Harley MS 7322

Contents:

ff. 1*verso-2*verso: Latin sermons.

ff. 1r-12v: A collection of theological excerpts attributed to Augustine of Hippo; Bernard of Clairvaux; Bede the Venerable; Isidore of Seville; Jerome; Ambrose; Caesarius of Arles; Gregory the Great; Origen; John Chrysostom; and Seneca. Beginning ‘Tria sunt martyrii genera sine effusione sanguinis’; featuring Middle English poems on f. 7r (Meditation on the Passion [IMEV 4107], beginning ‘Ho þat siþ him on þe rode'), f. 7v (The Signs of Death [IMEV 4033], beginning ‘Whanne þe ffet coldet?'); and f. 8r (Three Sorrowful Things [IMEV 1615], beginning 'Hit beoþ þreo tymes on þo day').

ff. 13r-132v: A collection of moralized tales, intersected with moral discourses, attributed to Solinus, Hélinand of Froidmont, Cassiodorus, Ovid, Isidore of Seville, 'Trimegistus', Pliny, Seneca, Cicero, Bede the Venerable, Valerius Maximus, Boethius, ‘Jorath [Iorak] in libro de animalibus’, Aulus Gellius, Macrobius, Seneca, Claudian, Pompey Trogue, Remigius of Auxerre, William of Malmesbury, Martinus Polonus, Solinus, Alexander Neckam, Aristotle, Augustine of Hippo, Gildas, Jerome, beginning 'Leges erant antiquitus tales'; featuring French verse on f. 76v; and sentences in Middle English prose and verse. English poems feature on f. 42v (Two couplets in a Latin exemplum [IMEV 3646], beginning 'Þis water þis lyoun dragoun also dreden me so sore'); f. 45v (Couplet translating 'Nupcie moriar quia nubere dulce est' [IMEV 827.5]); f. 64r (The Reply of the Oracle on the Sins of the Time [IMEV 4273], beginning 'Ȝissinge and glosinge'); f 79r (The Vicissitudes of Life [IMEV 1822], beginning ‘Kinge I sitte and loke aboute’); f. 91v (Sentences on the Four Philosophers [IMEV 2167], beginning ‘Might is right'); f 103v (Curse Caused by Adam's Sin [IMEV 4208], beginning ‘Wiþ wo & drede i am born'); f. 121r (Description of a dying person [IMEV 187], beginning 'Alle his frendes he shal beo loþ'); f. 121v (Covetous Man [IMEV 2695], beginning 'On hit is and ne haueþ noþer'); f. 124v (Qualities of Death [IMEV 3325], beginning ‘Þo dedtur so is fals and falende').

ff. 133r-150r: A collection of theological excerpts, beginning ‘Ecce nemo cito’; featuring Middle English prose and verse; English poems on f. 133v (Christ Comes as a Champion [IMEV 2382], beginning ‘Nou ȝe alle beo glad and bliþe'); f. 134r (Learn Love from Christ's Sufferings [IMEV 502], beginning ‘Biholt þou man wiþ routhful herte'); f. 143v (Christ Child Shivering with Cold [IMEV 1847], beginning ‘Leorne to loue as ich loue þe'); f. 136v (Eve, Mary and Paradise [IMEV 3357], beginning ‘Þe ȝates of paradis þoruth eue weren iloken'); f. 136v (Vanity of this World [IMEV 3411], beginning ‘Þe lif of þis world'); f. 138v (Man Made God's Brother [IMEV 3644], beginning ‘Þis time man haþ ouercome þe fend and robbed helle'); f. 139v ('In die bonorum non immemor sis malorum' [IMEV 1585], beginning 'Yn time of wele þenke on þi wo For þe wele of þis world wole sone go'); f. 140v (The Four Evils of Pride [IMEV 1217], beginning ‘Hey privetȝ gritliche'); f. 141v (Humility [IMEV 101], beginning ‘A tokne of godes loviinge'); f. 143v (Envy [IMEV 3506], beginning 'Roteþ and brenneþ'); f. 145r (Anagram to L.O.V.E [IMEV 1634], beginning 'Hit is lawe þat failleþ noth'); f. 145r (Evils of this Time [IMEV 2008], beginning ‘Love is out of lond iwent'); f. 147v (The Four Benefits of Poverty [IMEV 1639], beginning ‘Hit resteþ and hit quemeþ Hit richeþ and hit demeþ'); f. 149r (A definition of chastity [IMEV 102], beginning ‘A tresour of gret richesse').

