Medieval Manuscripts

Chetham’s Library holds forty-one medieval manuscripts, most of which are listed by N. R. Ker in Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries Volume III (Oxford, 1983), pp. 335-384. This list provides a summary of these manuscripts. They are arranged according to the numbers they were given in Bibliotheca Chethamensis, the printed catalogue of the Library’s holdings, with the current call number in brackets.

6680 (A.4.99) Astrologica, etc. (partly in English). s. xv med. Includes volvelles, tables of years 1348-1475, Sarum calendar, tables of eclipses of sun and moon, prognostications etc.
6681 (A.4.100) De situ universorum, etc. s. xiv ex. Written in England between 1353-1392, probably by John of Tewkesbury.
6682 (A.7.67) Augustinus, etc. s. xiii2. Written in England.
6687 (A.2.162) Franciscus Barbarus, De re uxoria. s. xv med. Written in north-east Italy (possibly Padua).
6688 (A.4.96) Biblia. s. xiii med. Probably written in England.
6689 (A.2.164-5) Biblia. s. xiii med. Two volumes (break after the Psalms). Probably written in France.
6690 (A.7.1) Mirror of life of Christ, etc. (in English). s. xv med. Written in England.
6691 (A.7.2) Petrus de Braco, Compendium iuris canonici. Written in 1466 in France or the Low Countries.
6696 (A.7.38) John Gower, Confessio amantis (in English). s. xv/xvi. Written in England.
6709 (A.4.104) Lydgate, Life of Our Lady, etc. (in English). Written in 1485, 1490, 1493, s. xv ex., at Dunstable in England. In the hand of William Cotson, canon of the Augustinian priory of Dunstable.
6711 (A.4.107) Mandeville’s Travels (in English). s. xv1. Written in England.
6712 (A.6.89) Matthew Paris, Flores Historiarum, etc. s. xiii med.-xiv1. Written at the Benedictine abbeys of St. Albans and Westminster.
6713 (E.8.21) Missale Sarisburiense. s. xiv ex. Written in England. Fragments of a large missal. The calendar, the ordinary and canon of the mass are missing, there are only two leaves from the sanctoral present, and the temporal lacks more than twenty leaves.
6714 (A.4.106) Comment. in Ovidii Metamorphoseos. s. xv2 (possibly written in 1470). Written in France.
6717 (A.6.74) Psalterium, Horae (Sarum), etc. s. xv med. Written in England. A gift of John Gyste for the use of St. John the Baptist’s monastery in Godstow.
6720 (A.6.59) Terentius. Written in Italy in 1427.
6721 (A.4.109) Terentius. s. xv/xvi. Possibly written in Germany.
6722 (A.4.92) P. Cantor, Verbum abbreviatum. s. xiii in. Written in England.
6723 (A.2.160) New Testament (in English). s. xv in. The New Testament in the later Wycliffite version, written in England.
8001 (A.4.94) Aristotle, Ethica. s. xv med. Leonardo Bruni’s translation, written in Italy (Florence).
8002 (A.4.90) Aeschines, Leonardo Bruni interprete. s. xv. med. Written in Italy.
8003 (A.4.102) Iacobus de Cessolis, etc. s. xv2. Written in England.
8005 (A.6.88) Justinus, Epitoma in Trogum Pompeium. s. xv2. Written in Italy.
8007 (A.2.161) Horae. s. xv2. Written in France for female use in the diocese of Bescancon. Partly in French.
8008 (A.4.103) Prick of Conscience (in English). s. xiv ex. Possibly written in Ireland.
8009 (A.6.31) Ipomadon, etc. s. xv2. 13 pieces in prose and verse in English. Written in England, possibly London.
8023 (A.6.96) Medica. s. xiii ex.-xiv med. Probably written in France.
11362 (A.6.91) Poems of Alain Chartier, etc. (in French). s. xv med. Written in France.
11366 (A.4.101) Roger Bacon, Opera medica. s. xv ex. Possibly written in France.
11379 (A.6.90) Ranulph Higden, Polychronicon, etc. (in English). s. xiv/xv. Written in England.
11380 (A.4.91) Medica. s. xiii/xiv. Collection of short medical texts mainly in one hand. Written in France.
27857 (A.3.134) Medica quaedam. s. xv2. Possibly written in Italy.
27894 (A.3.128) Evangelistarium, use of Sarum. s. xv med. Written in England.
27900 (E.8.23) Aulus Gellius. s. xv2 (c. 1472). Written in Florence, for Francesco Sassetti. Rebound for Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary.
27907 (A.3.129) Hymnale, use of Sarum. s. xv2. Written in England, probably for the use of the brothers of Syon.
27911 (A.2.166) Life of Christ (in English). s. xv1. Written in England.
27929 (A.3.131) Coluccio Salutati, Opera. s. xv in.-xv med. Written and decorated in Italy and England.
27938 (A.3.127) Medical recipes (in English). s. xv/xvi. Written in England.
27971 (A.3.132) Horae. s. xv2. Written in France for the use of the diocese of Coutances.
28024 (A.3.130) G. de Vino Salvo, Nova poetria, etc. s. xiv/xv, s. xv1. Written in England.
33667 (A.2.163) Horae (Utrecht). s. xv ex. Written in Holland.
E.6.10(4) Armburgh Papers. Written in England c. 1420-1450

Chetham’s has contributed nine Middle English manuscripts to be digitised as part of the Rylands Medieval Collection. Click on the links below to go to the high resolution images.

MS 6680 (A.4.99) Astrologica, etc (late C14th)
MS 6709 (A.4.104) Lydgate, Life of Our Lady (late C15th)
MS 6711 (A.4.107) Mandeville’s travels (early C15th)
MS 6723 (A.2.160) Wycliffite New Testament (early C15th)
MS 8009 (A.6.31) Ipomadon, etc. (mid C15th)
MS 11379 (A.6.90) Polychronicon in Trevisa’s ME trans. (turn of C14th/15th)
MS 27911 (A.2.166) Life of Christ (early C15th)
MS 27938 (A.3.127) Medical recipes (turn of C15th/16th)
MS 6690 (A.7.1) Mirror of the Life of Christ
E.6.10(4) Armburgh Papers (mid C15th)