Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries: Cambridge, St John's College, MS H.19

Diktyon no.: Diktyon 77291

Introduction: The manuscript contains a play written in Greek, the tragedy Iephte (Jephthah) by John Christopherson (d. 1558), chaplain and confessor to Queen Mary I of England, Master of Trinity College (1553-1558), Dean of Norwich (1554-1557) and Bishop of Chichester (1557-1558). The composition of this play has to be contextualised within the framework of the sixteenth-century collegiate drama, used by teachers for the behavioural, moral and linguistic instruction of students in universities such as Cambridge and Oxford. This text is quite unique, because it is an original composition in Greek, instead of an adaptation or translation of a Greek tragedy, as was more common for such purposes (see Paul D. Streufert, "Christopherson at Cambridge: Greco-Catholic Ethics in the Protestant University", in: Paul D. Streufert, Jonathan Walker, Early Modern Academic Drama, London 2009, pp. 45-63). The tragedy, inspired by Euripides' Iphigenia in Aulis, has as its protagonist Iephte (or Jephthah), a Biblical character cited in Judges, a judge of Israel who sacrificed his daughter in consequence of a vow. The drama was written c. 1543-1547, maybe around 1544 (for the date see S. Boas, University drama in the Tudor age, Oxford, 1914, pp. 45-47; C. Upton, John Christopherson Iephte, William Goldingham Herodes, Hildesheim-Zürich-New York 1988, p. 2; F.H. Fobes [ed.], Jephthah by John Christopherson, Newark 1928, pp. 7-8 ). There is one other known copy of the Greek text: Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.1.37 . A translation in Latin is preserved in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Tanner 466 (see Upton 1988, where the Latin text is reproduced). In the opinion of the editor of the text, the manuscripts are two different revisions by the author, and therefore neither can be said to be a copy of the other ( Fobes 1928, p. 16). In this copy of the Greek text, the tragedy is dedicated to Cuthbert Tunstall (1474-1559) when he was bishop of Durham, i.e. after 1530. This date is a terminus a quo for the copy of this manuscript. Dr Erika Elia

Language(s): Greek and Latin

1. ff. [6]r-[62]v

Christopherson, John, -1558, Iephte Jephthah

Rubric: f. [6]r Τραγῳδία Ιεφθάε[sic] ὑπὸ τοῦ Ιωάννου[sic] Χριστοφερσώνου ξυνγραφεῖσα[sic] ἐκ τοῦ κεφαλαίου ια΄ τῶν Kριτῶν

Ed. H. Fobes, Jephthah by John Christopherson, Newark, Del. 1928

ff. [1]r-[1]v, [2]v-[5]v, [6]v, [7]v are blank

1.1. ff. [8]r-[13]r

Dedication letter by John Christopherson to Cuthbert Tunstall

Incipit: f. [8]r Reverendissimo in Christo Patri Domino D. Cuthberto Dunelmensi Episcopo singulari suo Patrono

Explicit: f. [13]r tuae D. scholasticus assiduus orator Ioannes Christofersonus

f. [13]v is blank

1.2. ff. [14]r-[16]v

Poems on the tragedy Iephte

Rubric: f. [14]r Carmina quaedam in tragoediam Iephte, inque exempla vitae quae inde sumi possunt. Iambicum trimetrum

Incipit: f. [14]r Diserta quaeque scriptio laudem invenit

Explicit: f. [16]v disce ut deo vivas, id est vita frui.

ff. [17]r-[18]r are blank

1.3. ff. [18]v-[20]r

Hypothesis of Iephte

Rubric: f. [18]v Ὑπόθεσις Ιεφθάε[sic]

Incipit: f. [18]v Ιεφθάε[sic] τὸν Γαλααδίτην ἐκ πατρὸς Γαλαάδ

Explicit: f. [20]r l. 1 ὁ δὲ χορὸς συνέστηκεν ἐκ τῶν Γαλααδίτων

1.4. f. [20]r

List of characters

Rubric: f. [20]r l. 2 Τὰ τοῦ δράματος πρόσωπα

Incipit: f. [20]r Ιεφθάε[sic]

Explicit: f. [20]r οἰκέτης

1.5. f. [20]v

Six elegiac verses

Rubric: f. [20]v Εἰς τὴν τραγῳδίαν Ιεφθάε[sic] ὑπὸ τοῦ Ιωάννου[sic] Χριστοφερσώνου ξυγγραφεῖσαν Ῥοβέρτου Πεμβήρου ἐξάστιχον

Incipit: f. [20]v Εὔξατ' Ιεφθάε[sic] τὴν εὐχήν

Explicit: f. [20]v ἀνὴρ γλώσσῃ κόμψος ἐν ἀμφοτέρᾳ

1.6. ff. [21]r-[62]v

Iephte Jephthah

Incipit: f. [21]r Προλογίζει δὲ ὁ Ιεφθάε[sic]

