Wycliffe Treatises

A collection of theological treatises attributed to John Wycliffe. Items 1, 3 and 4 are in English, the remainder in Latin.

Contents: (1) 1. ff. 1-21v, Þer ben two offisis... to shyne frely. Amen. Explicit tractatus de officio pastorali. 32 numbered chapters. Shirley, A catalogue of the original works of John Wyclif, English 61 (see Bibliography below). Matthew, The English works of Wyclif, pp. 408-57 (see Bibliography below).

(2), ff. 21v-24v, Ad declarandum veritatem fidei... acceptanda. Explicit tractatus de ordine cristiano. Five numbered chapters. Shirley's Catalogue of the extant Latin works of John Wyclif, Latin 78. Loserth, Opera minora, pp. 129-39: this copy, called D, was the basis of the text.

(3) ff. 25-34v, God seiþ bi ieremye. þt he wakide... bifore þou bie hem. Explicit tractatus de papa. Twelve numbered chapters. Shirley, A catalogue of the original works of John Wyclif, English 62. Matthew, The English works of Wyclif, pp. 460-82.

(4) ff. 35-42v, Two vertues ben in mannus soule... no ground in god. Explicit tractatus de confessione et penitencia. Thirteen numbered chapters. Shirley, A catalogue of the original works of John Wyclif, English 51. Matthew, The English works of Wyclif, pp. 327-45.

(5) ff. 43-48v, Sicud est vnus verus et summus dominus... ecclesia exemplante. Explicit tractatus de contrarietate duorum dominorum suarum partium et etiam regularum. Eight numbered chapters. Shirley's Catalogue of the extant Latin works of John Wyclif, Latin 84. Buddensieg, John Wiclif's polemical works, vol. 2, pp. 698-713, edited from this manuscript.

(6) ff. 49-54r, Sepe assumptum est ut fides catholica... deus et homo multis regnis. Explicit purgatorium secte cristi. Shirley's Catalogue of the extant Latin works of John Wyclif, Latin 98. Buddensieg, John Wiclif's polemical works, vol. 1, pp. 298-316, edited from this manuscript.

(7) f. 54v, Videtur autem sanctis doctoribus quod superfluit... multipliciter istum mundum. Explicit dictum de gradibus cleri ecclesie militantis. Loserth, Opera minora, pp. 142-4 (chapter 3 of De gradibus ecclesiae, Shirley's Catalogue of the extant Latin works of John Wyclif, Latin 96).

(8) ff. 55-64v, Quia euangelium istud est multis absconditum... melius intellecta. Explicit exposicio textus Matthei 24to. Eight numbered chapters. Shirley's Catalogue of the extant Latin works of John Wyclif, Latin 44. Loserth, Opera minora, pp. 354-82.

(9) ff. 65-68v, slip before f. 65, and f. 89v, Questio. Si papa uel eius vicario... seruiat libertate Amen. Explicit tractatus de citacionibus friuolis et aliis versuciis anticristi. Shirley's Catalogue of the extant Latin works of John Wyclif, Latin 73. Buddensieg, John Wiclif's polemical works, vol. 2, pp. 546-64 (this copy called Ash.).

'It looks as though the scribe originally intended this piece to follow item (11), but after copying as much of it as would fit on f. 89v he continued his writing inadvertently, or after a change of mind, on the then still blank second half of quire 9. He then recopied the text on f. 89v on a slip to go in front of f. 65 and marked f. 89v 'va cat'.' (Ker)

(10) ff. 69-82v, Cum sapiencia dei patris... in istis perfidis sine fine. 12 numbered chapters. Shirley's Catalogue of the extant Latin works of John Wyclif, Latin 43. Loserth, Opera minora, pp. 313-53.

(11) ff. 82v-89v, Cum secundum philosophos sit relatiuorum eadem disciplina... multiplici atque graui. Explicit tractatus de seruitute ciuili et domino seculari. Six numbered chapters. Shirley's Catalogue of the extant Latin works of John Wyclif, Latin 69. Loserth, Opera minora, pp. 145-64, edited from this manuscript.

(12) ff. 90-96v, Cum secundum veritatis testimonium... homines spoliantes. Explicit tractatus de noua preuaricancia mandatorum. 13 numbered chapters. Shirley's Catalogue of the extant Latin works of John Wyclif, Latin 80. Buddensieg, John Wiclif's polemical works, vol. 1, pp. 107-50.

