London, British Library, Egerton 2891
England |
London |
British Library |
Egerton 2891 |
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s. xivin |
English |
Scribal dialect: Gloucestershire. Linguistic Atlas Grid Reference: 408 205, LP 6970 (McIntosh, Samuels and Benskin, p. 196).
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An early fourteenth-century copy of the
South English Legendary. The text is written in one hand with a scribal dialect of Gloucestershire.
Item: 1f. 1r |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Agnes (IMEV 2850) |
'Herkneş ?oure false godes for hi nabbeş şer non'. |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 181-184.
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Item: 2f. 1v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Vincent(IMEV 3067) |
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Item: 3f. 4r |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Julian the Confessor (IMEV 2949) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 255-256.
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Item: 4f. 4v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Julian Hosteler (IMEV 2950) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 256-260.
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Item: 5f. 6v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Bridget (IMEV 2872) |
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Longer version. |
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Item: 6f. 9v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Blase (IMEV 2866) |
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Item: 7f. 12v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Agatha (IMEV 2839) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 193-197.
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Item: 8f. 14r |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Scholastica (IMEV 3052) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 197-199.
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Item: 9f. 15r |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Valentine (IMEV 3066) |
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Item: 10f. 15v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Juliana (IMEV 2951) |
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Cf. Cockayne 1872, pp. 81-87.
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Item: 11f. 18r |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Matthias (IMEV 3026) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 389-390.
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Item: 12f. 18v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Oswald the Bishop (IMEV 3035) |
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Item: 13f. 21v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Chad (IMEV 2874) |
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Item: 14f. 22v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Gregory (IMEV 2910) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 355-359.
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Item: 15f. 24r |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Longinus (IMEV 2960) |
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Item: 16f. 24v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Patrick (IMEV 3037) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1875, pp. 151-210.
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Item: 17f. 33v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Edward the Elder (IMEV 2889) |
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Item: 18f. 36v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Cuthbert (IMEV 2880) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1875, pp. 359-62.
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Item: 19f. 38r |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Benedict (IMEV 2860) |
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Defective at end. |
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Item: 20f. 39r |
South English Legendary: Lent (IMEV 1859) |
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Imperfect at beginning. |
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Item: 21f. 40r |
South English Legendary: The Southern Passion (IMEV 483) |
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Item: 22f. 49r |
South English Legendary: Resurrection (IMEV 1546) |
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Part of the Southern Passion. |
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Item: 23f. 49v |
'In festo Pasche' (Not listed in IMEV) |
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Item: 24f. 50r |
South English Legendary: Appearance to the Maries (IMEV 2105) |
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Part of the Southern Passion. |
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Item: 25f. 51r |
South English Legendary: Appearance to Mary Magdalene (IMEV 2106) |
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Part of the Southern Passion. |
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Item: 26f. 51r |
South English Legendary: Appearance to Peter (IMEV 2120) |
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Part of the Southern Passion. |
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Item: 27f. 53r |
South English Legendary: Appearance on the road to Emmaus (IMEV 2647) |
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Part of the Southern Passion. |
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Item: 28f. 54r |
South English Legendary: Appearance to ten disciples (IMEV 273) |
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Part of the Southern Passion. |
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Item: 29f. 54v |
South English Legendary: Appearance by the Sea of Tybre (IMEV 578) |
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Part of the Southern Passion. |
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Item: 30f. 55r |
South English Legendary: Appearance at Mt. Tabor (IMEV 719) |
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Part of the Southern Passion. |
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Item: 31f. 55r |
South English Legendary: Appearance to Thomas (IMEV 3664) |
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Part of the Southern Passion. |
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Item: 32f. 56r |
South English Legendary: Charge to Peter (IMEV 3766) |
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Part of the Southern Passion. |
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Item: 33f. 56v |
South English Legendary: Concerning Peter and John (IMEV 3767) |
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Part of the Southern Passion. |
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Item: 34f. 57r |
South English Legendary: Choosing of Matthias (IMEV 409) |
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Part of the Southern Passion. |
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Item: 35f. 57v |
South English Legendary: Life of Judas (IMEV 1809) |
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Item: 36f. 59v |
South English Legendary: Life of Pilate (IMEV 2755) |
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Item: 37f. 62v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Mary of Egypt (IMEV 2990) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 260-71.
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Item: 38f. 67r |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Alphege (IMEV 2844) |
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Imperfect. Wanting a leaf after f. 67. |
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Item: 39f. 68v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. George (IMEV 2905) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 294-296.
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Item: 40f. 70r |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Mark (IMEV 3004) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 362-363.
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Item: 41f. 70v |
South English Legendary: Litany (IMEV 1911) |
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Item: 42f. 71 |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Peres (IMEV 3042) |
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Item: 43f. 71v |
South English Legendary: Lives of Saints Philip and James (IMEV 3048) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 364-6.
