Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

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

Cambridge, University Library, MS Dd.8.19

John Gower, Confessio amantis

Contents

Introduction: This manuscript contains a copy of the late 14th-century Middle English poem Confessio Amantis (The Lover's Confession), one of the major works by the English poet John Gower (d. 1408). Three different recensions of the poem survive in 49 manuscripts. This manuscript contains an unfinished copy of the first (unrevised) recension. This version is characterised by a Prologue in which the work is said to be composed at the request of Richard II and an Epilogue in which the poem is dedicated both to Richard II and the poet Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1340–1400). In the subsequent recensions, the dedication to Chaucer is removed, and Richard II is replaced with Henry of Lancaster, the future King Henry IV. Although this manuscript-copy contains the Prologue, it lacks the epilogue's dedication, since it was left unfinished, the text ending in the seventh of the poem's eight books. Despite various late-medieval and early-modern name inscriptions on the manuscript's flyleaves and in the margins of the Confessio Amantis, no individual owners of the manuscript had previously been securely identified prior to its acquisition by John Moore (1646-1714), bishop of Ely. In the cataloguing of this manuscript, however, it has been established that the manuscript was in the possession of Thomas Curson [Curzon] (d. 1555) of Waterperry, Oxforshire, Clerk Comptroller of the Household of Queen Mary I, around the mid-16th century. Thomas is depicted in a glass-stained window in the Church of St Mary the Virgin at Waterperry as one of the fifteen children of Walter Curson (d. 1527) and his wife Isabel [née Saunders] Curson. Dr Clarck Drieshen| Project Cataloguer, Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries| Cambridge University Library

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: Codex: ii + 2 + 127 + 1 + ii leaves.
Foliation:

Mid-20th century

[a-b] + i-ii | 1-85, 87-92, 95-130 + 134 + [c-d]

Numbering in pencil in the upper right-hand corner of the rectos, by H.L. Pink . Folio numbers 86, 93, 94, 131-133 assigned to leaves no longer present in the volume (as per historic foliation practice at Cambridge University Library), but stubs of these leaves are remaining and here referred to as [86], [93], [94], [131]-[133].

Collation

  • Two leaves |
  • Quires 1-108 (ff. 1-80)
  • Quire 116-1 (ff. 81-85: 6th leaf (f. 86) after f. 85 missing, only a stub remains)
  • Quire 128-2 (ff. 87-92: 7th and 8th leaves after f. 92 (ff. 93-94) missing, only stubs remain)
  • Quires 13-168 (ff. 95-126)
  • Quire 178-3 (ff. 127-134: 5th, 6th, and 7th leaves after f. 130 (ff. 131-133) missing, only stubs remain)

1-108, 116-1 (6th leaf missing) 128-2 (7th and 8th leaves missing) 13-168 178-3 (5th-7th leaves missing)

Additions

Quire signatures ('1-17') in the bottom right-hand corner of the recto side of the first leaf of each quire, and '+' in the same position on the first leaf after the centre of the quire, written in pencil by a hand of the 19th/20th century.

Collation formula written on the rear pastedown by H.L. Pink .

Binding

Binding by J.P. Gray and son of Cambridge, dated August 1958 by a note by H.L. Pink on the front pastedown. Millboard quarter binding with marbled paper covering over parchment corners and brown leather spine. The title and classmark are tooled in gold on the spine (classmark from previous binding pasted on the front inside pastedown)

Binding height: 285 mm, width: 260 mm, depth: 50 mm.

At the rebinding of this manuscript three leaves that were misbound after f. 14 were correctly inserted after f. 127 as ff. 128-130: see also the collation statement on the rear pastedown. The three leaves must have been misbound since the 16th century since a hand from that century has noted the error with 'falce' in the lower margin of f. 14v, immediately preceding the misbound leaves and at the tops of both f. 128r and f. 129r. The misbound leaves are also noted in the unpublished description of this manuscript by M.R. James (see Source for further details).

The binder has inserted two paper stubs before and after each quire.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

The family name 'Levanthorp' inscribed (but erased) in a 15th-century hand on f. 91v, perhaps John Leventhorpe , receiver-general of the Duchy of Lancaster. Pearsall and Mooney, A Descriptive Catalogue (2020), p. 29, suggest that he may have had a link with the lords De La Warr.

