Durham University Library Archives & Special Collections Catalogue
Manuscript codex containing copy of the Middle English devotional work The pore caitif, written in England at the start of the 15th century. Donated to Durham University Library by Mary C. Moorman in 1986.
Parchment; very smooth, hair and flesh sides difficult to distinguish), top and outer edges cropped, with some loss of decoration. Portions of the top six lines of p.461-2 and of the top seven on p.463-4 cut out; patches stuck to p.461 and 463, with replacement text in the same hand and ink as the following supply leaf (p.465-6).
Pagination is in ink, 18th/19th century, over an erased foliation in ink, 17th century
1-88, [missing quire 8], 9-288, 2910 wants 9-10 after p.464 with a single supply leaf (p.465-5) in their place.
No pricking visible because of cropping. Written space 68 x 50 mm. Ruled lightly in ink. 16 lines.
Written in textura, proficiently, by one hand, with punctus, punctus elevatus and virgula.
Marginal biblical references and some scriptural quotations in text underlined in red. Paraphs to rubrics, subsections and running-titles in blue with red flourishing, or gold with mauve flourishing. Line-filler, p.4, in blue and gold. Initials: (i) to chapters and some parts, 2- or 3-line, in gold, on grounds of pink patterned with silver and blue patterned with white, extended with sprays in ink the height of the written space touched with green and with gold blobs and drop-shaped leaves in pink patterned with silver or blue patterned with white; (ii) to some parts (p.1, 4, 56, 211, 321, 382, 398, 407), 3- or 4-line, in blue shaded and patterned with white and pink shaded with white and patterned with silver, two (p.211, 321) with a little orange, extended as full vinets with bars on all four sides of text in gold, blue and pink shaded etc. as initial, and with short side sprays and elaborated foliate corners and sometimes centre pieces; but cropped on outer edges. Running-titles: red, in the hand of the text.
Occasional marginal corrections by the main hand, e.g. p.195, and a few a little later, in textura, e.g. p.247, 252-3, 351. A heavily cropped marginal note, 16th century, p.350, apparently related to the text.
Modern brown morocco, with blind tooling of three bands, after 1930. Gilt edges from previous (18th century?) binding.
Written in England, early 15th century. The style of the decoration, i.e. its motifs and colouring (a little green in spray touching), is that found in London work of about the first quarter of the fifteenth century (1410-30).
Inscription: “From mr John turner dwelling in flytestryt”, late 16th century, p.269, upside-down, perhaps referring to Fleet Street in London, but not recorded in booktrade dictionaries. “Thomas(?) ...son(?)”, 17th century, p.460, cropped. “Bibliotheca Swaniana 1792”, p. iii, above contents-list, not identified in English sale-catalogues. Henry Yates Thompson (1838-1928), the manuscript collector, gave this manuscript to G. M. Trevelyan, the historian (1876-1962) and he to his daughter Mary C. Moorman (1905-94) in 1930, according to a note by her on p.i; she reported that an inscription from Thompson to Trevelyan was not preserved when she had the book rebound. Given by her to Durham University Library in 1986.
List of 16 sections of item (b), headed “Bibliotheca Swaniana 1792 | Wickliff's Works”. The ascription to John Wycliffe was common among early bibliographers, following Bale, see Brady p. 543.
The prologue and fourteen parts of the work as commonly found, but here with the preface of the first treated as a separate part, headed “Of bileeue”, and the fourth headed “Of perfijt lijf” instead of “Counceil of Crist”. In the second part the end of the fourth commandment and most of the fifth are lost with the quire missing after p.128. On the patches to p.461-4 and the supply leaf of p.465-6 (presumably replacing damage), the text appears to copy exactly original spelling, in a script emulating the original; it was perhaps done at an early date (15th/16th century).
Brady, M. T., "The Pore Caitif: an introductory study", Traditio 10 (1954), 529-48