(13) ff. 97-116v, Cum idempnitas sit mater fastidii... consenciant in hac parte. Explicit speculum ecclesie militantis. Chapters numbered 1-28, 33-6. Shirley's Catalogue of the extant Latin works of John Wyclif, Latin 63. Pollard, Iohannis Wycliffe Dialogus sive speculum, p. 1 to p. 60 line 14, p. 78 line 10 to p. 80 line 29: this copy was the basis of his text. The scribe noted on f. 114v: 'Hic deficiunt 4or capitula. scilicet 29. 30. 31. 32': see item (15) below.

(14) f. 117r, Vnus amicus fidelis in domino quesiuit sensum misticum huius euangelii M 21º ite in castellum... compleatur. Extracts from two of Wyclif's sermons (Loserth, Iohannis Wyclif sermones, p. 200 line 27 to p. 201 line 5 (with slight differences) and p. 233 lines 10-26), with a linking sentence, 'Sensum autem alium de verbis istis et aliis verbis euangelii nouit vestra discrecio fideliter dilatare'. f. 117v is blank. Published by Williell R. Thomson (see Bibliography below).

(15) ff. 118-21r, These four leaves and two others now missing after f. 118 contained the missing chapters of item (13) and a further chapter numbered 37: (a) f. 118r and v, chapter 29 and chapter 30 as far as 'a titulo elimosine' (Pollard, Iohannis Wycliffe Dialogus sive speculum, p. 60 line 15 to p. 63 line 20); (b) missing, except for a few letters remaining on the two stubs after f. 118; (c) ff. 119-20, Capitulum 32m. Sed adhuc arguitur. Si clerus... sancto spiritu per dona sua septiformia edocente (Pollard, p. 69 line 19 to p. 78 line 9); (d) ff. 120-1, Capitulum 37m Sed demum recensius arguunt populares... per diabolum introductis. (Pollard, pp. 73-8). Pollard calls (c) chapter 31 and (d) chapter 32 against the evidence of the manuscript: see his introduction, pp. xxv, xxvi. 'Probably chapter 31, which, like chapter 32, was not known to Pollard in other copies, was here on the second of the two missing leaves' (Ker).

ff. 121v-122v are blank, except for a 15th-century note on 122v: 'carencia diuersorum capitulorum dialogi que apud alios libros communiter sunt repert[a]', a reference to item (13).

Items 1-5 are on quires 1-6; items 8-9 are on quires 8-9; items 10-12 are on quires 10-13; items 13-15 are on quires 14-18.

Script: Gothic current anglicana in one hand. Written space: 135 x 82 mm, except on ff. 119-21 where the width is c.100 mm. 34-44 long lines.

Secundo folio: þe contrarye.

Decoration: None; spaces for 3-line initials are not filled in.

Other features: Catchwords not only on the last verso of every quire but on all versos in the first half of a quire. Manicules on ff. 29v and 32r.

Description derived from N.R. Ker, Medieval manuscripts in British libraries, vol. III, Lampeter-Oxford (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983), pp. 409-11. 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. R5000.

(1) Bertram, 4th Earl of Ashburnham. Appendix no. 27C.

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

Rudolf Buddensieg, John Wiclif's polemical works in Latin: for the first time edited from the manuscripts with critical and historical notes (London: published for the Wyclif Society by Trübner & Co., 1883).

N.R. (Neil Ripley) Ker, Medieval manuscripts in British libraries, vol. III, Lampeter-Oxford (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983), pp. 409-11.

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. 25-6.

Johann Loserth, Johannis Wyclif Opera minora: now first edited from the manuscripts with critical and historical notes (London: published for the Wyclif Society by C.K. Paul, 1913).

Johann Loserth, Iohannis Wyclif sermones: now first edited from the manuscripts with critical and historical notes (London: published for the Wyclif Society by Trübner & Co., 1887-90).

F.D. (Frederick David) Matthew, The English works of Wyclif, hitherto unprinted (London: Trübner, for the Early English Text Society, 1880).

Alfred W. Pollard, Iohannis Wycliffe Dialogus sive speculum ecclesie militantis: now first edited from the Ashburnham ms. XXVIIC. with collations from the Vienna mss. 1387, 3930 and 4505 (London: published for the Wyclif Society by Trübner & Co., 1886).

W.W. (Walter Waddington) Shirley, A catalogue of the original works of John Wyclif (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1865).

W.W. (Walter Waddington) Shirley, Shirley's Catalogue of the extant Latin works of John Wyclif, revised by Johann Loserth (London: The Wyclif Society, [1924]).

Williell R. Thomson, 'An unknown letter by John Wyclyf in Manchester, John Rylands University Library MS. Eng. 86', Mediaeval studies, vol. 43 (1981), pp. 531-7.