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‘At thy golg first eut of the hous vlysse the saynge thus’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2019

Curt F. Bühler
Curt F. Bühler*
Affiliation:
The Pierpont Morgan Libray, New York
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Extract

In examining a number of books of hours for the use of Sarum printed on the continent for sale in England, the writer noted with some amazement the peculiar English often to be found in these volumes. It therefore seemed worth while to record, in this journal and thus for the benefit of a wider audience, some of the choicer specimens found in these printings, together with other poems which came into English religious books as translations from foreign sources. The title of this study, a typical example of the cruder continental spelling (for ‘At thy going first out of the house bless thee saying thus’), is to be found on folio 8 (signature A8) of the Horae ad usum Sarum printed in Rouen about the year 1506 by Richard Goupil for Wilham Candos.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in the Renaissance , Volume 6 , 1959 , pp. 223 - 235
Copyright
Copyright © Renaissance Society of America 1959

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References

1 Though this study is based chiefly on materials in the Pierpont Morgan Library (PML), I have drawn heavily on the resources of the British Museum (BM), the Bibliothèque Nationale (BN), the Bodleian Library (Bodl.), and the University (CUL) and college libraries at Cambridge. For his ready willingness to assist, both in person and by letter, I am deeply obliged to Dr. Dennis E. Rhodes of the British Museum.

2 The poetry is mentioned in passing, without further explanation or quotation, by Helen C.|White, The Tudor Books of Private Devotion (Madison, Wis., 1951)Google Scholar. The French stanzas printed in sections III and IV are briefly noticed by Tuve, Rosemond, Seasons and Months: Studies in a Tradition of Middle English Poetry (Paris, 1933), p. 210 Google Scholar.

3 Sarum Horae, Paris: for Francis Byrckman, 14 April 1519 (STC 15923; Bodl. Douce BB. 141. [1]), sig. H4V: ‘Thys epystell of our sauyour sendeth our holy father pope leo vnto te emperour Carolo magno of the wyche we fynste wyrten who that bereth thys blessyng vpon hym and says yt ones a day schall opteyne .xl. yere of pardon and .lxxx. lenttyg. And he schal not peryshe wyrth soden deeth.’

4 This edition is not listed by the STC (A Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, & Ireland and of English Books Printed Abroad 1475-1640, London, 1926), but it is included by Bishop, William W., A Checklist of American Copies of'Short-Title Catalogue’ Books (Ann Arbor, 1950), p. 195 Google Scholar. Copy at PML (no. 30004).

5 ‘O Blyssed trinite the fadre the sonne et the holy good thre persones and one god. I by leue with my hert et confesse with my moulth al tat holy church byleueth and holdeth of the and as a gode catholikc and cristen man ougth tho fele and byleue of the’ (PML 30004, sig. D12; the ‘et’ corresponds to an ampersand in the prototype).

6 At least 19 came from the Low Countries, 71 from Paris, 29 from Rouen, and a single one from Venice.

7 On occasion it is perfectly evident that the pressman did not understand the text he was setting. For example, in the Sarum Horae, [Paris]: Johann Philippi, 1497 (BM IA. 40487), we find the following lines on sig. 14 (the double-stroke marking the end of a line):'… I crie the mercy || wyth hert contritofmygretvnkinde-||nesse that. || II Ihaue had to the. 11 The most swetest spouse of mi 11 so wle crist iesu destrmg hertly 11 euermore for to be wyth the in mynde 11 et wylle et to le te non erthely thyng be 11 soo nygh myn hert as thou crist iesu.’ This same treatment of ‘If I haue had to the’ is found in Vostre's Sarum hours of 20 October 1501 (BM C. 29. h. 12) and those of [?l5lo] (BM C. 41. a. 20). In the Pigouchet edition of 1495 (STC 15880; Bodl. Douce 24, sig. h2), this is treated as a full rubric.

8 Brown, Carleton and Robbins, Rossell Hope, The Index of Middle English Verse (New York, 1943), p. 151 Google Scholar: ‘A Prayer of St. Richard of Chichester—six lines.’ In the quotations I have silently expanded the contractions throughout, since they are in all instances perfectly normal and usual abbreviations.

9 James, Montague Rhodes, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the College Library of Magdalene College, Cambridge (Cambridge, 1909), p. 24 Google Scholar: ‘Cent, xvi (1518), beautifully written by or for Jasper Fyloll, a London Dominican.’ On f. Iv, a reward of 3s. 4d. for the return of the MS. is promised to the finder.

