Stowe MS 42

This manuscript contains the Revelations of Divine Love by the anchoress and mystic Julian of Norwich (b. 1342, d. c.1416). It is thought to be a copy from an exemplar manuscript for a edition published in 1670 by Serenus Cressy (b. c. 1605, d. 1674). Cressy was a Benedictine confessor for the English nuns in exile at Cambrai and, briefly, a chaplain to its sisterhouse in Paris. These exiled houses preserved the so-called 'Long Text' of the Revelations and it is here that Cressy must have gained access to a manuscript with this work. However, Cressy finished his manuscript and published his edition after returning to England, as probably he acknowledges funding from John Placid Gascoigne (b. 1599, d. 1681), abbot of Lambspringe (f. 3r: ‘the More Venerable Abbot of our Nation’), and addresses Lady Mary Blount (f. 2r), a widow from a Catholic and aristocratic family.

This manuscript's copy of the Revelations is identical to the 1670 edition, but the fact that it does not mention the work's publication details suggests that the manuscript was copied from Cressy’s exemplar. The date of the manuscript’s production is uncertain: Julia Bolton notes that manuscript’s watermarks (analysed by W. H. Kelliher) suggest a production date at the end of the 18^th century (Bolton, Julian Among the Books (2016), p. 42).

f. 1r: Title page, '+ XVI REVELATIONS of Divine . Love, Shewed to a Devout Servant or our Lord, called . MOTHER JULIANA, an Anchorite of NORWICH: Who lived in the days of KING EDWARD the third. Published by R. F. S. Cressy'.

ff. 2r-2v: An address to Lady Mary Blount, ('To his most Honoured Lady, the Lady Mary Blount, of Sodington').

ff. 3r-4v: An address to the reader, 'To the Reader. Devout Reader, Whatsoever benefit thou mayest reap by this Book, thou are obliged for it to a More Venerable Abbot of our Nation, by whose order and liberality it is now published, and by Consequence sufficiently Approved [etc.]'.

ff. 5r-96v: 'XVI REVELATIONS of LOVE - Here beginneth the First Chapter. This is a Revelation of Love, that Jesus Christ our endless Bliss made in XVI. Shewings [etc.]'.