MUSICA ECCLESIASTICA (IMITATIO CHRISTI).
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.
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.