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Cotton MS Cleopatra C VI, ff 2r–203v
- Record Id:
- 041-001103773
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-001101582
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000001660.0x000052
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Cotton MS Cleopatra C VI, ff 2r–203v
- Title:
- Ancrene Riwle, with added poems and prayers
- Scope & Content:
-
Ancrene Riwle (Ancrene Wisse) in Middle English (ff. 4r–199r: Boffey 734.5, 1820, 1917, 2285, 3568): this is one of the two oldest surviving manuscripts of the text.
Added in the 2nd half of the 13th century to 2nd half of the 14th century (ff. 9v lower margin, 57v, 199r–202v):
Prayers in Latin (ff. 199r–200r, 201v, 202v);
Arabic and Roman numerals with names in Latin (f. 200v);
Song of Our Lord, in Anglo-Norman French (f. 201r: Dean 913);
Instructions for prayers to be said when in trouble, in Anglo-Norman French (f. 201v: Dean 984);
iii thynke and say noght i wolde (f. 202v: Boffey 3712.55)
ff. 2 and 3 are flyleaves with ownership inscriptions.
Decoration: 17 initials in red with pen-flourishing in blue and red or in blue with pen-flourishing in red at major text divisions; sketch in red and blue ink of a head in profile with pointed hat (f. 16v). Partial borders in red and blue (e.g. ff. 146r, 160r, 194r). Numerous small initials in red or blue with penwork decoration in the other colour or pen-flourishing in both colours. Marginal rubrics and paraphs in red (ff. 58r-197v). Quire numbering.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Cotton Collection
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-001101582
040-001103771
041-001103773 - Is part of:
- Cotton MS : Cotton Manuscripts
Cotton MS Cleopatra C VI : Ancrene Riwle; songs and prayers; a leaf from a Book of Hours
Cotton MS Cleopatra C VI, ff 2r–203v : Ancrene Riwle, with added poems and prayers - Hierarchy:
- 032-001101582[1199]/040-001103771[0002]/041-001103773
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Cotton MS
- Record Type (Level):
- Item
- Extent:
-
202 folios, bound together in a single volume with f. 1 of this manuscript.
- Digitised Content:
- http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Cotton_MS_Cleopatra_c_vi (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Anglo-Norman
English, Middle
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1200
- End Date:
- 1399
- Date Range:
- 1st quarter of the 13th century-2nd half of the 14th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
- Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
ff. 2r-203v:
Dimensions: 205 x 150mm (text space: 115/40 x 60/70mm).
Layout: Written in one column; the number of lines varies from 18 to 28.
Script: Gothic. Written by a single scribe (A), perhaps using the pecia system, with corrections and additions by 2 other scribes (B, contemporary and D, later: see Dobson 1972, pp. ix-xi, xxix, xlvi-clxxii).
- Custodial History:
-
Origin and previous ownership of ff. 2r-203v:
Origin: England.
Provenance:
Matilda de Clare, wife of Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester (m. 1237/8, d. 1288/1289), given by her to the Augustinian Convent of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St John the Evangelist and St Ethelreda, Canonsleigh, Devon (founded at her instigation in 1284): an inscription reading: 'Dat[us] abb[at]ie et co[n]vent[u] de legh[e], p[er] dame M. de clar[e]' (f. 3r).
The Augustinian Abbey of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St John the Evangelist and St Ethelreda, Canonsleigh, Devon: see inscription above.
Inscribed 'Sire Henri Dule veconte de Lancastere', 13th century (f. 2v).
(?) Robert Talbot (d. 1558), prebendary of Norwich: a note in his hand, 'Regulum monachar[um] saxonice' (f. 3v).
- Publications:
-
Bibliography for Ancrene Riwle etc (ff. 2r-203v):
The Palaeographic Society: Facsimiles of Manuscripts and Inscriptions, Second series, ed. by Edward Augustus Bond, Edward Maunde Thompson & George Frederic Warner (London: Cloves and Sons, 1884-1894), I, pl. 76.
A. Langfors, ' Ky voet amer saunz pesaunce: Musee Britannique Cotton Cleopatra C V (sic)' Romania 55 (1929), 551-52 [a transcription of the lines from Song of our Lord on f. 201r].
E. J. Dobson, 'The affiliations of the manuscripts of Ancrene Wisse' in English and Medieval Studies presented to J. R. R. Tolkien, ed. by Norman Davis & C. L. Wren (London: Allen and Unwin, 1962), pp. 128-163.
Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books, ed. by N. R. Ker, 2nd edn, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 3 (London: Royal Historical Society, 1964), p. 29.
The English Text of the Ancrene Riwle, ed. by E. J. Dobson, Early English Text Society, 267 (London: Oxford University Press, 1972).
Tony Hunt, ‘An Anglo-Norman treatise on the religious life’, in Medieval Codicology, Iconography, Literature, and Translation: Studies for Keith Val Sinclair , ed. by Peter Rolfe Monks & D. D. R. Owen (Leiden: Brill, 1994), pp. 267–75.
Ruth J. Dean and Maureen B. M. Boulton, Anglo-Norman Literature: A Guide to Texts and Manuscripts, Anglo-Norman Text Society, Occasional Publications Series, 3 (London: Anglo-Norman Text Society, 1999), nos. 913, 984.
Ancrene Wisse, ed. by Robert Hasenfratz (Kalamazoo, Michigan: Medieval Institute Publications, 2000), p. 30.
A. S. G. Edwards, ‘The Middle English manuscripts and early readers of Ancrene Wisse’, in A Companion to Ancrene Wisse, ed. by Yoko Wada (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2003), pp. 103–12.
Susan Uselmann, ‘Women reading and reading women: early scribal notions of literacy in the Ancrene Wisse’, Exemplaria: A Journal of Theory in Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 16 (2004), 369–404.
Julia Boffey and A. S. G. Edwards, A New Index of Middle English Verse (London: The British Library, 2005), nos. 734.5, 1820, 1917, 2285, 3568, 3712.55.
L. Mooney, D. Mosser, E. Solopova and D. Radcliff, 'The Digital Index of Middle English Verse' [the entry for the present manuscript is at: http://www.dimev.net/Records.php?MSS=BLCottCleoCVI].
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)