Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodl. 123
| Shelfmark | Date and Language | Contents |
| Physical Description | History | Record History | Bibliography |

Shelfmark
Country:England
Settlement:Oxford
Repository: Bodleian Library
Idno:Bodl. 123
AltName:SC 1986
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Date and Language
Date:s. xvex
Language: English
Dialect:Scribe of ff. 1r line 8 to 6r line 5, 6v last 6 lines, 14v-16r line 11 - Scribal Dialect: Cheshire. Linguistic Atlas Grid Reference: not mapped. Scribe of ff. 6r-v - Scribal Dialect: Cheshire. Linguistic Atlas Grid Reference: not mapped. Scribe of f. 8r lines 9-16 - Scribal Dialect: Cheshire. Linguistic Atlas Grid Reference: not mapped (McIntosh, Samuels, and Benskin, 1986, vol. 1, p. 146). Scribe of ff. 86v-97v - Scribal Dialect: Staffordshire. Linguistic Atlas Grid Reference: 383 349, LP 726 (McIntosh, Samuels, and Benskin 1986, vol. 4, p. 238).
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Contents
A mainly Latin manuscript with some English pieces collected and written by Thomas Urmston, chaplain of Lyme in Cheshire (1477-89). Minimal English content.

Item: 1
Locus:ff. 1r-6r
Title:Ecclesiastical forms of citation, of banns
Incipit:'Regula quintonis'.
Explicit:
Note:Some ecclesiastical forms of citation, of banns ('Thomas Vrmestone capellanus parochie de Lyme', 'capellanus de Rothestorne', 20 Jan. 1473), or declaring causes of excommunication (in English, f. 2), of an indenture of apprenticeship to John Swafield of Aburtone, 1 Feb. 1479 (f. 86). Latin only for the first part, the rest is in English between ff. 2r-6r.
Bibliography:

Item: 2
Locus:f. 6v
Title:Will
Incipit:'In dei'
Explicit:'Datum apud Bebynton... Quod Thomas Vrmyston capellanus'.
Note:Dated: '8 Feb. 1477'.
Bibliography:

Item: 3
Locus:ff. 7r-51r
Title:
Incipit:'Quot sunt sacramenta ecclesie'.
Explicit:'explicit liber de vii'.
Note:On f. 51v there is a note of money received for priestly offices 'syn i came to mersay', in the same hand as the rest of the writing.
Bibliography:

Item: 4
Locus:ff. 52-86r
Title:Tales of the Emperors of Rome
Incipit:'Fuit quidam rex qui habuit filiam nimis pulcram'.
Explicit:'Amen quod t. v[r]mystone'.
Rubric:'De gestis romanorum'.
Bibliography:

Item: 5
Locus:ff. 86v-97v
Title:Miracle of our Lady and other tales
Incipit:'I rede of a woman'.
Explicit:'Maria'.
Rubric:'Miraculum de assumpcione beata maria'.
Note:'Quod thomas vrmestone capellanus in comitatu essexie manens' added at the end of the text in another hand.
Bibliography:

Item: 6
Locus:ff. 98r-103v
Title:Miracle of our Lady
Incipit:
Explicit:
Rubric:'Hic incipit miraculam beate marie'.
Bibliography:

Item: 7
Locus:ff. 103r-148v
Title:An Ordinal
Incipit:'Numerus lunaris xvj'.
Explicit:'Explicit tractatus'.
Bibliography:

Item: 8
Locus:ff. 149r-149v
Title:Memoranda
Incipit:'Pro instruccione subcommissariorum sancte cruciate'.
Explicit:
Note:Distributed indulgences and confessionalia in return for contributions to the Crusade: and at f. 150 (added) a copy of part of a papal bull about the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin, 3 Jan., 1480.
Bibliography:

Item: 9
Locus:ff. 150r-150v
Title:Papal Bull
Incipit:
Explicit:
Note:A copy of part of a papal bull about the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin, 3 Jan. 1480.
Bibliography:

Item: 10
Locus:ff. 151r-205v
Title:Sermons for Sundays and Holy Days
Incipit:
Explicit:
Note:Leaf lost at beginning, the second beginning 'Saluator noster'. At f. 205v are a form of absolution, an account with 'Jacobus Caryngton' and others, partly dated 1489.
Bibliography:

Item: 11
Locus:ff. 205v
Title:Form of absolution and an account
Incipit:
Explicit:
Note:'Jacobus Caryngton' and others, partly dated 1489.
Bibliography:
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Physical Description
Form:Codex
Support: Paper
Extent:218 x 145 mm
Collation: Collation unascertainable, the manuscript is too tightly bound. Catchwords ff. 32v, 40v, 120v, 125v.
Layout:Single columns without ruling. Frame occasionally ruled in dry point, for example ff. 86v-98r. Writing space: variable with an average of 170 x 125 mm.
Writing: Several scribes, perhaps each writing distinctive units of texts, but with several similar features and letter forms. Small cursive hand with extensive use of abbreviations in the Latin texts. The English text ff. 86v-98r is a small Secretary hand (between 1 and 2 mm body-height) with influence from Anglicana, especially in the alternation of double compartment and single compartment a. Widespread use of hairlines at the ends of descenders especially of þ, y, and f. Spacious ductus especially below the line of writing to accommodate the descenders.
Decoration:Some rubrics in red and tinted capital letter in red.
Binding: Not medieval. Size: 230 x 150 mm. Cover of brown leather on board.
Foliation:ff. i + 205 + ii.
Additions:
Condition:Good
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History
Provenance:A will in Latin on f. 6v is signed by Thomas Urmstone: 'Datum apud Bebynton... Quod Thomas Vrmyston capellanus' and dated 8 February 1477. The town of 'Bebyngton' (Bebington) is 3 miles south east of Birkenhead. Urmston is in Lancashire 5m south west of Manchester (McIntosh, Samuels and Benskin, vol. 4, p. 238). Note on f. 97v associates Thomas Urmstone with Essex. Written in a sixteenth-century hand is: ' aw this book'.
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Record History
Catalogued and encoded: Rebecca Farnham, University of Birmingham, August 2003 and Orietta DaRold, University of Birmingham, June 2005.
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Bibliography
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