Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

A catalogue of Western manuscripts and papyri at Cambridge University Library, the Fitzwilliam Museum and selected Cambridge colleges

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 354

Ranulf Higden, Polychronicon (English translation by John Trevisa)

Contents

Introduction: The Polychronicon was the last universal chronicle to be produced by a monk in England. Its author – or, to use his own preferred title, its compiler – was Ranulf Higden, a Benedictine monk at the Abbey of St Werburgh in Chester. He coined the title for his work, he explained, 'from the plurality of eras that it encompasses'. Drawing from a wide variety of medieval and classical authorities, whom he listed in his prologue and cited in the text, Higden described the geography of the world in the first book, and its history from Creation through to his own time in the following six books. On occasion, he added his own observations, marking them with his initial 'R'. Details of Ranulf's life are sparse. His knowledge of and evident pride in Chester and its environs, as well as his fore-name (which was common in those parts), suggest that he was born locally. He probably entered the monastery at an early age and seems to have spent his entire life there. A later inscription in a copy of the Polychronicon records that he died around 12 March 1363/64. The only evidence that Higden ever left the abbey precincts is a royal summons of 8 August 1352, which instructed Brother Ranulf to bring himself and 'all of [his] chronicles and those which are in his keeping' to a meeting of the king's council at Westminster, on business to be explained to him there. Regardless of the purpose of this summons, it shows the nationwide renown as a historian that Higden achieved within his own lifetime. Indeed, we know from surviving manuscripts and from contemporary records that copies of the Polychronicon were in circulation at Oxford, Exeter and elsewhere before his death. This widespread dissemination was no doubt aided by the traffic of monks between their native houses and the universities, where increasing numbers of them studied, and the development therein of commercial book trades that could readily supply new copies of in-demand texts. The extent of the demand for the Polychronicon through to the end of the 15th century is shown by the survival today of nearly 150 complete or partial copies of the text, as well as a number of fragments. A further indicator of the Polychronicon's appeal is that it was chosen for translation into Middle English by the Oxford cleric John Trevisa (d. 1402). Supported by his patron, Thomas (IV), fifth Baron Berkeley, whom he also served as family chaplain, Trevisa had begun the work by at least 1385 and completed it on 18 April 1387. Like Higden, Trevisa too made his own interpolations – adding to, querying or even disagreeing outright with his source text – and marked these with his name. He extended the text with a continuation to 1360, and also supplemented it with further prefaces to Higden's own: the Dialogue between a Lord and a Clerk, a fictionalised conversation about translation between his patron and himself, and a dedicatory Epistle. Neither of these are found in this copy, however, and the loss of leaves means that the text of the translation begins and ends imperfectly. The manuscript is moreover very plain, with the text written on paper in long and densely packed lines of cursive script, and without even simple coloured initials to mark the beginnings of each book or chapter. Some copies of Trevisa's translation, however, were every bit as ornate as copies of the Latin text: those in Cambridge, St John's College, MS H.1 and Tokyo, Senshu University Library, MS 1 are particularly fine productions. That patrons were prepared to commission such lavish ornamentation suggests the esteem in which they held Trevisa's text and the pride they felt in owning a copy (as well as, no doubt, a desire to show off their personal wealth through conspicuous consumption). Altogether sixteen manuscripts of Trevisa's translation are known, including this one. The vagaries of manuscript survival mean that we cannot necessarily infer that the Latin Polychronicon was more popular than the Middle English rendering: it may indeed be that its circulation was rather limited or, alternatively, that it was primarily among owners whose books were more vulnerable to subsequent loss or destruction. Either way, who these owners were is consequently less well-known than for the Latin Polychronicon. No evidence of medieval provenance survives in this manuscript (though the presence of marginal annotations and content markers confirm that it was read). Copies of the Polychronicon are recorded in contemporary documents, but unless they explicitly state the language in which the text was written we can only speculate as to whether these were copies of the Latin or the vernacular version. Examples might include a 'Ponecronykyll' in the will of John Hamondson (d. 1472), master of St Peter's grammar school in York; another in the will of Robert Scrayningham (d. 1467), mercer of London; and 'a book called Pollicronikon' that was bequeathed to the clerk John Pechell by William de Thorp (d. 1391) of Maxey Castle in Cambridgeshire. There was, however, no simple division in spoken language or in literature between a Latinate clergy and vernacular laity in late medieval England (although this is often assumed). There are examples of laymen bequeathing copies of the Latin Polychronicon that one may assume in at least some of these instances they had read themselves. For example, John Yorke of Twickenham lent his Latin Polychronicon (now Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 14 ) to the Carthusian William Mede of Sheen 'for the duration of his life'; his son, William Yorke, inherited the book and in turn bequeathed it to Sheen forever. Sir John Morton of York (d. 1431) left 'unum librum de Latino, vocatum Policronica, ex compilatione Fratris Ranulphi Monachi Cestriae' to Robert Semer, rector of St Michael le Belfrey in that city. Notably, Sir Thomas Chaworth (d. 1458) of Wiverton, Nottinghamshire, had copies of both versions: he willed that 'Maister Gull have a boke writen in Latyn called Policonicron' (William Gull was master of Clare Hall in Cambridge, 1440-1446), while also bequeathing a copy of an English translation – presumably Trevisa's – to his son, William. Limited though the manuscript dissemination of Trevisa's text may have been, it gained a further lease of life in 1482, when it was printed by William Caxton. He reworded and emended Trevisa's text, and further extended it to 1460 with his own 'Liber ultimus'. This formed the basis for further printings by Wynkyn de Worde in 1495 and Peter Treveris in 1527. Evidently, commercial demand for the vernacular text at least must have remained sufficiently buoyant to support these ventures, with readers continuing to consume Higden's text – albeit in mediated form, at a couple of removes from the original – two centuries after his life. Dr James Freeman|Medieval Manuscripts Specialist|Cambridge University Library Bibliography
  • James Freeman, The manuscript dissemination and readership of the 'Polychronicon' of Ranulph Higden, c. 1330-c. 1500 (unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Cambridge, 2013)