ff. 152r-163v: A collection of moralized tales, intersected with moral discourses, attributed to Aulus Gellius, Bede the Venerable, 'Flaccianus' [Flavianus], Cicero, 'Inquirides', 'Fulgencius', Ovid, Pompey Trogus, Augustine of Hippo, Valerius Maximus, beginning ‘[N]arrat agellius de bellis Armenie’; featuring Middle English prose and verse; English poems on ff. 152r-163v (Lines in a story from the Gesta Romanorum [IMEV 3734], beginning ‘Þi wyckede dedis þe broutte to care'); f. 153r (Ring inscriptions [IMEV 4203], beginning ‘'Wiþ þis ring i wedde þe & wit mi bodi i worssepe þe'); f. 153v (The Sinner's Lament [IMEV 221], beginning ‘Al þe ioȝe of oure herte nou is went awey'); f. 153v (Christ came with Bloody Garments [IMEV 3907], beginning ‘Wat is he þis þat comet so brith'); f. 154r (Christ's Woe [IMEV 4259], beginning ‘ȝe þat be þis wey pace'); f. 154r (A Lover's Complaint [IMEV 2014], beginning ‘Love þou art of mikel mit'); f. 155v ( True Love [IMEV 3511], beginning ‘Þey loue be strong and mikel of mith'); f. 155v (Tags from the Fasciculus Morum [IMEV 798], beginning ‘ffyre water wynde & londe'); f. 157r (Trust not the World [IMEV 4224], beginning ‘Worldis blisse strif hat wrout'); f. 157v (Purity [IMEV 1137], beginning ‘He is wel siker þat hat clennesse for al þat oþer renenant is not bot wrechedeness'); f. 158r (Virgin and her Son, Man's Advocates [IMEV 2074], beginning 'God helpe hastou man & prest'); f. 158r (On Mortality [IMEV 155], beginning 'Allas in gret sinne alle beȝete we were'); f. 158r (On the Mercy of God [IMEV 2155], beginning 'ȝif sinne nere mercie nere non'); f. 158r (The King's Letter to his Son [IMEV 3106], beginning 'Sinne & fulþe onli forsake'); f. 158r (Couplet on Superbia [IMEV 1466], beginning 'In alle maner þrifte y passe alle þingge’); f. 162v (A Lover's Saying [IMEV 2141], beginning 'Me þingkit þou art so loueli so fair and so swete Þat sikerli it were mi det þi companie to lete'); f. 162r (The Evils of the Time [IMEV 592], beginning 'Charite chaste pite arn waxin al colde'): f. 162v (Look to the End [IMEV 3610], beginning 'Þis is a wondir merie pley & longe ssal laste Bot for þi sete is perilous war þe ate last'); f. 163r (Foolish Love [IMEV 1269], beginning 'I am a fol i can no god'); f. 163r (Lion, Bear, and Dragon [IMEV 3353], beginning 'Þe formest of þese bestes þre'); f. 163r (Ware the Wheel [IMEV 3647], beginning 'Þis wondir wel vndir þis trone'); f. 163r (Fortune's Wheel [IMEV 3680], beginning 'Þou most fort wit wele or wo'); f. 163v (The Ten Ages of Man's Life [IMEV 3858], beginning 'Waich & wreschede þou art in sith').

ff. 165r-194v: A collection of Latin sermons, beginning ‘[T]ribus de causis filius dei’; featuring Middle English prose and verse: English poems on f. 167r (Inducement to repentance [IMEV 995], beginning 'Godes hore christes lore'); f. 167r (On the Mercy of God [IMEV 1131], beginning 'He abit þolemodliche'); f. 168v (The Suffering of Christ [IMEV 1267], beginning 'Hou þi fairness is bispit'); f. 169v (Signs of Death [IMEV 4045], beginning 'Alle his frendes he shal beo loþ'); f. 172r (Against Temptation [IMEV 2646], beginning 'Of vr vife wittes a well witiynge'); f. 172v (The Sinner's Lament [IMEV 3311], beginning 'Strong it hus to flitte'); f. 181r (Dialogue between the Saved and the Damned [IMEV 819], beginning 'for foule lustes i wistod'); f. 181r (Job's Curse [IMEV 3278], beginning 'Þat ylke day be out of muinde Þat y was bron to monnes kuynde'); f. 183v (Reward of the Meek [IMEV 850], beginning 'For þou were meke an laftuste pruyde Wite blisse in heuene i schal þe scruyde'); f. 183v (Matthew's Feast [IMEV 2133], beginning 'Matheuw hat mad a grete gestenyng te ihesu at home in his whonyyng'); f. 184r (The Virtues Serve Us [IMEV 3867], beginning 'We preyen bileue god wille and pite'); f. 184r (Lord come to my feast [IMEV 1958], beginning 'Lord i bidde boþe day and nyth’); f. 185r (Three lines in a sermon [IMEV 33], beginning 'A fals behetyng A lyeres auansyng A bitynde fonding').

ff. 196r-207v: A collection of Latin expositions on biblical citations.

ff. 208r-213v: A collection of Latin expositions on biblical citations.

ff. 214r-246v: A collection of Latin expositions on biblical citations.

The manuscript contains a few later additions:

f. 179v: Copy of a grant from Richard Sadeler to Roger Heth in Stafford, dated 1439-1440.

f. 246v: Copy of a grant from John Bolton to Rogether Heth in Stafford, added in the 15th century.

Decoration:

Small blue and red initials at the beginning of the manuscript.