The Old Testament has unique prologues to the books from Exodus to Proverbs, plus Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and I Maccabees (printed by Madden & Forshall); other books have usual prologues.
[The Table occupies Quire 1]
1. (fol. 1r-7v) Table of lessons, gospels, and epistles through the year: 'Here begynneþ a reule þat telliþ in whiche chapitris of þe bible 3e may fynde þe lessouns, pistlis, gospels, þat ben red in þe chirche at masse after þe use of Salesbery … First Sundai in Advent Romayns xiij …' (ed. Forshall & Madden, IV, pp. 683-98); fol. 8r-v blank except for the s. xvi inscriptions (see under Provenance).
[The Old Testament occupies Quires 2-45]
2. (fols. 9r-187v) Genesis, starting imperfect in 1:20 (at '|| þe erþe, undur þe firmament...') due to the loss of the first leaf (fols. 9r-26r); prologue 'This book of exodi þat is to seie of going out …'; Exodus (fols. 26r-40r); prologue 'This book of leuitici makiþ mencioun how god lau3te …'; Leviticus (fols. 40r-50r); prologue 'This book clepid Numeri þat is to seie þe book of noumbre …' (fol. 50r-v); Numbers (fols. 50v-64v); prologue 'In þis book of Deutronomye be contened þe wordis …' (fol. 64v); Deuteronomy (fols. 65r-77v); prologue 'This book of iosue makiþ mynde how þe lord spak to iosue …'; Joshua (fols. 77v-86r); prologue 'This book of iudicum makiþ mencioun how þe sones of israel braken þe boond of þe lord …'; Judges (fols. 86r-95v); prologue 'This book of Ruth schewiþ þe fulnesse & stidefast loue of þis wumman Ruth …'; Ruth (fols. 95v-96v); prologue 'In þis book of kingis þe firste is contened how anna þe wiif of helchana þt was longe tyme bareyn …' (fols. 96v-97r); I Kings (fols. 97r-109v); prologue 'This secounde book of kingis makiþ mencioun of þe coronacioun of dauiþ …'; II Kings (fols. 109v-119v); prologue 'In þis þridde book of kingis is contened þe ending of dauiþ …'; III Kings (fols. 119v-131v); prologue 'This fourþe book of kingis makiþ mencioun of alle þe kingis of israel …'; IV Kings (fols. 131v-142v); prologue 'This book of paralipmenon þe firste bigynneth at adam …'; I Chronicles (fols. 142v-152v), ending imperfect in 29:7 (at '… & ei3tene þousynd ta||') due to the loss of a leaf after fol. 152; II Chronicles (fols. 153r-165v), starting imperfect at 3:1 (at '|| And salomon bigan to bilde …') due to the loss of the same leaf; prologue 'This firste book of Esdre which was a wurþi man among iewis …'; I Ezra (fols. 165v-169r); prologue 'In þis secounde book of esdre is contened þe actis of Neemye …'; II Ezra (fols. 169r-174v); prologue 'In þis book of tobie ben contened þe seuen dedis of merci ….'; Tobit (fols. 174v-178r); prologue 'This book of iudith þe holi widewe …'; Judith (fols. 178r-183r); prologue 'This book of hester þe qween makiþ mynde of þe ri3tful mardochee …'; Esther (fols. 183r-187v); prologue 'In þis book of ioob is contened first þe possessioun & prosperite of þe iust man ioob …'; Job (fols. 187v-197r); prologue 'This book sauter is clepid þat is to seie þe book of songis …'; Psalms (fols. 197r-220r); prologue 'In þese prouerbis of solomon is contened much prudence …'; Proverbs (fols. 220r-228v); Ecclesiastes (fols. 228v-231v); Song of Songs (fols. 231v-233r); Wisdom (fols. 233r-238v); Ecclesiasticus (fols. 238v-254r); prologue (fol. 254r-v), Isaiah (fols. 254v-273r); prologue 'This profete ieremye told openli þingis to comynge ….'; Jeremiah (fols. 273r-294v); Lamentations (fols. 294v-296r); Prayer of Jeremeiah; prologue 'This book which is titlid in þe name of baruk is not had in þe canoun …'; Baruch (fols. 296r-299r); prologue 'This profete ezechiel sei3 in uisioun …'; Ezekiel (fols. 299r-318v); prologue 'This profete danyel was in þe transmygracioun of babiloyne …' (fols. 318v-319r); Daniel (fols. 319r-326v); Hosea (fols. 326v-329r); Joel (fols. 329r-330r); Amos (fols. 330r-332r); Obadiah (fol. 332r-v); Jonah (fols. 332v-333r); Micah (fols. 333r-334v); Nahum (fols. 334v-335v); Habacuc (fols. 335v-336r); Zephaniah (fols. 336r-337r); Haggai (fol. 337r-v); Zachariah (fols. 337v-340v); Malachi (fols. 340v-341v); prologue 'This book of machabeis techiþ alle men bi ensaumple …'; I Maccabees (fols. 341v-352v); II Maccabees (fols. 352v-360v).
