South English legendary with other poetry; England (perhaps Oxford?), c. 1300 with additions

Title

South English legendary with other poetry; England (perhaps Oxford?), c. 1300 with additions

Shelfmark

MS. Laud Misc. 108

Date

13th century, late, or 14th century, early, with 14th century additions

Language

Latin

Middle English (1100-1500)

Anglo-Norman

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Parchment, noticeably orange on the hair side except in the final quire (fols. 231–7).

Physical extent

ii (modern paper) + i (medieval parchment mounted on modern paper) + 240 or 243 (if three very fragmentary leaves are counted); foliated 1–239, see below. The upper margin severly cropped, with loss of running titles, e.g at fols. 61r, 204r.

Hands

Four scribes in the main body of the manuscript, fols. 1–237: (A) fols. 1–200 (with a noticeable change of ink at fol. 174) (B) fols. 200v-203v (C) fols. 204–228r (D) fols. 228v-237v. Hands A-C textualis, late thirteenth or early fourteenth century, with B somewhat later than A and C; hand D cursiva (anglicana), 14th century, middle or third quarter.

Decoration

Fols. 1–200v, 204r-226v: initials in blue (typically two-line), with penwork flourishing in red and blue, at the beginning of legends and other major text divisions. Patterson (as reported in Allen 1984) and Evans (2011) distinguish three flourishers: (A) fols. 1–10r, 56–160v, 204–226v (B) fols. 11–54r, 161–169v (C) fols. 174–199. First letter of each line usually touched in red (but not on fols. 221v-226r).

Four-line initial in blue and red with penwork flourishing in red and blue at the beginning of King Horn, fol. 219va.

Fols. 1–200v: paraphs in blue and red; rubrics in red for some lives.

Fols. 228v-237v: rubrics in red, some initials touched in red.

Acquisition

Given by him to the Bodleian as part of his first donation in 1635.

Provenance

Fols. 1–203 and 204–28, the original core of the manuscript, are distinct production units, but both share some codicological features, notably the parchment with its strong contrast between flesh and hair sides, and the probable quiring in units of twelve.

Codicological, textual and decorative evidence also suggests several production units within part 1, although there is disagreement about where these fall. For a review, see Bell and Couch (2011).

The final quire (however that is defined: see collation) is a separate codicological unit added by Scribe D around the mid fourteenth century.

The items in the manuscript are numbered in Arabic numerals from 8 onwards in two sequences, one in red crayon, typically in the upper left corner of rectos, and one in brown ink, in the middle upper margin of both rectos and versos. The two sequences diverge at fols. 200v-203v (The Dispute between the Body and the Soul), which was not numbered in the first sequence and is item 70 in the second sequence. Havelok and King Horn, which had been 70 and 71 in the first sequence, were renumbered 71 and 72 (e.g. fol. 227r). This would appear to suggest that the first sequence of numbering took place before Hand B added the Dispute, and therefore that I and II were together by the early fourteenth century, probably very soon after both were written. The second sequence of numbering, which extends through folios 228v-237v ('73', '74'), was added by Hand D, who was presumably responsible for adding the third codicological unit, fols. 229–37.

I and II were together when the flourishing was carried out, since the principal flourisher worked on both parts.

An Oxford origin for the manuscript as a whole has been suggested by Patterson (reported in Allen 1984), on the basis of the penwork decoration, and by da Rold (2014), on the basis of the quire structure, signatures, and parchment.

The note on fol. 10v indicates that some text was lost or misbound by the fifteenth century, but that the MS. still then had some of items 1–7.

'Iste liber constat [Henrico Perueys, or Perneys; over erasure] testantibus Johanni Rede presbiter Willelmo Rotheley et aliis' (fol. 238v, mid-15th century?): possibly Henry Perveys, draper of London, fl. 1434–76, and William Rotheley, goldsmith of London. John Rede is unidentified. See Fitzgerald (2011), 88–95.

William Laud, 1573–1645, by 1633 (fol. 1r).

