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Add MS 70513
- Record Id:
- 040-002044034
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002043439
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000541.0x000202
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100165151697.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Add MS 70513
- Title:
- Collection of metrical saints' lives in Anglo-Norman French ('The Campsey Manuscript')
- Scope & Content:
-
This manuscript contains the only surviving medieval collection of rhymed saints' lives in Anglo-Norman French. It is known as the 'Campsey Manuscript', after the female Augustinian priory of Campsey, in Suffolk, where it was housed during the 14th century. An added inscription in the manuscript (f. 265v) suggests the book was read at mealtimes there.
The manuscript is made up of two parts. The major part (ff. 9-267) contains 10 saints' lives and was probably written in the last quarter of the 13th century. The added first quire (ff. 1-8) contains a further 3 saints' lives, attributed to the Anglo-Norman writer and Franciscan friar Nicholas Bozon (fl c. 1320), and was probably written in the first quarter of the 14th century.
For a detailed discussion of the manuscript and its possible patron, see Russell, “The Campsey Collection of Old French Saints' Lives' (2003), pp. 51-83; Wogan-Browne, Saints' Lives and Women's Literary Culture (2001), pp. 6-11.
Contents:
f. ii recto-verso: A printed description of the manuscript from the 1903 exhibition catalogue of the library of William John Arthur Charles James Cavendish-Bentinck (b. 1879, d. 1943), 6th Duke of Portland, at Welbeck Abbey, where it was listed under the shelfmark 'I.C.1'.
f. iii recto: An added list of authors named in the manuscript, with relevant folio references.
f. iii verso: An added title for the manuscript in an 18th-century hand.
ff. 1r-4r: Nicholas Bozon, La Vie de seynte Elisabeth, a life of St Elizabeth of Hungary written in Anglo-Norman French, beginning, 'Novele rose de nostre verger / A nos se moustra avaunt her' (Dean, A Guide to Anglo-Norman Literature (1999), No. 582).
ff. 4r-5v: De seynt Panuce, a life of St Paphnutius attributed to Nicholas Bozon, written in Anglo-Norman French, beginning, 'Un seynt houm de religioun / Ke Panucius out a noun' (Dean, A Guide to Anglo-Norman Literature (1999), no. 538).
ff. 6r-8r: La vie de seint Paule le hermite, a life of St Paul the Hermit attributed to Nicholas Bozon, written in Anglo-Norman French, beginning, 'Le premer hermite ke ay trovee / Seint Pol le hermite est nomee' (Dean, A Guide to Anglo-Norman Literature (1999), no. 539).
ff. 9r-50v: Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxene, La Vie del martir [seint Thomas de Cantorbery], a life of St Thomas Becket written in Anglo-Norman French, beginning imperfectly at line 139, 'Kar por ce sufri Deus pur pechurs la mort', and featuring several alterations in a different hand (Dean, A Guide to Anglo-Norman Literature (1999), no. 508).
ff. 50v-55v: Le Romanz de sainte Marie Magdalene, a life of St Mary Magdalene attributed to a certain 'Willem' (f. 55v), possibly to be identified with Guillaume le Clerc of Normandy, and written in Anglo-Norman French, beginning, 'Apres ceo que nostre seignur / Jhesu Crist le verai salveur' (Dean, A Guide to Anglo-Norman Literature (1999), no. 579).
ff. 55v-85v: Le Romanz de saint Edward rei, a life of St Edward the Confessor written by an anonymous nun of Barking Abbey, in Anglo-Norman French, beginning, 'Al loenge le creatur/ Coment cest ovre e sa valur' (Dean, A Guide to Anglo-Norman Literature (1999), no. 523).
ff. 85v-100r: Matthew Paris, La Vie saint Eadmund le confessur, arcevesque de Ganterbire, a life of St Edmund Rich translated by Paris from his original Latin account into Anglo-Norman French, beginning, 'Ki de un sul felun ad victoire / Mut pot aver joie e gloire' (Dean, A Guide to Anglo-Norman Literature (1999), no. 521).
ff. 100v-134v: La Vie seinte Audree, noneyne de Ely, a life of St Audrey, also known as Etheldreda of Ely, attributed to a certain 'Marie' (f. 134v), and written in Anglo-Norman French, beginning, 'An bon hovre e en bon porpens / Deveroit chascun user son tens' (Dean, A Guide to Anglo-Norman Literature (1999), no. 566).
