London, College of Arms (Heralds' College), Arundel 57
| England |
| London |
| College of Arms (Heralds' College) |
| Arundel 57 |
|
| s. xivex |
| English |
| Scribal Dialect: Lichfield, Staffordshire. Linguistic Atlas Grid Reference: not mapped (Benskin and McIntosh 1986, p. 239; Lewis and McIntosh 1982, p. 79). |
A late fourteenth-century copy of
Cursor Mundi and the
Prick of Conscience.
Item: 1| ff. 4r-132va |
| Cursor Mundi (IMEV 2153) |
|
|
Thompson 1998; Eldredge 2000 (uses Arundel as the base text for the edition).
|
Item: 2| ff. 133ra-175vb |
| Prick of Conscience (Main Version, IMEV 3428) |
| 'ben şer moo şen I have tolde'. |
| 'As here doş any his sister or broşere'. |
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| Codex |
| Parchment |
| c. 318 x 216 mm |
|
18 (wants 1); 28; 38 (wants 1); 48 (wants 8); 5 8 (wants 1); 6-98; 108 (wants 5); 11-158; 168 (wants 8); 178 (wants 1-3); 188? (wants 6-8); 198 (wants 1-4); 20-248. Catchwords: ff. 7v; 15v; 22v; 36v; 44v; 52v; 60v; 68v; 75v; 83v; 91v; 99v; 107v; 115v; 127v; 135v; 143v; 151v; 159v; 168v; 175v.
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| Double columns throughout with 40 lines, apart from ff. 88r-100v which have 40 long lines. These folios were ruled for double columns but this layout was then ignored. Writing frame c. 225 x 157 mm. The writing space for the columns: 225 x 72 mm; central distance between columns 10 mm. Small, rounded pricking holes visible at the three margins for the frames (see for example ff. 31-32). Ruling in brown crayon, at times very faint. The lines perhaps also ruled, however very faint marks and the pricking on the outside margin is not visible any more. Perhaps this ruling was done in dry point, for example f. 32r. |
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One scribe writing in brown ink in a regular Anglicana Formata with Secretary features, displaying a certain degree of sophistication in the penwork of the ascenders of the first line of the folio (see ff. 11v-12v). However, the hand is quite compact and ascenders/descenders do not extend much above or below the minim strokes. Strokes are quite thick but the ductus is well controlled. Characteristics: double compartment Anglicana a, with upright backstroke and decisive tiny loop on the right. Occasionally the loop above the head of the letter is traced with a very thin stroke touching the end of the backstroke; diamond-shaped closed lobe d with squashed ascender from right to left. Occasionally in final position d becomes a loop with a rounded ascender departing from the lower part of the loop upwards, closing with a sharp angle on the left (f. 87v). Anglicana shape g with round head, the descender closes into a small lobe, finishing attached right to the head. There is a small tail on the right of the head. Short and thick descender with a tail on the top left side of the p, rounded head with shaft starting detached from the back stroke, finishing just past the meeting point with the descender; short r is used throughout both in medial and final position; capital s-shaped s used regularly in final position; long s used in initial and medial position, but the stem does go below the level of writing and has a small tail on the back; the stem of ş is thick and almost upright, the head is formed by a small loop. Two types of w. The first has a close back stroke terminating with a small hairline intersecting the second back stroke which closes into a B-shaped form with an elongated thick ascender which stops in front of the letter. The second one is a closed rounded w B-shaped stroke with the ascender of the back extending and curving into a circle around the letter (see f. 87v for both forms); & is used occasionally in a Z shape with a stroke in the middle finished with a stroke across, but detached from the top of the head; ? used regularly, a z-shape finishing a small hairline prolonging a little below the level of writing. Body height: 3mm.