Language(s): Middle English

1. 1r-182v
Polychronicon (incomplete) Ranulf Higden
Language(s): Middle English text with Latin headings
Incipit: || 1r Isidorus lio 14o. We redeth in stories that Grekes wone [sumtyme] [...] and called the lond [crossed out: ‘of’] \the/ grete grecia that lond hight sumtyme [hesperia of hes]perea the sterre that led the grekes whan they seyled theder [and] was [theyr] loode sterre hespera that is venus
Explicit: 182v Also he warned ffrederyk themperour þat other kynges whiche wente to þe holy londe þat þey shuld not profyte there but lityll at þat tyme . ffor þe tyme of þe delyueraunce wase not þit commyn . Men seith also þat þis Joachym þat he descryued as it were by prophecye þe maners||

The translation of Ranulf Higden's Polychronicon by John Trevisa (d. 1402) , incomplete: beginning imperfectly in Book 1, Chapter 3 and ending imperfectly in Book 7, Chapter 22. Waldron (1990) notes that parts of chapters 9 and 10 of Book 6 are missing, as well as a large section begining with the end of chapter 29 of Book 6 and continuing until within Chapter 14 of Book 7. As Rand (2009) notes, the text contains the Minor Version of the text in Chapters 14-25 of Book 6.

Damage caused by damp occasionally affects the legibility of the manuscript. The transcribed words for the text's incipit in this catalogue record have been supplied with the aid of UV light.

The text on f. 77v and f. 123r has been written upside down.