10 With minor errors, the text of this edition was printed in the Third Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts (London, 1872), p. 256; cf. Brown-Robbins, p. 151. The errors in this edition suggest that the text was set up from an earlier printing, perhaps that of [Rouen: Guerin, c. 1505], the only known copy of which (BM C. 35. a. 2) lacks the title page. The later Rouen edition (Jacques Cousin, 28 July 1525; CUL Syn. 8.52.36, sig. aI) provides an almost perfect version.

11 The prayer is printed in ten lines. The colophon reads: “ Impressum Rothomagi in officina Richardi goupil pro Guillermo candos | hac in vrbe in vico sancti nicolai commorante. G C.’ (sig. II2v).

12 Compare the Catalogue of a Collection of early French Books in the Library of C. Fairfax Murray (London, 1910), nos. 321 [c. 1500], 509 [c. 1502], and 447 [c. 1520], and the Catalogw des livres composant la bibliothique defeu M. le baron James de Rothschild (Paris, 1884-1920), nos. 3223 (17 January 1511/12) and 3225 (‘Ad ix. Idus Augusti’ —more correctly, the nones, 5 August—1511).

13 Gallia typographica (Paris, 1909-1914), III, 64, n. 3, and 186-187.

14 Des livres de liturgie des églises d'Angleterre (Salisbury, York, Hereford), imprimés à Rouen dans les XV et XVIe siècles (Rouen, 1867), p. 26. He cites a Sarum missal of 2 August 1509.

15 It is included in a book of hours for the use of St.-Brieuc (BN ms. fr. 14396, f. 33); cf. Leroquais, Victor, Les livres d'heures, manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris, 1927), II, 298 Google Scholar. This is a fifteenth-century manuscript.

16 Macfarlane, John, Antoine Vérard (London, 1899), p. 98, no. 198Google Scholar.

17 I should here like to express my thanks to the conservateur, M. Caillet, for his kindness in permitting me to examine the volume in May 1958.

18 In the editions of 20 August 1490 (Macf 202; PML 566) and [1498] (Macf 222; BN Velins 918), the first line reads: ‘Jesus soit en ma teste et mon entendement.’ In that of [?I497] (Macf 215; BN Vel. 1631), the first line also has this text, while the last line now provides: ‘Jesus soit en ma vie et mon trespassement.’

19 Has the first line like PML 566, and the second line now reads: ‘Jesus soit en mes yeulx: et mon regardement.’

20 With the first two lines like the Kerver edition, and the last line as in BN Vélins 1631. See also Soleil, Félix, Les heures gothiques et la litt rature pieuse aux XVe et XVIe siecles (Rouen, 1882), p. 239 Google Scholar.

21 This edition is described by Hoskins, Edgar, Horae Beatae Mariae Virginis, or Sarum and York Primers (London, 1901), no. 44Google Scholar. The text of this version was also printed by Butterworth, Charles C., The English Primers (1529-1545) (Philadelphia, 1953), p. 6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

22 I owe these details to the kindness of Professor Chester.

23 See for example, BN ms. lat. 1373, f. 131 (Paris use, middle or second half of fifteenth century, Leroquais, op. cit., 1, 193) and BN ms. lat. 18031, f. H3V (a similar manuscript, Leroquais, II, 222).

24 An entirely different verse rendering is given by Soleil, , op. cit., pp. 230–231 Google Scholar.

25 See the Catalogue of Manuscripts and Early Printed Books from the Libraries of William Morris, Richard Bennett, Bertram, fourth Earl of Ashbumham, and other Sources now forming Portion of the Library of J. Pierpont Morgan (London, 1907), III, 4-6, no. 567. It has now been determined that the book is for Le Mans use.

26 In very similar form, this stanza occurs in the Compost et calendrier des bergers, Paris: Gui Marchand, 18 July 1493, sig. f6v (PML 508). It is also included in the edition of Geneva: [Jean Bellot, after 1497]; compare the facsimile edition (Le Grand Calendrier des Bergiers von Jean Belot, Genf 1497, Bern, 1920, p. 50).

27 The Compost agrees in having ‘feras’, while the Fleur text offers ‘seras’.

28 Paris: Nicole de la Barre, 31 January 1498 (BM C. 22. b. 4, f. 26v) and Paris: Antoine Vérard, 7 March 1500/1, sig. AI (Macf 64; PML 42037). Presumably it also occurs in the first edition (Rouen: Le Bourgeois, 1496), but I have been unable to examine the only recorded copy, that in the Bibliotheque Municipale at Rouen (Inc. mm. 54).

