Introduction:
This manuscript is a pastoral and devotional work compiled from quotations of the
church fathers and the
Yorkshire religious writers
John de Burgo
(d. after 1398) and
Richard Rolle, 1300-1349
(ca. 1300–30 September 1349). The author or authors is unknown, but it is believed
to have been composed in
the 1390s.
Cibus anime was perhaps intended as a pastoral handbook for parish priests to refer to, for
example, when deciding on suitable penance for confessed sins. The manuscript concerns
the Articles of Faith, the Ten
Commandments, the corporal and spiritual Works of Mercy, and the seven deadly sins
and cardinal virtues. It is divided
into two books: Book 1 contains 52 chapters and, book 2 has 62 chapters. It is mostly
written in Latin, but is
interspersed with lines of Middle English (fols. 88b, 92b, 94)
This work is associated with York Minster and was originally circulated only in Yorkshire
among the
clergy. The colophon contains a request for prayers for the souls of Robert, Thomas
and Henry Garton, ( fol. 91v ) who were members of an East Riding clerical family.
This manuscript was given to the College by Robert Hare (d. 1611).
Cibus anime
Language(s): Latin and Middle English
Form: codex
Support:
Parchment
Extent: ff. 87 + 5
Dimensions (leaf):
267 × 183 mm.
Collation
a2 (+1)stuck to cover 1 8)- 118, -124 (+1) b2 2 stuck to cover.
Layout
30 lines to a page.
Decoration
Initials with blue and red pen flourishing and infill in both colours throughout.
One illustration showing two ladders: Heaven and Hell (fol. 92)
Binding
Blue morocco leather of c18th century over the old boards, marks of 2 clasps traceable.
Inside the cover is pasted a remarkable label, once no doubt on the outside. It is
inscribed in large letters, the
first in red, the rest in gold on a flourished ground, Cibus anime.
In the cover are two leaves of a 14th century law treatise beginning:
Cum humani iuris condicio semper in in… decurrat.
Origin:
15th century
; Yorkshire, England
Provenance and Acquisition
Belonged to
Robert Hare
, whose name is at each end.
