Cam/Gonv/803
NAME
803/807, fragment 53.
DESCRIPTION
Paper; 1; 123 (height) x 188 (top width) and 193 (bottom width); fifteenth century (late).
CONTENTS
Fragment (recto and verso): Part of an apparent sermon perhaps for Easter Day.
COMMENTS
This single folio has been trimmed and is irregular in shape; the verso includes a catchword, 'lord' suggesting that it was the last in the quire. On the recto a sixteenth- or seventeenth-century hand has written a few words including 'gods' while on the verso this same hand has copied the word 'com[man]dme[n]t' beneath the medieval version of the same. The fragment was extracted from F.31.25 (formerly F.46.25), the Flores doctorum (Geneva, 1593), attributed to Thomas of Ireland; the name and shelfmark of the volume in which this fragment was used as a pastedown are recorded on the recto. This book has a Cambridge binding (so clearly the fragment had been left lying about in the bookbinder's) and it entered the College library from the collection of William Branthwaite (d. 1620), a former Master.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
O'Mara 1987:85–86.
Sermon Description: Cam/Gonv/803/001
OCCASION
Easter Day?
INCIPIT
[imperfect] Vpon Shyr Thursday among his disciples he toke materiall brede; blessyd it; by vertue of his worde he made žer his flesshe and his blod; he brake it and 3af it to žam, seyng, Accipite et comedite: hoc est [enim] corpus meum, 'Take 3e and ete it: this is my verry body.' So by že vertu of žese wordes he žer made h[i]s flesh and his blode. We rede also in holy wrytt that, what tyme Moyses led owt of Egypte že childre of Israel because žat kyng Pharao pursued žem to haue destrued žem, so by že comaundment and word of God Moyses toke a rodde žat he had in his hande; he smote vpon že watyr of že Rede See as God badd and commaunded hym. So by že vertu of Goddes wordes že water departed and 3af žem way; and že water stode vppe vn both sydes [imperfect]
EXPLICIT
[imperfect] Pray we all to God almy3ty of mercy and forgyvenes, and be 3e aknow of 3our synnes and trespasses, and devoutly all say after me: I am a know to God almy3te, fadyr son and Holy Gost, thre persons and oon God, to oure lady Seynt Marye moder of mercy, to all že holy company of heven, to all holy chyrch, and to že my gostly fader that I, synful wretch, in synne born, lyved, noryshed, and forth broght into žis day, I synnfull wrech and vntrew have synned and trespassed in wyll, in worde, consent, thought, and in dede. In že vii dedly synnes I know me gylty agaynes God allmy3ty: in pride, in envye, in wrath, in slowth, in glotany, in covetyse, in lechery, and in all spyces and braunches of them. As God knoweth me gylty, I put me in his mercye and aske hym lawly of mercy and forgyvenes. The x comowndmentes of my lord [imperfect]
BIBLICAL CITATIONS
Mt 26:26 (L); cf. Ex 14:16–22.
PROPER NAMES
Moses; Mary.
PLACE NAMES
Egypt; Red Sea.
CONCEPTS
Eucharist; General Confession.
NOTES
The entire contents of the recto are given in the Incipit; those of the verso are given in the Explicit. The Form of General Confession on the verso is imperfect; the final word 'lord' is a catchword. If this text is related to the sermon on the recto, an Easter Day occasion is likely. See Cam/Add 2829/001 for an Easter Day sermon accompanied by a Form of General Confession. Such Forms of General Confession are fully discussed in Durkin 1997.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
O'Mara 1987:84–85.
