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Harley MS 2383
- Record Id:
- 040-002048214
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002048214
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000709.0x00037b
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 2383
- Title:
-
English theological miscellany
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
ff. 1r-15r: Speculum Sacerdotis (Speculum Edwardi), imperfect at the beginning; ending ‘Explicit speculum Edwardi quod Simon Smyht [sic] et inde testimonium peribet [sic] dominus iohannes mydwyntyr’.
ff. 15v-24v: Liber Bonitatis, beginning ‘Sacerdos dicit Domine labia Deus in adiutorium’.
ff. 24v-25v: An instruction for priests how to comfort the dying in Middle English prose; beginning ‘To comfort a man or a woman yn her laste ende a preste schulde seyȝe thys’.
ff. 25v-29v: Johannes Mydwynter, Middle English poem on how to win the joy of Heaven, beginning ‘Man in heyn hyt ys mery to dwell’.
ff. 29v-30r: Johannes Mydwynter, Middle English poem on helping souls in Purgatory, beginning ‘Man þenke here on ofte tyme’; signed ‘Mydwyntir’.
f. 30r: A note in Latin verse about the sacerdotal office, beginning ‘Sacerdos debet esse sanctus a peccatis segregatus’.
ff. 30v-40v: A catechetical manual in Latin; ending with a tract on countering sins, beginning 'Hec sunt sacramenta precepta rectoribus ecclesiarum a domino papa transmissa'.
ff. 41r-41v: A list of deadly sins and sinful acts for priests, and ways to counter or avoid these, beginning ‘Contra Superbia: Opera humilitatis ut visitare infirmos et pauperes et incarceratos’.
f. 42r: A list of expenses made at the feast of the Assumption in the year 1484, with reference to Bedford, beginning ‘Incipit expense mee a festo assumptio Anno domini 1484’.
f. 42v: Notes on indulgences offered for the Mass of the Holy Name, beginning ‘[Q]uicumque hanc missam in nomine jhesu omne genu flectatur celebravit devote et celebrari fecerit per triginta dies’.
f. 42v: A short note in Latin listing the Ten Commandments, beginning ‘Decem sunt praecepta’.
f. 42v: A short note in Latin on the senses: ‘Omnique sensus homini: gustus olfactus auditus visus et tactus’.
f. 42v: A short notes on the Seven Works of Mercy, beginning ‘Septem opera misericordiae’.
f. 43r: A short note in Latin on the liturgy during Easter.
ff. 43r-43v: Constitutions of tithes of Pope Boniface in Middle English prose, beginning ‘Constitucions of pope boneface and hys cardinallys by John stratford byshope canterbery’.
ff. 43v-45r: Sentence of Cursing in Middle English prose, beginning 'Clerkys seyn þat a chyld before hyt ys baptyzyde hyt haþ a wykyd spyryt'.
ff. 45r-45v: A Latin tract, beginning ‘Auctoritate Dei patris omnipotentis, et filii et spiritus sancti’; ending ‘quod symon smyth Anno domini m cccc i’.
f. 45v: A short Latin note, beginning ‘Nota quod ter lacrimatus est Christus’.
ff. 46r-54r: Another Sentence of Cursing in Middle English prose, beginning ‘[F]rendis hyt ys ordeyn bi the faders of holy cherch þat every curat shuld shew among hys parisshoners .iiij. tymys in the yere the Articulis that byth wryten in the generall sentence that is for to say the poyntys þat longith to þe grett curs’; with on f. 51r: a note on the payment of tithes, referring to John de Stratford, Archbishop of Canterbury; beginning ‘Of norysshyng of all maner bestes of all coltis of calvys of lambe of piggys of gees of duckes of chekenys of pekockys of pigeons’.
f. 54r: A Latin note on fasting and abstinence, partially citing Jacobus de Voragine’s Sermones Aurei.
