Fragment of a Latin manuscript of a very large format (c.10 mm between the ruled lines), recovered from the binding. — 15th century, second quarter; England

Title

Fragment of a Latin manuscript of a very large format (c.10 mm between the ruled lines), recovered from the binding. — 15th century, second quarter; England

Shelfmark

MS. Laud Misc. 36

Date

15th century

15th century, second quarter

Language

Middle English (1100-1500)

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment, laid paper flyleaves

Physical extent

166 leaves, c.

Hands

Anglicana with Secretary influence, black ink

Decoration

4-line blue initials with red penwork at the beginnings of gospels; 3-line similar initials at the beginnings of prologues; 2-line similar initials at the beginnings of chapters.

Rubrics in red ink.

Binding

Brown leather over pasteboard, 16th century. Blind fillet-line border round the outer edge of both covers; blind fillet-line rectangular figure at the centre of both covers. Rebacked in the Bodleian with the original spine relaid. Three raised bands on spine framed by blind fillet lines. Two paper labels on spine (one fragmentary) with typewritten ‘Laud. C 24.’ and ‘36’. Catches of two clasps (now lost) made of yellow metal on the lower cover. Fragment of a Latin manuscript recovered from the binding is stored as MS. Lat. th. c. 10 (see Provenance).

Acquisition

Bodleian Library: second donation from Laud, 16 June, 1636. Earlier shelfmark: ‘C 24’ (upper pastedown, binding).

Provenance

Item (?) payd to thomas ix lb, 15th century (fol. 163v).

Transcripts (?) and a reworking (?) of memorial verses from St Paul’s Cathedral, London (16th century, early, fol. 163v). The first is a version of verses on the memorial of William Worsley, dean of St Paul (d. 1499); see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, with a modified last line: Vermibus hie donor et sic ostendere conor Hie veluti ponor sic erit orbis honor. Followed by Mr Willelmus Worley legum doctor decani ecclesie sancti Pauli London. The actual version is printed by Weever (1767), p. 158. The second is a transcript of memorial verses at St Paul’s for Roger Niger, Bishop of London (d. 1241), written as prose: Huius erat manibus domino locus iste dicatus christe suis precibus veniam des tolle reatus (see Stow and Mottley (1733–35), bk III, p. 670).

Richard Johnson (Richarde Jhonsons liber, upper and lower pastedowns), Georgine Dulake (lower pastedwon), Amey ffeamne (lower pastedown), 16th century. Signature Ricardus Jhonson written in a formal script also occurs in Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Laud misc 104, a mid-15th century copy of The Pater Noster of Richard Ermyte (Index of printed Middle English prose 150), an exposition of the Lord’s prayer wrongly attributed to Richard Rolle. Richard Johnson, originally from Salisbury diocese, is reported by Foxe to have been persecuted and charged with the possession of Wyclif’s Wycket in the late 1520s and early 1530s (Hudson, A., The premature reformation: Wycliffite texts and Lollard history (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988), pp. 479, 489).

Ogilivie-Thomson argues that the owner of MS. Laud misc. 36 is ‘R. Johnson’, a book-collector described in Doyle, A. I., ‘Books belonging to R. Johnson’, Notes and Queries 197 (1952), pp. 293–4. However, according to Doyle’s tentative identification, ‘R. Johnson’ is likely to be a signature of Robert Johnson and R. Johnson’s signatures (including a date and a price) are different from the signatures in Laud misc. 36.

William Watts (fl. c.1590–1649), Church of England clergyman and author; see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: upper pastedown.

William Laud (1573–1645); see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Liber Guilielmi Laud Archiepiscopi Cantuar’: et Cancellarij Vniuersitatis Oxon. 1633 (fol. 3r).

Title

Gospels (later Wycliffite version)

Shelfmark

MS. Laud Misc. 36

Date

15th century

Language

English

Physical facet

Bound in calf, blind fillets

Physical extent

163 Leaves

Custodial history

Manuscript 2283 acquired by the Bodleian Library