Oxford, St. John's College, 94

| Shelfmark | Date and Language | Contents |
| Physical Description | History | Record History | Bibliography |


Shelfmark
Country:England
Settlement:Oxford
Repository: St. John's College
Idno:94
AltName:
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Date and Language
Date:s. xvin
Language: English
Dialect:Scribal Dialect: northern but with a Shropshire-Herefordshire component. Linguistic Atlas Grid Reference: not mapped (McIntosh, Samuels and Benskin 1986, p. 200).
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Contents
A manuscript written c. 1420 containing the Hours of the Virgin and English devotional texts. The manuscript was written and illuminated by John Lacy, a friar-recluse of the Dominicans of Newcastle upon Tyne. The manuscript features a picture of Lacy himself and carries the date 1420. Hanna notes that the book was written over a lengthy period of time and was possibly never finished (2002, p. 128). The manuscript was produced in Newcastle upon Tyne but the scribal dialect has a 'component firmly localised along the Salop/Herefords border' perhaps due to Lacy's connections with this area (see Hanna 2002, p. 129).






















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Physical Description
Form:Codex
Support: Parchment
Extent:265 x 180 mm
Collation: 18, (wants 1, 6, 8), added a stub with painting?, 210, 3-48, 56, 6-138, 1410 (wants 3); 15-178, 1812; 198 (wants 8).
Layout:Writing space and columns vary from part to part: Item 1 - ff. 1-10 double columns, 14 lines for each column, rest occupied by miniatures of saints, 200 x 60 mm with 8 mm between the columns. Item 2 - ff. 10-15 calendar over all writing space 210 x 120 mm. Item 3 - f. 16 as Item 2. Item 4 - ff. 17-102, writing area 195-200 mm x 120 mm, 18 to 20 lines to a page. Item 5 - ff. 103-19, double columns 190 x 58 mm with 8 mm between column, 29 to 30 lines per column. Item 6 - ff. 120-150 in double columns, variable 202 x 55-60 mm, with 8 mm between columns, 56 lines to a column, but the columns are not ruled, hence the number of lines is variable. Item 7 - ff. 151-153 writing area 195 x 120 mm, 42 lines to a page, variable, not ruled. Ruling in reddish-brown ink.
Writing: Scribe: John Lacy writing in a Gothic Textura Semi-Quadrata. Characteristics: double compartment Anglicana a; rounded initially open lobed d with thick ascender in Textura style, at times the ascender closes the lobe, but not always. Anglicana shaped g with rounded head, the descender closes into a lobe, finishing attached right to the head. There is a small tail on the right of the head. Short descender with a tail on the top left side of the p, rounded head with shaft finishing just past the meeting point with the descender; short r used both in medial and final position; sigma s used regularly in final position; long s used in medial position, but the stem does not go below the level of writing; the stem of ž is slightly bent towards the left 45 degrees, the ascender has a small tail on the right, the shaft of the head starts past the stem and closes in an elongated loop half way on the descender. Closed w with the first stem terminating with a small serif, the top of the second back stroke touches the beginning of the first developing into a v-shape on the right; Z-shaped & with a stroke in the middle; z-shaped ? used regularly. Body height: 2 mm.
Decoration:Illuminated by the scribe, John Lacy. Thirty-seven of forty-two miniatures survive. On f. 16v is a half-page miniature depicting John Lacy in his anchorhold watching the crucifixion (Hanna 2002, plate IV). Below the picture is the date 'Anno domini MCCCCxx' (1420). Twenty full bar borders in blue and violet, some with floral clusters (for a detailed description see Hanna 2002, p. 128-129). Three to five-line champ initials. Two-line blue initials with red penwork flourishing. Rubrics and marginalia in red.
Binding: Modern binding. Binding of green leather over pasteboard sewn on five double bands. Size: 280 x 185 mm.
Foliation:ff. iii + 152 + 1
Additions:Various notes and texts have been added.
Condition:Good, but two leaves damaged by the excision of an illuminated miniature of the Trinity on f. 1r and a piece of a floral spray on f. 29r. A leaf lost after f. 4 probably held four miniatures.
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History
Origin:Written and illuminated by John Lacy, a friar-recluse of the Dominicans of Newcastle upon Tyne. On f. 1r 'Orate pro animam fratris iohanis lacy anachorite de ordine fratrum predicatorum noui castri supra tynam ... ad orandum pro animam predicti iohanis lacy anachorita. Anno domini MCCCCxxxiiiii'. On f. 15r 'Data patris bricij qui iacet inter frerem. F. 16v 'Criste lacy fratris anime'. The rest is erased with the image of Christ. Below the image 'Anno Domini MCCCCxx'. On f. 17r in the footer boxed in red and brown ink 'Lacy scripsit et illuminavit'. The illuminated border partially covers the box. On f. 101v coat of arms of the Lacy (Hanna 2002, p. 129). Lacy bequeathed this manuscript in 1434 to , chaplain of St. Nicholas, Newcastle, for his use and all those succeeding him 'to remain in the said church till it is worn out' (Deanesley 1920, p. 357). For detailed information on Lacy see Hanna 2002, p. 129. According to Hanna, Lacy also owned Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson C.258 (a Wycliffite New Testament).
Provenance:The manuscript was later owned by Henry Savile (d. 1617) (Ogilvie-Thomson 1991, p. 88).
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Record History
Catalogued and encoded: Orietta DaRold, University of Birmingham, January 2005.
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Bibliography
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