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 Ll.2.2

Sermons

Contents

Introduction: The sermons of Jacobus de Voragine (d. 1298) form the principal contents of this manuscript. The Sermones de tempore per annum siue sermones dominicales (ff. 15r-127r) were, as their name suggests, for preaching on Sundays; the Sermones de sanctis (ff. 137r-256v) for preaching on saints' feast days. This practical arrangement complemented the Church's liturgical calendar, and is reflected in other books used or read as part of this: for instance, the differentiation in the biblical readings provided in breviaries between the 'Temporale' and the 'Sanctorale'. Except for the first and sixth quires of the Sermones de tempore (Quires 2 and 7 - see Collation), these sermon compilations were copied by a single scribe: a William of 'Eglisfehan' - presumably Ecclefechan - who recorded his name and motto on f. 127r, and repeated the latter on f. 256v. This William, or more likely another contemporary scribe, supplemented these with a collection of twenty-six anonymous 'Sermones de mortuis' - for preaching at funerals - which he copied onto a separate quire bound in between these two (ff. 129r-136r). Four whole quires and parts of three others were lost from the manuscript that William had copied; two quires in the Sermones de tempore were replaced by a hand of the 15th century. Another hand of the same period added an alphabetical index of themes and exempla in the Sermones de tempore, from 'Abstinence: there are six types' to 'Zoroaster: he was murdered by Nino'. Each entry is keyed to the text by sermon number and a letter that points more specifically to a passage within. Sermon numbers were added against the text by a later hand (i.e. not William's), the letters only rarely; the former replace an earlier sequence, part of which is found on ff. 29r-34r, and many are clearly written over erasures. The likelihood is that this index was a generic production, made for any copy of Voragine's sermons rather than this one specifically, and efforts were then made to make it fit by altering the numbering in the manuscript. Gaps in the numbering (as at ff. 89×90, for example) indicate that further losses occurred after this point. A variety of other, miscellanous texts have been copied by other 15th-century hands, including into spaces that were originally left blank. These include passages about King Robert of France, excerpted from the Chronica pontificum et imperatorum of Martin of Troppau, and about St Etheldreda from the Historia ecclesiastica of Bede, accounts of a couple of miracles, and passages on the life of Moses - all of which may have furnished the owner of the book with some further inspiring or cautionary material for the composition of his own sermons. An untitled, anonymous text that begins with a quotation from Isaiah 24:16 - 'A finibus terrae laudes audiuimus gloriam iusti' - was written into the space after the 'Sermones de mortuis', and may have been one such sermon (f. 136r). For a little over forty years, this manuscript was in the possession of Richard Gosmer (d. 1547), vicar of Basingstoke from 1499 until his retirement c. 1541. Gosmer wrote his name and the volume's dicta probatoria on the pastedown (f. 1v; cf. 16r). The utility of such a volume for a parish priest is obvious: Voragine's writings would have furnished Gosmer with the raw material for sermons that he was expected to preach to his parishioners (in the vernacular, though, rather than Latin). However, we have little sense of the use Gosmer may have made of these sermon compilations; there are scattered annotations throughout, but none of the longer and potentially more informative of these is by Gosmer's hand. Evidently, though, the manuscript lay close by, for the pastedowns (now lifted) and endleaves are crammed with notes that Gosmer made over the course of approximately a decade in the early 16th century. It is these notes rather than the sermons that have attracted most scholarly attention (see, for example, Swanson (2006) and Cavill (2021)). They shed light on the practicalities of day-to-day life in a late medieval English parish, and in particular on tithes and mortuaries: the dues owed by parishioners to their priest for his support. Gosmer recorded numerous payments made or owed to him by his parishioners, some of which obligations he balanced against his debts to them for various goods or services. For instance, Gosmer noted that 'Alicia Cowdre owes to me 26s. 8d. etc; I owe to her for 5 virgates of cloth 26s. 8d. etc - equal' (f. 1v, l. 24), but also recorded further transactions, which accounts he made on St Linus's Day (23 September) 1504. This concluded with them jointly settling the balance with one another on the Feast of the Nativity following (25 December): that he owed her 20s., and she owed him 21s 8d., and that the 20s. was paid on 2nd April. Several further reckonings with Alicia Cowdre occur over the course of Gosmer's notes, and it is common for names to recur in multiple places, evincing ongoing economic relationships between the townsfolk and their priest. Among these notes are medical recipes that hint at Gosmer's provision of bodily as well as spiritual ministrations, though whether these were for his own use or for the benefit of his parishioners is not clear. These include cures for cough and colic (f. 1v, ll. 32-33); an eye-wash made of powder of zinc sulphate (white coperose) (f. 2v, ll. 21-22); a plaster made of scrambled egg tempered with honey and wheat-flour and mixed with the juice of rue and march (f. 3r, l. 60); a remedy for itching that involves rubbing the affected area with black soap (f. 4r, l. 7); a cure for swelling using warmed sweet wine and white alum (but how it is administered is left unexplained) (f. 4r, l. 8); a treatment for a sore that requires the sufferer to lay a sponge on the affected area overnight (and during the day if he wishes), placing a linen cloth between the sponge and the sore if it is too painful (f. 4r, l. 9); and three short recipes for a plaster to heal a cut, a fumigation to remedy frenzy and 'a good medicine to dry a sore' (for full transcriptions, see Contents). In an extended entry, Gosmer also recorded the stages in the treatment of a horse, 'when he was wrounge a pon the shulder' (f. 2v, ll. 11-19) - the phrase suggesting that Gosmer witnessed the cure being administered, presumably on one of his own horses. First, the dead flesh was cut away, then layers of raw flax, lime and then fresh horse dung were applied to the wound and left for three days. On each of those days, the horse was washed with hot brine, avoiding the sore, and then anointed with 'roders seyme', a kind of melted grease (perhaps a type used by horse-riders). On the fourth day, a salve was made of black soap, oil and honey boiled together, to which was added rosin before it was boiled again, allowed to cool, and then applied with a stick to a linen cloth that had been primed with raw flax. This made a plaster that was then laid on the sore. Linen cloth was to be used, Gosmer noted, and never woollen, and the plaster must be made fresh each day and the horse washed beforehand with hot urine or warm water. The date of this treatment is not given, but the entry preceding it is dated the Saturday before Advent (l. 10) and one following it is dated 10 January 1506 (l. 23), suggesting that it was undertaken in late 1505. Gosmer also paid for various accoutrements in 1509: three new collars (2s.), a horse rope for tying the horse (3d.), a whipcord (2½d.), two harnesses (11d.). He noted that on St James's Day (25 July) he bought horse-shoes and nails at Reading, for 10½d, and on Assumption Day (15 August) paid John Smith 1d. 