Title

South English Legendary, King Horn, Havelok, etc.

Shelfmark

MS. Laud Misc. 108

Summary

1. Fols. 1-200. South English Legendary:

Fols. 1r-10v. The Ministry and Passion of Christ

Fols. 11ra-22rb. The Apocryphal History of the Infancy

Fols. 23r-29v. Sancta crux

Fols. 29v-30b. St Dunstan

Fols. 30b-31v. St Augustine of Canterbury

Fols. 31v-32v. St Barnabas

Fols. 32v-34r. St John the Baptist

Fols. 34r-38r. St James the Great

Fols. 38v. St Oswald the King

Fols. 39r-41v. St Edward the Elder

Fols. 41v-46v. St Francis

Fols. 46v-47v. St Alban

Fols. 48r-50v. St Wulfstan

Fols. 50v-52r. St Matthew

Fols. 52r-v. St Leger

Fols. 52v-54r. St Faith

Fols. 54r-55v. The Eleven Thousand Virgins

Fols. 56r-59r. St Katherine of Alexandria

Fols. 59r-60v. St Lucy

Fols. 61r-87v. St Thomas of Canterbury

Fols. 87v-88r. Translation of St Thomas of Canterbury

Fols. 88r-v. Prologue to the South English Legendary

Fols. 88v-89v. SS Fabian and Sebastian

Fols. 89v-91r. St Agnes

Fols. 91r-93r. St Vincent

Fol. 93r-v. St Paul

Fols. 93v-94v. St Bridget of Ireland (shorter version.

Fols. 94v-96r. St Agatha

Fol. 96r-v. St Scholastica

Fols. 96v-104r. St Patrick, with his Purgatory

Fols. 104r-110r. St Brendan

Fols. 111r-116r. St Nicholas

Fols. 115v-116r. St Julian the Confessor

Fols. 116r-117v. St Julian the Hospitaller

Fols. 117v-121v. St Mary of Egypt

Fols. 121v-124r. St Christopher

Fols. 124r-127r. St Dominic

Fols. 128r-130r. Theophilus

Fols. 130r-131r. St George

Fols. 131r-132r. St Edmund the King

Fols. 132r-141r. St Michael

Fols. 141r-147r. St Clement

Fols. 147r-149r. St Lawrence

Fols. 149r-153r. St Kenelm

Fols. 153r-154v. St Gregory

Fols. 154v-155v. St Cuthbert

Fols. 155v-156r. St Mark

Fols. 156r-157r. SS Philip and James

Fols. 157v-160v. St Bartholomew

Fols. 161r-165v. St Thomas the Apostle

Fols. 165v-166r. St Matthias

Fols. 166r-167r. St Sylvester

Fols. 167r-169r. St Eustace

Fol. 169v-174r. St John the Evangelist

Fols. 174r-175r. All Saints' Day

Fols. 175r-179v. All Souls' Day

Fols. 179v-185r. St Edmund of Canterbury

Fols. 185r-188r. St Martin

Fols. 188r-190r. St Leonard

Fols. 190r-197r. St Mary Magdalene

Fols. 197r-198r. St Hippolytus

2. Fols. 198ra-199rb. The Sayings of St Bernard

3. Fols. 199rb-200vb. The Vision of St Paul

4. Fols. 200v-203v. Dispute between the Body and the Soul

5. Fols. 204ra-219va. Havelok the Dane

6. Fols. 219va-228rb. King Horn

7. Fols. 228v-230r. St Blaise, from the South English Legendary

8. Fol. 230v-233v. St Cecilia, from the South English Legendary

9. Fols. 233v-237ra. Life of S. Alexis

10. Fols. 237ra-v. Somer soneday

Date

13th century, late, or 14th century, early, with 14th century additions

Language

Latin

English

Physical facet

19th century rebind: sprinkled calf blind tooled

Physical extent

238 Leaves

Custodial history

Manuscript 2060 acquired by the Bodleian Library