IMEV 2831.4 [f. 1v: Poem in praise of Rome]
NIMEV 2831.4 [f. 1v: Poem in praise of Rome]
DIMEV 4513-15 [f. 1v: Poem in praise of Rome]
IMEV 2736.2 [f. 2v: Epitaph on the giant Pallas]
NIMEV 2736.2 [f. 2v: Epitaph on the giant Pallas]
DIMEV 4342-13 [f. 2v: Epitaph on the giant Pallas]
IMEV 1426.6 [f. 2v: Riddling couplets inscribed on a pillar]
NIMEV 1426.6 [f. 2v: Riddling couplets inscribed on a pillar]
DIMEV 2392-10 [f. 2v: Riddling couplets inscribed on a pillar]
IMEV 746.5 [f. 3v: Verses on a table of brass]
NIMEV 746.5 [f. 3v: Verses on a table of brass]
DIMEV 1231-14 [f. 3v: Verses on a table of brass]
IMEV 4189.5 [f. 3v: Poem A couplet from Ovid, Ars amatoria i.114]
NIMEV 4189.5 [f. 3v: Poem A couplet from Ovid, Ars amatoria i.114]
DIMEV 6726-15 [f. 3v: Poem A couplet from Ovid, Ars amatoria i.114[
IMEV 2361.5 [ff. 13r-15r: A verse description of Wales]
NIMEV 2361.5 [ff. 13r-15r: A verse description of Wales]
DIMEV 3801-14 [ff. 13r-15r: A verse description of Wales]
IMEV 3430.5 [f. 16v: Verse discussion between Occupation, Idleness, Doctrine and Cleannes]
NIMEV 3430.5 [f. 16v: Verse discussion between Occupation, Idleness, Doctrine and Cleannes]
DIMEV 5401-1 [f. 16v: Verse discussion between Occupation, Idleness, Doctrine and Cleannes]
IMEV 399.5 [f. 17v: A translation of lines in Virgil]
NIMEV 399.5 [f. 17v: A translation of lines in Virgil]
DIMEV 660-10 [f. 17v: A translation of lines in Virgil]
IMEV 1637.6 [f. 20v: A verse insert on Chester Castle]
NIMEV 1637.6 [f. 20v: A verse insert on Chester Castle]
DIMEV 2748-13 [f. 20v: A verse insert on Chester Castle]
NIMEV 1428.55 [f. 29v: A proverbial couplet attributed to Ovid]
DIMEV 2401.5-8 [f. 29v: A proverbial couplet attributed to Ovid]
NIMEV 3699.33 [f. 87v: Address to Julius Caesar about the limits of power once one is dead]
DIMEV 5863.5-8 [f. 87v: Address to Julius Caesar about the limits of power once one is dead]
NIMEV 3099.55 [f. 88r: Proverbial saying]
DIMEV 4832.5-1 [f. 88r: Proverbial saying ]
NIMEV 574.77 [f. 120v: Admonition to worship God]
DIMEV 938.5-5 [f. 120v: Admonition to worship God]
NIMEV 1821.55 [f. 154v: On the birth of Jesus bringing light to man’s darkness]
DIMEV 3001.5-5 [f. 154v: On the birth of Jesus bringing light to man’s darkness]
NIMEV 2736.33 [f. 166r: Pallas Evander's son killed by Turnus]
DIMEV 4342.5-1 [f.166r: Pallas Evander's son killed by Turnus]
NIMEV 2627.33 [f. 170v: Berengarius will wander the world after having ruled it]
DIMEV 4171.5-1 [f. 170v: Berengarius will wander the world after having ruled it]
See Rand (2009), p. 354 [other copies]
2. 98v
Medical recipe (unfinished)
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 98v Take betayne / Take betayne mylfoile or yarrowe ferwyn and cammamell comyn

Full transcription. Added in the late 15th or early 16th century.

3. 99r (upper margin)
Monogram of the initials I.S.
Language(s): Middle English

Drawn (twice) in brown ink; added in the late 15th or early 16th century.

4. 148v
? Ownership inscription (unfinished)
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 148v Thys boke

Full transcription of erased text. Possibly an unfinished ownerhip inscription, added in the late 15th or early 16th century.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2r noble men also
Form: codex
Support: Paper, folded in folio. Folios 1-182: bull's head with star (six-pointed).
Extent: 182 leaves. 295 × 210-215 mm.
Foliation:

20th-century foliation:

1-182

Numbering in pencil at the centres of the upper margins.