'pro ferruris equorum', i.e. to shoe horses, which Smith did again shortly afterwards, for 2d. A further 6d. was spent 'for horsshoys the wensday bifor seynt georges day' the following year (f. 3v, ll. 30, 33 and 38). Of particular note are transactions relating to books and Gosmer's clerical activities. Gosmer paid for the rebinding of an antiphoner described as 'dimidis' (perhaps one of two volumes, or an incomplete volume), either on or after 2nd July 1505 (the date of the preceding item), and itemised the cost: 13d. for a white calfskin, 7d. for two red skins, 2½d. for a white sheep's skin, and 5d. for a pair of boards (f. 1v, ll. 37-38). This was presumably one of the books of Basingstoke church. A Master Walter Towker owed Gosmer for various expenses, the first of which was 2s. for part of a portiphorium, another liturgical manuscript (f. 2r, l. 10). On the eve of St Lucy's Day (12 December ?1509/?1510), Gosmer recorded that he and Robert Stocker had reckoned their accounts with one another, concluding that 'I owe him clearly 22d.'; part of the calculation included Stocker owing Gosmer for writing on parchment the testament of Gilbert Lowker, at a cost of 12d (f. 4r, ll. 43-44). Further evidence of Gosmer's fulfilment of such services is found on f. 258r, where he copied two further wills, presumably drafts to be recopied later: the first dated the Vigil of the Assumption of Mary (i.e. 14 August) 1505 for Agnes Lytyllwerkede (ll. 42-45), the second dated 12 December 1505 for William Mershe (ll. 46-49). In two places on f. 2r, Gosmer wrote reminders to himself to pray for the soul of John Hosy, 'who died in the service of the king after he [i.e. Henry VII] came to England'. There was a John Husee/Hosey who was a near-contemporary of Gosmer when he was a fellow at Magdalen College, Oxford, but who had died several years earlier, certainly by September 1499. However, Gosmer's entry suggests this may instead be the John Hosy who was one of Henry VII's fiscal agents and is recorded as Keeper of the King's Wards in the privy purse expenses of Queen Elizabeth of York. What connected him and Gosmer is unknown, however. Perhaps the most striking expenses Gosmer records - and those that have elicited little comment from researchers so far - are those for building materials. Gosmer notes payments he made for repairs to his home and other buildings in his care: to Thomas Cox, carpenter, for two and a half days' work on the gate/door and stables at the rectory, 15d. (f. 2v, l. 65); to John Colyns, thatcher, for three and a half days' work mending the vetch house and stable, plus another day threshing oats, 13d. (f. 3v, l. 25); and to Thomas Tyler's man for 'mending the floor in the chancell where we syng', 2d. (f. 4r, l. 41). However, the quantity of raw and manufactured materials and their cost suggest that Gosmer was involved in a project of an altogether greater scale. For example, the money owed for six cartloads of tiles, three thousand bricks, three cartloads of lime, fifty 'hepyers' (?hoppers / ?shovels) and 17 'crastis' (?ridge-tiles) was part of the reckoning Gosmer made with Thomas Newman on 13 July 1506, the total amounting to 80s. (f. 1v, ll. 44-45). Thomas Afforest of Dudley was paid 3s. for a thousand five-penny nails and 2s. 2d. for a thousand three-penny nails, and he promised to deliver within fifteen days after the feast of St Gregory a further thousand six-penny nails and two gross of 'lathnaylis' (f. 3r, l. 52). The last are apparently for roofing work: laths are narrow wooden battens onto which roof-tiles are nailed. Indeed, Gosmer paid Robert Box on account 3s 4d., on the eve of the Annunciation, for making 2000 roof-tiles. There follows on f. 4r a succession of payments to several labourers - all named - for various building works they undertook: to John Irysh, mason, and his servant Thomas Absolon, for ground-pinning and other ground-work; to Humfrey Laborell for digging a trench 'and other things'; to Richard Umfrey for taking down the old rafters and removing the ground-pinning; to Thomas Cholde for laying the first foundations with raw mortar; to Thomas Gamon, servant of Thomas Absolon; and to William Hayn, mason. Gosmer also bought a further six thousand lath-nails in Reading, paid Thomas Newman on account for lime and tiles, and paid for the fitting of tiles with iron in the eaves. On f. 4v is a sequence of accounts largely concerned with the felling of trees and the cutting and carriage of timber: some for sale, but the rest for other purposes. A clue as to their destination is afforded by one item of income: 13½d. from Gilbert Hoskyn towards buying new bells ('pro noua campana tintinabula emenda') (f. 3r, l. 10). During Gosmer's incumbency, Basingstoke church underwent a major expansion. According to Nikolaus Pevsner, the chancel had been remodelled in 1464-65, but it was only c. 1510-25 that the nave, aisles and west tower were built. Gosmer was the perfect man for the job. Prior to coming to Basingstoke, he had served at Magdalen College as Third then Second Bursar for periods between 1490 and 1494 - evidently where he had picked up his habit of detailed accounting. From 1495-97, he also supervised the building of the College's tower. It is perhaps no coincidence that, as Pevsner noted, 'the composition [of the tower at Basingstoke] is similar to that of the lower stages of the chapel tower at Magdalen College, Oxford'. Though their work remains in cities, towns and villages across the country, we often know little about the craftsmen who built parish churches. Thanks to Gosmer's punctilious if ad hoc record-keeping on the endleaves of this manuscript, we know the names of some of the labourers who manufactured and supplied the raw materials, who laid the foundations and who built the church that still stands in Basingstoke city centre. It would be interesting to find out if any of them had been contracted to work in Oxford a decade or so earlier and had followed their client southwards. Dr James Freeman| Medieval Manuscripts Specialist| Cambridge University Library References
A.B. Emden, A biographical register of the University of Oxford, to A.D. 1500 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957-59), p. 794
Michael Bullen, John Crook, Rodney Hubbock and Nikolaus Pevsner, Hampshire: Winchester and the North, The Buildings of England (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2010), p. 156

