The James Catalogue of Western Manuscripts

Shelfmark B.14.52
Manuscript Title

Sermons and Poems

Alternative Title

Poems and Sermons In English.

James Number 335
Century 13th
Physical Description

24-23 lines to a page. In two? very good hands.

Provenance

Given by Whitgift.

On f.1b is a xvth cent. monastic title
Rithmus anglicus cum omiliis anglicis in hoc volumine continentur.

On the same page are these verses in a beautiful Roman hand,headed by an astrological sign [moon facing right, libra] 23 [sun] 3a 83
LECTORI
A)bdita quae tenebrans monumenta recondidit AetasAetas nunc tandem clara retexit ea,Quae licet amsanctum non sint referentia cultum,Temporis id naevus simplicitasque fuit.Si libes quae sint sapida insipidumque recuses,Ipsa vetustatis gratia dulcis erit.W L: (W. Lambarde).

To which is added in a bad xvith cent. hand: Manye will Bragge of there knowledge and haunting of Antiquities but the writer of the verses above is the onlye man that ever I cold be acquainted with for the reading of this boke and other antiquities his Calender of the Byble maye... to the grave but I most humblye beseche ye that ye paynfull workes by him gathered after the grave hath pervsed(?) might not be wrappd vpp in obliuion he...hath traveled in the Armenian tongue....

On the first paper fly-leaf is: Hic Codex MS. fidem protestantium in permultis multum ornat. Legi et perlegi. A.W. [Abraham Whelock]. At the end of the text is (xv)Ser. Thomas stone(?).

Second Folio þider þe solde
Donor Whitgift, John (1530/31?–1604), Archbishop of Canterbury, Master of Trinity
Size (cm) 15 x 11.5
Folio 91 ff.
Material Parchment
Language Middle EnglishOld English
Collation

110 (10 a slip) 28 -118 124

IIIF Manifest URL https://mss-cat.trin.cam.ac.uk/Manuscript/B.14.52/manifest.json
Online Since 13/07/2022

Contents

On the fly-leaves of paper are the beginnings of a table (xvi) [in the hand of Abraham Whelock].
On the recto of the first vellum leaf is the beginning of a Litany of the Virgin (xiii).
The whole text has been printed by Dr R. Morris in E.E.T.S., 1873, Old English Homilies of the Twelfth Century. Second Series.

Text.
I. No heading.
f.2 Ich am nu elder þan ich ƿas a ƿintre ⁊ a lore
Morris, p.220.

II. Sermons.
f.10 De aduentu. Morris, p.1
Ecce uenit rex occurramus obuiam saluatori nostro.
To dai is cumen ðe holie tid þi me clepeð aduent.
2. f.11 Dom. II in adv. Hora est iam nos
3. f.12 Dom. III. Nox precessit
4. f.14 Tria sunt hominum saluti necessaria
f.15 Credo in deum. Ic bileue on God
5. f.17 Pater noster
6. f.20b In die natalis dom
Natus est nobis etc. Gode tidinge ⁊ murie to heren.
7. f.24b Reges tharsis et insule (Epiphany)
8. f.26 Optulerunt pro eo domino (Purification)
9. f.28 Quomodo cantabimus
10. (De confessione.)
11. f.31 In capite jejunii. Conuertimini ad me
12. f.34 In xlma. Preoccupemus faciem
13. f.38 In xlma. Ecce nunc tempus
14. f.39b In media xlma. Cum inmundus spiritus exierit
15. f.42b Dom. palmarum. Turbe que procedebant
16. f.44b In die pasche. Hec est dies
17. Dom. 1 post pascha. Stetit Ihesus (p.75)
18. f.49b In ascensione domini. Eleuatus est sol
19. f.52 In die pentecostes. Apparuerunt apostolis
20. f.53b In die pentecostes. Dominus de celo prospexit
21. f.54b De S. Joh. bapt. Ego uox clamantis
22. f.57 De S. Joh. bapt. Inter natos mulierum
23. f.60 De S. Maria Magdal. Mulier que erat
24. f.61b De S. Jacobo. Euntes ibant et flebanf
25. f.64 De S. Laurentio. Qui parce seminat
26. f.66b (Assumption.) Maria uirgo assumpta est (printed in Rel. Ant. i. 128)
27. f.69 De defunctis. Libera me domine
28. f.71b De S. Andrea. Ambulans Ihesus iuxta mare
29. f.75b Esto(te) fortes in bello
30. f.78 Estote prudentes
31. f.81 Qui uult uenire post me
32. f.83b Posuerunt peccatores laqueum
Ends f.86a
sƿo do he ure alle þe liueð ⁊ rixleð. Amen.
On f.86b are a few names explained
Sulphurea .i. baline.
balanstie .i. flores malogranatorum.
hermodactilus .i. titelusa.
portinus .i. sudindele.
...
Rodostoma .i. aqua rosata.
f.87a is blank.
33. f.87b Egredietur uirga etc. An gerd sal spruten of iesse more
Ends 88a. And he understod holie boc lore etc. Si plus sscirem plus dicerem.
f.88b has xvith cent. scribbles.
f.89a is blank.
On ff.89b, 90a are pencilled prayers of cent. xiii.
On ff.90b, 91 and fly-leaves are xvith cent. scribbles and table.

Bibliography

Krüger, A., Sprache und Dialekt der mittelenglischen Homilien in der Handschrift B.14.52. Trinity College, Cambridge: Inaugural-Dissertation (Güttingen, 1885)

Mooney, L. R., The Index of Middle English Prose Handlist 11: Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge (Cambridge, 1995), p. 15.

Babington, C., ed., The Repressor of Over Much Blaming of the Clergy, by Reginald Pecock, 2 vols. Rolls Series 19 (London, 1869), I.lxvi-lxviii.

James, M. R., The Ancient Libraries of Canterbury and Dover (Cambridge, 1903), p. 510.

Richards, M. P., 'MS Cotton Vitellius A.XXII: the Vespasian Homilies', Manuscripta 22 (1978), 97-103.

Ker, N. R., 'The Scribes of the Trinity Homilies', Medium Aevum 1 (1932), 138-40.

Hill, B., Trinity College Cambridge MS. B.14.52, and William Patten , Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, vol.4, 3 (Cambridge, 1966), p. 192-200.

Hill, B., The Twelfth-Century Conduct of Life : Formerly the 'Poema Morale' or a 'Moral Ode', Leeds Studies in English 9 (Leeds, 1976)

Hill, B., Cambridge, Trinity College MS B.14.52, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society. Vol.12, no.4 (Cambridge, 2003) p. 393-402.

Laing, M., and R. Lass, Early Middle English Dialectology : Problems and Prospects, The Handbook of the History of English, ed., A. van Kemenade, and B. Los (Oxford, 2006) p. 417-451.

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