Manuscripts

Scale of perfection : [manuscript]

1 of 4

Description: ff. 1-84v but see reading order. [Walter Hilton] Scale of Perfection. Incipit: //þawȝ þe þink þiself reccheles & negligent. Explicit: and oftentymes þurȝ here gostly presence//. English. Walter Hilton, Scale of Perfection, beginning and ending defectively and with loss of text due to missing leaves; the volume is misbound and should be read as follows, the numbers in parentheses giving the page numbers in E. Underhill, ed., The Scale of Perfection by Walter Hilton (London 1923): f. 13r-v (75-77), f. 14r-v (84-87), f. 3r-v (136-38), f. 4r-v (164-67), f. 2r-v (167-69), f. 1r-v (170-71), ff. 16-20v (169-85), ff. 21-36v (189-245), ff. 43-84v (280-377), ff. 37-38v (377-82), f. 41r-v (382-84), ff. 7-8v (384-89), f. 42r-v (389-90), ff. 39-40v (390-96), ff. 11-12v (415-20), f. 15r-v (443-45), ff. 5-6v (451-55), ff. 9-10v (455-60). The text contains Books 1 and 2 in an apparently deliberate abridgment and thus the chapters do not always coincide with those in the Underhill edition; many of the expanded "Christo-centric" passages are present (that on the Holy Name not verifiable due to missing leaves). For list of manuscripts, see H. L. Gardner, "The Text of the Scale of Perfection," Medium Aevum 5 (1936) 11-30; S. S. Hussey, "The Text of the Scale of Perfection: Book II," Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 65 (1967) 75-92; T. Takamiya, "Luttrell Wynne MS of Walter Hilton," Reports of the Keio Institute 7 (1975) 171-91. See also R. Hanna, "The Archaeology of a Manuscript: Huntington Library HM 266," Scriptorium 36 (1982) 99-102.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Date: [between 1440 and 1460]
Call number: mssHM 266
Creator: Hilton, Walter (-1396)(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Written in England in the middle of the fifteenth century by John Clerk (d. 1472). Sold by Taylor to Sir Thomas Phillipps; his MS 2180 and Middle Hill stamp on f. i. Acquired privately by Henry E. Huntington through A. S. W. Rosenbach in 1923.
Restrictions: RESTRICTED. Available with curatorial approval. Requires extended retrieval and delivery time.
Dimensions: 150 x 219 mm
Associated people: John Clerk,; Phillipps, Thomas,
Associated organization: Henry E. Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.
Find out more: View in the Huntington Digital Library(Opens in new tab); View in the Library catalog(Opens in new tab)

Scale of perfection : [manuscript]

Manuscripts

HM 112 consists of 2 parts, the first being ff. 1-12v (the chapter list and chapters 1 through most of 16), written in the beginning of the fifteenth century; the second part, ff. 13-78v, copied towards the middle of the century: the matching page dimensions suggest that the second was an intentional completion of the earlier, supposedly unfinished portion. HM 112 itself was the second part of a larger manuscript of which the first is now London, Brit. Lib. Add. 10052, the Speculum religiosorum by Walter, canon of Holy Trinity in London, while the third is now Brit. Lib. Add. 10053, containing, among other texts, Edmund Rich's Speculum ecclesie in English and Hilton's Eight Chapters. The quires in all 3 manuscripts are signed in roman numerals in the lower right corner of the last leaf verso: in Add. 10052, i-ix; in HM 112, x-xvii (but with the penultimate full quire, i.e. now quire 8, skipped; the last 3 leaves, all singletons, have no roman numeral); in Add. 10053, xviii (on the first leaf, a singleton, presumably the end of the last quire in HM 112), then xix-xxix followed by 4 more quires (the first 2 labelled a and b); it would thus appear that the roman numerals represent an effort to unite separate materials. Add. 10053, ff. 1-83 and, possibly with some variations, ff. 85-98, are by the same hand as the second part of HM 112. The name of John Pery is associated with both: in HM 112, on f. 78v, the explicit reads ". . . quod I. Pery" (perhaps in a different hand from the rest of the explicit); in Add. 10053, on f. 29 "quod I. Pery" and on f. 83 "Orate pro anima domini Iohannis Pery canonici ecclesie sancte trinitatis london. infra algate qui hunc librum fieri fecit cuius anime propicietur deus Amen." Span folios: ff. 1-78v. Other Decoration: 4-, 3- and 2-line initials done in both pts. by the same flourisher, in blue with red penwork; the opening initial, f. 4, 6-line, in parted red and blue infilled with void leaf designs and flourished in red; paragraph marks alternating red and blue; paragraph marks usually in red only (a few in blue). HM 112 consists of 2 parts, the first being ff. 1-12v (the chapter list and chapters 1 through most of 16), written in the beginning of the fifteenth century; the second part, ff. 13-78v, copied towards the middle of the century, probably as an intentional completion of the earlier, supposedly unfinished portion. Numerous corrections and insertions in more than one hand (one probably Pery's).