ff. 134v-147v: La Vie seinte Osith, virge e martire, a life of St Osyth written in Anglo-Norman French, beginning, 'Ceo nus mustre seinte escripture / Bon fu ki met en Deu sa cure' (Dean, A Guide to Anglo-Norman Literature (1999), no. 581).
ff. 147v-156v: Simon of Walsingham, La Vie sainte Fey, virgine e martire, a life of St Faith written in Anglo-Norman French, beginning, 'Seigniurs, vous que en Deu creez / E en la fei estes fermeez' (Dean, A Guide to Anglo-Norman Literature (1999), no. 570).
ff. 156v-222r: Le Romanz de la vie seinte Modwenne noneyne, a life of St Modwenna written in Anglo-Norman French, beginning, Oez, seigniurs, pur Deu vus pri, / Cornent le mund ke ert peri' (Dean, A Guide to Anglo-Norman Literature (1999), no. 580).
ff. 222r-244v: Pierre D'Abernon of Fetcham, La Vie seint Richard, evesque de Cycestre, a life of St Richard of Chichester written in Anglo-Norman French, beginning, 'Bon est de mettre en escrit / Verai cunte de fet et dit' (Dean, A Guide to Anglo-Norman Literature (1999), no. 545).
ff. 246r-265v. Clemence of Barking, La Vie sainte Katerine, a life of St Catherine of Alexandria written in Anglo-Norman French, beginning, 'Cil que le bien set et entent / Demustrer le deit sagement' (Dean, A Guide to Anglo-Norman Literature (1999), no. 567).
ff. 8v, 245r-v, and 266r-267v are blank.
Decoration:
6 historiated initials in colours and gold, featuring full-length portraits of some of the saints with their attributes (ff. 55v, 100v, 134v, 156v, 222r, 246r). 1 historiated initial left unfinished, with only the gold leaf applied (f. 85v).
Decorated initials in colours and gold marking the opening of some of the saints' lives. Large and small initials in red and/or blue with pen-flourishing. Rubrics in red.
The subjects of the historiated initials are as follows:
f. 55v: St Edward the Confessor.
f. 85v: St Edmund Rich.
f. 100v: St Ethelreda.
f. 134v: St Osyth.
f. 156v: St Modwenna.
f. 222r: St Richard of Chichester.
f. 246r: St Catherine of Alexandria.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Additional Manuscripts
Medieval and Renaissance Women - Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002043439
033-002044025
040-002044034 - Is part of:
- Add MS 70001-70523 : THE PORTLAND PAPERS. Papers of the Harley Family of Brampton Bryan, and of the related families of Vere, Holles, Cavendish…
Add MS 70506-70523 : I. MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS 70506-70523. PORTLAND PAPERS. Vols. DVI-DXXIII (29/16, 55-61, 240, 243, 327-333). Miscellaneous…
Add MS 70513 : Collection of metrical saints' lives in Anglo-Norman French ('The Campsey Manuscript') - Hierarchy:
- 032-002043439[0009]/033-002044025[0005]/040-002044034
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Add MS 70001-70523
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- 1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100165151697.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Anglo-Norman
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1275
- End Date:
- 1324
- Date Range:
- 4th quarter of the 13th century-1st quarter of the 14th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Material: Parchment.
Dimensions: 250 x 175 mm (written space: 175 x 130 mm), written in two columns.
Foliation: ff. iv + 267 (+ 1 unfoliated paper flyleaf at the beginning); f. i is a bookplate affixed to the inside upper cover; f. ii is a paper label affixed to f. [i] recto; f. iii-iv are paper flyleaves; ff. 266-267 are parchment flyleaves.
Remains of threads on the outer fore-edge of some folios which probably held parchment tabs that distinguished different texts (ff. 55, 76, 85, 100, 147, 156, 168, 186, 222, 246).
Catchwords.
Script: Gothic.
Binding: Post-1600. Diced leather, blind-tooled, with the Portland insignia (a crowned 'P') gold-stamped on the upper and lower covers; marbled endpapers.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
England.
