Later Version Wycliffe New Testament

Later Wycliffite version of the New Testament, ending imperfectly at 2 Corinthians 7: 2, with a calendar of Epistles and Gospels.

Contents: (1) ff. 1-8v, (begins imperfectly at Thursday before Palm Sunday) '...Thus eendiþ þis kalender of lessouns pistils and gospels.' Forshall and Madden, iv. 683-98, but the text here and in Eng. MSS 76, 77, 80 and 91 differs substantially from theirs, which goes with the earlier Wycliffite version. A table for the common of saints is not provided here or in Eng. MSS 76, 78, 80 and 91: cf. Forshall and Madden, p. 696, footnote. The commemorations precede the proper of saints as in Eng. MS 77. A leaf of the proper is missing: f. 7v ends with Cyriac (8 August) and f. 8 begins with Mark Marcellus and Apuleius (7 October).

(2) ff. 9-173v, New Testament in the later Wycliffite version, ending imperfectly 'we han' (2 Corinthians 7: 2). Forshall and Madden, no. 160. Usual prologues. There are two gaps: f. 119v ends 'My' (John 5: 17) and f. 120r begins 'how schulen' (John 5: 47); f. 142v ends 'to parten' (Romans 1: 11) and f. 143r begins 'knowist' (Romans 2: 4).

Script: Gothic textura. Matthew is written in three hands, changing at f. 25 (the beginning of the fourth quire) and f. 26. The first quire of Mark, ff. 48-55v, is in a fourth hand and the rest of the book in a fifth. Written space: 128 x 80 mm and (ff. 25-55) c.110 x 70 mm. 2 columns, 32 lines and, from f. 56 where the hand changes, 30 lines.

Secundo folio: gat sadoc (f. 10).

Decoration: 4- and 5-line initials in burnished gold on blue and pink grounds with white penwork, on ff. 9v, 48r (rubbed), 72r, 113v, 142v (torn out), 156r and 169v. Numerous 2-line initials in blue ink with red penwork flourishes.

Description derived from N.R. Ker, Medieval manuscripts in British libraries, vol. III, Lampeter-Oxford (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983), p. 405. By permission of Oxford University Press.

Purchased by Mrs Enriqueta Rylands from Henry Yates Thompson in 1897, and later transferred to the John Rylands Library. Accession no. R4992.

(1) 16th-century scribbles include names: f. 72r, 'this is John dishe is Boke' (cf. f. 128v); f. 96, 'To all crystyan peple to whome thes present wrytyng Indentyd shall com hugh sidnam parsone of coryemalace [Curry Mallet, Somerset] sendeth gretyng...'; f. 84v, as f. 96, but the name is 'george Repe of corymalot'; f. 132v, 'my lorde byschop of Baathe and Wells'; f..158v, 'John Hurman hathe beten his wyfe on candelleve'. The second, third, and fourth of these scribbles are in one hand.

(2) William Simonds Higgs, F.S.A. His sale at Sotheby's, 26 April 1830, lot 719; sold to J. Wilkes for £4 4s.

(3) J. Wilks [probably John Wilks senior (?1765-1854), attorney and politician, secretary of the Protestant Society for the Protection of Religious Liberty]. His sale at Sotheby's on 12 March 1847, lot 101; described as 'Manuscript on vellum, with all the capitals illuminated or rubricated, russia extra, gilt leaves, 8vo'.

(4) Thomas Rodd, bookseller. According to the marked-up copy of the above Sotheby's catalogue at the Wellcome Library, it was sold for £26 to Rodd [probably Thomas Rodd junior (1796-1849)]; he purchased several other manuscripts, including lot 442, a Psalter, for £210. Information kindly supplied by Julianne Simpson, Rare Books Librarian, Wellcome Library.

(5) Bertram, 4th Earl of Ashburnham. Appendix no. 21.

(6) Henry Yates Thompson. He purchased the Ashburnham Appendix in May 1897 and almost immediately resold the manuscript to Mrs Rylands.

Richard Davenport-Hines, 'Wilks, John (c.1793-1846)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004): http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/29432.

Josiah Forshall and Frederic Madden, The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments, with the Apocryphal books, in the earliest English versions made from the Latin Vulgate by John Wycliffe and his followers (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1850), vol. 1, MS no.160.

N.R. (Neil Ripley) Ker, Medieval manuscripts in British libraries, vol. III, Lampeter-Oxford (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983), p. 405.

Leigh Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of the valuable library of an eminent collector [i.e. J. Wilks], giving up his present residence... which will be sold by auction, by Messrs S. Leigh Sotheby & Co. ... on... March 12th, 1847, and ten following days (London: Compton & Ritchie, 1847).

G.A. (Godfrey Allen) Lester, The index of Middle English prose. Handlist 2, a handlist of manuscripts containing Middle English prose in the John Rylands University Library of Manchester and Chetham's Library, Manchester (Cambridge: Brewer, 1985), pp. 6-7.