Oxford, Bodleian Library, Rawl. poet. f. 32
England |
Oxford |
Bodleian Library |
Rawl. poet. f. 32 |
SC 14526 |
s. xv2 |
English |
Scribal Dialect: Warwickshire. Linguistic Atlas Grid Reference: Not mapped but McIntosh, Samuels, and Benskin state, 'language of W Leics or Warwicks' (1986, p. 246). |
An anthology made up of six booklets written and collected together in the second half of the fifteenth century.
Item: 1f. 2r |
List of Contents |
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List in a near contemporary hand. |
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Item: 2ff. 3r-29v |
Graunte Cato (IMEV 854) |
'For why that god is inwardly'. |
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A treatise in Latin and English on good manners. At the end is
written, 'G. E.' and 'J. Th'. |
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Item: 3ff. 30r-31v |
Stans puer ad mensam (IMEV 2233) |
'Mi dere child first thisylue'. |
'put al defaute apon iohn lidgate'. |
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Item: 4ff. 31v-32r |
Prayer of the Cross (IMEV 3845) |
'Upon a crosse naylid i was for the'. |
'At this request be to vs merciable'. |
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Item: 5ff. 32v-35r |
Poem (IMEV 3985) |
'Whanne lyfe is most louyd'. |
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Item: 6ff. 35v-37v |
The xxx virtues of the Mass (IMEV 3573) |
'XXX vertewis schal haue he'. |
'And god nowe sende you a gode ende'. |
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Item: 7ff. 38r-53v |
The marchaunt of Baldok |
'In egipt whilom as I reede and fynde'. |
'Of heer freedschip what show y žou more seeyn'. |
Leaf lost after f. 53. F. 54r is blank. |
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Item: 8f. 54v |
Proverbs of Wisdom (IMEV
3502) |
'The wyse man sayd to his sonnes'. |
'On vs all haue mercy & pyte'. |
'This folowyng ben the prouerbis of wysdom' |
Zupitza 1867.
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Item: 9f. 55r |
Ten Commandments (IMEV 176) |
'All false goddis thou shalt forsak' |
'Then showyth he whatt he is'. |
'This folowyng ben the x comawndmentes' |
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Item: 10ff. 55v-56v |
Brut extract |
'Brute the fyrst kyng'. |
'Henri the vi raygnyd xxxx yeres'. |
'Here folowyth the tabyll of all the kyngs that euer raignid yn
englonde...' |
From Brut to 1461. |
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Item: 11ff. 57r-168r |
Brut |
'Sum tyme in the noble lande of surrey'. |
'& short lyfe we may come to the euerlastyng lyfe in the blysse of heuen amen'. |
'Here begynneth a boke which is called brute the cronacle of
england'. |
From Brut to Edward IV's accession, A.D. 1461 with a break at
AD 1066. Ff. 168v, 169r blank.
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Item: 12ff. 169v-172v |
The XV Oes (IMEV 2469) |
'Oo ihesu crist of euerlastynge swetnes'. |
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Zupitza 1867.
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Item: 13ff. 173r-193r |
The Libel of English Policy (IMEV 3491) |
'The treww processe of engelond pollecye''. |
'Explicit libellus de polecia conseruatiua maris' |
'Here begynneth the prologe of the processe of že bible [libel] of englishe polycy...to engelond'. |
The table of contents on f. 2r refers to this as 'the kepyng of
the see'. F. 193v blank. |
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Item: 14ff. 194r-204r |
A processe of philosophers |
'Sedechias was the fryst phylyzophere' |
'Hic est finis libri de moralibus philosophorum' |
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Item: 15f. 205r |
Teeth, Bones, and Veins (IMEV 3572) |
'XXXII teth that beže full kene'. |
'Euery man haže that is alyve'. |
Mnemonic verses on the number of teeth, bones and
veins - two couplets. |
Robbins 1955, p. 71.