29 This is not listed by Brown-Robbins, op. cit., and the first mention of it by Hoskins (op.cit., p. 133) is in the Kaetz edition off. 1523 (STC 15935).

30 Antwerp: Christopher Endovienses for Pieter Kaetz (London), 27 November 1523, sig. +8. Hoskins 66 and STC 15938 give the date 22 November, but the Morgan copy (PML 17690) is certainly dated the 27th. A hand of the early sixteenth century has written this stanza in the margin of sig. b2v of the Morgan copy (PML 698) of The Royal Book, [Westminster: William Caxton, 1486]. It will also be found on sig. N3V of the 1532 Salisbury Prymer (Paris: Yolande Bonhomme vidue T. Kerver, August 1532) (PML 1046). Different texts on the same theme will be found in Emmanuel College, Cambridge, MS 27 (I. 2. 6, f. mv—Brown-Robbins 2694); in BM Royal MS. 8 F VII, f. 47 (‘On God I byde the worchyp ay’); and, in two differing recensions, in the English Kalender of Shepherdes (cf. facsimile by H. Oskar Sommer, London, 1892—sig. f3 of the Paris 1503 edition and p. 78 of the reprint of Pynson's 1506 printing). Compare also Butterworth, , op. cit., p. 6 Google Scholar and p. 89, n. 4.

31 See DNB, x, 191-192, and Pfander, H. G., ‘Dives et Pauper’, The Library, 4th ser., XIV (1933), 299 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, note.

32 London: Wynkyn de Worde, 14 September 1510 (STC 23876; CUL Sel. 3. 18, title page). This is identically the same as that found on the title of De Worde's second edition, 8 October 1521 (PML 748).

33 This also occurs in Robert Grosseteste's Templum Domini (BM Royal MS. 8 D IV, f. 77 —fourteenth century) and in slightly different form in Royal MS. 16 E IX, f. Iv (XIV cent.). It is also written out in the Morgan copy of The Royal Book (see note 30) and is printed in the Salisbury Primer, Rouen: Richard Valentinus, 1555 (STC 16072; PML 1047, sig. D8v).

34 This is written ‘injeus’ (?). The texts of the Royal Book and of the 1555 Primer have ‘iniquus’.

35 Op. cit., p. 155.

36 It is included in a book of hours for Rome use written in France early in the sixteenth century (BN ms. lat. 13268, f. iy; Leroquais, op. cit., II, 60).

37 A different version is given in the Calendrier des bergers (PML 508, sig. a6, and the Bern facsimile, p. 9). A Latin version, perhaps the prototype, appears in the English Kalender of Shepherdes (1503 ed., sig. a6, and 1506 ed., sig. A6V).

38 The French text is taken from the Rome Horae, Paris: Pigouchet, 19 April 1494 (PML 18558), corrected from the Rome Horae (Paris: Pigouchet, [1495]; PML 570) and Soleil, op. cit., 155-157. The English stanzas have been copied from the edition printed at Rouen by Florentinus Valentinus, [1557/8](Bishop, op. cit., p. 195; PML 1036). Hoskins first mentions the verses on p. 209 ofhis book (no. 130; cf. note 52).

39 A single stroke (|) is printed where a period is wanting or omitted in the text. In the Vérard edition of Macfarlane 198 (Toulouse Inc. 654), ‘Guillau. me’ appears in line 2 of January.

40 There are only 30 ‘syllables’ here, although the French (correctly, of course) has 31. St. Anthony is properly set down for the 17th, but the Conversion of St. Paul falls on the 25th (not the 24th, as here noted). The Sarum Prymer of 1529 (Paris: [François Regnault] —not in STC; PML 28432) and that of 1532 (see note 30) agree with this text, though they have ‘nyght’, ‘hyll’, and ‘wull’ in the appropriate lines.

41 Here Gilbert is spelled as one word, though it should be divided as in the 1529 and 1532 editions in order to have the days come out right, so far as the saints are concerned. This now provides 29 days for February in our text. The other editions have ‘Austyne’ for ‘Augustin’, thus making a total of 28 ‘syllables’ for this month.