Explicit: f. [62]v ἔπειτα καὶ τελεῖτε τοῦτο δ' εὐσεβές

Final rubric: f. [62]v Τέλος

2. ff. [63]r-[66]v

Blank leaves

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: ff. [1]-[66] Western paper, folded in quarto. Watermarks: ff. [6]-[19] Hand surmounted by a five-point star, with number ‘ 3’ on the palm ( ca. 65 × ca. 30 mm. ) in the gutter, comparable to Wasserzeichen Informationssystem Hand/Handschuh no. DE1335-PO-155998 and no. DE4620-PO-155829 , which are dated respectively to 1542, and to 1546. ff. [4]-[5] Pitcher with one handle, on it lily, surmounted by a quatrefoil ( ca. 52 × ca. 24 mm. ) in the gutter, no exact parallels found in the main repertoires. ff. [20]-[63] Pitcher with one handle, on it letters, difficult to read, surmounted by clovers ( ca. 40 × 18 mm. ) in the gutter, no exact parallels found in the main repertoires. ff. [1]-[3], [64]-[66] Pro-Patria with countermark ‘ GR’ surmounted by a crown ( ca. 85 × 93 mm. ) in the gutter, comparable to Heawood Pro Patria no. 3704 which is dated to 1723 (these are later endleaves).

Extent: Codex: iii + 60 + iii leaves. 162 × 112 mm.

Foliation:

There is no foliation: ff. [1]-[66].

Collation

The quires have been sewn very tightly, the manuscript has been rebound, there is no numbering of the quires, therefore it is not possible to ascertain with certainty the original collation.

Condition

The manuscript is in good condition.

Layout

A single column of 14 lines. 95 × ca. 80 mm.

Hand(s)

ff.6r-62v Hand A: a western European hand, vertical, regular in size. The scribe also wrote the texts in Latin. The same hand wrote this same text in MS Trinity College MS O.1.37 , and a Latin translation by John Christopherson of Plutarch's essay ‘ Περὶ ἀδολεσχίας’, together with the text in Greek, in MS CUL Dd.6.56 .

The text is written in a brown ink

Additions

On the left pastedown is written, in black ink, the present shelfmark ‘ H 19’.

On f. [2]r, Thomas Baker (for the identification see St John's College, Catalogue of Post-Medieval Manuscripts) wrote a summary of John Christopherson's life, in Latin.

On f. [4]r, in brown ink, is written the name of ‘ Henricus Knewstub’ (Henry Knewstub); below, in pencil ‘ John Christopherson | Bishop Chichester ... 1557’.

On f. [7]r are information and bibliography about John Christopherson, signed on 17 September 1729 in Godeby by the antiquary Francis Peck (1692-1743) .

Binding

Modern western binding. Leather over couched-laminate boards. Gold tooling on each cover (a frame), on the boards' edges, and on spine (with lilies). The edges are coloured in red. On the spine are pasted two paper labels with the shelfmark. 170 × 120 × 18 mm.

The codex has been rebacked.

History

Origin:

The manuscript was copied by a scribe of western European origin probably around the middle of the 16th century, in England.

Provenance and Acquisition

Owned by Henry Knewstub , whose name is written on f. [4]r. Venn's Alumni Cantabrigienses lists one Henry Knewstub, admitted to Christ's College in 1654, but the identification with the manuscript's owner cannot be proven.

It is still unclear how this manuscript reached the college. The St John's College bookplate (18th century) is pasted on the left pastedown.

Additional Information

Record Sources

Description (2020) draws partly on M. R. James, A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of St. John's College, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1913, p. 324

Availability

Visitors to St John's College who wish to consult Special Collections material are required to apply to the Library in advance of their visit. For information on eligibility and admission procedures see: St John's College: Old Library and Special Collections.

Bibliography

A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of St. John's College, Cambridge, James, M. R. (Cambridge, University Press, 1913)

Jephthah, Christopherson, John (Newark, Delaware, University of Delaware Press, 1928)

Iephte / John Christopherson. Herodes / William Goldingham Renaissance Latin drama in England. 2nd series, Christopherson, JohnGoldingham, William (Hildesheim, Georg Olms, 1988)

How to Hold Your Tongue: John Christopherson’s Plutarch and the Mid-Tudor Politics of Catholic Humanism Canadian Review of Comparative Literature / Revue Canadienne de Littérature Comparée, Taylor, Andrew (41, 4, 411-431, 2014)

Funding of Cataloguing

The Polonsky Foundation

Digital Images

Cambridge Digital Library

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

Cambridge, St John's College, MS H.19

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