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Codex |
Parchment and paper. |
280 x 195 mm |
18, ff. 3r-10v; 24, ff. 11r-18v; 311, 6 added, ff. 19r-29v; 44, ff. 30r-37v; 58, ff. 38r-46v; 68, wants 1, ff. 47r-53v,
catchwords; 720, wants 2, ff. 54r-72v, catchwords; 810, ff. 73r-92v, catchwords; 922, wants 1 and 22 ff. 93r-112v; 1024, wants 22, 23, 24 and 22 ff. 113r-133v; 1120,wants 19, 20, ff. 143r-150v; 1220, wants 19, 20 ff. 151r-168v; 1 leaf + 1324, ff. 170r-193v; 148, ff. 194r-201v; 154, ff. 202r-205v;. Intermittent catchwords. |
Ff. 3r-37v - single columns, variable number of lines depending on the text, frame ruled in brown crayon, writing space of 175 x 115 mm. Ff. 38r-53v - single columns with a writing space of 190 x 115 mm and frame ruled in brown crayon. Ff. 169v-172v - writing space of 225 x 130 mm written in single columns. Ff. 173r-193r - writing space: 200 x 120 mm written in single columns with lines and frame ruled in drypoint. Ff. 194r-204r - writing space of 230 x 150 mm with frame and lines ruled in dry point and a variable number of lines. |
Scribe of ff. 3r-37v: Secretary script, with use of elaborate ascenders and descenders. Characteristics: double compartment a with occasional use of single compartment a. Long s used in iitial and in medial position. Body height: 1-1.5 mm.
Scribe of ff. 38r-53v: very similar to scribe above but use of a more formal
hand influenced by Anglicana Formata. Perhaps the same scribe.
Scribes of ff. 54v-168r: several scribes all writing in a Secretary script.
Scribe of ff. 169v-172v writing in a Secretary script with elaborate ascenders and descenders. Body height: 2 mm.
Scribe of ff. 173r-193r writing in a small Secretary script. General use of hairlines; regular use of single compartment a; and the open two strokes w with initial serif extending below the level of writing; use of long r and long s. Body height: 1.5 mm.
Scribe of ff. 194r-204r - minute and quite hasty Secretary script with regular use of descenders extending below the line of writing. Regular use of single compartment a; and closed double looped w closing into a b-shape; short r; and closed s in final position and long s elsewhere; Body height: 1.5 mm.
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Ff. 3r-29v: text begins
with a four-line blue initial with red penwork flourishing. Latin lines
in red. Ff. 30r-31v: three-line red Lombardic capital m begins text. All lines underlined in red. Ff. 31v-32r: all lines underlined in red. Ff. 32v-35r: first letter of each line in red. Brackets in red. Ff. 35v-37v: first letter of each line in red. Brackets in red. Ff. 38r-53v: five-line initial T in red with black penwork flourishing, f. 38v. Ff. 54v-57r: red brackets. First letter of each line red. Ff. 56v-168r: large cadel-like initial begins text. Three-line Lombardic red capitals. Ff. 169v-172v: none. Ff. 173r-193r: two-line Lombardic red capitals. First letter of each line tinted red, some underlining in red.
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Not medieval. Size: 280 x 200 mm. Cover of white leather over pasteboard. Four bands across the spine, barely raised. Without exterior decoration.
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ff. ii (paper, modern) (and ii parchment foliated as 1,2) 1-206 (205, 206 flyleaves, 206 is modern paper. |
Additions on the flyleaves: f. 1v - IMEV 461.8, 1820, 3990, 3943. At f. 204v are notes on 'the Age of the World' and the dimensions of St. Paul's Cathedral at London, cf. f. 1v.
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Good but wormholes front and back. |
Unknown |
On f. 205r is written 'Rychard Turnowre' in a c. 1500 hand. F. 1r is a note dated 25 Mar. 1750, about the book.
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Catalogued and encoded: Rebecca Farnham, University of Birmingham,
March 2004. Script described by Orietta DaRold, University of Birmingham, June 2005.
- 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.
- Madan, F. 1895. A Summary Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 3, pp. 290-291.
- Zupitza, J. 1867. The Proverbs of Wysdom Archiv, 90, 241-268.