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 6r libenter et reuerenter suscipere debemus
Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: Codex: i + 2 + 12 | 14 | 44 | 12 | 44 ; 8 ; 97 + 2 + i leaves. 335 × 235-240 mm.
Foliation:

20th-century foliation

[i] + 1-2 + 3-14 | 15-28 | 29-72 | 73-84 | 85-128 ; 129-136 ; 137-172, 185-196, 209-257 | 258-259 + [ii]

Numbering in pencil in the upper right-hand corner of the rectos, largely by an unidentified hand of the 20th century, later emended from f. 185 onwards by H.L. Pink , in order to take account of leaves he judged to be missing (though some losses were overlooked - see Collation).

Folio numbers 173-184, 197-208, 260-263 assigned to leaves no longer present in the volume (as per historic foliation practice at Cambridge University Library).

Collation

Quires 3-6, 8-11, 12 and 13-23 form the core of the manuscript, a production of the later 13th or early 14th century. All but perhaps one were copied by a single, named scribe; Quire 12 may have been by the same or at least a closely contemporary hand, for it bears many other similarities in its production to the rest (see Hands and Decoration). To this were made various additions in the 15th century: first, replacements of quires that had been lost (Quires 2 and 7), then supplements to the text (Quire 1).

However, the text of both portions of the original manuscript remain defective. This is indicated in part by revisions made to the numbering of the leaves by H.L. Pink (see Foliation), in order to denote the loss of entire gatherings Quires 15 and 16 (ff. 172×185) and between Quires 16 and 17 (ff. 196×209). However, Pink overlooked internal losses in Quires 8, 18 and 20, where gaps in the text are not reflected by his foliation.

Unpublished descriptions by both Pink and M.R. James assigned a quire letter to the front endleaves ('a'), and designated the next quire 'b', and the one after '1'. Pink also assigned numbers to missing quires. These sequences were then written into the manuscript (see Source and Additions). However, since further study of the manuscript has shown these latter judgments to be inaccurate (or at least incomplete), and in order to avoid confusion arising from the partial representation of losses in the folio numbering, the quire numbering given here starts at '1' with the first quire (formerly 'b') and runs without interruption through the rest of the manuscript - and thus no longer corresponds to these unpublished descriptions or numbering in the manuscript itself.

  • Quire 112 (ff. 3-14) |
  • Quire 214 (ff. 15-28) |
  • Quire 38 (ff. 29-36)
  • Quires 4-612 (ff. 37-72) |
  • Quire 712-2+2 (ff. 73-84: 2nd and 3rd leaves cancelled; two singletons, ff. 75-76 inserted as internal gathering) |
  • Quire 8?12-2 (ff. 85-94: perhaps originally 12 leaves, 6th-7th missing)
  • Quire 912 (ff. 95-106)
  • Quire 1010 (ff. 107-116)
  • Quire 1112 (ff. 117-128) ;
  • Quire 128 (ff. 129-136) ;
  • Quires 13-1712 (ff. 137-220)
  • Quire 18?12-6 (ff. 221-226: perhaps originally 12 leaves, 4th-9th missing)
  • Quire 1912-1 (ff. 227-237: 10th leaf, after f. 235, cancelled)
  • Quire 2012-8 (ff. 238-241: perhaps originally 12 leaves, 3rd-10th missing)
  • Quire 2112 (ff. 242-253)
  • Quire 224-2 (ff. 254-255: 3rd and 4th leaves, after f. 255, cancelled)
  • Quire 23two (ff. 256-257: perhaps originally 4 leaves, 3rd-4th missing; sewn in behind ff. 258-259)

Condition

The manuscript contains a few added organic materials: a dried blade of grass in the gutter between f. 137v and f. 138r; and a fly that was found on f. 231r that is now enclosed in a melinex folder (see insect) and kept with the manuscript in a grey conservation box.

Additions

Quire signatures ('1-23') in the bottom right-hand corner of the recto side of the first leaf of each quire, written in pencil in the lower right-hand corner of the first leaf of each quire, by an unidentified hand of the 19th/20th century, later emended by H.L. Pink (who probably also added '+' in the same position on the first leaf after the centre of the quire). (No longer indicative; see Collation).

Binding

18th-/19th-century brown half leather with marbled paper sides over millboards.

Binding height: 350mm; width: 240mm; depth: 65mm.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

John Wateregge (fl. 15th century) of Winslade, near Basingstoke ('Iohannes Wateregge of wynslade' (f. 1v). Wateregge was perhaps also responsible for the inscription on f. 259r: 'Iohannes est nomen eius hodier[ni?] iohannes est nome [sic] eius'. He was perhaps the donor of the manuscript to Basingstoke parish church (see below).

