Sarum calendar in Latin, Table of lections of Type I, New Testament in the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible with usual prologues — 15th century, first quarter (before 1415 (?)); England

Title

Sarum calendar in Latin, Table of lections of Type I, New Testament in the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible with usual prologues — 15th century, first quarter (before 1415 (?)); England

Shelfmark

MS. Fairfax 11

Place of origin

England

Date

15th century, first quarter (before 1415 (?))

Language

Latin

Middle English (1100-1500)

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment, paper flyleaves; lower margin of fol. 149 is cut off

Physical extent

204 leaves, c.

Hands

textura, the same hand as in MS. Bodl. 183 (de Hamel, C., The book: a history of the Bible (London: Phaidon, 2001))

the calendar and the table of lections are in a different style and probably the work of a different scribe; black ink

Decoration

Gold and blue KL monograms with red and purple penwork in the calendar.

6- to 9-line initials on gold background and full or three-quarters borders made of pink, blue and gold bars decorated with floral designs, interlace and gold disks at the beginnings of books. Starting with St John’s gospel these alternate with 6- to 8-line red and blue ‘puzzle’ initials and penwork borders.

2- to 3-line gold or blue initials with red or purple penwork at the beginnings of prologues and chapters.

Catchwords decorated with geometric designs, and occasionally drawings (e.g., flowers, fol. 43v; king’s head, fol. 122v) in ink, and red and yellow wash.

Rubrics in red; blue and gold paraphs at the beginnings of sections within the text.

Binding

Brown leather over pasteboard, late 17th century, probably made for Charles Fairfax. Blind fillet-line and roll borders on both covers with floral cornerpieces and floral decorations at the centre. Imprints from metal decorations at the centre and around the edges of covers. The metal decorations were added on top of blind-tool designs on the binding, presumably soon after it was made, and left holes and rust marks on fols. ii–2 and 196–200. Fols. ii, iii, 199 and 200 are medieval parchment flyleaves. Fols. ii and 200 served as pastedowns of a medieval binding and have imprints from a medieval document. Heavily repaired and rebacked in the Bodleian; 19th-century spine and paper flyleaves. Five raised bands on spine, framed by blind fillet lines. Gold lettering on spine ‘MS. FAIRFAX 11’.

Acquisition

Bodleian Library: bequeathed by Thomas Fairfax in 1671.

Provenance

Half-erased and cropped off 16th-century notes on fols. 107v, 115r and 122v. The notes on fol. 115r include the name Thomas Chenies.

Sir William Sinclair, laird of Roslin (d. 1580/5): ‘William Santclair of Roislin, Knecht’ (fols. 1r, 18v); die secundo aprilis anno mº vº lxi, followed by a signature of William Sinclair (?), fol. 81v, at the end of Luke’s gospel. Many of his manuscripts were acquired from religious houses whose libraries had been broken up during the Scottish Reformation (Mapstone (1996)). Later owned by D. Sinclair of Roisling (fol. 1r).

Charles Fairfax (1597–1673), antiquary and genealogist; see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: ‘bought in Scotland’ (fol. 1r); ‘Wickliff’s Translation of the New Testament’ (fol. ii recto); signatures on fols. iii recto, 1r, 18v, 19r, 198v. See also MS. Dugdale 46.

Thomas Fairfax (1612–1671), nephew of Charles Fairfax; see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Title

The New Testament in English in the later version of Wyclif

Shelfmark

MS. Fairfax 11

Summary

The New Testament in English in the later version of Wyclif, with the usual prologues, preceded by a Calendar (fol. 1) and table of lessons according to the use of Sarum (fol. 7).

Date

Written in the mid-15th century in England

Language

Middle English (1100-1500)

Physical facet

On parchment, in double columns, with illuminated capitals and borders

Physical extent

201 Leaves

Custodial history

Owned in the late 16th cent. by 'William Santclair of Roislin, Knecht' [Rosslyn or Roslin] (fols. 1, 18v), later by 'D. Sinclair of Roisling' (ib.), and subsequently 'Bought in Scotland' (fol. 1) by Sir Thomas Fairfax, whose signature is on foll. iii, i, etc. For the Sinclairs of Roslin cf. MS. Fairfax 12.