Manuscripts of the West Midlands Catalogue

Oxford, Bodleian Library, Digby 102

Country:	England
Settlement:	Oxford
Repository:�	Bodleian Library
Idno:	Digby 102
AltName:	SC 1703

Date and Language

Date:	s. xv2
Language:�	English
Dialect:	Scribal Dialect (beginning to f. 139r): Worcestershire. Linguistic Atlas Grid Reference: 387 243, LP 7770 (McIntosh, Samuels and Benskin 1986, p. 250).

Contents

A mid to late fifteenth-century copy of Piers Plowman, C-text, along with various English poems and Richard Maidstone's Penitential Psalms. Poems refer to events up to 1418 (Edden 1990, p. 18) and appear to be 'specifically designed to assist the laity in preparation for the sacraments' (Edden 1990, p. 12).

Item: 1

Locus:	ff. 1r-97v
Title:	Piers Plowman, C-text (IMEV 1459)
Incipit:	'Of notaries...'.
Explicit:	'...seth he gradde afture grace tyle y gan awake'.
Note:	Begins at III.160. There is a blank, unfoliated, parchment leaf after f. 97.
Bibliography:	Russell and Kane 1997.

Item: 2

Locus:	ff. 98r-99v
Title:	Love god & dred (IMEV 697)
Incipit:	'Eche man be war that bereth a state'.
Explicit:	'Man knowe thy self loue god & drede'.
Bibliography:	Kail 1904, pp. 1-6.

Item: 3

Locus:	ff. 99v-100r
Title:	Mede & muche thank (IMEV 1475)
Incipit:	'In blossemed buske i bode boote'.
Explicit:	'This preueth thou seruest al for mede'.
Bibliography:	Conlee 1991, pp. 211-215. Kail 1904, pp. 6-9.

Item: 4

Locus:	ff. 100r-101r
Title:	What Profits a Kingdom (IMEV 817)
Incipit:	'For dred ofte my lippes y steke'.
Explicit:	'To haue wi� god werre or pes'.
Bibliography:	Kail 1904, pp. 9-14. Robbins 1959, pp. 39-44.

Item: 5

Locus:	ff. 101v-103v
Title:	Learn to say Well, Little, or Nothing (IMEV 411)
Incipit:	'As �e see do� ebbe & flowe'.
Explicit:	'As god do� in the gospell say'.
Bibliography:	Kail 1904, pp. 14-22.

Item: 6

Locus:	ff. 103v-104r
Title:	Wit & Will (IMEV 2048)
Incipit:	'Man be war of wikkid counsaile'.
Explicit:	'Let wyt be lord aboue ?oure wille'.
Bibliography:	Kail 1904, pp. 22-24.

Item: 7

Locus:	f. 104r-v
Title:	Learn to Live Bodily (IMEV 1845)
Incipit:	'Lerne bodyly to lyue'.
Explicit:	'�en wole �ey drede �e bodylye'.
Bibliography:	Kail 1904, pp. 25-27.

Item: 8

Locus:	ff. 104v-105v
Title:	Man, know Thyself, & Learn how to Die (IMEV 2088)
Incipit:	'Mannys soule is sotyle & queynt'.
Explicit:	'Be �yn awen frend er �ou dy?e'.
Bibliography:	Kail 1904, pp. 27-31.

Item: 9

Locus:	ff. 105v-106r
Title:	A Day's Delay: Against the Clergy (IMEV 2054)
Incipit:	'Man haue hit in �y �ou?t'.
Explicit:	'ffor �ere schal be no iour delay'.
Bibliography:	Kail 1904, pp. 31-34.

Item: 10

Locus:	ff. 106v-108r
Title:	Treat with God of Love & Peace (IMEV 3608)
Incipit:	'This holy tyme make ?ow clene'.
Explicit:	'�ere neuere nys nede o pes to trete'.
Bibliography:	Kail 1904, pp. 34-40.

Item: 11

Locus:	ff. 108r-109v
Title:	A Good Stirring Heavenwards (IMEV 2091)
Incipit:	'Many man is lo� to here'.
Explicit:	'�ow mon rekene or �e aby?e'.
Bibliography:	Kail 1904, pp. 40-46.

Item: 12

Locus:	ff. 109v-110v
Title:	God and Man made at One (IMEV 911)
Incipit:	'Glade in god �is solempne fest'.
Explicit:	'Holde goddis lawe ?e ben at on'.
Bibliography:	Kail 1904, pp. 46-50.