ff. 54v-56v: A treatise on the pope’s power to excommunicate in Middle English prose, beginning ‘That þe pope with oþer prelatis of holy cherch have power to make dyvers lawes to þe edificacyon of holy cherch and to curse hem þat breke hem’.
ff. 57r-60r: A form of general confession in Middle English prose, beginning 'Y knowlyche to god And to my gosty fadyr þat y have synnyd'.
ff. 60v-61r: A tract on Communion in Middle English prose, beginning ‘[G]ood men and women y charge yow by the auctoryte of holy churche þat no man noþer woman þat þis day proposyth here to be comenyd’.
f. 61r: A Latin prayer, beginning ‘[D]ominus noster Jhesus Christus pro sua magna nomina et pietate absoluat vos’.
ff. 61r-63v: A tract on the twelve articles of faith, Ten Commandments, and the two precepts, in Middle English prose, beginning ‘[B]y þe Auctoryte of owr lord Jhesu criste and ordynaunce of holy churche and holy doctores all men havyng cure of sowle’.
ff. 63v-64v: A Latin text on the petitions of the Pater Noster, beginning ‘[P]ater noster qui es in celis : Sic extra omnis qui clamat patrem in celis ut filius debet esse’.
ff. 65r-78v: Richard of Lavenham, Litil Tretys on the Seven Deadly Sins; ending ‘Quod Johannes Mydwyntyr’ and (?) approved by ‘Simonis Smyh[t]’.
ff. 78v-79r: Latin note on the three spiritual enemies, beginning ‘Nota quod tres sunt
spirituales hostes qui nos temptant’; signed ‘Quod mydwyntyr’.
ff. 79v-81v: A sermon for Septuagesima in Middle English.
ff. 81v-85v: A sermon for Quinquagesima in Middle English.
ff. 85v-88v: A sermon for Ash Wednesday in Middle English.
ff. 88v-90r: A sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Lent in Middle English.
f. 90r: A sermon for Lent in Middle English prose, ending imperfectly.
ff. 92r-92v: A Latin tract on the petitions of the Pater Noster.
ff. 93v-93r: A latin note on the clause ‘Deus qui tam excellenti’ in the Rite of Marriage.
The manuscript contains a few later additions:
f. 90v: A note on the Pharisees in Latin and Middle English, added in the 16th century.
f. 91v: Biblical notes in Middle English, added in the 16th century.
f. 93v: Latin and English notes, added in the 16th century.
Decoration:
Small red initials.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002048214", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 2383: English theological miscellany" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002048214 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 2383 : English theological miscellany - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[2384]/040-002048214
- 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:
- 1450
- End Date:
- 1499
- Date Range:
- 2nd half of the 15th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Paper.
Dimensions: 215 x 155 mm.
Foliation: ff. 1* + 93 (+ 5 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 4 at the end); 2 unfoliated paper fragments on mounted on paper leaves between f. [iv] and f. 1*; f. 1* is another paper fragment mounted on a paper leaf; 1 unfoliated paper pastedown on f. [iv]recto (bibliographical notes); all quires have been mounted onto paper guards.
Script: Gothic cursive.
Binding: Post-1600. British Museum in-house: re-bound on 18 July 1968; the previous binding (gold-tooled and blind-stamped brown leather) has been pasted on the insides of the upper and lower covers.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
England.
Provenance:
‘Johannes Mydwynter’ and ‘Simon Smyht’, wrote a large part of the manuscript: their names in colophons throughout the manuscript; see ff. 15r, 30r, 45v, 78v, and 79r.
Robert Burscough (b. 1650/51, d. 1709), Prebendary of Exeter; Archdeacon of Barnstaple: Harley purchased the manuscript from him through his widow in 1715 (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 88).
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 ‘17 Maij 1715’ (f. 1r).
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), pp. 675-76.
Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), p. 407.
Julia Boffey and A. S. G. Edwards, A New Index of Middle English Verse (London: The British Library, 2005), nos 461.22/2, 621.5/9, 879.5/9, 2063/1, 2079/1, 4110.5/15.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)