, gold disks, human figures and grotesques, at the beginning of Genesis, 1 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 1 Ezra, Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, gospels, Romans and the Apocalypse (particularly sumptuous at Genesis, Psalms, Mathew, Romans and the Apocalypse).

4- to 9-line gold initials and three-quarters borders made of gold, pink and blue bars, decorated with foliage, flowers and gold disks, at the beginning of the chapter from the General Prologue and most books. Some books do not have borders, and start with initials decorated with sprays of foliage extending into margins (e.g., minor prophets and some epistles).

3- to 7-line initials, gold or on gold background, at the beginnings of prologues.

3-line blue initials with red penwork at the beginnings of chapters.

As in other Wycliffite bibles the borders are painted avoiding the text in the margins, including corrections, psalm numbers and glosses, suggesting that such text was added before the manuscript was passed to the illuminator. Pächt and Alexander (1973) suggest with a query that the decoration could be of London origin.

Large woodcut of Henry VI, damaged, pasted in on fol. 376v. (Pächt and Alexander iii. 880, pl. LXXXIV)

Rubrics in red ink.

Binding

Brown leather over boards. Blind fillet-line border and rectangular blind roll floral decoration with floral corner-pieces on both covers. Raised bands on spine. Gold lettering ‘BIBLE WICKLIFFE’ and a fragment of a paper label with handwritten ‘Bodl 277’ on spine. Marbled paper pastedowns, turn-ins with circular stamps containing ‘IHS’ monogram. Fragments of a large woodcut (Hodnett, no. 2514) pasted to fol. 376v, depicting a group of English martyrs kneeling before a king (Henry VI); includes an antelope, his badge (animal with two horns and tusks) and the coat of arms of England (three lions passant quartered with three fleurs de lis). Fol. 377 was a pastedown of an earlier binding and contains on the verso staining from a red (leather?) binding. The red is similar to that of parchment tabs which mark the beginning of most books (see Hudson, A., ‘The Carthusians and a Wycliffite Bible’, in Kras, P. et al. (eds), Ecclesia, cultura, potestas: studia z dziejów kultury i społeczenstwa (Krakow: Societas Vistulana, 2006), pp. 731–42, p. 734). Since the tabs have book titles in a hand responsible for most Carthusian additions, both the red leather binding and the tabs must date from the time when the manuscript was in the possession of the London charterhouse.

Acquisition

Bodleian Library: presented by More in 1604. Earlier shelfmarks: ‘Th. B. 24. 9’, ‘NE. C. 7. 1 (2124)’ (upper pastedown).

Provenance

May have originally contained a coat of arms or another indication of ownership on fol. 302r (see Text).

King Henry VI: two inscriptions in different, probably early 16th-century hands on fol. 375r, one crossed out, the second reading Hic liber erat quondam henrici sexti qui postea donabatur domui Cartusiensium quæ Londino contigua est. Hudson (2006, p. 736) argues against a possibility that the book belonged to Henry V, but not against a suggestion that this may be the English bible known to have been owned by Henry IV (Summerson (1997); Meale (1989)).

Charterhouse, London: 15th-century Carthusian additions; text compared with a portable Latin bible.

Sir George More (1553–1632), see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.