Richard Gosmer (d. 1547) of Magdalen College, Oxford, and vicar of Basingstoke (1499-c 1541): his ownership or use of the manuscript is indicated by a secundo folio reference at the top of on f. 1v: ‘Ricardus Gosmer, 2a fo. libenter’. Gosmer also had access to at least two other manuscripts, in which his hand is also found: Oxford, University College, MS 61 (name inscribed on f. 1v) and Oxford, University College, MS 109 (name inscribed on f. 1r) , and perhaps also Oxford, University College, MS 55 (the annotation on f. 183v probably being by his hand) and Oxford, University College, MS 60. Gosmer's predecessor at Basingstoke, Thomas Reynes/Raynes owned MSS 60 and 109, though further comparison of the hands in MS Ll.2.2 with these other manuscripts is needed in order to determine whether this too had been Reynes's or had come to Gosmer by some other route (which the earlier inscription by John Wateregge might suggest). R.W. Hunt thought that '[w]e have evidently the remains of a little collection handed down from priest to priest'. (My thanks to Peter Kidd for sharing his draft descriptions and images of the University College manuscripts.)

Hunt (1950-51), p. 24.
Emden, BRUO, p. 794
Peter Kidd, Descriptive catalogue of the medieval manuscripts of University College, Oxford (forthcoming)

Thomas Broune (d. 1587) , vicar of Basingstoke 1554-87: his ownership inscription on f. 5r: 'Liber sermonum in membranis vel pellibus Thomas Brouneus possessoris huius'. Broune's ownership inscriptions are also found in the four manuscripts at University College mentioned above (as well as others in that collection - see Hunt (1950-51)). He apparently left most of his books to his nephews, Richard (a Fellow of University College, Oxford, 1571-1622) and John (d. 1603).

Hunt (1950-51), pp. 24-25.
Peter Kidd, Descriptive catalogue of the medieval manuscripts of University College, Oxford (forthcoming)

John Moore (1646-1714) , bishop of Ely: no. 463 (f. 1r) in Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ (c. 1697), Volume 2 Part 1, p. 373 (no. 9649).

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

Endleaves [Cambridge, University Library, MS Ll.2.2, ff. 1-2, 258-259]

Contents

Language(s): Latin and Middle English

1. 1v-2v
Administrative notes
Language(s): Latin and Middle English
Incipit: 1v Memorandum quod exposui pro Johanne Burley ista que fecuntur et pro aliis executoribus
Explicit: 2v 18d pro medio et frumenntum valebant 12 vel 13d. per medio

Added c. 1503-c. 1510, largely written by Richard Gosmer, vicar of Basingstoke 1499-c. 1541 (see Provenance). These notes continue on ff. 3r-4v (see Part 1).

Connolly (2009), pp. 319-321
2. 1v
Medical recipe
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 1v: Pro tusse. Recipe de liquericia i d. vnum manipulum salgie et [?]medicamentum manipuli de rubea fenicula bulle [...] in aqua currenti a potella vsque ad quartam et de eo [...] bibe mane et nocte

For cough. Full transcription.

Written by Richard Gosmer, vicar of Basingstoke 1499-c. 1541 (see Provenance).

3. 1v
Medical recipe
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 1v: Pro colica. Recipe a potell \of rennyng water or ny þat and seth hit well and after þat put hit in an oxbladder and ley hit to the syde þat þe greve is

For colic. Full transcription. Not recorded in Connolly (2009).

Written by Richard Gosmer, vicar of Basingstoke 1499-c. 1541 (see Provenance).

4. 2r
Craft recipe
Language(s): Middle English

To temper cloth ('byysse').

Written by Richard Gosmer, vicar of Basingstoke 1499-c. 1541 (see Provenance).

5. 2v
Veterinary recipe
Language(s): Middle English and Latin
Incipit: 2v: Item nota [...] curam equi in primis when he was wrounge a pon the shulder first he kut hym and kut awey all the dedd flesch then he leyd next the rawe towe and then he cast apon the towe lyme a gode quantite and apon that he layd hors donge fl fresch and so hit lay þer iii dayes and euery day of that iii dayes he the \hors/ was wesshyd with hote bryne made of a galoun water and a potell of bay salt and more well scomyd and after that not apon the soore but by the sore and by and by the hors after euery wesshyng the hors was annoyntyd abowt the sore with roders seyme then the iiiith day he made plaster hoc modo accipe a peny wirth of black sope a peny of oyle and a peny wurth of hony boyle them to gedyr first and then put þer to an obolus wurth of rosyn and late hit boyle agayn a lytyll while and when hit is colde make a plaster hoc modo take a lynyn cloth as brode as the soore and apon that ley a quantite of towe and then with a stycke take of this salve and make a plaster and lay hit to the sore. Item nota that þer may no wullen cloth cum ny the hors in no tyme but euery wesshyng must be with lynyn cloth. Item the playster must be new made euery day ons and euery day bifore ye ley þe plaster he must be wesshyd with hote vryn or warme water.

For treating a horse for an unspecified problem with its shoulder (?injury or ?wound), using a medicinal plaster. Full transcription.

Written by Richard Gosmer, vicar of Basingstoke 1499-c. 1541 (see Provenance).

Connolly (2009), p. 320
6. 2v
Medical recipe
Language(s): Middle English and Latin
Incipit: 2v: Item nota quod for yes that for white coperas must be this preparyd first hete a tylestone very whote then fro the fire ley the coperas and hit wull boyle and a noun after hit wull resolue in to a powder then take a sponfull of rennyng watyr and put þerto a lytyll of the powder and wesch þerwith thi ey bona medicina

A 'good medicine' for the eye. Full transcription.

