Pricke of Conscience; Richard of Maidstone's commentary on Psalms

Imperfect copy of the Pricke of Conscience, together with a commentary, usually attributed to Richard of Maidstone, which ends Graunt oon god and persones yre 1223. Originally bound with other works, which are now missing.

Contents: (1) ff. 5r-116v, Pricke of Conscience, ed. Richard Morris, The pricke of conscience (see Bibliography below). Index of Middle English verse, no. 3428/61. Begins at line 76 'and ȝaf hym skylle witt and mynde'. Ends 'þat for vs made heuen erþe and al þinge. Her endeþ þe pricke of conscience. Finito libro reddatur gloria cristo. Qui scripcit carmen sit benedictus amen'. A leaf is missing after f. 5v which ends 'haue no knowings' (line 153); f. 6 begins 'and amende wiþ al' (line 230). Two leaves are missing after f. 23v which ends 'soule and body' (line 1687), followed by the heading 'Of þe maner of gostly deþ'; f. 24r begins 'Whan þe soule' (line 1839).

(2) ff. 117-123v, 127-134v, Commentary on the seven penitential psalms, usually attributed to Richard of Maidstone (d. 1396). Index of Middle English verse, no. 3755/7. Begins 'To goddes worschipe þat der' vs bouȝt', and ends 'graunte oon god and persones þre. Amen amen amen. Explicit comentum super 7 ps' penitenciales in anglicis'. '1223' is written in what might be the main hand on f. 134v in a line by itself between persones þre and the three Amens; also on f. 135.

Script: 'Untidy anglicana formata, with lapses into current anglicana' (Ker). Written space: 148 mm high. 39 long lines.

Secundo folio: and ȝaf (f. 5).

Decoration: Numerous 2- , 3- and 4-line initials in red ink.

Other features: (1) and (2) are the first two of thirteen items listed on f. 2, in an early 16th-century hand: (1) 'the prycke of concyence', (2) 'vii salmes in Inglysche', (3) 'the name of Ihesu', (4) 'for fyschyng and fowlyng', (5) 'a ballett of lente', (6) 'Ayenst ye yoke of maryage wt mery ballett', (7) 'A blynd ballett', (8) 'A maryners boke', (9) 'A ballett of eduerd ye iiiith kyng', (10) 'byll' of bokes abbrogated', (11) 'of the passyon of or lord Ihesu chryst', (12) 'A ballett of or ladyes aultr', (13) 'the bond of norfolke men'. There are manicules throughout.

Description derived from N.R. Ker, Medieval manuscripts in British libraries, vol. III, Lampeter-Oxford (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983), pp. 402-3. By permission of Oxford University Press.

Richard of Maidstone or Maydestone was a late 14th-century Carmelite friar of Aylesford and a native of Kent. He was educated at Oxford, where he became a bachelor and doctor of divinity, and became confessor to John of Gaunt, probably in the 1390s. He also wrote several works, mainly in verse and on evangelical and political subject matter, and appears to have been a prominent opponent of the followers of Wycliffe. In his major theological work, Protectorium pauperis ('In defence of poverty'), Maidstone criticised John Ashwardby, vicar of St Mary's, Oxford. He also wrote a long Latin poem celebrating the reconciliation of Richard II and the city of London.

Source: Richard Copsey, 'Maidstone, Richard (d. 1396)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. By permission of Oxford University Press - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/17803.

Purchased by the John Rylands Library from Bernard Quaritch Ltd in 1919 for £36; invoice dated 28 January 1919. Accession no. R45387.

(1) 'Thomas Day of Brystow': scribbled upside down on f. 125r, end of 15th century.

(2) John Hardy, 12 May 1708: inscription on f. 4r. Identified as John Hardy (1679/80-1740), Presbyterian minister and Church of England clergyman. According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Hardy was closely associated with Maurice Johnson (see below), and was a generous benefactor of the Spalding Society's library, donating a copy of Caxton's edition of Confessio amantis (1483).

(3) Maurice Johnson (1688-1755), of Ayscoughfee Hall, near Spalding, Lincolnshire, 1710: inscription on f. 4r. Johnson was the founder of the Spalding Society. He noted on f. i that 'My learned Friend The reverend Mr John Hardy' had the manuscript 'bound up by a Bookbinder at Nottingham' (presumed to be the present binding). The Johnson armorial bookplate of sixteen quarterings is inside the cover. Maurice Johnson sale at Sotheby's, 21 March 1898, lot 966.

(4) Bernard Quaritch. Catalogue 328, item 584, and catalogue 344, item 29 (£36).

Richard Copsey, 'Maidstone, Richard (d. 1396)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). By permission of Oxford University Press: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/17803.

David Boyd Haycock, 'Johnson, Maurice (1688-1755)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004): http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/14908.

N.R. (Neil Ripley) Ker, Medieval manuscripts in British libraries, vol. III, Lampeter-Oxford (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983), pp. 402-3.

David L. Wykes, 'Hardy, John (1679/80-1740)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004): http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/74347.

See also the collection bibliography above.