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Item: 44f. 73r |
South English Legendary: Early History of the Cross (IMEV 3389) |
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Cf. Morris 1871, pp. 18-35.
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Item: 45f. 75v |
South English Legendary: The Invention of the Cross (IMEV 82) |
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Cf. Morris 1871, pp. 39-49.
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Item: 46f. 77v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Quiriac (IMEV 3051) |
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Cf. Morris 1871, pp. 58-61
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Item: 47f. 77v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Brandan (IMEV 2868) |
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Imperfect. Wanting a leaf after f. 83v. |
Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 220-240.
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Item: 48f. 86r |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Dunstan (IMEV 2884) |
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Cf. Furnivall 1862, p. 34 and Horstmann 1887, pp. 19-24.
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Item: 49f. 88v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Aldhelm (IMEV 2843) |
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Item: 50f. 89v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Augustine (IMEV 2854) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 24-25.
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Item: 51f. 91r |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Barnabas (IMEV 2856) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 26-29.
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Item: 52f. 92r |
South English Legendary: St. Theophilus (IMEV 3266) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 288-93.
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Item: 5394v |
Miracles of the Virgin: The Jewish Boy (IMEV 50) |
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Item: 54f. 95r |
Miracles of the Virgin: The Devil in Service (IMEV 56) |
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Item: 55f. 96r |
Miracles of the Virgin: Virgin comes to the Devil instead of the Victim (IMEV 59) |
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Item: 5697r |
Miracles of the Virgin: The Oxford Scholar (IMEV 57) |
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Item: 5797r |
Miracles of the Virgin: Toledo (IMEV 1788) |
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Item: 58f. 97v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Alban (IMEV 2842) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 67-70.
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Item: 59f. 98v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. John the Baptist (IMEV 2945) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 29-33.
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Item: 60f. 100v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Peter (IMEV 3046) |
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End defective. |
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Item: 61f. 107r |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Margaret (IMEV 2987) |
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Defective at beginning and end. |
Cf. Cockayne 1866, pp. 24-33.
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Item: 62f. 108r |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Mary Magdalene (IMEV 2994) |
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Defective at end. |
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Item: 63f. 111v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Christina (IMEV 2876) |
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Item: 64f. 116r |
South English Legendary: Life of St. James the Great (IMEV 2918) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 33-45.
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Item: 65f. 121r |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Christopher (IMEV 2878) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 271-278.
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Item: 66f. 124r |
South English Legendary: The Seven Sleepers (3091) |
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Item: 67f. 126r |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Martha (IMEV 2127) |
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Item: 68f. 128r |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Oswald the King (IMEV 3036) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 45-46.
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Item: 69f. 129r |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Lawrence (IMEV 2957) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 340-345.
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Item: 70f. 131r |
South English Legendary: The Assumption of Our Lady (IMEV 2991) |
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Defective at end. |
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Item: 71f. 133r |
South English Legendary: Exaltation of the Holy Cross (IMEV 3388) |
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Defective at beginning. |
Morris 1871, pp. 48-57.
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Item: 72f. 135r |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Matthew (IMEV 3017) |
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Defective at end. |
Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 77-81.
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Item: 73ff. 136r |
South English Legendary: Legend of St. Michael (IMEV 3029) |
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Defective at beginning. |
Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 299-322.
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Item: 74f. 140v |
South English Legendary: Legend of St. Michael III/The Right Pit of Hell (IMEV 3453) |
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Part III of the previous text. Loss of leaf after f. 142r. |
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Item: 75f. 144v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Jerome (IMEV 2922) |
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Item: 76f. 146v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Francis (IMEV 2899) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 53-67.
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Item: 77f. 152r |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Leger (IMEV 2958) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 81-83.
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Item: 78f. 153r |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Faith (IMEV 2897) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 83-86.
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Item: 79f. 154v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Denis (IMEV 2882) |
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Item: 80f. 156v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Luke (IMEV 2973) |
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Item: 81f. 157v |
South English Legendary: The Eleven Thousand Virgins (IMEV 721) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 86-92.
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Item: 82f. 160r |
South English Legendary: Lives of Saints Simon and Jude (IMEV 3055) |
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Item: 83f. 162v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Quintin (IMEV 3050) |
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Item: 84f. 164r |
South English Legendary: All Souls' Day (IMEV 201) |
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Defective at end. |
Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 418-420.
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Item: 85f. 165r |
South English Legendary: All Saints' Day (IMEV 184) |
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Defective at beginning. |
Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 420-431.
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Item: 86f. 166v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Katherine of Alexandria (IMEV 2954) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 92-101.