[The New Testament occupies quires 46-56]
3. (fols. 361r-400v) Prologue; Matthew (fols. 361r-371v); prologue (fols. 371v-372r); Mark (fols. 372r-379r); prologue; Luke (fols. 379r-391v); prologue; John (fols. 391v-400v); Romans (fols. 400v-405r); prologue; I Corinthians (fols. 405r-409v); prologue; II Corinthians (fols. 409v-412v); prologue; Galatians (fols. 412v-414r); prologue; Ephesians (fols. 414r-415v); prologue; Philippians (fols. 415v-416v); prologue (fol. 416v); Colossians (fols. 417r-v); prologue (fol. 417r-v); I Thessalonians (fol. 418r-v); prologue; II Thessalonians (fols. 418v-419r); prologue (fol. 419r-v); I Timothy (fols. 419v-420r); prologue; II Timothy (fols. 420v-421v); prologue; Titus (fols. 421v-422r); prologue; Philemon (fol. 422r); prologue; Hebrews (fols. 422r-425v); prologue (fol. 425v-426r), Acts (fols. 426r-438r); prologue; James (fols. 438r-439r); I Peter (fols. 439r-440v); II Peter (fols. 440v-441r); I John (fols. 441v-442v); II John; III John (fols. 442v-443r); Jude (fol. 443r-v); Revelation (fols. 443v-449v).
Major initials mutilated, leaving foliate marginal extensions only, at the start of Genesis (leaf missing, but some offsets remain), Psalms, and the New Testament. Illuminated 7-line initials gold initials on a quartered blue and red ground, with white tracery, and foliate pen-sprays extending into the margin, at the start of Leviticus, Joshua, I Kings (excised), III Kings, I Chronicles (excised), Proverbs (excised), Isaiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, I Maccabees, Luke, Romans, II Corinthians, I Thessalonians, Hebrews, Acts, and James. Penwork initials at the remaining books, prologues, and divisions of the Psalms; three-line initials in blue with red penwork to each chapter. Guides to the illuminator and the rubricator are often visible.
Parchment, c. 430 x 305 mm., of good quality with a soft suede texture.
ff. i (parchment, conjoint with pastedown) + 449 + i (parchment, conjoint with pastedown), foliated in 19th-century pencil on fols. 9, 361 ('355'), 449 ('443'); re-foliated throughout in modern pencil: i, 1-450.
Quires mostly of 8 leaves each: 18 (fols. 1-8); 28-1 (1st leaf excised) (fols. 9-15), 3-198 (fols. 16-151), 208-1 (2nd leaf missing; fols. 152-158), 21-448 (fols. 159-350), 4510 (fols. 351-360); 46-558 (fols. 361-440), 5610-1 (last leaf cancelled; fols. 441-449); catchwords throughout, except in quires 1, 45, and 56, sitting on the ruling in the lower margin; quire signatures in the form of an Arabic numeral in black ink in the centre of the lower margin of the first recto of each quire, [1]-56, s. xvii?; leaf signatures in two series, perhaps original: in the form of letters of the alphabet in ink, starting anew in quire 46 with the New Testament; and Arabic numerals [1]-37 in black ink, then, in red ink, lower-case roman numerals for each leaf, with superscript Arabic numerals for each quire (e.g. i1, ij1, iij1, iv1, i2, ij2, iij2, etc.)