Thomas West and Margery [? West], unidentified owner(s) or reader(s): their names inscribed in the same hand from the 15th century or early 16th-century on f. 134r: ‘Tomas West / Margry’; perhaps identifiable with Thomas West, 8th Baron De La Warr (c. 1457-1525) , and his sister Margery West , and referred to in the two inscriptions on the same page: ‘My lady la Warr’ (seemingly in the same hand as their names), and ‘My lord La warr’ (probably written in a different and earlier hand).

‘Thallmache’, unidentified owner or reader: their family name written in a late 15th- or early 16th-century hand on f. 134r. Pearsall and Mooney, A Descriptive Catalogue (2021), p. 29, suggest that this may refer to the Tollemache family of Helmingham in Suffolk.

Brywys , unidentified owner or reader: their name inscribed in a late 15th- or early 16th-century hand on f. 134r.

John Wlwaid : his name inscribed in a 16th-century hand in the lower margin of f. 128v: ‘To Jhon Wlwaid be thys deleuered’.

James of Carrigart , unidentified owner or reader: his name occuring five times in a 16th-century hand on f. 134r: ‘James de Carricart’ and ‘James de Carriquart’, perhaps an Anglicisation of Carraig Airt, Kilmacrennan, Donegal, Ireland, or Carreg y Garth, Carernarfon, Gwynedd, Wales.

Christofer Whitton , unidentified owner or reader: his name inscribed in a 16th-century hand on f. 134r.

Magister [Master] Asshe , unidentified: owned the manuscript probably in the first half of the 16th century. Donated the manuscript to Thomas Curson, according to an inscription on f. ii recto (see below).

Thomas Curson (d. 1555) , of Waterperry, Oxfordshire, Clerk Comptroller of the Queen's Household (see Kew, The National Archives, PROB-11-37-352 ): his name inscribed with a Latin motto on f. i verso, his ownership inscription on f. ii recto: ‘Master Thomas Curson ys the Honour of this booke ex dono Magistri Asshe’, followed by a note about his donation of the manuscript with his signature (see below).

Ambrose Belson , son of William Belson and Anne Curson, the sister of Thomas Curson, to whose second wife Agnes Saunders (d. before 1588) Ambrose was a servant and from whom he received the manuscript according to an inscription on f. ii recto: ‘Ambrose Belson is the honor of this boke of the gyfete of Mr Cursson - Thomas Cursson - Ambrose Belson’. His signature (‘Belson’) inscribed in the lower margin of f. 115r.

John Barton , owned the manuscript in the second half of the 16th century: his ownership inscription with a note that he received the manuscript from Ambrose Belson on f. ii recto: ‘Liber J [?F] Barton ex dono Ambrosij Belson’. Perhaps the same ‘John Barton’ who inscribed his name in squiggly lines on f. 134r.

Eliza or Elizabeth Hampden , possibly the daughter of Edmund Hampden (d. 1577) and Isabel Curson (fl. 1577-1588), and great-niece of the aforementioned Thomas Curson and Anne Curson: her name written upside down in a late 16th-century or 17th-century hand in the upper margin of f. 57r.

Richard Barton , may have inherited the manuscript from John Barton (possibly a relative): his signature inscribed in the upper margin of f. 74r.

John Moore (1646-1714), bishop of Ely : no. 467 (inscribed on f. 1r) in Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ (c. 1697).

Presented to the University Library in 1715 by George I : donation bookplate engraved by John Pine in 1736 on the front pastedown.

Part 1 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Dd.8.19, ff. i recto-ii verso]

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. i recto-ii verso
Decretals of Pope Gregory IX
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: || i recto -tibus matrimonium didisceruit inquisita veritate diligenter. Si per testes circumspectus et et omni excepcione maiores inveneritis quod primus vir patrem superstitis in v. uel vi gradu consanguinitatis attigerit
Explicit: ii verso Ex consilio laterano: Quod a praedecessore nostro felicis memoriae papa innocencio factum innouantes ordinaciones ab octouiano Guidonen haeresiarchis nec non et iohanne strumensi qui eos secutus est factas et ab ordinacis ab||

The two fragmentary leaves contain Books IV, Titulus XV (De frigidis et maleficiatis, et impotentia coeundi), Chapters I-II, and Titulus XVI (De matrimonio contracto contra interdictum ecclesiae), Chapter I (ff. ir-iv) Book V, Titulus VII (De haeriticis), Chapter IX (imperfect at the beginning), Titulus VIII (De schismaticis et ordinatis ab eis), Chapter I (imperfect at the end) (ff. iir-iiv) containing a few additional materials.