Item: 13

Locus:	ff. 110v-111v
Title:	God Save King Henry V (IMEV 910)
Incipit:	'Glad in god call hom ?oure herte'.
Explicit:	'Oure comely kyng and saue �e crowne'.
Bibliography:	Kail 1904, pp. 50-55. Robbins 1959, pp. 45-49.

Item: 14

Locus:	ff. 111v-113r
Title:	Deed is Working (IMEV 3924)
Incipit:	'Whanne alle a kyngdom gadrid ysse'.
Explicit:	'And heuene blisse for ?oure dede. Amen'.
Bibliography:	Kail 1904, pp. 55-60.

Item: 15

Locus:	f. 113r-114r
Title:	Man beware er thee be Woe (IMEV 3381)
Incipit:	'The herrere degre �e more wys'.
Explicit:	'Eche man be war er hym be woo'.
Bibliography:	Kail 1904, pp. 60-64.

Item: 16

Locus:	ff. 114r-115r
Title:	The Description of Man's Limbs (IMEV 4070)
Incipit:	'Whereof is mad al mankynde'.
Explicit:	'God of his mercy haue vs in mynde. Amen'.
Bibliography:	Kail 1904, pp. 64-69.

Item: 17

Locus:	ff. 115r-116r
Title:	Follies of the Duke of Burgundy (IMEV 1939)
Incipit:	'Loke how fflaundres do� fare wi� his folyhede'.
Explicit:	'Tyl de� all redresse'.
Rubric:	'A remembraunce of lii folyes'.
Bibliography:	Kail 1904, pp. 69-72. Robbins 1959, pp. 50-53.

Item: 18

Locus:	ff. 116r-117v
Title:	Love What God Loves (IMEV 3279)
Incipit:	'That ilke man wole lerne wel'.
Explicit:	'�ere trewe loue wone� wi�outen ende'.
Bibliography:	Kail 1904, pp. 73-79.

Item: 19

Locus:	ff. 117v-119r
Title:	Declaring of Religion (IMEV 4109)
Incipit:	'Who �at wole knowe condicion'.
Explicit:	'And kepe �e wel �ou do not so'.
Bibliography:	Kail 1904, pp. 79-85.

Item: 20

Locus:	ff. 119v-120r
Title:	God's Appeal to Man (IMEV 1508)
Incipit:	'In my conscience i fynde'.
Explicit:	'And do �e comaundementis �at y bede'.
Bibliography:	Kail 1904, pp. 85-89.

Item: 21

Locus:	ff. 120r-121v
Title:	The Complaint of Man's Flesh against Christ (IMEV 3484)
Incipit:	'The tixt of holy writ men sayng'.
Explicit:	'Into �at blisse god graunte vs wende. Amen'.
Bibliography:	Kail 1904, pp. 89-95.

Item: 22

Locus:	ff. 121v-123r
Title:	A Learning to Good Living: the Sermon on the Mount (IMEV 2763)
Incipit:	'Pore of spirit blessed be'.
Explicit:	'And lyue ?e so ri?t as ?e byd'.
Bibliography:	Kail 1904, pp. 96-101.

Item: 23

Locus:	f. 123r-v
Title:	Know thy self & thy god (IMEV 3564)
Incipit:	'Thenke hertely in �y �ou?t'.
Explicit:	'Fle all foly and folwe �e wise'.
Bibliography:	Kail 1904, pp. 101-103.

Item: 24

Locus:	ff. 123v-124v
Title:	Of the Sacrament of the Altar (IMEV 1389)
Incipit:	'I wole be mendid ? y say mys'.
Explicit:	'We resceyue oure housell god o blisse'.
Bibliography:	Kail 1904, pp. 103-107.

Item: 25

Locus:	ff. 124v-127v
Title:	The Lessons of the Dirige
Incipit:	'Almy?ty god lord me spare'.
Explicit:	'The leste bargayn �at he dede bye'.
Bibliography:	Kail 1904, pp. 107-120.

Item: 26

Locus:	ff. 128r-136r
Title:	Penitential Psalms (IMEV 1961)
Incipit:	'Lord in thyne anger vptake me nou?t'.
Explicit:	'This graunte me god in persones �re. Amen'.
Bibliography:	Printed in Edden 1990. Day 1921, pp. 20-59.

Item: 27

Locus:	ff. 136r-139v
Title:	Debate Between the Body and the Soul (IMEV 351)
Incipit:	'As i lay in a winter ny?t'.
Explicit:	'But �e ioye �at �u hast to vs wrou?t graunte vs for �y holy grace. Amen'.
Bibliography:	Printed from London, British Library, MS Additional 37787 in Baugh 1956, pp. 107-121. Conlee 1991, pp. 18-49.