mssHM 112

Breviary, for Dominican use : [manuscript]

Manuscripts

ff. 1-171v. Latin. ff. 1-4, Temporale, beginning defectively; ff. 4-9v, Dedication of a church; ff. 9-84v, Rubrics for the offices of saints; f. 85r-v, blank; ff. 86-87, Common of saints; ff. 87-171v, Sanctorale from Tiburtius and Valerian (14 April) through All Souls (2 November).

mssHM 1049

Book of Hours, use of the congregation of Windesheim : [manuscript]

Manuscripts

ff. 1-120v. [Book of Hours]: f. 1v: coat of arms; ff. 2-11v: Calendar, with the months run on; f. 12r-v, blank; ff. 13-19v: Short hours of the Cross and prayers; ff. 20-52v: Hours of the Virgin, use of the congregation of Windesheim; ff. 53-65v: Penitential psalms and litany; ff. 66-84v: [f. 66, blank], Office of the Dead with 3 lessons at matins; ff. 85-107: Prayers in Latin including the votive mass of the Virgin, the Obsecro te and the O Intemerata (masculine forms); ff. 107v-114v: Suffrages of one's guardian angel, Andrew, Stephen, Christopher [masculine forms], Martin, Anne, Mary Magdalene, Catherine of Alexandria, Barbara, Margaret, All Saints; ff. 115-120v: Prayers for various occasions.

mssHM 1131

Book of Hours, in Dutch : [manuscript]

Manuscripts

ff. 1-142v. [Book of Hours]: f. lr-v: Computistic texts; ff. 2-13v: Full calendar; f. 14r-v, blank, except for notes; ff. 15-45: Hours of the Virgin (this text and others in the compilation of Geert Grote); ff. 45v-65v: Long hours of the Cross; ff. 65v-83: Hours of the Eternal Wisdom; ff. 83-97v: Penitential psalms and litany; ff. 97v-106v: Prayers to the Virgin, one's guardian angel, Michael, Andrew, Lawrence, Jerome, Agnes, Dorothy, Catherine, Barbara, Mary Magdalene, Cecilia, Margaret, the 11,000 Virgins, Agatha, Gertrude, Lucia and Scholastica; f. 107r-v: Christmas hymn; ff. 108-110v: Communion prayers; f. 110v: Sayings attributed to Augustine; ff. 111-142v: Office of the Dead.

mssHM 1155

Book of Hours, Sarum use : [manuscript]

Manuscripts

ff. 1-187v. [Book of Hours]: ff. 1-6v: Calendar; ff. 7-84v: Hours of the Virgin, Sarum use, missing the illuminated opening leaves before ff. 7, 22, 55, 65, 69 and 77, with suffrages after lauds of the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, the Cross, Michael, John the Baptist, Peter and Paul, John the Evangelist, Edmund king and martyr, Lawrence, Stephen, Nicholas, Mary Magdalene, Catherine of Alexandria, Margaret, All Saints, and for peace; ff. 85-118v: Penitential psalms, gradual psalms and litany; ff. 119-184v: Office of the Dead, Sarum use (one leaf missing before f. 131 with loss of text); ff. 185-186: [added, 14th/15th c.] St. Gregory's Trental; f. 186v: [added, 14th/15th c., in a different hand from above]: Advowsons of 35 churches mainly in Somersetshire and in Devonshire; f. 187: [added, early 14th c.] Prophecy of the Lily, the Lion and the Son of Man; f. 187v: [added, early 14th c., in the same hand as the prophecy]: Reasons for the deposition of anti-Pope John XXIII.

mssHM 1346

Book of Hours, use of Paris : [manuscript]

Manuscripts

ff. 1-142; [Book of Hours]: ff. 1-12v: Full calendar in French; ff. 13-22v: Pericopes of the Gospels, with the Obsecro te and the O Intemerata; f. 23r-v, ruled, but blank; ff. 24-77v: Hours of the Virgin, use of Paris; ff. 78-92v: Penitential psalms and litany; f. 78 was originally the opening leaf of the Hours of the Cross, the first text has been erased and the beginning of the Penitential psalms written in, in an imitative gothic script (17th cent.?); ff. 93-94v, 96-97v, 98r-v, 95r-v: Prayers in French, missing leaves; ff. 99-100: Short hours of the Cross, with the offices for none, vespers and compline only; ff. 100v-137v: Office of the Dead, use of Paris; f. 100v was originally the opening leaf for the Hours of the Holy Spirit, as indicated by the rubric, de sancto spiritu, on f. 100; the first text was erased and the beginning of the Office of the Dead written in, in an imitative gothic script (17th cent.?); ff. 138-139: Suffrage of Christopher, added in a different hand. ff. 139v-142v, blank.

mssHM 1142

Scale of perfection : [manuscript]

Opening Hours

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Scale of perfection : [manuscript]

Breviary, for Dominican use : [manuscript]

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Book of Hours, in Dutch : [manuscript]

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Book of Hours, use of Paris : [manuscript]