A late fifteenth-century manuscript of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, along with other verse texts written on the flyleaves and in blank spaces of quire 8, including a poem on the death of Edward IV, 'The Prentise unto Woe' by Henry Baradoun, and memoranda of the deaths of English kings from Edward I to Edward V.
Contents: (1) ff. 6-194r, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, described by J.M. Manly and E. Rickert, The text of the Canterbury Tales (1940), vol. 1, pp. 349-55 (see Bibliography). They assign this 'Ma' manuscript to the A group of Canterbury Tales manuscripts, and they note that the text is closely related to 'Cn', the Cardigan MS, formerly the property of the Brudenell estate, now Austin, University of Texas, HRC Pre-1700 MS 143, and that the hand is like that of Oxford, Bodleian Library, Digby 181, ff. 1-39, which ends with the words 'Explicit Edorb quod'.
(2) (a) f. 3r-v, 'King Edward the iiiith. Wher is this Prynce that conquered his right... for hym to pray Explicit.' Index of Middle English Verse, no. 4062. Printed from here by F.J. Furnivall in Political, religious, and love poems (see Bibliography below), pp. xlvi-xlviii. (b) f. 4r-v, 'The Prentise unto Woe' by Henry Baradoun: 'Musyng alone voide of consolacion... and wo. Baradoun Henricus transtulit istud opus per semetipsum.' IMEV, no. 2227. Printed from here by Furnivall, op. cit, p. 289. (c) ff. 4v-5v, 'Articuli passionis cristi. Cristus imminente passione... custoditus est.' Sixty-three heads.
(3) (a) f. 194v, 'Periculum animarum periuratorum secundum diuersos autores.' Twelve lines, each beginning 'Cristus Qui iurat voluntarie': swearing on Book, putting hand on Book, kissing Book. (b) f. 195, Dates of death or cessation of English kings, Edward I-Edward V: 'Memorandum quod Rex E' primus post conquestum filius Regis Henrici tercii obiit die translacionis sancti Thome Martiris anno regni sui xxxvto sicut continetur in Rotulo xxxvo dicti Regis E primi in Surr' et Sussex' in titulo Vic'... Memorandum quod E vtus cessauit a regimine xxvito die Iunii anno regni sui primo Et Rex Ricardus tercius incepit regnare.' (c) f. 197, 'Qui cepit vxorem cepit absque quiete laborem...' (4 lines).
Script: 'Current anglicana of a rather legal sort' (Ker). The scribe of the Tales has been identified as John Brode of Haberton, near Totnes, Devon (see below). Written space: c.235 x 102 mm in the Parson's Tale. 54-60 long lines.
Secundo folio: musyng (f. 4) or vnder his (f. 7).
Decoration: One 4-line initial in blue ink with red penwork infill and flourishes on f. 6r; other spaces for initials are not filled in.
Description derived from N.R. Ker, Medieval manuscripts in British libraries, vol. III, Lampeter-Oxford (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983), pp. 420-1. By permission of Oxford University Press.