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| Two/three-line capitals in blue with red penwork. Rubrics in red throughout and marginalia and Latin in red, particularly in the Prick of Conscience. F. 4v carries a four-line Lombardic capital in gold with a blue background decorated with long-stemmed flowers with gold and blue leaves extending into the left margin. F. 87v, the Passion section of the Cursor Mundi is hierarchized with a six-line initial O in 'Off şe passioun'. The O sits within the second column and carries intercolumnar vine and leaf extensions that extend into the top and bottom margins. The blue O is emphasised with white highlights and carries an infill of a roundel made up of curling blue leaves that are red/pink beneath. The leaves are decorated with a central line of white dots with a white circle towards the pointed end of the leaf. The O is boxed and vines extend from the left-hand side. Again, the leaves are highlighted with a central white dotted line and white circle. The leaves are coloured blue and pink. The vine moves down the column and ends below the text in the bottom margin and also carries coloured/gold balls topped by black pen squiggles. In the top margin the vine spreads left and right and also carries circular leaves/berries.
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Brown leather over earlier, possibly original, binding. Arms of the College on front cover. Sewn on five raised bands. 330 x 220 mm.
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| ff. i + 175. |
| Flyleaf contains nine lines of text and music in a later hand.
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| The manuscript suffers loss of leaves at the beginning and at the end. Ff. 4-5 were partially cut in the bottom half and have been stitched to the stubs in the gutter. Remains of stubs between ff. 132-133, the opening page of the Prick of Conscience. One quire probably missing after f. 175. |
| Probably originating in the Lichfield area (Thompson 1998, p. 40). |
| F. 152v: 'Christus anno dominj 1546'; f. 155v: 'William Udyll'; f. 154v: 'by me Wylliam'. |
| Thompson states that the manuscript was donated to the college by Henry Duke of Norfolk in 1678. The collection was put together by his grandfather Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel 1585-1646 (see Thompson 1998, p. 40). However, Eldredge and Klinck state that although the manuscript is kept with the manuscripts donated by the Duke of Norfolk, 'it was not part of his donation, and there is no record of how it reached the college' (2000, vol. 4, p. 19). |
Catalogued and encoded: Orietta DaRold, University of Birmingham, March 2005.
Related Manuscripts and other documents
Textual
The text of the
Prick of Conscience is listed as a member of the Lichfield subgroup by Lewis and McIntosh (1982, p. 79).
Scribal
Decorative
- Allen, H. E. 1927. Writings Ascribed to Richard Rolle, Hermit of Hampole and Materials for his Biography, Modern Language Association of America Monograph series, 3, New York and London: Modern Language Association of America, p. 373, n. 1.
- Black, W. H. 1829. Catalogue of the Arundel Manuscripts in the Library of the College of Arms, London: unpublished, but printed by S. and R. Bentley, pp. 101-103.
- Dareau, M. G. and McIntosh, A. 1971. ‘A Dialect Word in Some West Midland Manuscripts of the Prick of Conscience’, in Pálsson, H., Aitken, A. J. and MacIntosh, A. ed, Edinburgh Studies in English and Scots, London: Longman, pp. 20-22.
- Eldredge, L. M., and Klinck, A. L., 2000. The Southern Version of Cursor Mundi, Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, vol. 4, pp. 1-50.
- Lewis, R. E. 1981. ‘The Relationship of the Vernon and Simeon Texts of the Pricke of Conscience’, in Benskin, M. and Samuels, M. L., ed, So Meny People Longages and Tonges: Philological Essays on Scots and Mediaeval English Presented to Angus McIntosh, Edinburgh: Middle English Dialect Project, pp. 251-264, pp. 257-259, 263, and nn. 22, 26.
- 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. 78-79.
- Morris, R. ed, 1863. Richard Rolle of Hampole, The Pricke of Conscience (Stimulus Conscientiae), Berlin: Asher.
- Morris, R., ed, 1878. Cursor Mundi: a Northumbrian Poem of the XIVth Century in Four Versions, 5 vols, EETS, os, 68, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, 5, part VII, p. 68.
- Thompson, J. J. 1998. ‘The Cursor Mundi: Poem, Texts and Contexts’, Medium Aevum Monographs, ns 19, Oxford: Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature, pp. 39-40.