Friedberg and Richter, Corpus iuris canonici (1881), II: Decretalium Collectiones

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH)
Extent: 2 leaves. 375 × 255 mm.

Condition

The text on f. i recto is damaged and has stains and glue on it from having been pasted on a previous inside cover.

Layout

190 × 100 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame and line. In two columns. 47-49 lines to the page, written above top line.

Hand(s)

The two leaves are written in Northern Textualis by a single hand

Decoration

Headers rubricated in red ink throughout

Two-line initials alternatively in blue and red with penwork decoration in the opposite colour

One-line initials alternatively in blue or red

Paraphs in blue or red

Additions

‘Johannes Gowre’ written in a 16th-centuryhand on ii recto

16th-century inscriptions in Latin on f. ii recto, including ‘Memento mei cum veneris in regni tuum - G’.

History

Origin: Second half of the 13th century. ; England.

Part 2 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Dd.8.19, ff. 1r-134r]

Contents

Language(s): Middle English and Latin

1. 1r-130v
Confessio Amantis John Gower
Language(s): Middle English with incipits, explicits, regular verse passages and in-column glosses in Latin
Incipit: 1r [T]orpor hebes sensus scola parua minimusque
Explicit: 130v [T]his Gedeon awaiteth well / Vpon the morwe and euery dell / As god hym bad righte so he dede / And þus þere lasten in that stede / With hym thre hundred and no mo||

This copy contains the Prologue (ff. 1r-7v), Book I (ff. 7v-27v); Book II (ff. 27v-48r); Book III (ff. 48r-64r); Book IV (ff. 64r-85r); Book V, beginning and ending imperfectly, and including only lines V.1443-2149 (ff. 87r-90v); Book VI (ff. 95r-108v); and Book VII, left unfinished after line 3683 (ff. 108v-130v). Book VIII is absent. The missing sections cannot be accounted for by lost leaves, but suggest issues with the the manuscript's production (see Pearsall and Mooney, A Descriptive Catalogue (2021), p. 25).

IMEV (1943), no. 4226-10
NIMEV (2005), no. 2662
DIMEV (2013), no. 2662
Macaulay, The English Works of John Gower, 1 (1900), p. cl (as 'D')
Mooney, Horobin, and Stubbs, 'CUL MS Dd.8.19', in Late Medieval English Scribes (University of York, 2011) [accessed 3 August 2022]
Pearsall and Mooney, A Descriptive Catalogue (2021), pp. 25-28
2. 92r
Poem on mercy
Language(s): English
Incipit: 92r A man w[i]thout mercye of mercye ?fall [sic: miss]
Explicit: 92r but hee shall haue mercy that mercifull is by me [erased: Mr Robarts] Thomas Robertes

Added in the late 16th-century, perhaps by the same hand that copied the draft indenture on f. 134r.

IMEV (1943), no. 77
NIMEV (2005), no. 77
DIMEV (2013), no. 118-4
3. 92r
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 92r Quo me cumque fortuna[...]

Added in the late 16th- or 17th-century, largely erased, leaving only the opening words and the word 'fatis' on the next line legible.

3. [131] recto-[133] recto
Indenture (fragments)
Language(s): English
Incipit: || [131] recto the said Messuage or tenement with other ye premisses aboue deuised
Explicit: [133] recto And it yearelie during the said terme And we said Anthony [H]arr[...]||

These are three unfoliatied parchment strips taken from a 17th-century indenture setting out the conditions for a lease and referring to 'the said Colledg'. The strips seem to have been glued on top of existing stubs of lost original leaves in order to extend them and avoid slipping of the other leaves with which they formed bifolia. The original stub of f. [133] recto indeed bears the number '133' in pencil.

4. 134r
Medical recipe
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 134r Takyt of mete oyle the best that ȝe may finde a potell and sethyth ther inne a potell other more of longe wormys jcallid angilportis cle ywashe and clensed fro the erthe tyl they ben drye and hard and thanne wryngith out the oyle fro hem clene and thanne castith hem away and in that oyle resoluyth xij unces of clene wax . and so myche of rosyn vj vnces of ffrankencense and iij quartrons of multe shepistalwe . And whanne they beth clene jmolte thanne takith iij hanfull of the levys of whit malwys of the levys of elena campana ij handfull of plantayne iiij handfull of celydoyne ij handfull let braye this herbis . And in the braynge putith in aqua and of whit wyn of gascoyne and bray yth well a pound othir more of the rotis of elena campana as small as ȝe may and puttis that to theforsaid herbis and let him stonde stylle so a day othir more and thanne straynyth out the Juse and sethith well with the forsayd oyle tyll hit be standynge whan hit ys cast ouyre

Full transcription. Added in a late 15th-century hand. For an unstated purpose.

