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Royal MS 17 A XXVII
- Record Id:
- 040-002107258
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002105724
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000338.0x000193
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Royal MS 17 A XXVII
- Title:
- Sawles Warde, Lives of Saints, Prayers and Hymns in Middle English
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
ff. 1-70: Five early Middle English religious works in alliterative prose, believed to be of West Midlands origin, dating from the 1st half of the 13th century (ff. 1-70);
ff. 71-97: Prayers and hymns from the 1st quarter of the 15th century (ff. 71-97).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Royal Collection
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002105724
040-002107258 - Is part of:
- Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X : Royal Manuscripts
Royal MS 17 A XXVII : Sawles Warde, Lives of Saints, Prayers and Hymns in Middle English - Contains:
- Royal MS 17 A XXVII, ff1-70 : Sawles Warde; Lives of Saints Katherine, Margaret and Juliana; Oreison of Seinte Marie
Royal MS 17 A XXVII, ff71-97 : Prayers, hymns and miscellaneous religious texts, including verses on the Arma Christi or Symbols of the Passion
Click here to View / search full list of parts of Royal MS 17 A XXVII - Hierarchy:
- 032-002105724[1421]/040-002107258
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Royal MS 1 A I-20 E X
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
A parchment codex
- Digitised Content:
- Languages:
- English
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1200
- End Date:
- 1425
- Date Range:
- 13th century-Early 15th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 160 x 120 mm (text space: 125/30 x 75/90 mm).
Foliation: ff. i + 97 (+ 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and at the end).
Collation (ff. 1-70): i8 (ff. 1-8), ii2 (ff. 9-10), iii-viii8(ff. 11-58),ix6 (ff. 59-64), x6 (ff. 65-70).
Script: Gothic; written above the top line (ff. 1-70); below the top line (ff. 71-97).
Binding: BM/BL in-house. Rebound in 1956.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: England.
Provenance:
John Theyer (bap. 1598, d. 1673), antiquary, included in the catalogue of his library left to his grandson Charles Theyer (b. 1651): see [Edward Bernard], Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae, 3 vols. (Oxford: Sheldonian, '1697', but 1698?), II, nos. 6435, 6662.
Robert Scott (b. c. 1632, d. 1709/10), London bookseller: included in the catalogue of John Theyer’s manuscripts in his possession, appraised in 1678 by William Beveridge and William Jane, Royal Appendix, 70, no. 243.
Charles II (b. 1630, d.1685), king of England, Scotland, and Ireland: purchased from Scott together with other 311 manuscripts from Theyer's library.Presented to the British Museum by George II in 1757 as part of the Old Royal Library.
- Information About Copies:
-
Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts.
Select digital coverage available for this manuscript, see Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/welcome.htm
- Publications:
-
George F. Warner and Julius P. Gilson, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Old Royal and King’s Collections, 4 vols (London: British Museum, 1921), II, pp. 220-21.
Joan Evans, English Art 1307-1461, Oxford History of English Art, 5 (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1949), p. 225.
N.R. Ker, Introduction to the facsimile of Bodley 34, Early English Text Society, Original Series 247 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1960), pp. xvii-xviii.
The Katherine Group, edited from MS. Bodley 34, ed. by S.R.T.O d'Ardenne (Paris: Société d'Edition , 1977), p. XII, [with an edition of the texts excluding 'Oreison'].
Edmund Colledge and James Walsh, A Book of Showings to the Anchoress Julian of Norwich, 2 vols (Toronto, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1978), I, pp. 54, 212n.
Seinte Katherine, Re-Edited from MS Bodley 34 and the other Manuscripts, ed. by S.R.T.O. d'Ardenne, Early English Text Society, Supplementary Series 7 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981), pp. xlvii-ix, 1-131 [for an edition of the text from this manuscript].
Roger Dahood, 'Ancrene Wisse, the Katherine Group, and the Wohnunge Group in Middle English Prose: A Critical Guide to Major Authors and Genres, ed. by A. S. G. Edwards (New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1984), pp. 1-19 (pp. 16, 19).
Bella Millett, 'The Textual Transmission of Seinte Juiene', Medium Aevum, 59 (1990), 41-54, [on the text].Medieval English prose for women : selections from the Katherine Group and 'Ancrene wisse', ed. by Bella Millett and Jocelyn Wogan-Browne (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990), p. xli, n. 1.
Chantry Westwell, 'British Library, Royal MS 17 A XXVII' (unpublished MA research, University of London, 2006).
