Harley MS 2385

This manuscript comprises five different parts that were produced separately in England.

Part 1 (ff. 2r-8v) was written in the first half of the 15th century.

Part 2 (ff. 11r-25v) was written around the mid or in the second half of the 15th century.

Parts 3 (ff. 26r-31v) and 4 (ff. 32r-36v) were written in the 2nd half of the 13th century.

Part 5 (ff. 38r-70v) was written in the early 14th century.

The manuscript contains a ghost story (ff. 65v-66r) about a girl named Cecilia who died and reappeared to her lover, a clerk, to request masses from him for her soul's release from Purgatory, guiding him to a hidden strand of her hair that would turn white as a sign of her salvation. This exemplum is edited and discussed with other copies in Royal MS 7 D I and the Speculum laicorum, and a longer version in London, Lambeth Place Library, MS 1213 in Schmidt, 'Die Erscheinung der toten Geliebten' (1976). A modern English translation of the longer version, without this manuscript, can be found in Easting, 'A Medieval Ghost Story' (2007). Neither of these publications mention a previously unidentified copy of the longer version in Cotton MS Fragments XXXII/10 [formerly Cotton MS Appendix XLV] that suggests that this ghost story continued to be copied in the 15th century. Both copies of the longer version are missing the narrative's opening which explains the precise relationship between Cecilia and the clerk. The exemplum in this manuscript clarifies that Cecilia and the clerk were not just lovers, but married each other while she was on her deathbed.

Contents:

Part 1:

ff. 2r-3r: Commentary on the Pater Noster in Middle English.

ff. 3r-5r: Seven Heresies against the Lord's Prayer in Middle English, with the heading: 'Here be seven heresies aftir con[tri]vyd of false prestis aȝen þe pater noster', attributed to 'Wyclyf'.

ff. 5r-5v: A Commentary on the Ave Maria in Middle English, attributed to John Wycliffe ('ut patet per Wyclif').

ff. 5v-6v: Gospel Commentary on Matthew 32:37 in Middle English, attributed to 'Wyclif'.

f. 6v: Gospel Commentary on John 19:30 in Middle English; imperfect at the end, attributed to 'Wyclif'.

ff. 7r-8v: Commentary on the Three Cardinal Virtues in Middle English, imperfect at the beginning and end.

This part contains an addition:

ff. 1r-1v, 9r-9v: A bifolium with a Latin legal tract on theft, rape, and oaths; the probably used as flyleaves for ff. 2-8; written in the 14th century.

Part 2:

ff. 11r-13v: Tables of lections for Sundays and saints' days.

ff. 14r-16v: A sermon on the Ten commandments; ending with the colophon: 'Scriptum per fratrem Johannem Englys'.

ff. 17r-19v: A Sermon on Galatians 4:30, beginning: 'Reverendi mei, tria solent eicere homines a se. Primum est evyl company'.

f. 19v: A list of the Seven Deadly Sins and their biblical instances; with the colophon: 'Quod frater Johannes Englys ordinis praedicatorum'.

ff. 20r-25v: Sermons on Luke 1:28, Ecclesiastes 24:16, imperfect at the end.

This part contains an addition:

ff. 10-10v: A leaf with Latin sermons, including sermons for the Lenten Fast, Quadragesima Sunday, and Palm Sunday; written in the 14th century.

Part 3:

ff. 26r-31v: Latin sermons for Sundays and festivals.

Part 4:

ff. 32r-36v: Richard of Saint-Victor, Epistola ad Severinum de Caritate (‘Tractacio fratris Ivonis de caritate ad severinum suppriorem sancti Dionisii’).

ff. 36v-37v: Vita Secundi philosophi, imperfect at the end.

Part 5:

ff. 38r-70v: Collection of miracles and exempla, including miracles of St Thomas Becket and the Virgin Mary, an account of King Oswald's almsgiving hand that remained uncorrupted after his death (from Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People); the Vision of Dryhthelm; a miraculous healing of a servant of Fountains Abbey; a Vision of Judgment Day at Cambridge ['The Vision of Bartholomew de Grimestune' in Royal MS 7 D I]. For a full list of contents of this collection, see Ward and Herbert, Catalogue of Romances, III (1910), pp. 521-28.

Decoration:

Part 1:

Large (3-line) red initials in frames of blue penwork decoration and pen-flourishing. Paraphs in red.

Part 2:

No decoration.

Part 3:

Large (2-line) plain red initials. Rubrics in red.

Part 4:

Large (2-line) plain red initials. Capitals highlighted in red. Paraphs in red. Rubrics in red.

Part 5:

Large (2-line) initials in blue and red in frames of penwork decoration with pen-flourishing in the opposite colour. Capitals highlighted in red. Rubrics in red.