English, early 14th century, probably 1310s. 2 strips
Fragments containing lines on the life of St. Bridget or Brigid of Ireland (died c.525) from the late 13th century English collection known as The South English Legendary. The text is the same, apart from spelling, as lines 5-25 and 39-59 in the edition of the South English Legendary by Charlotte D'Evelyn and Anna J. Mill, published by the Early English Text Society, 1956, 1959, pp 235, 244.
The fragments consist of a portion from the top half of a single leaf, cut into two consecutive strips each measuring 70 x 160 mm, with 21 lines of verse on each side. There are later glosses.
The fragments were discovered in a Missal printed in 1520 belonging to Henry Willoughby.
Dating is based on the most recent catalogue description: beginning of the 14th century, probably the 1310s (Reference: The Wollaton Medieval Manuscripts)
Image shows the first fragment of the first side.
View catalogue record
View zoomable images of both sides of WLC/LM/38, together with a transcription and translation of the text, on our Wives, Widows and Wimples online learning resource.
Further Reading
- Historical Manuscript Commission , Report on the Manuscripts of Lord Middleton Preserved at Wollaton Hall , Nottinghamshire , compiled by W. H. Stevenson (London:, 1911), pp. 622-3.
- Manfred Görlach, The Textual Tradition of the South English Legendary (Leeds, 1974), p. 117.
- Thorlac Turville-Petre and Dorothy Johnston, Image & Text: Medieval Manuscripts at the University of Nottingham (Nottingham: Djanogly Art Gallery, University of Nottingham Arts Centre, 1996), p. 7.
- Catalogue description by R. Hanna, in Ralph Hanna and Thorlac Turville-Petre (eds), The Wollaton Medieval Manuscripts: Texts, Owners and Readers (Boydell and Brewer, 2010)
Published edition
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Charlotte D'Evelyn and Anna J. Mill (eds.), South English Legendary (Early English Text Society, 1956, 1959). The text is not from WLC/LM/38, but from another manuscript.