Add MS 24202

This manuscript contains theological texts in Middle English that were copied in the decades just before or after the year 1400. On the one hand, the collection contains orthodox treatises, such as selections from the late 14th-century Lay Folk’s Catechism by John of Gaytryge ['Gaysteke' or 'Caterige'], a Benedictine monk of St Mary’s Abbey in York. On the other hand, it contains radical religious treatises, such as one that attacks the worship of religious images. Although the latter supports views of the religious reformer John Wyclif [Wycliffe] (d. 1384) and his followers (known as Lollards), the manuscript's orthodox treatises support doctrines that Lollards generally opposed: for example, the decree of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) that Christians need to receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at least once a year, at Easter after confession. The manuscript features a mixture of religious ideas, possibly influenced by reformist thought that developed alongside 'Wycliffism'.

The manuscript contains the only extant copy of Tretise of Miraclis Pleyinge, the most extensive commentary on religious drama to survive from medieval England. Although the work’s critique of miracle plays has led scholars to identify the author as a Lollard, Lawrence M. Clopper (‘Is the Tretise of Miraclis Pleyinge a Lollard Tract against Devotional Drama?’ (2003), 229-71) has argued that they may have been a Dominican or Franciscan friar.

Contents:

ff. 1r-13v: A Middle English treatise in 23 articles, entitled: ‘þe bischopes othe þat he sweris to þe pope [Urban VI (r. 1378–1389)]’; with condemnatory remarks on the oath and the articles. The final article refers to Antipope Pope Clement VII (r. 1378–1394). According to Anne Hudson, the oath is a close translation of the specific Latin text with which William Courtenay (b. 1341/2, d. 1396) swore allegiance to the Pope when he became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1381 (see Hudson, ‘Lollard Views on Prelates’ (2014), p. 285).

ff. 14r-213: A Middle English treatise entitled: ‘A tretise of miraclis pleyinge’ [Tretise of Miraclis Pleyinge]; against the performance of miracle plays (see Wright and Halliwell, Reliquiae Antiquae (1845), II, pp. 42-57; Hudson, Selections (1978), pp. 97-104, 187-89; A Middle English Treatise on the Playing of Miracles, ed. by Davidson (1981); A Tretise of Miraclis Pleyinge, ed. by Davidson (1992); Aronson-Lehavi, Street Scenes (2011), pp. 127-144 [Modern English translation]).

ff. 21r-24r: An untitled Middle English treatise against dice, beginning: ‘Dere frend pes and charite and þe wisdam of god be wiþ ȝow’.

ff. 24r-24v: An untitled Middle English treatise against exposing relics for gain, beginning with a Latin quotation attributed to St Bernard of Clairvaux: ‘quanta abusio et quanta parusitas [sic] . est quod ossa sanctorum exponuntur ad questum ut qui omnem pecuniam respuerunt vivi . coguntur mendicare . iam mortui . hac bernardus 49 . in sermone . corpora sanctorum in pace sepulta sunt’.

ff. 25r-26r: An untitled Middle English treatise on the knowledge of the soul, beginning: ‘Dere sister in crist siþen charite alle þing leeveþ as seiþ þe apostle . dispose we us to charite and it shal techen us what we shal leevyn and knowyn not onley what is oure oune soule’.

ff. 26r-28v: A Middle English treatise against the use of images, entitled: ‘a tretyse of ymages’ [title in explicit] (see Hudson, Selections (1978), pp. 83-88).

ff. 28v-29r: A Middle English treatise on priests, entitled: ‘A tretice of pristis’.

ff. 29r-34r: A Middle English treatise on marriage, entitled ‘Of weddid men and þer wyvis and þer childere’ (see Arnold, Select English Works (1871), III, p. 188).

ff. 34r-35v: An untitled Middle English treatise on tithes and offerings, beginning: ‘[C]risten men wolen gladly and redely pay þer tiþis tyþes [sic] unto þe curatis þat lyven wele unto god inward. and to þe puple outward by opyn ensaumple of holy lif’.

ff. 35v-36r: A selection of John of Gaytryge’s Lay Folk’s Catechism, a Middle English prose treatise on the Seven Sacraments, entitled ‘þo [sic] seven sacramentis’.

f. 36v: A selection of John of Gaytryge’s Lay Folk’s Catechism, a Middle English prose treatise on the seven virtues, entitled: ‘þe sevene vertues’; imperfect at the end.

ff. 37r-60v: A fragment of an unidentified Middle English treatise principally directed against the religious orders, from the middle of its 16th to the beginning of its 39th chapter. The first complete chapter (Chapter 17) begins: ‘þe þridde veniaunce þat we seen up on us now a daies is bateil and stryves betwyn us self’. Chapter 33 refers to a prophecy by [?] Robert Grosseteste (‘lincoln’), Thomas Bradewardine, Archbishop of Canterbury (‘Bradewardyn’), [?] Richard FitzRalph, Archbishop of Armagh (‘armacan’), Richard Kilvington (‘kilmyngton’), and John Wyclif (‘wiclyve’).

Decoration:

Large (2- and 3-line) red initials. Rubrics, paraphs, and underlining in red. Red line fillers.