42 All editions have ‘loneth’ for ‘loueth'. Only the edition here used omits ‘gre’ at syllable 12, though this is necessary to mark the feast of St. Gregory on that day.

43 Soleil, , op. tit., p. 156 Google Scholar, prints ‘en. May.’

44 The text omits the period after ‘to’ in line 1 and prints ‘helayne’ as one word. As it now stands, May has 31 days, and correctly noted for the 9th is the Translation of St. Nicholas. However, St. Helen is now assigned to the 22nd (instead of the 21st) and the 25th is given to St. Francis (in place of the 24th, on which his translation is venerated).

45 The 1529 and 1532 primers both have ‘lyght’, ‘at Rome’, and ‘oure. come’ (overcome). The Rouen compositor entirely forgot to mark the syllables with periods in this month.

46 Both other editions have ‘syc. ker’ and ‘say. eth.’ The Rouen horae misprints ‘corde’ as ‘cor. de.’

47 In the Vérard edition at Toulouse, the first line reads: ‘Die. E. loy. fait. barb. a. colart.’ However, it seems likely that the French editions specifically called attention to the Feast of St. Éloi de Chatelac, which is celebrated on I December.

48 Since St. Lucy is venerated on the 13th, the other editions more obviously have the reading ‘lu. ces.’

49 In error the Rouen horae prints ‘debate’ as a monosyllable.

50 Compare Morawski, Joseph, ‘Les douze mois figurez’, Archivum romankum X (1926), 351–363 Google Scholar; the Rothschild Catalogue, I, 344, no. 531; and Mâle, Émile, L'art religieux de la fin du moyen âge en France (Paris, 1922), pp. 303–306 Google Scholar.

51 The French text occurs in the Horae for Rome use (BN lat. 13268—Leroquais, op. cit., II, 60; and in Morgan MS. 813) and those for Chartres use (BN MS. Smith-Lesouef 39— Leroquais, suppl., p. 37). All three manuscripts belong to the early sixteenth century.

52 The first mention of the English lines by Hoskins (op. cit., p. 209, no. 130) is from the edition printed in London by John Byddell about the year 1537 (STC 15999). Through the kindness of Dr. Rhodes, I learn that they also appear in the edition of Paris: Francois Regnault, 27 June 1527 (Hoskins no. 77; BM C. 42. e. 7). The lines appear in French in the edition of the Sarum Horae printed at Paris by Philippe Pigouchet for Simon Vostre, 20 October 1501 (STC 15896; BM C. 29. h. 12).

53 See p. 90 of the facsimile edition of the 1497 Calendrier des bergers. Two different English versions were printed in the English Kalender ofShepherdes (facsimile edition, sig. l4v-l5, and pp. 153-155).

54 The French text is taken from the Horae ad usum Noviomensem (Noyon), Paris: Pigouchet for Vostre, 8 August 1498 (PML 46606), and the English stanzas from the Sarum Horae, Paris: Francois Regnault, 10 October 1527 (STC 15954; PML 17603).

55 Soleil, Compare, op. cit., pp. 31–41 Google Scholar. They also appear in the BN MS. Smith-Lesouëf 39 and in the 1532 primer (see note 30 above). These verses were likewise included in books printed for the French market (e.g. Horae ad usum Romanum, Paris: Kerver for Gillet Remade, 14 May 1501; PML 582, and in the Calendrier des bergers, PML 508, sig. b1-b6). In agreement with the French text, the stanzas also appear in the English Kalender of Shephcrdes (facs. ed., sig. b1-b6 and pp. 21-32).

56 Since these poems were not listed by William Ringler (‘A Bibliography and First-Line Index of English Verse Printed through 1500’, PBSA XLIX, 1955, 153-180), it is clear that they were not printed in the English incunabula. Elsewhere in the horae, English verse may also be found (in the hours of the cross, as descriptive lines for the woodcuts, etc.). It is planned to print these in a separate publication. The hymn of Richard de Caistre (Brown-Robbins, 1727) is included in the 1532 primer (PML 1046, sig. + t 6-7) and was printed by Sir Egerton Brydges, The British Bibliographer (London, 1810-1814), IV, 139-140, though this printing was not listed by Brown-Robbins in their Index.

57 Quite good English is found in the prayers of the horae for Sarum use printed in Paris by Wolfgang Hopyl (at the expense of William Bretton of London), 24 March 1506 (Bodl. Arch, B e 37; STC 15903, with date 9 April for IX Kal. Aprilis).