Provenance:
The Augustinian Priory of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Campsey, near Woodbridge, Suffolk, owned by it and used for refectory reading in the 14th-century: inscribed in French, 'Cest livre est a covent de Campisse' (f. 1r), and, 'Ce livre de viseie a la priorie de kanpseie de lire a mengier' (f. 265v).
Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd Earl of Oxford: probably acquired by him in the early 18th century (see Russell, 'The Campsey Collection of Old French Saints' Lives' (2003), p. 56).
William John Arthur Charles James Cavendish-Bentinck (b. 1879, d. 1943), 6th Duke of Portland: his heraldic bookplate (f. i) and in the exhibition catalogue of his library at Welbeck Abbey in 1903, manuscript. I.C.1 (the catalogue description by Strong (1903), p. 5 is on a paper paste-down (f. ii recto)).
William Arthur Henry Cavendish-Bentinck (b. 1893, d. 1977), 7th Duke of Portland: loaned by him to the British Museum in 1947 as part of the Portland Loan, no 29/61.
Accepted by the nation in lieu of estate duty as part of the Portland Papers (volume 513) in 1986 and passed to the British Library in 1987.
- Information About Copies:
-
Select digital coverage available for this manuscript; see the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts, https://bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts.
- Publications:
-
Sandford Arthur Strong, A Catalogue of Letters and other Historical Documents exhibited in the Library at Welbeck (London: John Murray, 1903), pp. 5-8.
Richard Vaughan, Matthew Paris (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1958), pp. 168-78.
Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books, ed. by N. R. Ker, 2nd edn, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 3 (London: Royal Historical Society, 1964), p. 28 [listed as Welbeck Abbey, Duke of Portland I.C.1, on deposit to the British Museum].
British Library Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts, New Series 1986-1990, 2 vols (Londons: British Library, 1993), II, Descriptions, pp. 599-601.
Ruth Dean and Maureen Bolton, Anglo-Norman Literature, A Guide to Texts and Manuscripts (London: Anglo-Norman Text Society, 1999), nos. 508, 521, 523, 538, 539, 545, 566, 567, 570, 579-82.
Jocelyn Wogan-Browne, Saints' Lives and Women's Literary Culture, 1150-1300: Virginity and its Authorizations (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), pp. 6–12, 8, 70, 79, 142–43, 170–76, 171, 173, 255–56, 263–64.
June Hall McCash, 'La vie seinte Audree : A Fourth Text by Marie de France ?', Speculum, A Journal of Medieval Studies, 77 (2002), 744-77.
Delbert Russell, 'The Campsey Collection of Old French Saints' Lives', Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relative aux manuscrits, 57 (2003), 51-83.
Jocelyn Wogan-Browne, 'Powers of Record, Powers of Example: Hagiography and Women's History' in Gendering the Master Narrative: Women and Power in the Middle Ages, ed. by Mary Carpenter Erler and Maryanne Kowaleski (New York: Cornell University Press, 2003), pp. 71-94 (pp. 87-90).
Elisabeth von Thuringen: Eine Europaische Heilige, ed. by Dieter Blume and Matthias Werner, 2 vols (Petersburg: Michael Imhoff, 2007), I, Katalog, no. 289.
Virginia Blanton, Signs of Devotion: The Cult of St. Æthelthryth in Medieval England, 695-1615 (Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2007), pp. 179, 179-91, 195-201, 227-28.
Emma Campbell, Medieval Saints' Lives: The Gift, Kinship and Community in Old French Hagiography (Cambridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2008), pp. 181-204.
The Electronic Campsey Project: electronic editions of French verse saints' lives written in medieval England (Department of French Studies, University of Waterloo, Canada, updated 2010) online at: [http://margot.uwaterloo.ca/campsey/cmphome_e.html] [accessed 6.2.2014].
Sara Gorman, 'Anglo-Norman Hagiography as Institutional Historiography: Saints' Lives in Late Medieval Campsey Ash Priory', The Journal of Medieval Religious Cultures, 37.2 (2011), 110-28.
Lucy Freeman Sandler, ‘The Lumere as lais and its Readers: Pictorial Evidence from British Library MS Royal 15 D ii’, in Thresholds of Medieval Visual Culture: Liminal Spaces, ed. by Elina Gertsman and Jill Stevenson (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2012), pp. 73-94 (p. 76, no. 9).
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)