Sidney Sussex College : Martyrology

Martyrology (MS 79)

A 15th-century martyrology which belonged to the church of St. Laurence, West Wretham, Norfolk. West Wretham is a deserted village site in Breckland; only a few ruins of the church survive. The book has features characteristic of the diocese of Norwich and interesting additions, including a musical setting of the Regina celi.

Digitisation and description generously funded by John Osborn.

Information about this document

Physical Location: Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
Classmark: MS 79
Alternative Identifier(s): K.4,17; Δ.4.17
Subject(s): Martyrologies
Origin Place: East Anglia
Date of Creation: early-mid 15th century
Language(s): Latin
Extent: ff. iii + 88 + ii Leaf height: 235 mm, width: 170 mm. Written height: 180 mm, width: 127 mm.
Collation:
1⁶ 2^{7(8) (wants 1)}^3-108 11^{3(6) (wants 4-6)} 12⁸
Catchwords on ff. 37v, 53v, 61v, 69v
Material: Parchment (with paper flyleaves)
Format: Codex
Binding:
Late 17th cent. blind-tooled reverse calf.
Script:
Textura.
Foliation:
Modern pencil foliation in the top right corner of each recto.
Layout:
25-28 lines, ruled in brown ink
Provenance:
St. Lawrence, West Wretham, Norfolk. The church of St. Lawrence, West Wretham, was described in White’s Gazetteer of 1845 as ‘long in ruins’. It was still intact in 1737 (Francis Blomfield, An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk, I (London, 1805), p. 469.
Acquired by Sidney by 1697.
Data Source(s): This catalogue entry draws on the description in M. R. James, A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (Cambridge, 1895) and unpublished notes by Laurel Broughton.
Author(s) of the Record: Nicholas Rogers
Bibliography:
Catalogi Librorum Manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ (Oxoniæ, 1697), pars altera, p. 105, no. 742
M.R. James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (Cambridge, 1895), pp. 61-2
N.R. Ker, Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: a List of Surviving Books, 2nd edn. (London, 1964), p. 223

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Graded calendar in red and black with blue KLs (image 7, page 1r) Martyrology, derived from that of Usuard, beginning imperfectly at 5 January (image 19, page 7r) Pseudo-Ambrose, De gradibus virtutum (image 167, page 81r) Regina celi, with musical notation (image 178, page 86v) Psallat hec contio (image 179, page 87r) Scribbles and pen-trials (image 182, page 88v)

Information about this document

Physical Location: Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
Classmark: MS 79
Alternative Identifier(s): K.4,17; Δ.4.17
Subject(s): Martyrologies
Origin Place: East Anglia
Date of Creation: early-mid 15th century
Language(s): Latin
Extent: ff. iii + 88 + ii Leaf height: 235 mm, width: 170 mm. Written height: 180 mm, width: 127 mm.
Collation:
1⁶ 2^{7(8) (wants 1)}^3-108 11^{3(6) (wants 4-6)} 12⁸
Catchwords on ff. 37v, 53v, 61v, 69v
Material: Parchment (with paper flyleaves)
Format: Codex
Binding:
Late 17th cent. blind-tooled reverse calf.
Script:
Textura.
Foliation:
Modern pencil foliation in the top right corner of each recto.
Layout:
25-28 lines, ruled in brown ink
Provenance:
St. Lawrence, West Wretham, Norfolk. The church of St. Lawrence, West Wretham, was described in White’s Gazetteer of 1845 as ‘long in ruins’. It was still intact in 1737 (Francis Blomfield, An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk, I (London, 1805), p. 469.
Acquired by Sidney by 1697.
Data Source(s): This catalogue entry draws on the description in M. R. James, A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (Cambridge, 1895) and unpublished notes by Laurel Broughton.
Author(s) of the Record: Nicholas Rogers
Bibliography:
Catalogi Librorum Manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ (Oxoniæ, 1697), pars altera, p. 105, no. 742
M.R. James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (Cambridge, 1895), pp. 61-2
N.R. Ker, Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: a List of Surviving Books, 2nd edn. (London, 1964), p. 223