Connolly, Manuscripts in the University Library, Cambridge (Dd-Oo) (2009), p. 40
5. 134r
Draft indenture (explicit only)
Language(s): English
Explicit: 134r This Indenture made the ffirst daie of Marche in the xliij yeare of the Raigne of our Soueraigne lady Elyzabeth by the grace of God of England

Added in 1598/9, perhaps by the same Thomas Robertes who copied the English poem on mercy on f. 92r.

6. 134r
Poem on the virtues of the worship of God
Language(s): English
Incipit: 134r Love dredd and honore of godd
Explicit: 134r Joye Saunce ffyne - Gedon

Added in the late 16th century, perhaps by the ‘R.G.’ who copied the poem ‘I am as I am’ on the same page (see below).

7. 134r
Poem
Language(s): English
Incipit: 134r I am as I am and natt as I wold be
Explicit: 134r he that wold that I were warse / full moste he the etcaetera - R.G. - Amen

Added in the late 16th-century, perhaps by the Gedon who copied the poem on the virtues of the love of God on the same page (see above).

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2r With al his herte and make him cheere
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (FHHF)
Extent: Codex: 127 + 1 leaves. 380 × 255 mm.

Collation

  • Quires 1-108 (ff. 1-80)
  • Quire 116-1 (ff. 81-85: 6th leaf (f. 86) after f. 85 missing, only a stub remains)
  • Quire 128-2 (ff. 87-92: 7th and 8th leaves after f. 92 (ff. 93-94) missing, only stubs remain)
  • Quires 13-168 (ff. 95-126
  • Quire 178-3 (ff. 127-134: 5th, 6th, and 7th leaves after f. 130 (ff. 131-133) missing, only stubs remain)

Catchwords in the lower margins of verso side of the last leaf of each quire, written in black ink.

Condition

Light stains on the parchment leaves throughout the manuscript, but damage from water or another liquid is especially visible in ff. 113v-130v, sometimes causing damage to the text. Ink has faded especially on f. 126v. Glue stains on f. 134v indicates that this leaf is a former pastedown.

Layout

235 × 170 mm. Ruled in light purple ink, frame and ink. Double columns. 46-50 lines to the page, written below top line.

Hand(s)

Copied by a single scribe throughout in an Secretary formata with Anglicana features (e.g. the shape of 'w' and looped ascenders). The scribe is identified as John Carpenter, Common Clerk of the City of London, by Mooney and Stubbs, Scribe and the City (2013), pp. 86-106. Mooney and Stubbs suggest that Carpenter also copied the copy of the ‘Confessio Amantis’ in Philadelphia, Rosenbach Museum and Library, MS 1083/29 ; and a copy of Geoffrey Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde in New York, Pierpont Morgan Library and Museum, MS M 817 .

Additional texts written in different cursive hands from the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries.

Decoration

There are no miniatures, but spaces were left for them on f. 4v and f. 8v, containing an instruction for the illuminator: ‘Hic Imago’ (see Drimmer, The Art of Allusion (2019), pp. 91-92)).

A ten-line space on f. 1r may have been left for a historiated initial featuring a miniature of John Gower.

Spaces are left for large (one- and two-line) initials throughout with guide letters written in red and brown ink.

Cadels in red ink in rubricated 'incipits' and 'explicits' for each book on ff. 7v, 27v, 48r, 64r, 85r, 95r, 108r.

Cadels in black ink for most of the initials on the first lines of columns on ff. 57v-90r, and ff. 127r-130v, some featuring human faces (f. 127r), and one (f. 84r) containing a drawing of a woman's head in profile with a crown, probably illustrating the line: 'As I haue do to my lady'.

Running headers in upper margins of 1r-14r, and 95r-128v, headers in columns indicating a change in speaker ('Confessor' and 'Amans'), and Latin verses, glosses, incipits and explicits rubricated in red ink.