Written by Richard Gosmer, vicar of Basingstoke 1499-c. 1541 (see Provenance).

7. 258r-259r
Administrative notes
Language(s): Latin and Middle English

Notes on f. 259 largely written by Richard Gosmer, vicar of Basingstoke 1499-c. 1541 (see Provenance). They continue notes begun on f. 257r (see Part 3), and including a draft of letter to 'Right wurschipfull Master Subwarden' on business matters, apparently written on behalf of 'Nicolas harres'. Gosmer also copied some of the contents of ff. 258r-258v, including formulary texts, transactions and drafts of testaments (see also below), amongst additions made by other 15th and 16th-century hands.

Connolly (2009), p. 321
8. 258v
Culinary recipes
Language(s): Middle English

For baking bread and communion wafers.

Perhaps written by Richard Gosmer, vicar of Basingstoke 1499-c. 1541 (see Provenance).

Connolly (2009), p. 321

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: Codex: 4 leaves (two at the front of the volume, two at the rear). 335 × 225-230 mm.

Layout

320-335 × 200-220 mm. No ruling. Single columns, typically 60-70 or more lines to the page.

Hand(s)

Written mostly in Secretary, by Richard Gosmer (d. 1547) . Other hands of the 15th century wrote passages on ff. 258r-259v, also in Secretary.

History

Origin: 15th century. ; England.

Though much of the contents are dated to the first decade of the 16th century, the presence of an earlier ownership inscription (see Provenance) indicates that these leaves were produced as part of the earlier binding of the manuscript, presumably completed after the addition of materials described in Part 1.

Part 1: Alphabetical index to the Sermones de tempore [Cambridge, University Library, MS Ll.2.2, ff. 3r-14v]

Contents

1. 3r-4v
Administrative notes
Language(s): Latin and Middle English
Incipit: 1v Memorandum quod vxor Iohannis Ronang' soluit pro vno quartus brasii...
Explicit: 4v Item a lode of tymber the estur weke Item in postys caryyd bifore estur xij lodys of which [...] lode solde

Added c. 1503-c. 1510, largely written by Richard Gosmer, vicar of Basingstoke 1499-c. 1541 (see Provenance). These notes continue those on ff. 1v-2v (see Endleaves).

Connolly (2009), pp. 319-321
2. 3r
Medical recipe
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 3r: Memorandum for a plaster take the white of a egge swyngyd temper hit with hony þat neuer come over the fyre and flowr of whete put þerto iusse of rew and þe iusse of march

For a plaster. Full transcription.

Written by Richard Gosmer, vicar of Basingstoke 1499-c. 1541 (see Provenance).

Connolly (2009), p. 320
3. 4r
Medical recipe
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 4r: Take black sope and agaynst the ychchyng rubbe bi a fyr of þe black sope and hit wull ych a while and a noun hit wull vanesch a wey.

For itching. Full transcription.

Written by Richard Gosmer, vicar of Basingstoke 1499-c. 1541 (see Provenance).

Connolly (2009), p. 320
4. 4r
Medical recipe
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 4r: Agaynst swellyng take obolus wurth of malvesey and white alum þe whiter þe better breke small the alumpe and chafe both apon þe coles and not sethe them but hete them well

For swelling. Full transcription.

Written by Richard Gosmer, vicar of Basingstoke 1499-c. 1541 (see Provenance).

Connolly (2009), p. 320
5. 4r
Medical recipe
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 4r: To heel a sore take a sponge and ley hit to the sore a nyght tyme and if ye wull bi day also and hit wull drawe myghtely and if he draw to sore ley a lynen cloth bitwen þe sponge and þe flesh

For healing a sore. Full transcription.

Written by Richard Gosmer, vicar of Basingstoke 1499-c. 1541 (see Provenance).

Connolly (2009), p. 320
6. 4v
Medical recipe
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 4v: A plaster to hele a cutt. Take black sope the greyer the better and the thirde parte of hony the harder the better and mix them well to gedyr and it shalbe a good salve without any boylyng

A plaster to heal a cut. Full transcription.

Written by Richard Gosmer, vicar of Basingstoke 1499-c. 1541 (see Provenance).

Connolly (2009), p. 320-21
7. 4v
Medical recipe
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 4v: Item for the hedd frenetyck. Take a quarte of stale ale and i. penywurth of nuttmyggis bete and i li. of comyn beten small and boyle them well to gedyr and in the sethyng lete the seke hold hys hedd over and hit shall eese for the frenesy and specially if þe seke drynke of hit melk warme erly and late and often hit shall help well fro the frenesy.

A fumigation to deal with frensy. Full transcription.

Written by Richard Gosmer, vicar of Basingstoke 1499-c. 1541 (see Provenance).

Connolly (2009), p. 320-21
8. 4v
Medical recipe
Language(s): Middle English and Latin
Incipit: 4v: Item a good medycyne to dry a sore take oyster shellis and brend them vnto powder that powder cast apon the sore and hit shall help gretly probatus in wo ewen

To dry a sore. Full transcription.

Written by Richard Gosmer, vicar of Basingstoke 1499-c. 1541 (see Provenance).

Connolly (2009), p. 320-21
9. 4v
Tract on the Mass (Officium Matutinale)
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 4v Nullus insuper sacerdos parochialis id est curam gerens alicuius parochie
Explicit: 4v Hic W. Lynwode utriusque iure doctore in constitucione linthiamina de celebracione missarum

The tract cites Johannes de Friburgo (1250–1314) , Summa Confessorum ; and William Lyndwood (1375?–1446) .

Added in the 15th century, written by two hands.

10. 5r-11v
Alphabetical index to sermons
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 5r Abstinencie sex sunt species
Explicit: 12v Zorastes interfectus fuit a nino

Added in the 15th century, referring to the text of the Sermones de tempore (see Part 2).

