Hard-coded id of currently selected item: . JSON version of its record is available from Blacklight on e.g. ??
Metadata associated with selected item should appear here...
Harley MS 2255
- Record Id:
- 040-002048086
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002048086
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000709.0x0002fb
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100161514369.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 2255
- Title:
- A collection of poems by John Lydgate
- Scope & Content:
-
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 authorship remains disputed: the latter, at least, has been claimed for Lydgate by its colophon (McCracken, The Lydgate Canon (1908); Pearsall, John Lydgate (1970), who accepts Lydgate's authorship). Each poem begins with a large initial and most end with a marginal 'explicit' or, in some cases, colophon attributing the poem to Lydgate.
Contents:
ff. 1r-3r: John Lydgate, Consulo quisque eris, beginning: ‘I Conseyl what so euyr thou beOff policye forsight and prudence’ [see NIMEV 1294; DIMEV 2156-7].
ff. 3v-5v: John Lydgate, Midsomer Rose, beginning: ‘LAt noman booste of konnyng nor vertu / Of tresour richesse nor of Sapience’ [see NIMEV 1865; DIMEV 3058-6].
f. 6r: John Lydgate, A dyte of womenhis hornys, beginning: ‘kynde wrought them with so grete diligence / Theyr beaute to shewe though hornes were away’ [see NIMEV 2625; DIMEV 4169-9].
ff. 7v-11v: John Lydgate, Look in thy merour and deeme noon othir wiht, beginning: ‘TOward the Ende of ffroosty Ianuarye / Whan watry Phebus had his purpoos take’ [see NIMEV 3978; DIMEV 6059-5].
ff. 12r-14r: John Lydgate, Song of Vertu, beginning: ‘As of hony men gadren out swetnesse / Of wyn and spices is maad good ypocras’ [see NIMEV 401; DIMEV 663-7].
ff. 14r-17r: John Lydgate, On the Mutability of Man’s Nature due to the Seasons, the Elements, the Complexions, and the Planets, beginning: ‘The world so wyd the hair so remevableThe celyman so litel of Stature’ [see NIMEV 3503; DIMEV 5533-6].
ff. 17r-21r: John Lydgate, Misericordias Domini in Eternum Cantabo, beginning: ‘Alle goostly songis & ympnes that be songe / Of Oold and newe remembrid in Scripture’ [see NIMEV 178; DIMEV 325-3].
ff. 21r-24*recto: John Lydgate, A Praise of Peace, beginning: ‘MErcy and trouthe mette on an hih mounteyn / Briht as the sonne with his beemys cleer’ [see NIMEV 2156; DIMEV 3479-3].
ff. 24*recto-32v: John Lydgate, Legend of St Austin at Compton, beginning: ‘Lyk as the Bible makith mencioun / The Original ground of devout offryng’ [see NIMEV 1875; DIMEV 3085-2].
ff. 32v-39v: John Lydgate, Exposition of the Pater Noster, beginning: ‘Atwixe dreed and tremblyng reuerence / Astonyd I am for feer dar not beholde’ [see NIMEV 448; DIMEV 729-3]
ff. 40r-43v: John Lydgate, De Profundis, beginning: ‘HAvyng a conceyt in my symple wit / Which of newe is come to memorye’ [see NIMEV 1130; DIMEV 1816-3].
ff. 43v-45v: John Lydgate, A song of Thanksgiving, beginning: ‘Te deum laudamus to the lord sovereyne / We creaturys knowlech the as creatoure’ [see NIMEV 3261; DIMEV 5119-1].
ff. 45v-47r: John Lydgate, Letter to Gloucester for money, beginning: ‘RIght myhty prynce and it be your wille / Condescende leiser for to take’ [see NIMEV 2825; DIMEV 4500-4].
ff. 47r-66v: John Lydgate, Testament, beginning: ‘O how holsom and glad is the memorye / Of crist ihu surmountyng al swetnesse’ [see NIMEV 2464; DIMEV 3937-10].
ff. 66v-70v: John Lydgate, A lamentacioun of our lady Maria, beginning: ‘Who shal give vnto myn heed a welle / Of bittir teerys my sorwes to compleyne [see NIMEV 4099; IMEV 6561-5].
ff. 70r-71v: John Lydgate, Prayers to Ten Saints, beginning: ‘BLissyd denys of Atheyns cheef sonne / Sterre of grece charboncle of þat contre’ [see NIMEV 529; DIMEV 863-4].
