Franklin

[English religious poems].

Format/Description:
Manuscript
122 leaves : parchment, color illustrations ; 243 x 161 (179 x 77) mm bound to 257 x 172 mm
Production:
[England], [1400?]
Status/Location:
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Details

Subjects:
Bible. Psalms -- Poetry.
Bible. Psalms.
Christian poetry, English (Middle).
Devotional literature, English (Middle).
English literature -- Middle English, 1100-1500.
English literature.
English literature -- Middle English.
English poetry -- Middle English, 1100-1500.
English poetry.
English poetry -- Middle English.
Religious poetry, English.
Repentance -- Poetry.
Repentance.
Form/Genre:
Codices (bound manuscripts)
Anthologies.
Poems.
Manuscripts, Medieval.
Poetry.
Language:
Middle English and Latin.
Summary:
Collection of three devotional works in metrical verse.
Contents:
1. f.1r-12v: [Seven penitential psalms].
2. f.13r-118r: Stimulus consciencie.
3. f. 118v-120v: [Lamentation of St. Anselm].
Notes:
Ms. codex.
Title supplied by cataloger (Zacour-Hirsch).
Title of first work as given in the ms.: Seuene Psalmis (colophon, f. 12v). No attribution is given in the ms. The beginning of the text is missing. This work is ascribed variously to Richard Maidstone (or Maydestone) and Richard Rolle (cf. Zacour-Hirsch Catalogue).
Title of second work as given in the ms.: Stimulus conscie[ncie] (colophon, f. 118r). There is no attribution in the manuscript. In the past it has generally been attributed to Richard Rolle, but this attribution is not certain. This version of the text of the Pricke of Conscience is the "Main Version" from Group III (S. A. Waters).
Third work has no title in the ms. Text may be incomplete, since it ends abruptly without a colophon. There is no attribution in the ms. This is the only known ms. version of this work, which appears never to have been published. It is a homiletic poem of 200 octosyllabic verses. It appears to be based on St. Anselm of Canterbury's "Deploratio male amissae virginitatis."
Incipit of third work: Qwhan drighten dere his doom schal dresse / And alle oure dedys demen on a day ... (f. 118v).
Foliation: Parchment, ii (modern paper) + 122 + ii (modern paper); [i], [1-121]; modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto. This foliation was added after the missing folios were lost. Some leaves have traces of an earlier foliation.
Layout: Written in a single column of 40 lines, frame-ruled in ink.
Script: Written in several hands using a basically similar Anglicana formata script.
Decoration: Extensive use of red and some blue for headings and initials. 4-line blue initials with red filigree throughout, 6-line illuminated initials (f. 21r and 118v), and 8-line illuminated initials (f. 30r and 34v).
Binding: Resewn onto alum tawed leather strips with new linen thread and rebound in a paper case structure with laced on covers (University of Pennsylvania, 2021); formerly bound in modern full morocco (1940s, Sangorski & Sutcliffe, London), with spine titles Seven Penitential Psalms, The Pricke of Conscience, The Lamentation of St. Anselm.
Origin: Written in England, circa 1400.
Upper cover and two endleaves detached. Back hinge wearing. Outer margin on f. 80 cut away with no loss of main text but perhaps removing a marginal note. First and last couple folios badly stained and soiled, possibly due to damp. Text very difficult to read on last few folios due to wearing and staining.
Imperfect. The following leaves are known to be wanting: one before f. 1; one between ff. 7-8; one between ff. 12-13; two between ff. 14-15; eight between ff. 25-26; one between ff. 49-50 ; one between ff. 78-79; and one between ff. 91-92.
Many marginal entries in 16th- and 17th-century hands.
Description of this manuscript by Patrick O'Neill on file in the Library. It consists of seven typewritten leaves and is undated. It contains a useful discussion of the date and collation of the ms., as well as other physical details. It also includes a brief discussion of the contents.
Description from an unidentified dealer's catalog on file in the Library.
Penn Provenance:
Formerly owned by Richard Halter and Francis Quawden (15th-century inscription (?), f. 77r).
Formerly owned by Gilbert Ireland Blackburne of Hale Hall (description from catalog, probably Quaritch).
Appears in Bernard Quaritch's 100th anniversary catalogue (1947), no. 131; sold by Quaritch, 1947.
Cited in:
Described in Zacour, Norman P. and Hirsch, Rudolf. Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Libraries of the University of Pennsylvania to 1800 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1965), p. 49 (Ms. English 1).
Publications about:
Wells, J. E. A Manual of the Writings in Middle English. New Haven, 1916, p. 403-405, 447-449. Re: the attribution of the first two works in this codex to Richard Maidstone and Richard Rolle.
Allen, Hope Emily. Writings ascribed to Richard Rolle, hermit of Hamploe and materials for his biography. New York: Heath, 1927, p. 372-397. Re: why the attribution of "The Prick of Conscience" to Richard Rolle is unsatisfactory.
Dickins, Bruce. "The Ireland Blackburne Manuscript of Seven Penitential Psalms, The Pricke of Conscience and Lamentacio Sancti Anselmi." Leeds Studies in English and Kindred Languages, III (1934), 30-36. Dickins demonstrates that this work is based on St. Anselm of Canterbury's "Deploratio male amissae virginitatis."
S.A. Waters. "The Group III Manuscripts of the Pricke of Conscience: The Source of the Southern Recension?" Journal of Historical Linguistics and Philology 1.1 (1983), 9-13 (manuscript cited as Pennsylvania Univ. Eng. 1, an incorrect version of a former call number).
Digital edition of the Lamentation of St. Anselm (f. 118v-120v) with digital images and transcription by Andrew Kraebel and his students at Trinity University (San Antonio, Texas).
Cited as:
UPenn Ms. Codex 196.
Contributor:
Rolle, Richard, 1290?-1349, attributed name.
Anselm, Saint, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1033-1109, attributed name.
Halter, Richard, former owner.
Quawden, Francis, former owner.
Ireland, Gilbert Blackburne, former owner.
Contains:
Maidstone, Richard, -1396. Penitential psalms.
Bible. Psalms. English (Middle English)
Prick of conscience.
Stimulus consciencie.
Lamentation of St. Anselm.
Qwhan drighten dere his doom schal dresse / And alle oure dedys demen on a day.
OCLC:
155962805