11. 11v
Chronica pontificum et imperatorum (extract) Martinus Polonus
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 11v In cronisis martini M . n . Robertus id est Karolus rex francie vita et scientia preclarus devotionisque tante floruit
Explicit: 11v Hic fecit sequenciam sancti spiritus assit nobis gracia

Extract on King Robert of France. Added in the 15th century.

12. 11v-12r
On additions to the Mass by various popes
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 11v Alexander papa constituit aquam aspercionis cum sale benedici et in habitaculis hominum aspergi
Explicit: 12r Terciam missam ipsa honoris diei tercia quando illuxit nobis dies redemptionis nostre

Added in the 15th century, and followed by three notes. The last reads: 'Nota: Corpus in templo / ligna in Psalmo / mens in foro / pessime dividitur homo').

13. 12v
Tract on Christ as spouse of the Church
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 12r Legimus quod dominus nostris ihesus Christus ecclesie sponsus sepcies tenerissime ploravit
Explicit: 12v Sit graciarum actio honor et gloria per omnia saecula saeculorum Amen

Added in the 15th century.

14. 12v-13r
De observacione sabbati
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 12v De consecracione Di. 3 Jeiuniam
Explicit: 12v audit nec alios audire permittit . habet Augustinus

Tract featuring extracts from Origen of Alexandria (185–254) , Super librum Numerorum; and Pseudo-Augustine , Sermo in parochiis satis necessarius; added in the 15th century.

15. 13r
Tract on Moses
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 13r Nota quod moyses profecturus ab egipto versus terram promissionis habuit specialiter tres inimicos
Explicit: 13r Unde Jac. 4o resistite diabolo et fugiet a nobis

Added in the 15th century.

16. 13r-13v
Historia ecclesiastica (extract) Bede the Venerable
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 13r Beda in de gestis anglorum narrat de Etheldreda virgine uniente omni viro suo xij annis quo defuncto ipsa intravit religionem valde vixit ibidem
Explicit: 13v Johannes Baptista fuit decapitatus

Extract on St Etheldreda. Added in the 15th century and followed by two notes, beginning: ‘Nota quod arta est ura’ and ‘Nota proverbium 19. flagellato pestilente stultus sapientior fiat’.

17. 13v-14v
De igne purgatorio Caesarius of Arles (Pseudo-Augustine)
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 13v Sermo beati Augustini de igne Purgatorio et de animabus
Incipit: 13v In lectione apostolica que nobis paulo ante recitata est
Explicit: 14v Et elimosinarum largitate possimus redimere . prestante domino nostro ihesu Christo qui cum patre et filio et spiritu sancto viuit et regnat deus per omnia secula seculorum amen
Final rubric: 14v laus et ihesu dulcedo nomen Explicit

Added in the 15th century.

18. 14v
Note on Judgement Day
Rubric: 14v Nota secundum augustinum de die iudicii
Incipit: 14v Quiquid homo quid ages quid dices
Explicit: 14v terribit surgite mortui venite ad iudicum

Attributed to Augustine . Text does not correspond to that of the Sermo de die iudicii of pseudo-Augustine. Added in the 15th century, by a different hand to the other additions.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 6r: Decime debent
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (disposition irregular)
Extent: Codex: 12 leaves. 325-330 × 220-230 mm.

Collation

  • Quire 112 (ff. 3-14)

Leaf signatures in Arabic numerals, 2-3, on ff. 6r and 7r.

Layout

320-335 × 200-220 mm. Folios 3r-4v: No ruling. Single columns, typically 60-70 or more lines to the page.

240 × 150 mm. Folios 5r-14v: Ruled in leadpoint, frame only. Two columns, 52-63 lines to the page, written below top line.

Hand(s)

Additions to ff. 3r-4v written mostly in Secretary, by Richard Gosmer (d. 1547) (see Provenance).

Other hands of the 15th century wrote additions on f. 4v, in gothic hybrid and Secretary.

The added text on the Mass on f. 4v, the alphabetical index on ff. 5r-11v and subsequent texts on ff. 11v-14v are written by 15th-century hands in mixed cursive scripts with both Secretary and Anglicana features.

Decoration

Three-line initials (four-line for the first) in blue, with contrasting red infill and marginal flourishing, for each section of the alphabetical index (ff. 5r-11v).

Additions

Several additions to the margins of the index, providing further entries, probably by the same hand/s as the additions on ff. 11v-14v.

History

Origin: 15th century. ; England.

Part 2: Jacobus de Voragine, Sermones de tempore (replacement quires) [Cambridge, University Library, MS Ll.2.2, ff. 15-28, 73-84]

Contents

1. 15r-28v
Sermones de tempore per annum sive sermones dominicales Jacobus de Voragine
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 15r Prologus
Incipit: 15r Humane labilis vite decursus salubri erudicione nos monet rebus non incumbere perituris
Explicit: 28v esse bonas que multorum malorum sunt cause

Added in the 15th century, in order to replace a missing quire.

Schneyer 3, pp. 221-22: nos 1-23 (continued in Part 3).
2. 73r-84v
Sermones de tempore per annum sive sermones dominicales Jacobus de Voragine
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 73r sando . aut nimis interrogando
Explicit: 84v dignitas que nulli datur indigno et nulli negatur

Added in the 15th century, in order to replace a missing quire.

Schneyer 3, pp. 227-28: nos 84 (continued from Part 3)-100 (continued in Part 3).

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 16r: libenter et reuerenter
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFHF)
Extent: Codex: 14 | [...] | 12 leaves. 335 × 230 mm.

Collation

  • Quire 214 (ff. 15-28) | [...] |
  • Quire 712-2+2 (ff. 73-84: 2nd and 3rd leaves cancelled; two singletons, ff. 75-76 inserted as internal gathering) |

Leaf signatures comprising Arabic numbers plus 'a' (Quire 2) or 'b' (Quire 7).

