William Langland — 14th century, late, or 15th century, early; England(Herefordshire area (?))

Title

William Langland — 14th century, late, or 15th century, early; England(Herefordshire area (?))

Shelfmark

MS. Digby 171

Date

14th century, late, or 15th century, early

Language

Latin

Middle English (1100-1500)

English

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment, variable quality, FHHF in quires 1-4 and 6, HFFH in quires 5, 7

Physical extent

ii (parchment) + iv (paper, added in the sixteenth century, probably by Stephen Batman) + 60 + ii (parchment),

Hands

One scribe; anglicana formata.

Decoration

Space for 3-line initials, unfilled, at the beginning of each passus (fol. 11r, 14r, filled in later in pen).

Rubrics and Latin text in red.

Binding

Standard binding of the Digby collection.

Wormholes from an earlier binding at the end of the manuscript.

Acquisition

Donated to the Bodleian, 1634.

Provenance

Initials (?) 'D. N.', 15th century, at the lower left and right corners of fol. 62v.

15th- and 16th-century annotations, fol. 25v (Latin), fol. 56r (supplying an omission or variant reading),

Erased inscription, 16th century, fol. 3r.

Fol. 1r: Bowght this book anno 1578 of Harvy in Grac Street [London] the 14 October (in Stephen Batman's hand, see below), followed by an erased price (ending vj d; below, in a different (?) hand, another price, pretium xvj d

Stephen Batman; his note of purchase, fol. 1r, see above; his title page, fol. 2r, with inscription (see M. Parkes, 'Stephan Batman's manuscripts', repr. in his Pages from the Past (2012) XI.125-156, at 148, with full transcription) and emblem of a farmer sowing seed; occasional annotations by him.

Thomas Allen (?): possibly identifiable as folio 27 in his catalogue (ed. Watson in the Digby Quarto Catalogue, p. 163; Watson's identification of this entry with MS. Digby 145 is problematic, see the catalogue entry for that manuscript).

Kenelm Digby, 1603–1665

Title

The Vision of Piers Plowman

Shelfmark

MS. Digby 171

Date

14th century, end - 15th century, beginning

Language

Latin

English

Physical extent

60 Leaves

Custodial history

Manuscript 1390 acquired by the Bodleian Library (6)