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Harley MS 2343

Record Id:

040-002048174

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002048174

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000709.0x000353

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 2343

Title:

Collection of Middle English tracts of religious instruction, including the Lord's Prayer, the Ave Maria, the Apostle's Creed, and the Ten Commandments

Scope & Content:

Contents:

f. 1r: The Lords Prayer, beginning: 'In þe name of þe fadir and of þe sone and of þe holi goost amen'.

ff. 1r-1v: The Ave Maria, beginning: 'Heil marie ful of grace'.

ff. 1v-2r: The Apostles Creed, beginning: 'I bileve into god fadir almy[g]ti make of hevene and of erþe'.

ff. 2r-12r: A biblical explanation of the Apostles Creed, beginning: 'Alle maner men and wommen schulden stidefastli bileve in oon almyȝty god'.

ff. 12r-15v: Prologue to the Ten Commandments, entitled: 'Her bigynneþ þe prolog upon þe .x. commaundementis of god þe whiche ben declarid in þe holi goost þat spekiþ in þe prophetis of crist'; beginning: 'Oure lord ihesu crist very god and very man seiþ not all þat seien to me lord . lord . schulen not entre in to þe kingdom of hevenes'.

ff. 15v-73r: Commentary on the Ten Commandments, entitled: 'Here bigynneþ þe ten commaundementis of god þe which ben writen in exodi þe .xx. c. þat ech man schulde kepe and knowe if þei wolen be saved and come to þe blis of hevene'.

ff. 73r-78v: The 'charge of of þe ten comaundementis of god'; beginning: 'For salomon seiþ / Drede god and kepe hise comaundementis'.

ff. 78v-80r: The 'ten veniauncis of egipt for brekinge of þe ten comaundemnetis'; beginning: 'For brekinge of þe first comaundement god turned alle þe waters of egipt boþe freisch and salt into blood'.

f. 80r: The Seven Deadly Sins, entitled 'þe .viij. deedly synnes'; beginning: 'Pride wraþþe and envie'.

ff. 80r-81v: The Seven Virtues against the Seven Deadly Sins, entitled: 'þe .vij. vertus þat ben remedies aȝens þe .viij. deedly synnes'; beginning: 'Iff þou have be a proud man: leve þi pride and be now meke for good mekenes is vertue aȝens pride'.

ff. 81v-82v: The Five Bodily Wits ('þe .v. bodili wittis'); beginning: 'Heringe . seynge . smellinge. tastinge . and touchinge'.

ff. 82v-83r: The Five Spiritual Wits ('þe .v. goostli wittis'); beginning: 'Mynde . resoun . undirstondinge . ymaginacioun and wil'.

ff. 83r-84v: The Seven Bodily Works of Mercy ('þe .vij. werkis of bodili merci'); beginning: 'Crist seiþ whanne he schal come at þe dai of doom . þere schal be gaderid bifore him al maner folk he schal departe hem atwine'. ff. 85r-85v: The Seven Spiritual Works of Mercy ('þe .vij. werkis of goostli merci'); beginning: 'Teche þou gladli þe good þat þo canst'.

ff. 85v-86v: The Seven Principal Vritues ('The vij. principal virtues'); beginning: 'Temperaunce or mesure þat is mesure so þi silf in etinge and drinkinge'.

ff. 86v-87v: The Eight Beatitudes ('þe .viij. blessingis of oure lord ihesu crist'); beginning: 'Jhesu seinge þe peple : wente up into a hil'.

ff. 87v-89v: The Sixteen Conditions of Charity ('þe .xvi. condiciouns of charite'); beginning: 'Iff y speke wiþ tungis of men and of aungels'.

ff. 89v-90r: The '.iiij. tokenes of salvacioun'; beginning: 'A dere frendis þe firste is to have pure and quyk devocioun to god'.

ff. 90r-90v: The '.v. wondris of seint austyn'; beginning: 'And seint austyn wondriþ on fyve þingis þat ben among þe peple in þis world'.

ff. 90v-94v: Tract on a good Christian life, beginning: 'As worldli godis wolen not be goten ne holden of a pore man'.

ff. 94v-95v: Tract on '.iiij. nedeful þingis to eche man'; beginning: 'First þat ech man muste heere þe word of god and his lawe'.

ff. 95v-96v: The Magnificat, beginning: 'Mi soule magnifie þe lord'.

f. 96v: A Latin text followed by English translation, beginning: 'Pacem sequimini et sanctimoniam cum omnibus sine qua nemo videbit Deum'.

f. 96v: A request for prayers for the scribe: 'praie for þe writer' [rubricated].

The manuscript contains an addition:

f. 2*recto: A list of biblical subjects with references , beginning 'In principio deus'; added in the 15th century.

Decoration:

Initials in red, some large, some small. Rubrics in red. Underlining in red. Paraphs in red. Manicules in brown ink added to the margins.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002048174", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 2343: Collection of Middle English tracts of religious instruction, including the Lord's Prayer, the Ave Maria, the Apostle's Creed, and the…" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002048174

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 2343 : Collection of Middle English tracts of religious instruction, including the Lord's Prayer, the Ave Maria, the Apostle's…

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[2344]/040-002048174

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

English, Middle
Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1375

End Date:

1424

Date Range:

4th quarter of the 14th century-1st quarter of the 15th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 90 x 60 mm (text space: 60 x 40 mm).

Foliation: ff. 1* + 2* + 96 (+ 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 2 unfoliated parchment flyleaves and 1 unfoliated paper fyleaf at the end); ff. 1*, 2* are parchment flyleaves.

Script: Gothic.

Collation: Indicated by catchwords.

Binding: Post-1600. 'Harleian' binding of gold-tooled red leather; marbled endpapers.

Custodial History:

Origin:

England.

Provenance:

Thomas Hamond, merchant, of Bridgewater, Somerset, (?) 16th century: his name inscribed on f. 1*verso: 'Thomas Hamond of Brydgewater yn the countye of Somersete marchant' (not in Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972)).

Richard Davis of Oxford, stationer, son of William Davis, owned until 1667: note recording his sale of the manuscript to W. R. in 1667 on f. 1*recto: 'Emi a Ric. Davis, Oxon, Julii 4to An[n]o D[omi]ni 1667. W. R.' (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), pp. 125-126).

W. R. (unidentified owner), owned in 1667: his initials inscribed on f. 157v (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 280).

John Bagford (b. 1650/51, d. 1716), bookseller and antiquary, owned in 1715: sold to Harley on 26 June 1715, according to the Diary of Humfrey Wanley: 'My Lord Harley brought in, a very small Theological MS. in old English; bought of Mr Bagford' (see Diary, ed. by Wright and Wright (1966), I, p. 13 n. 3; Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 59).

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, inscribed as usual by their librarian, Humfrey Wanley ‘26 Junii 1715' (f. 1*recto).

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.

Publications:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), II (1808), p. 660 (no. 2343).

James H. Morey, Book and Verse: A Guide to Middle English Biblical Literature (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2000), pp. 196, 300, 309.

The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by Cyril Ernest Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), I: 1715-1723, p. 13 n. 3.

Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 59, 125-36, 280.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Places:

England