Harley MS 2373

This manuscript contains one of seventeen extant medieval copies of The Cloud of Unknowing, a guide on contemplative prayer and meditation from the second half of the 14th century. It contains five other works by the author of The Cloud of Unknowing: The Epistle of Discretion of Stirrings, Treatise of Discretion of Spirits, Epistle of Prayer, Benjamin Minor, and Book of Privy Counselling. As an opera omnia of the author, the manuscript is surpassed by only two other manuscripts that contain the only other known work by this author, Denis Hid Divinity (these are Harley MS 674 and Cambridge, University Library, MS Kk.vi.26).

Contents:

ff. 1r-5r: The Epistle of Discretion of Stirrings ('A pistyll of discrescioun in stiringes').

ff. 5r-8v: The Treatise of Discretion of Spirits ('A pystyll of discrecioun in knowenge of spirites').

ff. 8v-12v: The Epistle of Prayer ('A pistyll of prayer').

ff. 12v-13v: A Middle English sermon entitled: 'How mans soule is made to þe ymage and þe lyknes of þe holy trinite', beginning: 'Nolie conformari huis saeculo'.

ff. 13v-22v: Benjamin Minor ('A tretyse of þe studye of Wysdome þat men clepen Beniamin').

f. 23r: Prayer ('Oracio'), beginning: 'God unto whome alle hertes bene opene. and unto whome alle wylle spekeþ. and unto whome no prive þing is hyd. I beseche þe for to clence þe entent of myne hert'.

ff. 23r-23v: Prologue to The Cloud of Unknowing ('A prolog of a boke of contemplacion þat next folowes')

ff. 23v-62v: The Cloud of Unknowing ('A boke of contemplacion . þe whyche is cleped þe cloude of unknowyng . in þe qwiche a soule is ooned with god. in spirit and in ane concordance of wylle').

ff. 63r-80v: The Book of Privy Counselling ('A tretyse of prive counseile').

The manuscript contains later additions:

Marginal annotations in Latin and English in 15th-, 16th- and 17th-century hands throughout.

Decoration:

Full-page diagrams of the Old Testament patriarch Jacob, his wives, their maidens, and all their children, and the Tree of Vices ('Arbor viciorum') in colours (ff. 14v, 22v). 2 large (6-line) puzzle initials in blue and red inside frames of red penwork decoration and with pen-flourishing in red ink (ff. 15r, 23r). Large (2-line) blue initials in frames of red penwork decoration and with pen-flourishing in red ink. Small (1-line) plain red initials. Capitals highlighted in red. Rubrics in red. Paraphs in red. Underlining in red.