Contents: ff. 1r-123v: Francis Bacon, Maxims of the Common Law, with a title 'Maximes of the Lawe written by Sir Francis Bacon January 8th Anno Domini 1596'.
This manuscript, known as the Gospels of Máel Brigte, is a Latin Gospel-book with additional texts and extensive marginal and interlinear glosses in Latin and Irish, especially in the Gospel of St Matthew. The glosses used to be associated with the cathedral school in Paris (following Glunz, 'Th...
Poems by the Chester arms-painters Thomas Chaloner and Randle Holme
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Contents: ff. 1r-53v: A collection of English poems and Latin sayings by Thomas Chaloner (d. 1598), dated to 1575-1577. ff. 54r-120v: A collection of English poems and notes by Randle Holme I (b. 1570/71, d. 1655), dated to 1616-1638. One poem on ff. 60v-61r (‘The Songe called the Buttned smo...
Contents: f. 1*recto: William Newall, Clerk of Chester, Proclamation for Whitsone Playes (1531/2); claiming that the Chester cycle was written by 'Sir Henry Frances sometyme Mooncke there'. ff. 1r-3v: The Banns (‘The Banes which are Reade Bee Fore The Beginninge of the playes of Chester 1600’...
Arraignment and execution of Robert Devereux, second Earl of Essex
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A collection of material relating to the arraignment and execution of Robert Devereux, second earl of Essex, soldier and politician (1565–1601). f. 1*, f. 13: Flyleaves: a 16th-century legal document concerning the lease of the manor of Poulton, and other lands, in Chester. ff. 1r-10v: Accoun...
Middle English Life of Christ and other saints' Lives and theological texts
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Contents: ff. 1r-44r: Middle English stanzaic Life of Christ in verse (Circumcision, the first leaf of which has been misbound between ff. 44 and f. 45; Epiphay; Purification of the Virgin Mary; Innocents; Septuagesima; Sexagesima; Quinquagesima; Quadragesima; Lent; the Passion; Pilate; Judas; ...
Collection of poems by John Lydgate, Geoffrey Chaucer, and Benedict Burgh
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This manuscript contains poems by some of the most renowned poets from Late Medieval England, including John Lydgate (b. c. 1370, d. c. 1451), Geoffrey Chaucer (b. c. 1340s, d. 1400), and Benedict Burgh (b. 1413, d. 1483). The collection of poems by John Lydgate is believed to be derived from a ...
The Commonplace Book of John Colyns, including Ipomydon, B version, and the stanzaic Morte Arthur
Scope & Content:
This composite manuscript comprises two booklets of Middle English poetry and prose (ff. 54-85, 86-133) that were compiled into one volume in the early 16th century by John Colyns (d. c. 1542), mercer, of the parish of St Mary Woolchurch Haw, London. The manuscript contains the unique copies o...
This manuscript contains a collection of poetry by or attributed to John Lydgate (c. 1370-1449/50?), containing 45 Middle English poems, mostly religious. McCracken considered as Lydgate's all but two of the poems (Benedicta sit sancta Trinitas and A Satirical Description of his Lady), whose aut...
Contents: ff. 1r-232v: South English Legendary (Legends of the saints in verse, listed according to their feast days), imperfect at the beginning. Decoration: Large plain initials in red or blue. Paraphs in red or blue. Capitals marked in red.