Additions

Added texts: various 16th-century and early 17th-century inscriptions in Latin and English:

  • 57r: ‘Chasiers master’.
  • 91r: ‘In the name of god [...]’.
  • 128v and 130r ‘Si mea penna wale[t]’.
  • 134r: ‘Memento mei dum veneris’, ‘dred fortune’, a calculation with sums of money, and the numbers ‘8.1.13.8.1.12’.
  • Partially or largely erased inscriptions on 90v, 92r, 126r, 134r.
  • Erased 17th-century text on ff. [86] recto, [93] recto, [94] recto (parchment stubs).

History

Origin: First half of the 15th century. ; London.

Additional Information

Record Sources

This catalogue entry draws on the descriptions provided by Derek Pearsall and Linne R. Mooney, A Descriptive Catalogue of the English Manuscripts of John Gower's Confessio Amantis, Publications of the John Gower Society, 15 (Cambridge: Brewer, 2021) and Margaret Connolly, Manuscripts in the University Library, Cambridge (Dd-Oo), The Index of Middle English Prose (Woodbridge: Brewer, 2009), p. 40; and an unpublished description of the manuscript composed between 1926 and 1930 by M.R. James , now held in the University Archives (UA ULIB 7/3/74).

Availability

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card. For information on eligibility and admissions procedures, see Joining the Library). For further enquiries, and to confirm the availability of the manuscript, please contact the Special Collections Reading Room.

Bibliography

    Corpus iuris canonici, (Leipzig, 2, Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1879) The English Works of John Gower. Edited from the Manuscripts, with Introduction, Notes, and Glossary Early English Text Society. Extra series, (London, 2, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner for the Early English Text Society, 1901) John Gower: Moral Philosopher and Friend of Chaucer, Fisher, J.H. (London, Methuen, 1965) Studies in the Language of Some Manuscripts of Gower's Confessio Amantis, Smith, Jeremy J. (Glasgow, 1985) Limning and Book-Production Terms and Signs <hi rend="italics">in situ</hi> in Late-Medieval English Manuscripts: A First Listing New Science out of Old Books: Studies in Manuscripts and Early Printed Books in Honour of A. I. Doyle, Scott, Kathleen L. (Aldershot, 142-188, Ashgate, 1995) Later Gothic manuscripts, 1390-1490 A survey of manuscripts illuminated in the British Isles, Scott, Kathleen L. (London, I: Text and Illustrations & II: Catalogue and Indexes, Harvey Miller, 1996) What Do the Numbers Mean? A Textual Critic's Observations on Some Patterns of Middle English Manuscript Transmission Design and Distribution of Late Medieval Manuscripts in England, Sargent, Michael G. (York, 205-244, York Medieval Press in association with the Boydell Press and with the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, 2008) Manuscripts in the University Library, Cambridge (Dd-Oo) Index of Middle English Prose, Connolly, Margaret (Woodbridge, D.S. Brewer, 2009, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781846157363) Late Medieval English Scribes: CUL MS Dd.8.19 Late Medieval English Scribes, Mooney, LinneStubbs, EstelleHorobin, Simon (2011, http://www.medievalscribes.com/index.php?navtype=manuscripts&navlocation=Cambridge&browse=manuscripts&navlibrary=Cambridge+University+Library&id=296&nav=off) Scribes and the City: London Guildhall Clerks and the Dissemination of Middle English Literature, 1375-1425 Manuscript Culture in the British Isles, Mooney, Linne R.Stubbs, Estelle (Woodbridge, York Medieval Press in association with the Boydell Press, 2013) Ownership and Readership: Studies in the Provenance of the Manuscripts of Gower's Confessio Amantis, Harris, Kate (York, 2013) The Disorder of Operations: Illuminators, Scribes, and John Gower's Confessio Amantis LIAS, Drimmer, Sonja (44, 5-28, 2017) Illuminations in Gower Manuscripts The Routledge Research Companion to John Gower, , (Routledge, 2017) The Art of Allusion: Illuminators and the Making of English Literature, 1403-1476 Material Texts, Drimmer, Sonja (Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018) Chaucer's Scribes: London Textual Production, 1384-1432, Warner, Lawrence (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2018) A Descriptive Catalogue of the English Manuscripts of John Gower's Confessio Amantis Publications of the John Gower Society, Pearsall, DerekMooney, Linne R. (Cambridge, Brewer, 2021) Fictions of Witness in the <hi rend="italics">Confessio Amantis</hi> The new Middle Ages, Fredell, Joel (Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2023, https://cam.ldls.org.uk/vdc_100184597365.0x000001)

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