Collation

  • Quire 116 (ff. 1-16)
  • Quire 214 (ff. 17-30)
  • Quire 312 (ff. 31-42)
  • Quire 416-1 (ff. 43-57: 16th leaf cancelled)
  • Quires 516 (ff. 58-73)
  • Quire 616-2 (ff. 74-97: 15th and 16th leaves cancelled)
  • Quires 716-2 (ff. 98-111: 15th and 16th leaves cancelled)
  • Quire 812 (ff. 112-123)
  • Quire 916-2 (ff. 124-137: 14th and 15th leaves cancelled)
  • Quire 1014 (ff. 138-151)
  • Quire 1110-5 (ff. 152-156: 6-10th leaves cancelled)
  • Quire 1216 (ff. 157-172)
  • Quire 1312-2 (ff. 173-182: 5th and 12th leaves cancelled)

116 214 312 416-1 (16th cancelled) 516 616-2 (15th and 16th cancelled) 716-2 (15th and 16th cancelled) 812 916-2 (14th and 15th cancelled) 1014 1110-5 (6th-10th cancelled) 1216 1312-2 (5th and 12th cancelled)

Leaf signatures (Hindu-Arabic numerals 1-5) written on the lower margins of the rectos of the first half of the quire.

Catchwords (2-3 words) in brown ink in the lower margins of versos, including but not exclusively those of last versos of quires.

Condition

The original upper part of folio 52 has been removed and replaced with new paper (pasted against the leaf's verso), probably in order to correct an erroneous section of text on either the recto or verso.

The manuscript contians various cancelled leaves as is indicated by the presence of 1 stub after f. 57; 2 after f. 97; 2 after f. 111; 2 after 136; 5 after 156; 1 after f. 176; and 1 after f. 182.

Layout

225-280 × 160-205 mm. Usually no visible ruling but occasional frame ruling in leadpoint (and blindpoint) visible. Mainly single columns, except ff. 13r (lower part)-15r which have two columns). 27-74 lines to the page, usually written above top line (see Quires 4, 7, 9, 10, 11) but occasionally also below top line (see Quire 5, ff. 61-64).

Hand(s)

Copied by at least six (but possibly more) scribes working in cursive scripts with both anglicana and secretary features.

Decoration

Inserted into the text space in the lower left corner of f. 60r is a rectancular diagram (measuring 70 x 60mm) in brown ink that shows the relative proportions of three Pythagorean hammers (this is the ‘figure’ to which the text refers).

Inserted into the text space after the second line on f. 60v is, on the left-hand side, a diagram in brown ink illustrating Pythagorean tuning (this is the ‘fygure’ to which the text refers).

Cadels in brown ink on elongated ascenders of letters on the first lines of ff. 134v-135r.

Added drawing of the outline of the paper's watermark on f. 139r (nevertheless, the drawing deviates from the watermark in that the staff on the bull's head does not feature a six-pointed star but a 'flag'). This drawing is accompained by an added (?) 16th-century inscription: ‘La belle [...]’.

Additions

Quire signatures ('1-11') in the bottom right-hand corner of the recto side of the first leaf of each quire, written in pencil by a hand of the 20th century. These correspond to the collation as given here, but diverge thereafter, as follows: '112' (f. 157r), '11A-D' (ff. 173r-177r), '12, 12a-B' (ff. 178r-180r).

Binding

The manuscript was disbound in 2007 for digitisation purposes and is currently awaiting rebinding. For the interim period, the manuscript's quires are kept in white paper folders marked with their shelfmark, and respective quire and folio numbers. Together, these thirteen folders are kept in a grey conservation folder with their shelfmark (‘MS 354’) printed and written on it.

The manuscript's former binding - removed in 2007 - is now kept separately from the manuscript. It consists of brown quarter leather over (?) wooden boards with the shelfmark (‘MS 354 C.C.C.C.’) gold-stamped on the spine. This binding, as noted on the recto of its first former flyleaf (f. i recto), was made when the manuscript was rebound by J.S. Wilson and Son at 12 King's Parade, Cambridge, in December 1948. The former binding is accompanied by five former flyleaves, two were located at the beginning (ff. i-ii) and three at the end (ff. iii-v). The former binding measures: 305 x 215mm.

History

Origin: Late 15th century or early 16th century. ; England.

Dated 1485-1510, according to Mooney, Horobin and Stubbs, Late Medieval English Scribes (online resource, 2011).