Section shown in images 7 to 18

Title: Graded calendar in red and black with blue KLs
Note(s): St. Thomas of Canterbury and popes erased. Translation of St. Edmund (29 Apr.), St. John of Beverley (7 May, noted as provincial feast), Translation of St. Richard (16 June), St. Dominic (5 Aug., noted as synodal feast), Dedication of Norwich Cathedral (24 Sept., in red), St. Thomas of Hereford (2 Oct., noted as provincial feast), St. Francis (4 Oct., noted as synodal feast) in original hand. St. Patrick (17 Mar.), St. Ethelbert (20 May), Translation of St. Etheldreda (17 Oct.) added in a mid 15th cent. hand; St. Botulph (17 June) added in a second mid 15th cent. hand, St. Oswald (5 Aug.), St. Leger (2 Oct) added in mid-late 15th cent. hand. St. Anthony (17 Jan), Visitation (2 July), Translation of St. Osmund 16 July), Transfiguration (6 Aug.), Name of Jesus (7 Aug.), Dedication of Norwich Cathedral (20 Oct.), Dedication of West Wretham church (12 Nov., principal feast), Deposition of St Osmund (4 Nov.) added in late 15th cent. hands. Obit of William Chambleyn, 8 March 1494, added

Section shown in images 19 to 164

Title: Martyrology, derived from that of Usuard, beginning imperfectly at 5 January
Note(s): Original text includes St. Fursey (16 Jan.), Dedication of Basilica of St. Pancras (26 Jan.), St. Werburga (3 Feb.), St. Chad (2 Mar.), St. Guthlac (11 Apr.), St. Alphege (19 Apr.), St. Aldhelm (25 May), Translation of St. Edmund archbishop (9 June), St. Edburga (15 June), St. Botulph (17 June), Translation of St. Edward (20 June), St. Etheldreda (23 June), St. Sexburga (6 July), St. Hedda (7 July), St. Mildred (13 July), St. Kenelm (17 July), St. Ethelwold (1 August), St. Oswald, St. Dominic (5 Aug.), St. Edith (16 Sept.), St. Thomas of Hereford (2 Oct., deleted), St. Francis (4 Oct.), Translation of St. Oswald archbishop (8 Oct.), St. Paulinus (10 Oct.), St. Ethelburga (11 Oct.), St. Frideswide (19 Oct.), St. Edmund (20 Nov.), St. Birinus (3 Dec.), Dedication of basilica of Holy Cross and St. Vincent (Saint-Germain-des-Prés), Paris, and deposition of King Childebert (23 Dec.) Added entries are St. Wulfstan (19 Jan.), St. Felix (8 Mar.), St. Eustagius abbot (27 Mar.), St. Richard (3 Apr.), Translation of St. Edmund (29 Apr.), Visitation (2 July), Translation of St. Swithun (15 July), Translation of St. Osmund (16 July), St. Anne (26 July), Transfiguration (6 Aug.), Name of Jesus (7 Aug.), St. Cuthburga (31 Aug.), St. Wulfran (15 Oct.), St. Winefred (3 Nov.), St. Edmund of Canterbury (16 Nov.), St. Hugh (17 Nov.), St. Osmund (4 Dec.)
Excerpts:
Incipit: Rome natalis beati thelesphori

Section shown in images 167 to 178

Title: Pseudo-Ambrose, De gradibus virtutum
Note(s): This text occurs in conjunction with a Martyrology in BL MS Cotton Julius B.vii.
Excerpts:
Incipit: Incipit liber de gradibus uirtutum a sancto ambrosia ordinatur … Primus gradus huius sacratissime scale est fides

Section shown in images 178 to 178

Title: Regina celi, with musical notation
Note(s): Added in late 15th century

Section shown in images 179 to 179

Title: Psallat hec contio
Note(s): Added in late 15th century. Hymn to St. Nicholas (G.M. Dreves, Hymni Inediti: Liturgische Hymnen des Mittelalters aus Handschriften und Wiegendrucken, III (Leipzig, 1892), p. 210). ‘Cruor fusus iesu christi’, with musical notation, marked for ‘Episcopus’, followed by prayer to St. Nicholas and ‘Humiliate vos ad benedictionem, with musical notation, marked for ‘Cenciferarius’. Musical notation, marked ‘quatuor partes in una’. Possibly a boy bishop ceremony

Section shown in images 182 to 182

Title: Scribbles and pen-trials
Note(s): including John Beuel de Westwrotham, Marg. Bonde de eadem, Johannes porter de Stanfford, Marg. Sewall de Westwrotham, noted by James. Partly erased ownership inscription: Iste liber constat …. iuxta Thetforth in comitatu Norfolchie (West Wretham is 6 miles N.N.E. of Thetford)