The Index of Middle English Prose Handlist VIII: Manuscripts containing Middle English Prose in Oxford College Libraries

Oxford college libraries house more than 2,500 Western medieval manuscripts, of which 155 contain prose writings in the vernacular; this Handlist indexes some 750 items. Major religious works include Hilton’s ‘Scale of Perfection’, Love’s ‘Mirror’, Rolle’s ‘Form of Living’, the anonymous ‘Cloud of Unknowing’, ‘Abbey of the Holy Ghost’, ‘Book of the Craft of Dying’, ‘Disce Mori’, ‘Lay Folks’ Catechism, ‘Sacerdos Parochialis’, and other manuals of pastoral instruction. Chaucer, Mandeville, and Trevisa are prominent among secular authors. Historical prose includes four copies of ‘The Brut’, the ‘Chronicles of London’, and a translation of the ‘Modus tenendi parliamentum’. Medical writing is well represented,and there are numerous utilitarian and scientific texts, including gardening and travel, and works on alchemy and astrology. S.J. OGILVIE-THOMPSON’s published work includes editions of Walter Hilton’s ‘Mixed Life’, and ‘Richard Rolle: Prose and Verse’ for the Early English Text Society.