Horizontal catchwords, written by the scribe.

Layout

245-250 × 160 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame only. Two columns, 49-56 lines to the page, written below top line.

Hand(s)

Folios 15r-28v and ff. 73r-84v were copied by a single hand, writing in secretary script.

Decoration

One six-line puzzle initial in blue and red, with red infill and marginal flourishing (f. 15r).

Two-line plain initials in blue (ff. 15r-28v and 73r-84v).

History

Origin: 15th century. ; England.

Part 3: Jacobus de Voragine, Sermones de tempore; Sermones de mortuis; Jacobus de Voragine, Sermones de sanctis [Cambridge, University Library, MS Ll.2.2, ff. 29-72, 85-257]

Contents

1. 29r-72v
Sermones de tempore per annum sive sermones dominicales Jacobus de Voragine
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 29r et paupertatem esse malam quam christus docuit et conseruauit
Explicit: 72v consilia dando aut male se excu-
Schneyer 3, pp. 222-27: nos 23 (continued from Part 2)-84 (continued in Part 2).
2. 85r-127r
Sermones de tempore per annum sive sermones dominicales Jacobus de Voragine
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 29r et paupertatem esse malam quam christus docuit et conseruauit
Explicit: 127r qui sine fine viuit et regnat per infinita secula seculorum . Amen .
Final rubric: 127r Istum librum scriptsit Willelmus de Eglisfehan . deo gracias . Qui scripsit scribat semper cum numine viuat
Schneyer 3, pp. 228-33: nos 100 (continued from Part 2)-107, 108 (ends imperf., f. 89v), 111 (begins imperf., f. 90r), 112-160.
3. 129r-136r
Sermones de mortuis
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 129r Hic incipiunt sermones de mortuis
Incipit: 129r Revertatur pulvis in terram suam et spiritus redeat ad deum qui dedit illum Ecclesiastes xii. 7 videlicet. Cuilibet peregrino in arena manenti
Explicit: 136r ad quam glorie coronam perducat nos ihesus Christus filius dei qui cum eodem viuit et regnat deus per omnia secula seculorum Amen

A collection of 26 sermons numbered with rubricated Roman numerals.

4. 136r
Untitled sermon
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 136r A finibus terre laudes audivimus gloriam iusti
Explicit: 136r carnem eum crucifigendo cum viciis et concupiscentiis
5. 136r
A diagram of the division of the world (T-O map)
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 136r Tres filii Noe post diluvium diviserunt orbem in tres partes
Explicit: 136r In affrica libia Penpatis ethiopia Licana Bizancia Jeculia Siata Anuda Samaria Circes maiores et minores
6. 137r-256v
Sermones de sanctis Jacobus de Voragine
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 137r De sancto Andrea sermo primus
Incipit: 137r Vestigia eius secutus est pes meus viam eius custodivi
Explicit: 256v tanquam medium per quem conservantur omnia ut sic verificetur quod ait Apostolus: Ro. 6. et in ipso et per ipsum et in ipso sunt omnia ipsi honor et gloria in secula seculorum

Text is imperfect owing to losses between Quires 15 and 16, between Quires 16 and 17, and within Quires 18 and 20 (see Collation and bibliography below).

Schneyer 3, pp. 246-66: nos 295-357, ?358 (sermon incipit does not match), 359-392, 393 (ends imperf., f. 172v), 419 (begins imperf., f. 185r), 420-427, ?625 (sermon explicit does not match), 428-430, 'Iuda te laudabunt...: Lauabit in vino...Omne aliis diligit super filie' [not in Schneyer], 'Certa bonum certatum...: Verba ista coniure...gratiarum habundancia plenam' [not in Schneyer], 431-444, 445 (ends imperf., f. 196v), 470 (begins imperf. 209r), 'Dico uobis amicis meis...: Dominus noster in hiis verbis...detestatur et odit' [not in Schneyer], 471-501, 502 (ends imperf., f. 223v), 514 (begins imperf., f. 224r), 515-536, 537 (ends imperf.; rest of f. 234v and first column of f. 235r blank), 538-549, 550 (ends imperf., f. 239v), 564 (begins imperf., f. 240r), 565-579, 582-600
7. 257r
Miracle of the Virgin Mary concerning a virgin named Murieldis
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 257r Miraculum me referre non piget
Explicit: 257r et sanitas capitis recuperata

Added in the late 14th century.

Tatlock (1933) [without this manuscript].
8. 257r
Miracle about a beautiful tree found inside a hole in the ground
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 257r In libro quodam reperitur quod quidam ab unicorne fatigatus incidit in foream maximam
Explicit: 257r sine dubio in lacum mixe inter crudelissimas feras cademus causa patre nostro in foneam

Added in the late 14th century.

9. 257r
Note on the Virgin Mary

Refers to Ambrose, De virginitate, and Bonaventure's commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard.

10. 257r-258v
Template letters

Written by Richard Gosmer, vicar of Basingstoke 1499-c. 1541 (see Provenance), except perhaps the last.

11. 257v
Quaestiones super vetus testamentum Isidore of Seville
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 257v Contra hunc serpentem clamat Apostolus cum dicit: metuo ne sicut serpens evam seduxit
Explicit: 257r Framea vero versatilis posita ad custodiendam viam ligni vitae temporales pene intelliguntur||

Added in the late 14th century.

12. 258r-259r
Administrative notes
Language(s): Latin and Middle English
Incipit: 258r Memorandum quod liberaui per modum mutui domino knottis alexandrum
Explicit: 259r Memorandum quod anno domini 1504 debui Ricardo Hoggis pro peri sotularium pro me cum d[?] solo ix d. et pro peri sotularium cum [...] pro falo [...] xv d.