Mary Agnes Edsall, 'Arma Christi Rolls or Textual Amulets?: The Narrow Roll Format Manuscripts of O Vernicle', p. 89; online at http://magic.pennpress.org/media/33873/mrw-92-edsall.pdf [accessed 01.03. 2017].
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Related Material:
-
From the printed Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Old Royal and King’s Collections (1921):
LIVES OF SAINTS, &c., in 13th cent. Southern English; bound with a 15th cent. collection of hymns and prayers.
1. Sermon on Matth. xxiv. 43, taken, as was pointed out in 1888 independently by M. Konrath and W.Vollhardt (see Englische Studien, xii, p. 459, xiii, p. 84), from the Latin dialogue, of uncertain authorship, printed as lib. iv, capp. xiii-xv of Hugo de S. Victore de Anima (Migne, Patr. Lat. clxxvii, 185-188). The English was printed from Bodley MS. 34, collated with this copy, by R. Morris, Old Engl. Homilies, series i (Early Engl. Text Soc., 1868), p. 245. The Bodley MS. gives the title Sawles Warde, but is imperfect, ending at f. 10, 1. 3 of the present MS. The text is also printed in part by Morris and Skeat, Specimens of Early English, 2nd ed., 1885, i, p. 87; in both cases as prose, but it seems to be in a kind of rhythm, like the next three articles. The dialect is analysed by Miss 1. F.Williams in Anglia, xxix, p. 413. Beg. 'Si sciret pater familias, &c.: Ure lauerd i þe godspel teacheð us þurh abisne. hu we ahen wearliche. bi witen us seoluen. wiþ þe unwiht of helle'. Colophon, 'Par seinte charite biddeð a pater noster for Iohan þat þeos boc wrat'; followed by nine lines to the same effect, beg. 'Hwa se þis writ haueð ired'. f. 1. Above art. 2 is written 'assit p[rincipio] s[ancta] M[aria]'.
2. Life of S. Catharine of Alexandria, taken from the Latin Passio (Bibl. Hagiogr. Lat. no. 1663). Printed, from Cotton MS. Titus D. xviii, collated with the present copy, by James Morton (Abbotsford Club, 1841); by Charles Hardwick (Cambridge Antiquarian Soc., 1849); and with the Latin prose original by Dr, E. Einenkel (Early Engl. Text Soc., 1884; reprinted as appendix to Life and Martyrdom of S. Kath. of Alex., Roxburghe Club, 1884). For the metre see Paul's Grundriss der germ. Philologie (2nd ed.), Bd. ii, Abth. ii, P. 153. See also H. Knust, Gesch. der Legenden der h. Katharina, Halle, 1890, p. 11. Beg. 'Constantin ant Maxence weren on ane time as in Keiseres stude hehest in Rome'. f. 11.
3. 'Her seinte Marherete uie þe meiden ant martyr, her': life of S. Margaret, in a similar metre. Taken from the Latin prose life (Bibl. Hagiogr. Lat. no. 5303) printed in Mombritius' Sanctuarium, ii, fol. 103 b. The English is printed from this MS. by O. Cockayne, Seinte Marherete, 1862 (reissued by E. E. Text Soc., 1866). Beg. 'Efter ure lauerdes pine. ant his passiun. ant his deð on rode'. f. 37.
4. 'Her cumseð þe uie of seinte Iuliane ant telleð of liflade hire': life of S. Juliana, in a similar metre. Taken from the Latin prose life (Bibl. Hagiogr. Lat. no. 4522) printed in Acta Sanctorum, Feb., tom. ii, p. 873. The English is printed from this MS. by Cockayne, Liflade of S. Juliana, E. E. Text Soc., 1872, and large extracts in Morris and Skeat, Specimens, i, p. 96. The lives of SS. Margaret and Juliana are probably by the same author, but according to Einenkel (Anglia, v, p. 91) he was not the same as the author of the life of S. Catharine; and the further suggestions of Cockayne, that he was also the author of the Ancren Riwle, and that he was Richard le Poor, Bishop successively of Chichester, Salisbury, and Durham (d. 1237), have been generally rejected. Prologue beg. ' In ure lauerdes luue. þe is feader of frumschaft. ant on his deorewurðe sunes nome'; text, 'Þeas meiden. ant tis martir. wes Iuliane inempnet. in Nichomedes burh'. f. 56.