Physical Description

Form:	Codex
Support:�	Parchment
Extent:	225 x 155 mm
Collation:	iv + [1, 2 - now lost]; 3-58; 64 (wants 4); 7-138; 148 (wants 8); 15-198; 204; + iv.
Layout:	Pricking: not visible. Writing space of 150 x 100 mm. Single columns with 38 lines and ruling in drypoint.
Writing:	One scribe writing black ink, now faded, in a small, angular, closely-written Anglicana hand. Characteristics: double compartment a with the left side of the a like a backwards 3 and not quite joining the descender; dotted y; �; reversed circular e; B-shaped w; hooked ascender to h; hooked descender to h; long s in medial position. Body height: 2 mm.
Decoration:	Two-line blue Lombardic initials with red penwork flourishing. Some words in red. Single red stroke between various words. Underlining in red. Profile head, f. 20v.
Binding:	Not medieval. Size: 230 x 160 mm. Cover of tan leather with usual Digby arms stamped in gold on front mitred and pasted over pasteboard. Four raised double bands across the spine. The remains of two clasps can be seen on the outer cover.
Foliation:	ff. iv + 141 + ii
Additions:
Condition:	Good but binding coming apart.

History

Origin:	Unknown. On f. 13r in the hand that numbered the quires is written the date 1420.
Provenance:	Ff. 97r and 139v a rebus which seems to contain the letters 'H E R O N' (Russell and Kane 1997, p. 16). According to Schaap, the manuscript was owned by Sir , 1540-1632, a 'renowned Oxford scholar' (2001 p. 82).

Record History

Catalogued and encoded: Rebecca Farnham, University of Birmingham, June 2004.

Bibliography

Baugh, N. S., ed, 1956. A Worcestershire Miscellany, Compiled by John Northwood, c. 1400, edited from British Museum MS Add. 37,787, Philadelphia: prvt prt.

Conlee, J. W, ed. 1991. Middle English Debate Poetry: A Critical Anthology, East Lansing: Colleagues Press.

Day, M. 1921. The Wheatley Manuscript: A collection of Middle English Verse and Prose, EETS, os, 155, London: H. Milford, Oxford University Press.

Eljenholm-Nichols, A., Orr, M. T., Scott, K. L., and Dennison, L., ed, 2000. An Index of Images in English Manuscripts from the Time of Chaucer to Henry VIII c. 1380 - c. 1509: The Bodleian Library, Oxford, MSS Additional - Digby, vol. 1, Turnhout: Harvey Miller Publishers, p. 91, no. 402.

Edden, V., ed, 1990. Richard Maidstone’s Penitential Psalms: edited from Bodl. MS Rawlinson A 389, Middle English Texts, 22, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 12.

Hanna, R. 1984. The Index of Middle English Prose. Handlist 1. Handlist of Manuscripts Containing Middle English Prose in the Henry E. Huntington Library, Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, p. 173.

Kail, J. 1904. Twenty-six Political and other Poems from the Oxford mss. Digby 102 and Douce 322, EETS, os, 124, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, and Tr�bner.

Kane, G. 1988. ‘The Text’, in Alford, J. A., ed, A Companion to Piers Plowman, Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 175-200, p.179.

McIntosh, A., Samuels, M. L. and Benskin, M. 1986. A Linguistic Atlas of Late Medieval English: County Dictionary, 4 vols, Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 4.

Robbins, R. H. 1955. ‘On Dating a Middle English Moral Poem’, Modern Language Notes, 70, 473-6 .

Robbins, R. H., ed, 1959. Historical Poems of the XIVth and XVth Centuries, New York: Columbia University Press.

Russell, G. and Kane G., ed, 1997. Piers Plowman: the C version: Will’s Visions of Piers Plowman, Do-well, Do-Better and Do-Best, London: Athlone Press, p. 16.

Samuels, M. L. 1988. ‘Dialect and Grammar’, in Alford, A. ed, A Companion to Piers Plowman, Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 201-221, p. 206.

Schaap, T. 2001. ‘From Professional to Private Readership: A Discussion and Transcription of the Fifteenth- and Sixteenth- Century Marginalia in Piers Plowman C-Text, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 102’, in Kerby-Fulton, K., and Hilmo, M., ed, The Medieval Reader, New York: AMS Press .

Skeat, W. W., ed, 1873. The Vision of William Concerning Piers the Plowman secundum wit et resoun: together with Dowell, Dobet, et Dobest, by William Langland: The ‘Whitaker’ text; or Text C, EETS, os, 54, London: Tr�bner, 3, p. xlvi-xlvii.