Beinecke MS 535
England, s. XVmed and XVII
The Mirrour of the Blessed Lyf of Jesu Christ; Adam of Dryburgh; Thirty-Nine Articles

I.
1. ff. 1r-2r	At the begynnyng the proheme of the boke that is cleped the myrroure of the 
blessud lyfe of Jhesu Criste. The ferste part for the Monday a devote meditacion of the grete 
counseyle in hevenne for the restoryng of man and his salvacion, capitulum primum. Of the 
manere of levyng of the blessud virgyn Mary, capitulum secundum ... Of that excellent and most 
worthy sacramente of Cristes blessede body, capitulum LXIIIIum. Expliciunt capitula. Attende, 
lector huius libri, prout sequitur  in Anglico scripti ... prout legenti sive intuenti istum librum 
speculi vite Christi lucide poterit apparere. 

Table of contents for The Mirrour of the Blessed Lyf of Jesu Christ (Meditationes vitae Christi), tr. 
Nicholas Love; L.F. Powell, ed., Roxburghe Club 151 (Oxford, 1908 [1911??]), pp. 1-6??, 
followed by a note on Love's additions to the Latin text, ed.??

2. f. 2r		Memorandum quod circa annum Domini millesimum quadringentesimum 
decimum originalis copia huius libri, scilicet speculi vite Christi in Anglicis, presentabatur 
Londonii per compilatorem eiusdem NN. reverendisimo in Christo patri et domino, domino 
Thome Arundell Cantuariensi archiepiscopo ... decrevit et mandavit ad fidelium edificacionem et 
hereticorum sive Lollardorum confutacionem. Amen.

Note stating that the original copy of the translation was presented to Thomas Arundell, 
archbishop of Canterbury, for his approval, in 1410. Powell, ed., p. XI?? A note s. XVIII/XIX at 
the bottom of the page explains the term "Lollards".

3. ff. 2v-96r	Quecumque scripta sunt ad nostram doctrinam scripta sunt, ut per pacienciam et 
consolacionem Scripturarum spem habeamus. Ad Romanos XV [Rom. 15:4]. These ben the 
wordes of the gret doctour and holy apostil Paule, consideryng that the holy levyns of all trewe 
cristenen men and creaturis in this worlde ... that I may come with the to leve everlastyng Jhesu 
Lord by vertue and grace off thy lyff blessed withoute endyng. Amen. Amen. Amen. Jhesu 
Lorde thi blessed lyffe, helpe and confort our wrechede lyfe. Amen. Explicit speculum vite 
Christi complete. In omni tribulacione, temptacione, necessitate et angustia / succurre nobis 
piissima virgo Maria. Amen.

Powell, ed., pp.?? Our manuscript is mentioned in E. Salter, Nicholas Love's "Myrrour of the 
Blessed Lyf of Jesu Christ",  Analecta Cartusiana 10 (Salzburg, 1974), p. 7, as "Franklin MS";  
and ead., "The Manuscripts of Nicholas Love's Mirrour of the Blessed Lyf  of Jesu Christ and 
Related Texts", in A.S.G. Edwards and D. Pearsall, eds., Middle English Prose: Essays on 
Bibliographical Problems (New York, 1981), p.??

4. ff. 96v-100r		Prologus magistri Ade Cartusiensis. Dominis suis reverendis et amicis  in 
Christi visceribus dilectis,viro illustro [sic] domno priori et fratribus universis in ecclesia sancti 
Andree in Scocia Christi servicio mancipatis, frater Adam, Dei et servorum Dei servus inutilis et 
indignus, una pace dulciter vivere et ad unum gaudium feliciter pervenire. Soliloquium de 
instructione anime intitulatum ... et benedicat Deo in corde suo a peccatis vestris precibus  
absolutus. Explicit prologus. Incipit liber magistri Ade Cartusiensis de instructione anime. 
Capitulum primum. Decretis [corrected into Secretis]  interrogationibus pulsabo animam meam et 
de suis occultis conveniam ut ignorantem instruam ... vel in preceptis vel prohibetis inobediensis 
[l. inobediens sis], peccasti quidem, sed venialiter ; si tamen reatum //	f. 100v blank

Adam of Dryburgh (Adam Scotus) O. Praem, later O. Carth. (d. 1212), De instructione animae; 
ends incomplete in I.4; Bloomfield 5366; Sharpe, pp. 10-12, with list of manuscripts; ed. PL 198. 
843-852.

II.
5. pp. 1-82 	The 39 Articles of the Church of England. There is but one living and true God, 
everlasting, without bodie partes or passions ...

The Thirty-Nine Articles (doctrinal formulas accepted by the Church of England), articles 1-19 
only, in diagram form, all pages being organized in three sections titled "the truth", "the creed", 
and "errors".


Part I. Written in the fifteenth century. Paper, ff. III + 102, 290 x 215 mm. Watermarks??

I  8 (ff. 1-8), II 12 (ff. 9-20), III-IV 18 (ff. 21-56), V 20 (ff. 57-76), VI 24 (ff. 77-100), VII 2 (two 
singletons, ff. 101-102). Horizontal catchwords approximately in the middle of the lower margin, 
mostly in a more or less fancy frame in pen and ink. Traces of signatures.

Frame-ruling for one column in black ink, type 13, c. 215 x c. 145 mm., with c. 38 lines of script.

Written by two scribes in Gothica Cursiva Libraria (Secretary very close to Anglicana). Hand A 
(ff. 1r-18r,7) writes a careful bold, wide and rather angular script, with calligraphic extensions at 
the ascenders on the top line; the handwriting of Hand B (ff. 18r,7-100r) is more rapid. Titles and 
explicit formulas in Northern Gothica Textualis Formata.

Majuscules are heightened in red?? up to f. 8v. Red paragraph marks?? Plain red 2- to 4-line 
initials. A 4-line red?? flourished initial with rather coarse penwork in ??, including a human head 
and a fish, on f. 1r.

Two parchment fly-leaves of the original binding are inserted after f. 100: they have been taken 
from a thirteenth-century manuscript and contain fragments of Codex Iustiniani, VI.3. P. 
Krueger, ed., Corpus Iuris Civilis, v. 2 (Berlin, 1877), p. 240. They are ruled in lead for two 
columns of 50 lines below top line and decorated with 3-line flourished initials, all blue with red 
penwork. Rust marks in one of them show that the manuscript (our Part I) has been chained.

Part II. XVI/XVIIth century.  Written in careful Gothica Cursiva (Secretary). The incipit in 
Textualis Formata. Titles in Antiqua or Capitalis. Initials of various sizes, some very large, in 
black ink at the opening of each article, mostly calligraphic (cadels), others imitations of early 
interlace initials in outline drawing .

Signature of the owner Lysabethe Scheffelde (s. XVI) in the lower margin of f. 1r; and of 
George Ogilvy (s. XVII) in the lower margin of f. 96r, on f. 100v and on one of the former 
flyleaves. Numbered "W 495" in a collection. Catalogue of Medieval and Later Manuscripts, 
Printed Books, which will be sold at Christies, 28 June 1972, lot 42. Purchased from Colin and 
Charlotte Franklin, Oxford,  5 Oct. 1973, on the Edwin J Beinecke Fund.

Albert Derolez

Updated 27.11.2007