Add MS 59616

CUSTOMARY OF THE SHRINE OF ST THOMAS BECKET: by John Vyel and Edmund Kingston, followed by two Lives of Thomas Becket in French verses by Beneit de Saint Alban and Garnier de Pont-Saint-Maxence; England, Canterbury and Oxford, late 13th cent. and 1428. Latin and French. An erased inscription occurs on f. 12. The presence (f. 141v) of an inventory of ecclesiastical furnishings and vestments, followed by a list of masses celebrated at the shrine of Becket, both dated 1380, suggests that the third part of this composite manuscript was in possession of the guardians of the shrine at that time. With the Reformation the entire manuscript passed to the Hawkins family of Nash Court, near Canterbury, see D. H. Turner, 'The Customary of the Shrine of St Thomas Becket', Canterbury Cathedral Chronicle 70 (1976), pp. 16-22. Sold by Joseph Haslewood at his sale at King and Lochée on 8 May 1809, lot 547, and bought by Richard Heber. Acquired by Payne for Sir Thomas Phillipps (Phillipps MS. 8113) at Heber's sale at Evans's on 10 Feb. 1836, lot 322. Sold at Sotheby's, Phillipps' sale, 26 Nov. 1975, lot 826, see Sotheby's sale cat. Purchased from Alan G. Thomas, with the aid of the Friends of the National Libraries, 18 Dec. 1975.

Vellum; ff. vii+141. Sec. fol.: '[vestimen]tum cum tuellis'. 366 x 257mm. 4 modern paper flyleaves to front and 3 to the back. One of the front flyleaves has an attached label with the Phillipps' shelfmark (f. i). It is followed by paper leaves of different size (ff. ii-vii) with modern annotations by previous owners concerning this volume and other copies of the same texts in other British Library manuscripts. Gatherings (14) of 12, except i12 (lacks 12, blank), iii4 (lacks 4, blank), xi10, xiii2, xiv8 (lacks 7). Art. 1 (ff. 1-11): ruled (single bounding lines) in lead point for single columns of 36 lines. Written space 236/243 x 156/167mm. Script is an elegant mixt Anglicana formata. Art. 2 (ff. 12-26): pricked and ruled (single bounding lines) in lead point for double columns of 34/40 lines. Written space 240/264 x 191/194mm. Horizontal catchwords. Script is a textualis rotunda libraria media. Art. 3 (ff. 27-141): pricked and ruled (double bounding lines) in lead point for single columns of 26 lines. Written space 281/289 x 170/184mm. Horizontal catchwords. Script is an artificial textualis prescissa media. Marginal notes in plummet.

Contents:

1. ff. 1-11. Customary of the Shrine of St Thomas Becket by John Vyel and Edmund Kingston, guardians of the shrine, dated 1428. Inc. 'Sancti spiritus assit nobis gracia. Omnibus dilectis sancte Cantuariae ecclesie confratribus.presentibus.et futuris confratres'; expl. 'celi lumen provehat feliciter et perducat Amen'. John Vyel became monk at Christ Church on 1399 and died as Guardian of the Shrine on 1444, Edmund Kingston entered as a monk at Christ Church on 1401. See D. H. Turner, op. cit.

2. ff. 12-26. Beneit de Saint Alban, Life of Thomas Becket. Inc. '[A]l deu loenge e sun servise Par la grace ke mad transmise. . . '; expl. 'E od li puissums el ciel regner Finablement. Amen Amen Verraiment Ici finist la vie seint thomas le glorius martir de Canterbire. Ki pur le dreit e la dignete e le honur de seinte eglise fu martirize al quart kalende de jenver'. Sec. fol.: 'Servit sun seignur en lealte'. See B. Schlyter, La vie de Thomas Becket par Beneit (Lund and Copenhagen, 1941). Probably copied at Oxford at the end of 13th cent. Beneits's name appears on f. 26v, line 3.

3. ff. 27-141. Guernes or Garnier de Pont-Sainte-Maxence, Life of Thomas Becket. Inc. 'Tuit li fisicien ne sunt ades bon mire' expl. 'E lur met in curage que me facent honur. Amen'. Sec. fol.: 'mais tant ne sout puis li prophete flechir.' See Histoire Littéraire de la France, 33, pp. 376-377, no. 1; Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence, La vie de Saint Thomas Becket, ed. Emmanuel Walberg (Lund, 1922); A. Duggan, Thomas Becket: A Textual History of his letters (Oxford, 1980), pp. 203-204. Probably copied at Canterbury at the end of 13th cent., possibly by the same hand as Add. 45103 and Cotton Galba E III, see T. J. Brown, 'Handwriting of the Professions', Canterbury Professions, ed. M. Richter, CYS 67 (1972), XXXVI n. The verses on the composition of the poem, usually to be found at the end, have been inserted in the body of the text on f. 136.

Decoration of the three sections consists of:

1. Major 3/7-line initials in blue (ff. 1, 11v); 2/4-line minor initials in red (one inhabited with a monk's face on f. 5); rubrics and marginalia in red ink.

2. Touched in red initials of verses and alternated red and green line fillers. Unfinished, with blank spaces for major initials with guide-letters in red ink. On f. 15 (bottom right corner) a contemporary grotesque of a hooded monk's head with a beast paw and a human gartered leg. Another little human head protrudes between the two legs.

3. A 4-line major initial in red set upon a blue ground with white geometric and foliate penwork infills and red dots (f. 27); 1-line flourished initials in alternating blue and red at beginning of strophes. Contemporary drawings of St Thomas as Archdeacon (f. 32) and Archbishop (f. 35v) in ink; naive plummet sketches of men and animals (ff. 32v, 62v, 63, 65, 70, 130).