56.  MUSICA ECCLESIASTICA (IMITATIO CHRISTI).                         C. 6

 

    Vellum, 11.375 x 7.75, ff. 99, 27 lines to a page.  15th cent., in a fine English upright hand.

    Donor, T. C. S.                                                          2 fo. (in lib.) tes libentes.

    The name Wylhelmus Mancell (?) occurs on f. 1.

    Collation: 1¹⁰ (wants 1) 2⁸ - 12⁸ 13².

 

    Contents:

         Kalendar in red, black and blue      .         .         .         .         .         .         .         f.  1b 

         At Jan. 7 is a note 1593 litera dominicalis g.

              Mar. 1, 2.  David and Chad.

              May 7.  Joh. de beuerlaco.

              Oct. 13.  Transl. S.  Edward Reg. C. in red.

              Nov. 3.  Wenefrede V. M.

         The Kalendar is generally speaking Sarum.

         Inc. capitula sequentis libri qui uocatur musica ecclesiastica           .         .              7b

         At end in red: Scriptori merita mater pia redde maria

              Rogero Pynchebek de london.

         Nunc finem feci da michi quod merui.

         Inc. prima pars libri qui uocatur musica ecclesiastica de imitacione

              Christi et contemptu omnium uanitatum mundi.  Cap. 1   .         .         .               10       

         Qui sequitur me non ambulat in tenebris.

         Initial and splendid border of English work, consisting of feather-

              work and conventional foliage enclosing medallions.  At the

              lower angles are two medallions containing busts of beardless men,

              on gold grounds, very finely drawn.  In the R. border a shield

              vert, a bend dexter engrailed arg. between two bulls' (?) heads of

              the second.

         Something has been erased in the middle of the lower border.

         The initial, which has been defaced, apparently represented the three

              persons of the Trinity, all in human form, seated.

         The catchwords of the quires are enclosed in very beautifully

              flourished frames of pen-work.

         Part II begins at f. 32 and has a fine decorative initial and border.

         Part III, f. 44, has similar border and initial.

         Ends f. 98a: per uiam pacis ad patriam perpetue claritatis.  Amen.

         ff. 98b, 99a, blank.

         On f. 99b Ps. xlvi (xlvii) Deus noster refugium in the same hand

               as the rest.

 

    For a list of MSS. in English Libraries see J. E. G. Montmorency, Thomas à Kempis: his Age and Book, 1906: this copy is not mentioned. 

 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

 

R. Lovatt, 'The imitation of Christ in late Medieval England', Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 5th series, 18 (1968), 97-121.

British Library Add. 58280 is also in the hand of Roger Pynchebek. For this see A.G. Watson Catalogue of dated and datable manuscripts c.700-1600 in the Department of Manuscripts the British Library vol. I, p. 87, no. 428; vol. II, pl. 778.