Capgrave, John, 1393-1464, scribe Phillipps, Thomas, Sir, 1792-1872, former owner Catholic Church. Breviary. Fragment 1400-1499 Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery. Manuscript. HM 55
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Description
Part 1. ff. 1-59v. [John Capgrave]. [Life of St. Norbert]. Incipit: There was a man sumtyme dwelling here/ As our book seith in þat ilk same tyde. Explicit: The freris name þat translate þis story/ Thei called Ion capgraue whech in assumpcion weke/ Made a ende of all his rymyng cry/ The ȝere of crist oure lord witȝ outen ly/ A thousand four hundred & fourty euene/ Aftyr þis lyf I pray god send us to heuene. Feliciter. English. The text is precede by a prologue that begins,"Ioye grace & pees loue feith & charite/ Euyr rest up on ȝour goodly religious breest..." and ends with an Envoy that begins," Go litil book to hem þat wil þe rede/ Sey þe were made to þe abbot of derham..." IMEV 1805. C. L. Smetana, ed., The Life of St. Norbert by John Capgrave O.E.S.A. (1393-1464). Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies 40 (Toronto 1977) from this manuscript, evidently autograph (witness the hand and the"signature" on f. 59v,"Feliciter" with the trefoil); interlinear corrections in the author's hand. For discussions of the identity of the copyist, see P. J. Lucas,"John Capgrave O.S.A. (1393-1464) Scribe and 'Publisher,'" TCBS 5 (1969) 1-35 ; E. Colledge,"The Capgrave 'Autographs,'" TCBS 6 (1974) 137-48 ; Smetana, op. cit., 5-7. On the linguistic forms in HM 55, see E. Colledge and C. Smetana,"Capgrave's Life of St. Norbert: Diction, Dialect and Spelling," Mediaeval Studies 34 (1972) 422-34. Part 2. f. i recto-verso. [Breviary, fragment]. Incipit: //pulus. Numquid aliud iudex nunciat aliud preco clamat. An simul et odisse possumus et diligere. Explicit: Nam et ihesus vester dum hec predicaret iudei illum crucis patibulo affixerunt. Andreas respondit O si//. Latin. Unfinished leaf of a breviary from the end of a homily of Gregory (PL 76:1275 ) in the common of a martyr, presumably for Saturninus through part of the 4th lesson for Andrew. Title supplied by cataloger. Support: Parchment. Described in two parts. Part 1 is the main text, the Life of St. Norbert by John Capgrave and Part 2 is an unfinished leaf of a Breviary, formerly used as the back pastedown. Part 1. Span folios: ff. 1-59v. Script: Secretary. Layout: 1-7⁸ 8⁴(-4); the inner bifolium of quire 6 has been reversed in binding, transposing ff. 44 and 45. Catchwords horizontally in the right corner on ff. 16v, 24v, 32v (underlined in red), 40v. 35 lines of verse ruled in lead; another rule across the upper margin 10 mm. above the text frame; pricking visible in upper and lower margins. Part 1. Decoration: Opening historiated initial for the prologue, f. 1, 14-line, in pink outlined in gold, depicting Capgrave in black robes kneeling and offering his book to Wygenhale who wears the white habit of the Premonstratensians; gold and color bar border the length of the text with sprays into the upper and lower margins of self shaded blue and pink leaves ending in small green leaves and gold dots. Part 1. Other Decoration: Opening initial for the text, f. 2, 4-line, in gold on white-patterned blue ground with pink infilling, with small marginal spray of green leaves, daisies and gold dots; in the upper margin a pen outline of the initial. 2-line blue initials with red flourishing. Part 1. Finding notes in another hand (e.g. ff. 21, 22, 23v); early seventeenth century reckonings on ff. 7v, 14v, 51v (in another hand?) and 57. Part 2. Span folios: f. i recto-verso. Formerly the back pastedown, now lifted. Assigned Date: s. XV2/4. Script: Gothic. Layout: 2 columns of 46 lines ruled in ink, top and bottom 2 lines full across. Assigned Date: s. XV. Input into Digital Scriptorium by: C. W. Dutschke, 3/4/2012. Cataloged from existing description: C. W. Dutschke with the assistance of R. H. Rouse et al., Guide to Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Huntington Library (San Marino, 1989). Bound, s. XV, in leather over oak boards; evidence of 2 fore edge clasps closing to pins on the back cover; joints repaired; evidently resewn. HM 55. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
Norbert, of Xanten, Saint, approximately 1080-1134 Historiated initials. England 15th century. (aat) Decorated initials England 15th century. (aat) Fragments (Object portions) (aat) Manuscripts (documents) (aat)
Source
Manuscripts, Huntington Digital Library
Provenance
Written in England, possibly in the Augustinian house at Lynn, Norfolk in 1440, as the presentation copy made by John Capgrave for John Wygenhale, alias Saresson, abbot of the Premonstratensian house of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in West Dereham, Norfolk from 1429 to 1455; see P. J. Lucas,"On the Date of John Capgrave's Life of St. Norbert," The Library ser. 6, vol. 3 (1981) 328-30. Possession notes throughout the manuscript are: s. XVIIin: f. 28v,"frances Barnad" who also did the reckonings mentioned above; s. XVII: f. 13,"Richard Clarke est verus possessor huius libri"; s. XVII2: f. 49,"Ferdinand Newington his Booke 1670"; s. XVIII: on the front pastedown and on ff. 1 and 49,"Newington, ladbrooke" to which he added on the pastedown"Ye men of Orde" and on f. 49 (where his name was erased)"His Book 1729"; on ff. 3, 27 and 45, the signature of the Rev. Ar. Hubbard, lecturer in the parish of Watford, Hertfordshire, 1846-56; on f. 45 his name is followed by"Epping Essex." On the back flyleaf, the initials"R.P." of the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century. Savile sale, Sotheby's, 6 February 1861, lot 80 (this number on a round label on the front cover) to"Powis," a pseudonym for Sir Thomas Phillipps; his MS 24309. Acquired by Henry E. Huntington through A. S. W. Rosenbach in 1923.
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