Durham University Library Archives & Special Collections Catalogue
Manuscript codex containing two Middle English religious texts, Contemplations of the dread and love of God and a translation of part of Edmund of Abingdon's Speculum ecclesie written in England in the mid 15th century. Owned by George Davenport and given by him to Bishop Cosin's Library around 1670.
Parchment, quires with hair-side outermost, all three edges slightly cropped.
foliated i-ii, 1-57
1-68, 710 wants 10 (blank?).
Prickings in outer margin. Written space c. 135 x 83 mm; ruled in ink. 24 lines.
Written in anglicana with secretary (tapered) long s, somewhat variably, by one hand, with some top-line ascenders on f.1-21 elaborated with strap-work and banderoles.
Text-capitals stroked with red. Paraphs, alternately blue and red, in text to f.39 and for marginal apparatus on f.17-39; otherwise all red. Initials: (i) to chapters of item 1, blue, some rather spindly, with infilling and distinctive flourishing in red; (ii) to item (1) (f.2r), 4-line I, as (i). Unfilled 2-line space to item (2).
Correction of text, and words and phrases supplied in margins, later 15th century, mostly apparently superfluous expansions, in yellowish ink, probably by the same hand that added a title, f.1r, “The goolden roos” “drawen owtt of þe trew love”, and at the end of item (1), f.48v, “a devonschere mane & on of þe kyngis chapyll owyn worthy <... a word or two erased>”. A marginal note “is this well” repeatedly by a mid 16th century hand, presumably of Protestant sympathies; “þe paynes of purgatory passe all the paynes of þe world” in text, f.24r, erased, and the concluding passage, on prayers for souls in purgatory, f.48v, crossed through.
Bound in Durham by Hugh Hutchinson, around 1660, in sprinkled brown calf, with a pair of blind fillets along all four sides and a double pair vertically c. 35 mm in from spine, and, gilt on board edges, dash and dots (...--...) roll (B) of Hugh Hutchinson of Durham. Rust-mark half-way down outer edge of f.52-end, as from fastening of a clasp; f.1 also similarly marked, but not f.i-ii.
Written in England, mid 15th century.
Mark, of merchant-type, comprising H with name erased on each side, 15th/16th century, f.56v. “Thomas vmpton Miles vic”, f.49r, “Thomas Weston Miles vic”, f.50r, in a 16th century common-law hand, which also appears with other names (Nicholas Robinson, Galfridus Pycroft, Thomas Johnson) and “vic” (sheriff) in pen-trials, f.16r, 57r, etc. Thomas Umpton or Unton was escheator of Oxfordshire and Berkshire in 1528 and knighted in 1533, the year of his death (Wedgwood, p.896). There was no Thomas Weston knighted in this period, so these jottings need not be taken too literally. For the Protestant alterations, see corrections and additions. “thys ys Robert Whytneys boke”, in a later 16th century italic hand, f.49v. “yf ye Loue Bethell pray for hyme ... ” later 16th century, f.57v. “mr dale is the true onowr of this book ...” 16th/17th century, upside-down, f.48v; other claims of ownership in the same hand, smeared, upside-down, on f.38v-39r. “Geo. Davenport 1664.”, on piece of paper transferred from previous to present front pastedown (19th century repair); “Perlegi Nov.15. 1665. G.D.”, in pencil, f.56v. Shelf-mark on spine in ink, as Cosin MS V.iv.5. Ex-libris and shelfmark by Thomas Rud on f.1r.
Anonymous work, misattributed to Richard Rolle in the 2 editions printed by Wynkyn de Worde Rycharde Rolle hermyte of Hampull in his contemplacyons of the drede and loue of god with other dyuerse tytles as it sheweth in his table in 1506 and [1519?] (ESTC S100005 and S110722). The prefatory Latin invocation and the English table of chapters, f.1r-v, are written in red.
Meditations on the life of Christ and on his deity, a translation of a section of Edmund Rich's Mirror of the Church - chapters 19-29 (p.83-107) in Forshaw. Extract from the Memoriale Credencium. Below the end of the text, f.56v, “ihesus est <... (?)> amen” in red. f.57r-v ruled, but blank, save for insignificant later jottings and pen-trials.
Catalogi veteres librorum Ecclesiae cathedralis
dunelm. Catalogues of the library of Durham cathedral, at
various periods, from the conquest to the dissolution, including
catalogues of the library of the abbey of Hulne, and of the mss.
,
Surtees Society 7, (London: J.B. Nichols and Son, [1838]).
Contemplations of the dread and love of God , ed. Connolly, M., Early English Text Society os 303 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994)
Edmund of Abingdon, speculum religiosorum and speculum ecclesie , ed. Forshaw, H. P., Auctores Britannici Medii Aevi, 3 (London: Oxford Universiuty Press, 1973)
Wedgwood, J. C., History of Parliament ... 1439-1509. Register of the ministers and of the members of both houses, 1439-1509. Biographies of the members of the commons house (London: H.M.S.O., 1936)
Memoriale Credencium. A late Middle English manual of theology for lay people edited from Bodley Ms Tanner 201 , ed. Kengen, J. H. L. (Nijmegen: Nijmegen Catholic University, 1979)