On this page, you can learn more about the various medieval manuscripts in St John’s College Library that contain texts written in Middle English. You may also be interested in the Language and Literature section of our western post-1500 manuscripts collection.
MS 6
MS 6 is a copy of Troy Book written by the English poet John Lydgate (d. c. 1451). This manuscript was produced in England in the middle of the fifteenth century. An inscription suggests that it was once owned by Sir Rowland Leynthall, who fought at the Battle of Agincourt.
MS 7
MS 7 contains a fifteenth-century copy of the later version of the Wycliffite Old Testament. John Wycliffe (d.1384) was an English theologian who advocated for the translation of the Bible into English. In this translation, Genesis begins ‘In þe begynnynge god made of nouȝt heuene & erth’ (fol. 1r).
MS 56
MS 56 principally contains a copy of John Lydgate’s Life of our Lady, a Middle English poem about the Virgin Mary. This manuscript was produced in England in the third quarter of the fifteenth century.
MS 57
MS 57 contains several texts including two Middle English poems (The Prick of Conscience and Chaucer’s Parliament of Fowls) and a London Chronicle ending in 1431/2. MS 57 was produced in England during the middle of the fifteenth century. The scribal dialect has been placed in Essex.
MS 79
MS 79, a copy of the Wycliffite Gospels, was produced in England at the beginning of the fifteenth century. John Wycliffe (d.1384) was an English theologian who advocated for the translation of the Bible into English. In this translation, Matthew begins ‘Mathew þat was of Iudee as he is sett first in ordre…’.
MS 94
MS 94 is an Hours of the Virgin, and it also contains Middle English devotional texts. This manuscript was produced in Newcastle in the fifteenth century. It was copied and illuminated by John Lacy, Dominican recluse of Newcastle.
MS 138
MS 138 contains a copy of The Prick of Conscience, a fourteenth-century penitential poem. The Prick of Conscience is famous for surviving in more manuscripts than any other Middle English poem. This copy of the text was produced in England in the middle of the fifteenth century.
MS 266
MS 266 is a fifteenth century copy of John Lydgate’s The Siege of Thebes. It has been identified as the copy used to set Wynkyn de Worde’s edition of the text (1497?). MS 266 is bound with several books printed by William Caxton including his 1483 edition of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
MS 340
MS 340 is a fifteenth-century copy of the ‘The Calendar’ by the prolific English poet John Lydgate (d.c.1450). These five manuscript leaves are bound together with four books printed by William Caxton (d.1491), who is credited with introducing the printing press to England.