5. 'Her cumseþ þe oreisun of seinte Marie', in similar metre. Printed, as prose, by Morris, Old Engl. Homilies, ser. i, p. 305. Imperf by loss of leaves at the end Beg. 'Swete lefdi seinte Marie, meiden ouer meidnes, þu bere þat blisfule bern. þe arerde mon cun'. Breaks off 'for us sunfule willeliche'. f. 70.
Artt. 1-5 are in three (? 13th cent. hands, viz. (a) ff. 1-5, 11-50b;-
(b) ff. 9-10b, 58-70b; (c) ff. 50 b-58. Gatherings of 8 leaves, (ii2, ix, x6), the numeration beginning with iii (art. 2). Artt. 6-12 are in an early 15th cent. hand. Gatherings of 8 leaves (last3). Initials flourished in red and blue.
6. Form of confession, with prayer, both in Latin. Beg. 'Confitcor tibi, domine, pater celi et terre, tibique, karissime Ihesu '. f. 71.
7. Verses on the Arma Christi or Symbols of the Passion. Printed from this MS. by Morris, Legends of the Holy Rood, E. E. Text Soc., 1871, pp. 170-196. Accompanied by rude coloured drawings, and at the end are (in red) verses on the indulgences attributed to S. Peter and other Popes in connexion with these Arma Christi (cf. Speculum Spiritualium, Paris, 1510, fol. ccviii, and Add. MS. 37787, f. 62 b). f. 72 b. Beg.
'O vernacule, i honoure him and the Þat þe made þorow his preuite'.
8. Two hymns to the Virgin, viz. :-(a) 13 x 4 lines (but one is missing) : a variant of that printed by Horstmann, Minor Poems of the Vernon MS., pt. i, E. E. Text Soc., 1892, p. 30. f. 81. Beg.:-
'Heyl be þow, Mari modur, queen of heuen, Iblessed be þi name and god hit is to neuen'.
Ends:-
'And zyue me grace in erþe sinne to rewe sare. amen'.
(b) 52 lines (originally, but a few are lost by the mutilation of f. 83): a variant of the hymn in the Speculum Christiani (8 E. V, f. 27 b); cf. Harley MS. 2382, f. 86 b, Add. MS. 37787, f. 156 b, and those printed by Wright and Halliwell, Reliquiae Antiquae, ii, p. 212, and Horstmann, Minor Poems of the Vernon MS., E. E. Text Soc., i, p. 22. f. 82. Beg.
'Marie modur, wel þe be, Marie mayden, þerk on me'.
Ends:-
'Pat neuer schal be misse'.
9. Vision of S. Thomas of Canterbury concerning the Seven joys, in Latin, nearly as in Add. 37787, f. 178. Part of f. 83 has been torn away. Beg. 'Legitur quod dum beatus Thomas martir'. Followed by the usual hymn (7 x 6 lines, Chevalier, Rep. Hymn., no. 6809) on the Seven Joys, beg. 'Gaude flore uirginali honoreque speciali', and prayers. f. 83 b.
10. Hymn (8 x 8 lines) on the eight verses from the Psalter which if a man say daily he shall never be damned, as revealed by the devil to S. Bernard (see Speculum Spiritualium, fol. ccviii b, Add. MS. 33381, f. 161). f. 86 b. Rubric beg. 'We reden in þe lyf of seynt Bernard' (cf. Add. 37787, f. 81 b); text, 'Illumina oculos meos ne umquam obdormiam: '3yf lizt unto myn eze sizt Þat i nouzt slepe whan i schal dye'.
11. The prayers known as the Fifteen O's, in Latin. Prefixed is a long rubric (as in Add. 37787, f. 71) concerning 'femina quedam solitaria et reclusa', to whom the number of Christ's wounds was revealed (cf. Spec. Spiritualium, fol. cciii). f. 88 b.
12. Prayer, beg. 'Dirupisti, domine, uincula', with note of 6,000 years' indulgence from Pope John. f. 95.
On f. 97 is an erased chronological note referring to 1403. Vellum; ff. i + 98. 61/2 in. x 43/4 in. XIII and early XV centt. (see above). Sec. fol. 'eareste is' and (art. 6) 'falsis'. Crude drawings (art. 7) of the Symbols of the Passion, in colours, with foliated ornament at the comers. The first part of the MS. is certainly (ff. i, 70 b), the second probably, from the Theyer library, but perhaps as distinct MSS. Theyer sale-cat. no. 243 (?); CMA. 6435 and 6662.'