London, British Library, Harley 1205
England |
London |
British Library |
Harley 1205 |
|
s. xvex |
English |
Scribal dialect: Staffordshire. Linguistic Atlas Grid Reference: not mapped but McIntosh, Samuels and Benskin state that the 'language is from Lichfield or nearby' (1986, p. 239). |
A late fourteenth-century copy of the
Prick of Conscience (Lewis and McIntosh 1982, p. 63).
Item: 1ff. 1r-125r |
Prick of Conscience (Main Version IMEV 3428) |
'...ferşe for he is uncertayne'. |
'That for oure heele on roode gan hynge. Amen'. |
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Codex |
Parchment |
185 x 115 mm |
18, ff. 1-8v, catchword; 28, ff. 9r-16v, catchword; 38, 17r-24v, catchword; 48, ff. 25r-32v, catchword; 58, ff. 33r-40v, catchword; 68, ff. 41r-48v, catchword; 78, ff. 49r-56v, catchword; 88, ff. 57r-64v, catchword; 98, ff. 65r-72v, catchword; 108, ff. 73r-80v, catchword; 118, ff. 81v-88v, catchword; 128, ff. 89r-96v, catchword; 138, ff. 97r-104v, catchword; 148, ff. 105r-112v; 158, ff. 113r-120v; 1510?, ff. 121r-125v (only 5 leaves remain but they all look as though they were part of the first part of a quire). Text ends on f. 125r. Perhaps leaves cut by later owners. |
Pricking visible for frame - round holes. Writing space of 142-145 x 67-70mm. Single columns with 28-29 lines. Ruling for lines in drypoint, ruling for frame faint purple/grey. |
One scribe writing in an Anglicana Formata script in black ink now faded to charcoal. Characteristics: double compartment g; 2-shaped r; circular e in final position; B-shaped w; ?; double compartment a with pointed head; frequent use of ş, hooked ascender of b, h, and l. Body height: 2-3mm.
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Couplets - red brackets to f. 24r; red titles; red and blue paraphs; top margin 'title' by scribe in black preceded by blue paraph on recto and red paraph on verso.
Folio 14v - five-line blue initial T with fine red penwork flourishing extending along most of the left margin. Folio 35r - five-line blue initial with red penwork flourishing (start of Book Five).
Hand with cuff, f. 7v.
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Not medieval. 195 x 115 mm. Covered in grey/green leather with the inside front cover and first pastedown being 'marbled' paper, mitred and pasted onto pasteboard. Sewing unascertainable. Five raised bands across the spine. No exterior furniture.
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v + 125 + 4. Five modern paper flyleaves at beginning and four modern paper flyleaves at end. |
Unreadable inscription on f. 65r. A later owner has added more detail to the scribe's 'titles' in the top margins, e.g. f. 87r, 'the sixte part' with the addition of 'of paynes of hell'. The same person has also added notes in the margin.
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Parchment - holes patched at ff. 40, 54 (at production). |
Unknown |
Folio 125v: 16th century inscription ''. |
Catalogued and encoded: Rebecca Farnham, University of Birmingham, August 2003.
Related Manuscripts and other documents
Textual
For related manuscripts see Lewis and McIntosh (1982, pp. 63-64).
Scribal
This scribe also worked on Manchester, John Rylands University Library, English 50 (Benskin and McIntosh 1986, p. 239).
- A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 1808-1812, 4 vols., London: G. Eyre and A. Strahan, 1. Commenced by H. Wanley, and successively continued by D. Casley, W. Hocker, C. Morton, index by T. Astle, p. 597.
- Lewis, R. E., and McIntosh, A. 1982. A Descriptive Guide to the Manuscripts of the Prick of Conscience, Medium Aevum Monographs 12, Oxford: Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literatures, pp. 255, 257, 259, and nn. 14, 17, 21, 22, 26.
- McIntosh, A. 1963. A New Approach to Middle English Dialectology, English Studies, 44, 1-28, p. 7, n. 16.
- 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, 1863. Richard Rolle of Hampole, The Pricke of Conscience (Stimulus Conscientiae), Berlin: Asher.