On this page, you can learn more about the various medieval manuscripts in St John’s College Library relating to devotion. You may also be interested in the Devotion section of our western post-1500 manuscripts collection.
MS 82
MS 82 is an Hours of the Virgin with Psalter. This manuscript was produced in Flanders in the fifteenth century, but it was intended for English use. MS 82 has a very elaborate scheme of illustration, as you can see in this folio.
MS 127
MS 127 contains works by Richard Rolle of Hampole, an English mystic (d. 1349), including his Incendium Amoris. This manuscript was produced in England in the fifteenth century.
MS 131
MS 131 is a Psalter and Hours of the Virgin, produced in Italy in the fifteenth century. The historiated initial shown here depicts David calling from the waters. MS 131 features in our blog post on Reformation erasures of Saint Thomas Becket.
MS 187
MS 187 contains the Hours of the Holy Spirit, a set of prayers. This manuscript was produced in England c.1475. It contains numerous decorative initials, including a historiated initial depicting the Dove of the Holy Spirit (shown here).
MS 196
MS 196 is a Psalter produced in England c.1475. The calendar includes feast days for major English saints, and the litany includes English confessors. This manuscript includes a historiated initial of David kneeling in prayer with a harp at his feet (shown here).
MS 204
MS 204 is a Psalter produced in Northern France c.1325–1375. It contains five surviving historiated initials, one of which is reproduced here. This initial at the beginning of Psalm 109 shows two people talking, with the holy spirit descending as a dove.
MS 208
MS 208 primarily contains the Office of the Dead, a set of prayers for the deceased. This manuscript was produced in England c.1450–1475. It contains five illuminated leaves ascribed to ‘the master of Sir John Fastolf’. The detail shown here is of three clerics at a funeral service.
MS 293
MS 293 is a Psalter produced in England in the fifteenth century. It was formerly owned by William Smallwood, a Fellow of St John’s College 1557-1566. The manuscript includes notes accusing Smallwood of papistry.