Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

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

Cambridge, Queens' College, MS 27

John Wyclif's De veritate Sacrae Scripturae

Contents

Introduction: The presence of many anti-Wycliffe writings in the fifteenth-century catalogue of Queens’ College Library (Queens’ MS 30) would appear to attest to intense disapproval at pre-Reformation Queens' of Wycliffe and the anticlerical, biblically-centred reforms he sought. It is interesting therefore that the Library subsequently became home to this rare source of Wycliffe’s theological work, De Veritate Scripturae (The truth of the Scriptures). In it Wycliffe proffers his view that the laws of Church and State are valid only in so far as they are grounded in scripture, and that scriptural meaning should be known not just to the clergy, but also through preaching to the laity. Queens’ MS 27 is one of only four extant early sources of De Veritate Scripturae. It was given to the College by the classicist and Queens’ Fellow Joseph Wasse (1698–1713, d. 1738), who entered the following inscription in the volume: ‘Bought of Mr Ward Bookseller in Leicester Jan. 28th 1721. I take it to be Wicliff, and never published. There seems to be a copie of þis book in þe Bodleian Library Numb. 3021.32.’ (MS. Bodley 924).
1. 1r-190r
John Wyclif, De veritate sacrae scripturae
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 1r: Restat parumper discutere errores et discordias circa sensus scripture sacre
Explicit: 190r: ut planius intelligatur tractatus de Simonia quam si deus uoluerit propono diffusius pertractare.
Final rubric: 190r: Explicit tractatus de Veritate scripture.

There are four extant copies of the text, all used by Buddensieg for his text edition: Vienna, Cod. Palat. Vindob. 1294, Oxford, Bodleian MS 924, Dublin, Trinity College MS C. 1. 24. Queens' copy is Codex C.

Buddensieg, Rudolf (1904) Johannn Wiclif's De veritate Sacrae Scripturae. Aus den Handschriften zum ersten Mal herausgegeben; kritisch bearbeitet und sachlich Erlaütert. Leipzig: Dieterich, p. LX-LXI.
2. 191v-192r
Six paragraphs on the Antichrist
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 191v: Prima questio. Utrum ille impius in fine temporum venturus antichristus nominandus diabolus erit
Explicit: 192r: iudiciis suhici dedignabitur quamcunque discretorum.
3. 192v-193r
Sermon on the Sacrament of the Altar
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 192v: Fratres. seruidum quod deus exigit
Explicit: 193r: et regnat in gloria in sec. sec. Amen.
4. 193r-193v
Paragraphs on the Sacrament of the Altar
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: || 193r: [Mutilated text]
Explicit: 193v: ad eternam vitam quod nobis concedat ille dei filius.
Final rubric: 193v: Expl. liber de veritate sacre scripture.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2r: intendo per
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH)
Extent: ii + 1 + 194 + iii leaves. 224 × 163 mm.
Foliation:

Late 19th/early 20th-century foliation:

1-193

Numbering in pencil in the upper right-hand corner of the each leaf. Full foliation added after digitisation.

Collation

The manuscript comprises 15 quires composed of twelve leaves, followed by one quire of ten leaves and a final one of four.

  • Quires 1-1512 (ff. 1-180)
  • Quire 1610 (ff. 181-190)
  • Quire 174-1 (ff. 191-193: blank last leaf cancelled)

1-1512 1610 174-1 (4 cancelled)

Quires are numbered in pencil on the recto of the first leaf of each quire. The first half of each quire signed in a medieval hand a i-a vi, b i-b vi, etc.; most now trimmed.

Catchwords.

Condition

Some lines on f. 193r are erased, and there is a large hole torn in the page. The mutilated text on f. 193v relates to the sacrament of the altar.

Layout

169-175 × 100-109 mm. Single columns, 38-43 long lines, ruled in leadpoint and crayon, written above top line.

Hand(s)

Mixed Anglicana-secretary hand of university type, in two hands (ff. 1-190 and 191-193).

Decoration

Ornamental initials (3-6 ll.) in blue with red foliate and abstract pen-flourishing for main and lesser text divisions, ff. 1r-190r.

Alternate red and blue paragraph marks (1 l.) for minor text divisions, ff. 1r-190r.

Additions

Corrections, marginal notes and nota bene marks.

Collation written in pencil on rear pastedown.

Binding

18th-century blind-tooled Cambridge panel style calfskin; spine with five raised bands; edges sprinkled red.

History

Origin: Mid-15th century, c.1420-1440 ; England

Provenance and Acquisition

iii recto: 'Anthonie Harcourt ~ 1598' (repeated three times); 'Harcourt est verus posscesser' (possibly in a different hand?); price: 'pretium 2s 6d [...] Ogden'.

i recto: Early 17th-century inscription of Joseph Wasse (1672-1739), clergyman and classical scholar, Queens' alumnus (matric. 1691) : 'Sum Josephi Wasse et amicorum'.

i recto: Purchase note in the hand of Joseph Wasse : 'Bought of Mr Ward Bookseller in Leicester Jan. 28th 1721. I take it to be Wicleff, and never published. There seems to be a copie of þis book in þe Bodleian Library Numb. 3021.32.' (MS. Bodley 924).

Inside front cover: 'Ex Bibliotheca Collegii Reginale Cantabrigiae Queens' College Library Cambridge England'.

Presented to the Library by Joseph Wasse in 1722. His gift is recorded in Queens' Donors' Book, p. 45.

Additional Information

Record Sources

This catalogue entry derives predominantly from data assembled for the Fitzwilliam Museum’s Cambridge Illuminations project (publication forthcoming) and draws on the description in M.R. James, A descriptive catalogue of the western manuscripts in the library of Queens’ College, Cambridge (Cambridge, 1905).

Availability

For further information on the availability of the manuscript, please contact Queens' Old Library and Special Collections.

Bibliography

    A catalogue of the library of the college of St. Margaret and St. Bernard, commonly called Queen's College in the University of Cambridge, Horne, Thomas Hartwell (London, Society of Queen's College, 1827) A descriptive catalogue of the western manuscripts in the library of Queens' College, Cambridge, James, M.R. (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1905) Johannn Wiclif's De veritate Sacrae Scripturae. Aus den Handschriften zum ersten Mal herausgegeben; kritisch bearbeitet und sachlich Erlaütert, Buddensieg, Rudolf (Leipzig, Dieterich, 1904)

Funding of Cataloguing

Dr Virge James in memory of the late Dr Nigel James (Queens' matric. 1960)

Digital Images

Cambridge Digital Library

Abbreviations

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