ff. 72r-88r: John Lydgate, Fabula duorum mercatorum, beginning: ‘IN Egipt whilom as I reede and fyndether dwellyd a marchaunt of hih & gret estat’ [see NIMEV 1481; DIMEV 2490-5].
ff. 88r-93v: John Lydgate, Fifteen Joys and Sorrows of Our Lady, beginning: ‘Atween mydnyght and the fressh morwe gray / Nat yore ago in herte ful pensiff’ [see NIMEV 447; DIMEV 843-7].
ff. 93v-95v: John Lydgate, The Fall of Princes [extract], beginning: ‘Myn auctour now Bochas writ no lenger processe / Of Iulius deth compleynyng but a whyle’ [see NIMEV 1168; DIMEV 1904-25].
ff. 95v-103r: John Lydgate, Life of St Giles, beginning: ‘Off Agamenoun vnder the large Empireborn in Athenys of grekys Roial lyne’ [see NIMEV 2606; DIMEV 4129-2].
ff. 103r-103v: John Lydgate, Stella Celi extirpauit, beginning: ‘Thu heuenly queen of grace our lood sterre / With thy chast mylk plentevous of plesaunce’ [see NIMEV 3673; DIMEV 5826-4].
ff. 104r-105r: John Lydgate, Fifteen O’s of Christ, beginning: ‘O Blyssid lord my lord O crist ihu / Welle and hedspryng of eternal swetnesse’ [see NIMEV 2394; DIMEV 3843-6].
ff. 111r-111v: John Lydgate, Why artow froward sith I am mercyable?, beginning: ‘Upon a cros nayled I was for theSuffryd deth to pay thy raunsoun [see DIMEV 6132-12; NIMEV 3845].
ff. 111v-113v: John Lydgate, Verses On the Five Joys addressed to the Virgin Mary, beginning: ‘Queen of heuene of helle Eek emperesse / lady of this world O verray lood sterre’ [see NIMEV 2791; DIMEV 4431-9].
f. 113v: John Lydgate, On Kissing at ‘Verbum caro factum est’, beginning: ‘YE devout peeple which keepe an observaunce / Meekly in chirche to kisse stoon or tre’ [see NIMEV 4245; DIMEV 6819-10].
ff. 114r-115r: John Lydgate, A prayer to St Leonard, beginning: ‘ BEste and Refuge to folk disconsolatffadir of pite and consolacioun’ [see NIMEV 2812; DIMEV 4470-4].
f. 115r: De tribus Virginibus Katerina Margareta & Magdalena, beginning: ‘Kateryne with glorious Margaretethat be virgines and martirs both tweyne’ [see NIMEV 1814; DIMEV 2984-2].
f. 116r: John Lydgate, Prayer to British Saints, beginning: ‘YE Bryton martirs famous in parfitnesseOf herte avowyd in your tendir Age’ [see NIMEV 4243; DIMEV 6816-4].
f. 116v: John Lydgate (?), A prayer to St Ositha, beginning: ‘Hail holy Ositha maid of great virtue’ [see NIMEV 1050; DIMEV 1719-2].
f. 117r: John Lydgate (?), The Fifftene Tokyns aforn the Doom, beginning: ‘As the doctour Sanctus Ieronimus / Which that knew by inspiracioun’ [see NIMEV 408; DIMEV 677-1].
f. 118v: They That No While Endure, beginning: ‘This wyde woourld is so large of spaceNo man hath poweer it holly to restreyne [see NIMEV 3647; DIMEV 5778-1].
ff. 120r-126r: John Lydgate, Letabundus, beginning: ‘Ground take in virtue by patriarchs old’ [see NIMEV 1019; DIMEV 1671-3].
ff. 126v-128v: Experience shewith the wourld is varyable, beginning: ‘TOward Aurora in the monyth of decembre / Walkyng alloone in contemplacioun’ [see NIMEV 3797; DIMEV 6058-1].
ff. 128v-131r: John Lydgate (?), Timor mortis conturbat me, beginning: ‘So as I lay this othir nyght / In my bed tournyng vp so doun’ [see NIMEV 3160; DIMEV 4929-1].
ff. 131v-135r: John Lydgate (?), Verses advising to guard your tongue, beginning: ‘SVm man goth stille of wysdam & resound / A forn provided can kepe weel scilence’ [see NIMEV 3173; DIMEV 4962-1].
ff. 135r-139v: John Lydgate, Gloriosa Dicta sunt de Te, beginning: ‘On hooly hillys moost famous of Renoun / Reysed on heyghte from the Valeys lowe’ [see NIMEV 2688; DIMEV 4271-3].
