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Van der Weyden, Descent from the Cross
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Durham University Library, Cosin MS v.iii.8

Described by: Ryan Perry from microfilm analysis and with reference to online description.
Source:
Revision Date: June 1st, 2010

Heading

Privity of the Passion and Prickinge of Love, 1st-2nd quarter C15?

Condition of the MS

The opening leaves of both items are soiled, suggesting perhaps (along with the quire signatures), that the 2 items may have been separate for a period after their production The leaves in the book show signs of wear and use throughout.

Number of Items

    2:
  • Item 1: fols 1-14v (15r blank)
  • Item 2: fols 16r-66v

Title(s) of Pseudo-Bonaventuran Text(s)

Privity of the Passion and Prickinge of Love.

Incipit

  • [Q?]wo so desyres for to fynde comfort & gostly gladnesse in ye passyon and yn ye cros of our lord..", fol. 1; a 4-line miniature has been placed in the space were (presumably) an initial 'Q' should have been placed.
  • Item 2: "Iste liber primo fuit compositus in latino sermone per quemdam fratrem minorem cardinalem nobilem doctorem Bonaventuram nomine postea translatus est in linguam anglicanam pro minoribus latinum non intelligentibus per quemdam canonicum Walterum Hilton nomine in amore dei valde deuotum // Hov a man schal haue cristes passioun in mende // Cam Im
    For wondred of our self aght vs to be if we bethoght vs in derly of ye gret vnmesurable loue yt god to vs hath schewed", fol. 15v;

Colophon

-

Secundo Folio

"[_]d yi sothfastnes & yi hele I haue schewed to ye werd" (cf. Horstmann, Yorkshire Writers, 199:37).

Explicit

  • Item 1: "wilk ioye & comfort he graunt vs at with his precious blood boght vs Ihesus Christus qui cum patre . Amen.", fol. 15v.
  • Item 2: text ends imperfectly, 35 lines into the final chapter, with ye prophete yus Ioiande I schal ioie in [__]", fol.
  • Languages of the MS

    English- Latin incipit to item 2.

    Detailed Description of Contents

    -

    Estimated Date of Production

    1st-02nd quarter C15

    Writing Support

    Parchment

    Foliation

    (i) + ii (Early modern flyleaves, foliated i-ii) + 66 + 2 (Early modern flyleaves) + i;

    Dimensions of Page and Writing Space

    • Leaf size*: 225 x 160 mm approx.

    • Writing Space*: 185 x 125 mm approx.

    • * The microfilm for this MS is filmed in such a manner that leaves the gutter area in shadow- the writing space is thus estimated. On microfilm the writing disappears into the gloom of the gutter, whereas there are comparatively generous blank marginal spaces in the outer margins.

    Collation

    18, 28 -1 (wants 7 after fol. 14, however there is no loss of text); 3-88, 98 -5? (prob. wants 4-8).

    Layout

    1 column throughout, 39-43 lines, frames only, sometimes with extra lines for uppermost and lowermost lines, signs of pricking.

    Rubrication/ Ordinatio

    • Initials: 2 or 3-line, blue capitals, with pen-work infilling and flourishing in red, "sometimes with distinctive forms (e.g. ff. 29v, 52v, 60v)" (DUL description).
    • Titles, Headings, Rubrics: Chapter headings in both texts in red with chapter numbers for the Prickinge of Love often extruded slightly from the text frame into the margin (no chapter numbers for Privity; red double virgules usually provide subdivisions, with single virgules providing more minor divisions; side notes in boxes occur on fols 21v-27 (this boxing is reminiscent of the annotation in John Rylands MS 895) the notae coinciding with red paraphs in the text- red paraphs also occur on fols 31v-33r where there is marginal numbering of points within the text; there is some red underlining, usually of Latin text or important words and phrases, eg. 'fader' 'Aue Maria' etc.
    • Other: Catchwords (quires 1, 3-8, in (often serrated) rectangles, sometimes in red ink; quires signatures in red other than the first gathering; quire signatures are 'a' and '+' in the first booklet, and from a-f in the second.

    Illustration

     

      Descriptions taken from the DUL Catalogue Description:
    • Fol. 1: 26 x 24 mm., in a 5-line space [4-line] for initial Q (?), Christ, with chestnut hair and halo in dark blue decorated with gold circle and dots and crossed in deep pink, in a blue-grey garment carries a T-cross over his right shoulder and faces the viewer, walking to the right on green ground with sky in gold; four daisy-heads, in green, gold and red, at the upper corners.
    • Fol. 15v:4-line F, 20 x 20 mm., in gold, filled with green, and on a pink blue ground decorated with white, the top bar of the letter supporting the figure of the crucified Christ with hair and halo as in miniature on fol. 1.

    Number of Scribal Hands

    1

    Style of Hands

    A cursive Anglicana hand, economically, but clearly written.

    Estimated Date of Hands

    C15, poss. 1st quarter.

    Scribal Annotation

      There is some scribal annotation in the margins beside the Prickinge:
    • Examples from Ch. 5: "Ioye", beside "iij affecciones of a soule / Ioye", fol. 23r.
    • "sorwe", "hope", "trost in cristes passione wt wikkyd leuyng helpt not", "dred", fol. 23v.

    Notable Dialect Features

      LALME I:87, III:310-11, North West Norfolk, in the vicinity of a point 5-10 miles South West of King's Lynn.

      Sample of forms:

      which-qwhilk, whilk, wych
      she-sche
      her-hir(e)
      then-þan
      they-þei
      when-qwhan, whan
      would-wolde
      might-myth
      eyes-eghne
      shall-schal
      should-schuld
      them-hem
      each-ylk
      much-mekil, mykel
      not-noght, not
      busy-besi/besy
      gave-gaf
      give-gif(e)
      buried-beried
      such-swilk
      work-werk(e)
      world-werd (worldly-werdly)

    Localisable on Google Earth
    (click markers to view sample dialect forms)

    Annotation and Marginalia

    -

    Graffitti

    -

    Names recorded, signatures, ex libris marks

    -

    Notes

     

    The manuscript was clearly made with a sense of economy, with the writing filling much of the page, and the unceremonious scribal hand, making it all the more surprising that the two small but delightful miniatures have been added to the production.
    The text of the Prickinge of Love is closely related to the copy in Pennsylvania University Library, MS Eng 8, an early C15 book also containing Hilton's Scale of Perfection ( Books 1 and 2), Amor Dei and The Prick of Conscience. The Cosin MS and Penn. MS contain the same Incipit. The book appears also to be intimately linked with Beinecke MS 660, which might have even been copied from the Cosin MS, or at least a very close congener. In the Beinecke MS, which contains the Privity with Lydgate's Life of Our Lady, the Incipit which heads the Prickinge of Love now heads the Privity; it is possible that the Beinecke scribe believed that the identification was plausible if he understood that Bonaventure was the author of the Meditationes; it is also possible that the dcribe is knowingly manufacturing a spurious authority for the Privity.

    References and Other Resources