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Item: 87f. 169r |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Leonard (IMEV 2959) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 456-62.
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Item: 88f. 171v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Martin (IMEV 3005) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 449-56.
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Item: 89f. 174v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Brice (IMEV 2870) |
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Item: 90f. 175v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Edmund the Bishop (IMEV 2886) |
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Defective at end. |
Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 431-439.
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Item: 91f. 182r |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Clement (IMEV 2875) |
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Imperfect at beginning. |
Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 322-340.
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Item: 92ff. 186v |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Katherine of Alexandria (IMEV 2954) |
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Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 92-101.
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Item: 93f. 190r |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Andrew (IMEV 2848) |
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Defective at end. |
Cf. Furnivall 1862, pp. 98-101.
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Item: 94f. 193r |
South English Legendary: Life of St. Nicholas (IMEV 3033) |
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'...şis godeman hy stode in grete...'. |
Defective at beginning and end. |
Cf. Horstmann 1887, pp. 240-255.
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Codex |
Parchment |
305 x 185 mm |
Difficult to ascertain but catchwords on ff. 16v, 28v, 49v, 61v, 72v, 95v, 107v, 116v, 128v, 154v, 165v, 177v, 184v. |
Pricking, where visible, small horizontal slits. Writing space of 240 x 130mm. Single columns with 40 lines. Frame and lines ruled in drypoint, not really visible. |
One scribe writing in brown ink in an early fourteenth-century Anglicana hand. Body height: 2 mm.
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Two-line blue initials with red penwork flourishing - swirls rather than foliate. Two-line red and blue paraphs.
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Not medieval. Size: 310 x 190 mm. Covered in dark brown/black leather with gold stamped 'arabesque' design in a 'diamond' shape on front and back. Five raised bands across the spine.
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ff. ii + 194 + ii. The flyleaves are modern parchment. |
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Many leaves missing at beginning and end: 3 leaves after f. 38, 12 after f. 106, 2 after f. 107, 8 after f. 132, 5 after f. 181, and single leaves after ff. 67, 83, 96, 135, 142, 164, 192.
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Unknown |
Fifteenth/sixteenth century: - f. 21, 61v, 106v - John (Ihon, Yon, Yan) Barns.
Nineteenth century: - f. 1r 'From the library of Robert Higgins, who lived at Eastnor [co. Hereford] in the time of Charles the 1st and Cromwell'. Ff. 14r, 21v, 31r - name of Samuel Higgins. F. 77r names of Samuel Higgins, Anne and Mary Higgins, probably children of , Rector of Eastnor, d. 1847, and descendants of Robert Higgins fo Eastnor, d. 1678 (C. J. Robinson, Mansions of Herefordshire, 1873, pp. 110, 1ll).
Twentieth Century:, of Bosbury House, Herefordshire (Sotheby's sale-cat., 19th July, 1911, lot 687). |
Catalogued and encoded: Rebecca Farnham, University of Birmingham, August 2003.
Related Manuscripts and other documents
Scribal
Göorlach notes that this manuscript was 'most certainly written in the same scriptorium as' Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 145 and Leicester, Leicester City Museum, MS 18 D 59 (1974, p. 92).
- http://searcharchives.bl.uk.
- British Museum. 1925. Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum in the Years 1911-1915, London: printed for the Trustees 1925, revised by Julius P. Gilson, pp. 403-405.
- Brown, B. D. 1927 for 1925. The Southern Passion edited from Pepsian MS 2344 in the library of Magdalene College Cambridge with introduction, notes and glossary, EETS, os, 169, London: Oxford University Press, pp. xix-xx.
- Cockayne, O., ed. 1872. Liflade of S. Juliana, EETS, os, 51, London: Trübner.
- Furnivall, F. 1862, rpt. 1974. Early English Poems and Lives of Saints, Berlin: Published for the Philological Society by A. Asher. rpt. New York: AMS Press.
- Görlach, M. 1974. The Textual Tradition of the South English Legendary, Leeds Texts and Monographs, ns, 6, Leeds: University of Leeds School of English, pp. 92-93.
- Görlach, M. 1998. Studies in Middle English Saints Legends, Heidelberg: Carl Winter.
- Horstmann, C., ed, 1875. Altenglische Legenden. Kindheit Jesu. Barlaam und Josaphat. St. Patriks Fegefeuer. Aus den verschiedenen Mss. zum ersten Male herausgegeben, Paderborn: Ferdinand Schoningh
- Horstmann, C., ed, 1887. The Early South English Legendary or Lives of Saints, EETS, os, 87, London: Trübner.
- 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.
- Morris, R., ed, 1871. Legends of the Holy Rood; Symbols of the Passion and Cross Poems In Old English of the Eleventh, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, EETS, os, 46, London: Trübner.