ff. 140r-141v: John Lydgate, Ave Iesse Virgula [extract], beginning: ‘Hail blessed Lady the Mother of Christ Jesu’ [see NIMEV 1037; DIMEV 1698-4].
ff. 142r-143r: John Lydgate, Benedictus deus in donis suis, beginning: ‘God departeth His gifts diversely’ [see NIMEV 943; DIMEV 1552-2].
ff. 143v-146v: John Lydgate, Mesour is Tresour, beginning: ‘Men wryte of Oold how mesour is tresour / And of al grace ground moost principall’ [see NIMEV 2152; DIMEV 3473-1].
f. 146v: John Lydgate, Deus in Nomine Tuo saluum me Fac, beginning: ‘God in Thy name make me safe and sound’ [see DIMEV 1563-5].
f. 148r: John Lydgate, God is myn Helpere, beginning: ‘God is mine helper and ay shall be’ [see NIMEV 953; DIMEV 1565-1].
ff. 150v-153r: Benedicta sit sancta Trinitas, beginning: ‘UNdir a park ful prudently pyght / A perillous path men passyd by’; Imperfect at the end due to the loss of one leaf is missing after f. 151 [see NIMEV 3821; DIMEV 6100-1].
ff. 152r-153r : John Lydgate, A prayer to St Edmund, beginning: ‘Our helpe our socour our mediatour moost cheef / As thou art kyng and Prince of this Cuntre’ ; Imperfect at the beginning due to the loss of one leaf is missing after f. 151 [see NIMEV 915; DIMEV 1520-3].
ff. 153v-156v: A Satirical Description of his Lady, beginning: ‘My fayr lady so fressh of hewe / Good thryft come to your goodly face’ [see NIMEV 2237; DIMEV 3594-1].
f. 157r: John Lydgate, Verses urging that thieving Millers and Bakers be put in the Pillory, ‘beginning: ‘Put out his hed lyst nat for to dare / but lyk a man vpon that tour to abyde’; imperfect at the beginning due to the loss of one leaf after f. 156 [see NIMEV 2786; DIMEV 4426-1].
Decoration:
Historiated initial with the arms of Bury St Edmunds (with three crowns on an azure ground) and foliate feathering extending into the margins (f. 1r). Initials in colours and gold with foliate feathering extending into the margins. Paraphs in gold with pink pen-flourishing (or brown on f. 47v, or blue (f. 112r) and occasionally, green flourishing (ff. 8v [with a bird], 13v, 23v, 24r, 45v, 104v, 111v), or in blue with red pen-flourishing (with blue on f. 108v), or only in green (ff. 112r-157r). The 'champ' initials and flourished paraphs are executed by a different hand from f. 112r to f. 157r. Underlining in red throughout.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002048086", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 2255: A collection of poems by John Lydgate" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002048086 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 2255 : A collection of poems by John Lydgate - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[2257]/040-002048086
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100161514369.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- English, Middle
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1455
- End Date:
- 1475
- Date Range:
- c 1460-c 1470
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
Please request the physical items you need using the online collection item request form.
Digitised items can be viewed online by clicking the thumbnail image or digitised content link.
Readers who have registered or renewed their pass since 21 March 2024 can request physical items prior to visiting the Library by completing
this request form.
Please enter the Reference (shelfmark) above on the request form.If your Reader Pass was issued before this date, you will need to visit the Library in London or Yorkshire to renew it before you can request items online. All manuscripts and archives must be consulted at the Library in London.
This catalogue record may describe a collection of items which cannot all be requested together. Please use the hierarchy viewer to navigate to individual items. Some items may be in use or restricted for other reasons. If you would like to check the availability, contact our Reference Services team, quoting the Reference (shelfmark) above.
- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 270 x 200 mm (text space: 190 x 110 mm).
Foliation: ff. 157 + 24* (+ 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 3 at the end); f. 24* is a parchment leaf after f. 24 that had been omitted from the initial foliation.
Collation: Mainly in quires of 8; leaf signatures and catchwords.
Script: Gothic cursive.
Binding: British Museum in-house.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: ? The Benedictine abbey of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.
Provenance:
? The Benedictine abbey of St Edmund, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, 15th century: its arms (azure three imperial crowns or two and one) in an initial on f. 1r (see Reimer and Farvolden, 'Of Arms and the Manuscript’ (2005)). The manuscript may be (either in part or entirely) the work of the 'Edmund-Fremund scribe' (see Scott, 'Lydgate's Lives of Saints Edmund and Fremund’(1982)).
‘Francis’, owned in the 15th or 16th century: inscribed his name on f. 109r: ‘ffrancys’.