Added c. 1503-c. 1510, largely written by Richard Gosmer, vicar of Basingstoke 1499-c. 1541 (see Provenance).

Connolly (2009), pp. 319-321

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 30r: ecce quia
Secundo Folio: 138r: tuum mixtum
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (FHHF)
Extent: Codex: 44 | [...] | 44 ; 8 ; 97 leaves. 335 × 235 mm.

Collation

  • Quire 38 (ff. 29-36)
  • Quires 4-612 (ff. 37-72) | [...] |
  • Quire 8?12-2 (ff. 85-94: perhaps originally 12 leaves, 6th-7th missing)
  • Quire 912 (ff. 95-106)
  • Quire 1010 (ff. 107-116)
  • Quire 1112 (ff. 117-128) ;
  • Quire 128 (ff. 129-136) ;
  • Quires 13-1712 (ff. 137-220)
  • Quire 18?12-6 (ff. 221-226: perhaps originally 12 leaves, 4th-9th missing)
  • Quire 1912-1 (ff. 227-237: 10th leaf, after f. 235, cancelled)
  • Quire 2012-8 (ff. 238-241: perhaps originally 12 leaves, 3rd-10th missing)
  • Quire 2112 (ff. 242-253)
  • Quire 224-2 (ff. 254-255: 3rd and 4th leaves, after f. 255, cancelled)
  • Quire 23two (ff. 256-257: perhaps originally 4 leaves, 3rd-4th missing; sewn in behind ff. 258-259)

Leaf signatures in Arabic numerals; not differentiated between quires.

Arabic numbers in brown ink ('2'-'5', '7'-'10', and '1s'-'3s', '5s', '7s'-'12s') at the centres of the lower margins of the first rectos of Quires 3-6, 8-11, 13-15, 16, 17-22.

 Horizontal catchwords in the hand of the scribe placed in frames of brown ink in the lower margins below the second columns of the last versos of quires.

Layout

240-245 × 160 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame and line, in 2 columns, 52 lines to page, written below top line.

Hand(s)

Folios 29r-72v, 85r-127r and 137r-256v were copied by a single scribe, writing a gothic hybrid script, who identified himself as 'Willelmus de Eglisfehan' (perhaps William of Ecclefechan (fl. late 13th/14th century) ), in a colophon on f. 127r (repeated without his name on f. 256v).

Folios 129r-136r copied by a single scribe, writing a gothic hybrid: not obviously the same hand as the rest, but closely contemporary (see also Decoration).

The text accompanying the T-O map on f. 136r and two miracles on f. 219r are written in Anglicana, perhaps by the same hand of the 14th century.

The text by Isidore of Seville on f. 219v is written in Anglicana, by a hand of the 14th century.

Decoration

One four-line puzzle initial in red and blue, with red infill and marginal flourishing, accompanied by a single rectilinear border in red and blue at the opening of the Sermones de sanctis (f. 137r).

Two- or three-line initials in red or blue with contrasting blue or red infill and marginal flourishing (ff. 29r-72v, 85r-256v). Consistently two-line in the Sermones de tempore; three-line initials appear occasionally in the Sermones de mortuis and Sermones de sanctis.

A circular diagram representing the world or 'T-O map', divided in four quarters representing Asia, Paradisus, Europa, and Affrica (f. 136r).

Titles and marginal headings rubricated in red ink in consistent style across ff. 29r-72v, 85r-127r, 129r-136r and 137r-256v). Prompts written faintly in leadpoint are often visible in the lower margin.

Paraphs alternately in red and blue ink.

Additions

Numerous marginal annotations by hands of the 14th century and, less frequently, 15th century.

History

Origin: Late 13th century or first half of the 14th century. ; England.

The style of handwriting used by the annotating hands, notably including features that disappeared from Anglicana scripts by the mid-14th century at the latest, rules out a date of production any later than this.

Additional Information

Record Sources

This catalogue entry draws on 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) and an unpublished description of the manuscript composed between 1948 and 1970 by H.L. Pink , now held in the University Archives (UA ULIB 7/3/75).

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

    Muriel: The Earliest English Poetess PMLA, , (48, 2, 317-321, 1933) The manuscript collection of University College, Oxford: origins and growth Bodleian Library Record, Hunt, R.W. (3, 13-34, 1950) Die Handschriftliche Überlieferung der Werke des Heiligen Augustinus Sitzungsberichte (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-Historische Klasse). Veröffentlichungen der Kommission zur Herausgabe des Corpus der Lateinischen Kirchenväter, Heft 3,4, Römer, Franz (Wien, 2: Großbritannien und Irland, Böhlau, 1972) Pastoralia in Practice: Clergy and Ministry in Pre-Reformation England Dutch Review of Church History Dutch Review of Church History, Swanson, Robert N. (83: The Pastor Bonus: Papers Read at the British-Dutch Colloquium at Utrecht, 18-21 September 2002, 104-127, 2003) Profits, priests and people The parish in late medieval England: proceedings of the 2002 Harlaxton symposium Harlaxton medieval studies, Swanson, R.N. (Donington, 146-159, Shaun Tyas, 2006) Indulgences in Late Medieval England: Passports to Paradise?, Swanson, Robert N. (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2007) A Universal Levy: Tithes and Economic Agency Agriculture and Rural Society and the Black Death: Common Themes and Regional Variations Studies in Regional and Local History, Swanson, Robert N. (Hatfield, 89-112, University of Hertfordshire Press, 2008) Manuscripts in the University Library, Cambridge (Dd-Oo) Index of Middle English prose, Connolly, Margaret (Woodbridge, D.S. Brewer, 2009) Mortuary Dues in Early Sixteenth-Century England Continuity and Change, Cavill, Paul (36, 285–308, 2021)

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Wellcome

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