Ruled for two columns of 60 lines of text per page, in two columns, each column with single vertical bounding lines extending the full height of the page, the top horizontal line extending the full width of the page, and with double lines in the three outer margins to guide the writing of running-titles, etc.; these rulings all in brown ink, the remaining horizontals all apparently in drypoint (or now-invisible leadpoint); the ruled writing-space c. 325 x 210 mm., each column c. 95 mm. wide; prickings often survive for the ink rulings.
Written in anglicana script; rubrics, psalm tituli, running titles, chapter numbers, etc., in red, paraphs in blue or red.
Secundo folio: 'Sat(er)dai' (fol. 2r), 'þe erþe' (fol. 9r), [chil-]'dide a sone' (fol. 10r).
Sewn on 10 bands and bound in 19th(?)-century brown suede over pasteboards, tooled in blind.
1. Written in England, perhaps c.1420.
2. William Smyth, Queen Elizabeth I's Sargeant of the Scullery, 1561-63: inscribed, with changes of ink at the beginnings of the third and fourth lines, 'Ego Will(el)m(us) Smyth seruiens scutelie | D(omi)ne Reg(in)e Elezabethe | incepi legere 2o die octob. ano. 1561 | & finem feci 10a die Junii ao. 1563 | iteru(m) relegere incepi 12o Junii ano. p(re)dicto' (fol. 8v); Smyth was discharged from this office due to the loss of silver plate during the first eight years of Elizabeth's reign (the royal warrant for his dismissal, dated 26 June 1568, is BL, Additional MS. 5751B, no. 20).
3. Queen's College; presumably the 'Biblia Anglice' listed by James in 1600, and the Wycliffite Bible listed in the 1689 catalogue in MS. 555 with the shelfmark 'IX. 4' (i.e. presumably stored among the printed books); former shelfmark 'X 1' (listed with this shelfmark in MS. 557), and 'X Z' (or X 2?), both crossed through, on the front pastedown, a paper label printed '1' at the top of the spine; inscribed 'Queen's College Library | Oxford | [signed] JW' (upper pastedown, by the same hand that inscribed the first and last pages of MS. 151); 'This manuscript was lent to Mr Forshall July 9th 1831 | & returned to the Provost [John Fox] August 22nd 1844' (in pencil, fol. i verso).
James, Ecloga, p. 52 no. 1.
Bernard, CLM, p. 30 no. 947 (MS. 23).
Coxe, Catalogus, p. 89.
Clarke; reprinted in Magrath, Queen's, II, p. 264.
Forshall and Madden, I, pp. xxxi n., xxxv, xxxvi, liii no. 101 (cited as MS. 23 and 947, referring to the numbers in Bernard, CLM; siglum 'M').
Alexander & Temple, College libraries, no. 397.
Conrad Lindberg, ed., MS. Bodley 959: Genesis-Baruch 3.20 in the earlier version of the Wycliffite Bible (Stockholm, 1959-97)
Conrad Lindberg, 'The manuscripts and versions of the Wycliffite Bible: a preliminary survey', Studia Neophilologica, 42 no. 2 (1970), pp. 333-47, cited at p. 335.
Conrad Lindberg, The Middle English Bible: the Book of Judges (Oslo, 1989), siglum 'M'.
Ogilvie-Thomson, IMEP, pp. xviii, 84.
Conrad Lindberg, ed., The earlier version of the Wycliffite Bible, vol. 8: The epistles etc. edited from MS. Christ Church 145, Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis, Stockholm Studies in English, 87 (Stockholm, 1997), p. 374 (siglum 'M').
Forthcoming: Conrad Lindberg, ed., (2001); Yoshio Teasana, ed., Amos