The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts.
Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta Cavendish, née Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d.1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library.
- Information About Copies:
-
Select digital coverage available for this manuscript; see Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/welcome.htm.
- Publications:
-
Carleton Brown and Rossell Hope Robbins, The Index of Middle English Verse (New York: Columbia, 1943), nos. 178, 401, 408, 447, 448, 529, 915, 943, 951, 953, 1019, 1037, 1050, 1130, 1168, 1294, 1481, 1814, 1865, 1875, 2152, 2156, 2237, 2394, 2464, 2606, 2625, 2688, 2786, 2791, 2812, 2825, 3160, 3173, 3261, 3503, 3647, 3673, 3797, 3798, 3821, 3845, 4099, 4243, 4245.
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-1812), II (1808), pp. 592-94 (no. 2255).
DIMEV = 'London, British Library Harley 2255', The Digital Index of Middle English Verse < https://www.dimev.net/Records.php?MSS=BLHar2255 >, accessed 2 September 2019.
Pamela Farvolden, 'A Critical Edition of John Lydgate's Fabula Duorum Mercatorum' (unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Alberta, 1993), pp. 34-37.
Joseph Grossi, 'Cloistered Lydgate, Commercial Scribe: British Library Harley 2255 Revisited', Mediaeval Studies, 72 (2010), 313-61.
Joseph Grossi, '"Wher ioye is ay lastying": John Lydgate's Contemptus Mundi in British Library Manuscript Harley 2255', Leeds Studies in English, 36 (2005), 303-34.
English Verse Between Chaucer and Surrey, ed. by Eleanor Hammond (Durham: [Duke University Publications], 1927), p. 79.
Eleanor Hammond, 'Two British Museum Manuscripts (Harley 2251 and 34360): A Contribution to the Bibliography of John Lydgate', Anglia, 28 (1905), 1-28 (pp. 24-25).
Eleanor Hammond, Review of H. N. MacCracken's essay on 'The Lydgate Canon', Beiblatt zur Anglia, 24 (1913), 140-45 (p. 142).
Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books ed. by N. R. Ker, Supplement to the Second Edition, ed. by Andrew G. Watson, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 15 (London: The Royal Historical Society, 1987), p. 7 [rejects Bury provenance].
Henry Noble McCracken, The Lydgate Canon. Appendix to the Philological Society's Transactions 1907-1909 (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & co. for the Philological Society, 1908), pp. iii-xlvi (pp. x, xii, xiii, xiv, xvi-xxiv, xxvi-xxviii, etc.).
Henry Noble McCracken, Minor Poems of John Lydgate, Early English Text Society, Extra Series, 107 (London: 1911 [for 1910]), pp. v-lviii.
Linne R. Mooney, 'John Shirley's Heirs', The Yearbook of English Studies, 33 (2003), 182-98 (pp. 183, 197).
Samuel Moore, 'Patrons of Letters in Norfolk and Suffolk c. 1450', Proceedings of the Modern Language Association of America, 27 (1912), p. 207.
NIMEV = Julia Boffey and A. S. G. Edwards, A New Index of Middle English Verse (London: British Library, 2005), nos. 178, 401, 408, 447, 448, 529, 915, 943, 951, 953, 1019, 1037, 1050, 1130, 1168, 1294, 1481, 1814, 1865, 1875, 2152, 2156, 2237, 2394, 2464, 2606, 2625, 2688, 2786, 2791, 2812, 2825, 3160, 3173, 3261, 3503, 3647, 3673, 3797, 3798, 3821, 3845, 4099, 4243, 4245.
Derek Pearsall, John Lydgate (London: Routledge, 1970), p. 77.
Derek Pearsall, John Lydgate (1371-1449): A Bio-Bibliography, English Literary Studies Monograph Series, 71 (Victoria: University of Victoria, 1997), p. 82.
Stephen R. Reimer and Pamela Farvolden, 'Of Arms and the Manuscript: The Date and Provenance of Harley 2255', Journal of the Early Book Society for the Study of Manuscripts and Printing History, 8 (2005), 239-60.
Jane Roberts, Guide to Scripts used in English Writings up to 1500 (London: British Library, 2005), p. 164, pl. 49.
Kathleen L. Scott, 'Lydgate's Lives of Saints Edmund and Fremund: a Newly-Located Manuscript in Arundel Castle', Viator: Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 13 (1982), 335-66 (pp. 343 n. 33, 345).
John Lydgate: Saint Austin at Compton, ed. by E. Gordon Whatley, Anne B. Thompson, and Robert K. Upchurch (Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, 2004).
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)