Provenance and Acquisition

Matthew Parker (1504-1575) , archbishop of Canterbury: the manuscript is recorded as ‘Polichronicon anglice’ among the ‘libri in minore Bibliotheca’ on f. 80v of his register of books, now Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 575 [see M.R. James (1912), I, p. xxxix].

Bequeathed to Corpus Christi College by Matthew Parker (1504-1575) .

Additional Information

Record Sources

This catalogue entry draws on M.R. James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 2 vols (Cambridge, 1912), no. 354; and Kari Anne Rand, Manuscripts in the Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, The Index of Middle English Prose, Handlist XX (Cambridge: Brewer, 2009), pp. 88-90. Images and a description of the manuscript are also available on the Parker Library website: Corpus Christi College, MS 354.

Availability

Visitors to Corpus Christi College who wish to consult Special Collections material are required to apply to the Parker Library in advance of their visit. For information on eligibility and admission procedures see: Parker Library: Information for Readers.

Custodial History

Recorded as no. 341 in Thomas James, Ecloga Oxonio-Cantabrigiensis (1600).
Recorded as no. 1609 / no. 342 in Edward Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ, in unum collecti, cum indice alphabetico (c. 1697).
Recorded as '19-1' in William Stanley, Catalogus librorum manuscriptorum in Bibliotheca Collegii Corporis Christi in Cantabrigia: Quos legauit Matthaeus Parkerus Archiepiscopus Cantuariensis (1722) (see f. 1r).
Recorded as no. 354 in James Nasmith, Catalogus librorum manuscriptorum quos Collegio Corporis Christi et B. Mariae Virginis in Academia Cantabrigiensis legauit Reverendissimus in Christo Pater Matthaeus Parker, Archiepiscopus Cantuariensis (1777) (see 1r).

Bibliography

    For a bibliography for this item maintained by Corpus Christi College Cambridge see: Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 354: Zotero Bibliography

    Ecloga Oxonio-Cantabrigiensis, tributa in libros duos, James, Thomas (London, George Bishop & John Norton, 1600) Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ, in unum collecti, cum indice alphabetico, Bernard, EdwardWanley, Humfrey (Oxford, 2 vols in 1, e Theatro Sheldoniano, 1697) Catalogus librorum manuscriptorum in bibliotheca Collegii Corporis Christi in Cantabrigia: quos legavit Matthæus Parkerus Archiepiscopus Cantuariensis Catalogus librorum manuscriptorum in bibliotheca Collegii Corporis Christi in Cantabrigia, Stanley, W. (London, 1722) Catalogus librorum manuscriptorum quos Collegio Corporis Christi et B. Mariæ Virginis in Academia Cantabrigiensi legavit reverendissimus Matthæus Parker, archiepiscopus Cantuariensis, (Cambridge, Typis Academicis, 1777) A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Corpus Christi College Cambridge, vol. I, James, M. R. (Cambridge, 1, 1912) A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Corpus Christi College Cambridge, vol. II, James, M. R. (Cambridge, 2, 1912) The Making of the Parker Library Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, Dickins, B. (6, 19-34, 1972) The Manuscripts of Trevisa’s Translation of the Polychronicon: Towards a New Edition Modern Language Quarterly, Waldron, Ronald (51, 281-317, 1990) John Trevisa’s Translation of the ‘Polychronicon’ of Ranulph Higden, Book VI: An Edition Based on British Library MS Cotton Tiberius D. VII Middle English Texts, Waldron, Ronald (Heidelberg, Winter, 2004) An Index of Images in English Manuscripts from the time of Chaucer to Henry VIII, c. 1380 ~ c. 1509, Nichols, A. E. (London, Cambridge I, 2008) Manuscripts in the Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge The Index of Middle English Prose, Rand, Kari Anne (Woodbridge, Brewer, 2009) Manuscript Description: Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS 354 Late Medieval English Scribes, Mooney, Linne R.Horobin, SimonStubbs, Estelle (, https://www.medievalscribes.com/index.php?navtype=manuscripts&navlocation=Cambridge&browse=manuscripts&navlibrary=Corpus+Christi+College&id=349&nav=off)

Funding of Cataloguing

Wellcome (cataloguing).

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (digital images).

Digital Images

Cambridge Digital Library

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