The manuscript sources of the Sarum Customary

The principal sources

The four versions of the Sarum Customary included on this website are each found in a different manuscript source. There are short descriptions of the four manuscript sources from which these readings are taken:

Other manuscript sources

In presenting his two conflated readings of the Old Customary and New Customary (The Consuetudinary and The Customary), W. H. Frere, in The Use of Sarum, I (Cambridge, 1898), also took account of, incorporated and noted the versions of the Customary found in six other medieval manuscripts:

For the Old Customary

  • Cambridge, University Library, Add. MS 710 (known as ‘The Dublin Troper’)
  • Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodl. 443

For the New Customary

  • London, British Library, MS Harleian 2911
  • London, British Library, MS Arundel 130
  • Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson A. 371
  • Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Jones 59

Frere’s descriptions of all ten sources are found in W. H. Frere, The Use of Sarum, I (Cambridge, 1898), pp. xliv-lviii.

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Chippenham, Wiltshire and Swindon Archive, D/1/1 [includes OCO]

CHIPPENHAM, WILTSHIRE AND SWINDON ARCHIVES
[SALISBURY DIOCESAN RECORDS]
D/1/1/1
s.xiii
Salisbury
Vetus Registrum (Register of St Osmund)

Description of contents.

  • Sarum Customary, p.1; misc. charters, p.38.
  • Cartulary, p.41 (Carta Osmundi, p. 41; Institutio Osmundi, p.47).
  • Records of prebendal visitations by dean William de Wanda, p.73.
  • Misc. charters, p.89; episcopal lists for the see of Salisbury and its predecessors, p.94.
  • Cartulary continued, p.95.
  • Nova constitutio, p.111; misc. charters, p.113.
  • Narrative concerning the move from Old Sarum, with other contemporary documents relating to the chapter, p.119.
  • Inventory of the cathedral at Old Sarum, p. 167; misc. letters, p.177.

Previous reports. Wordsworth, in Frere, The Use of Sarum, I, p.xliv; catalogue, ms. D/1/1/1. Complete contents edited by W. H. Rich Jones.

Previous shelfmarks. None noted.

History: Appears to have been in the continuous possession of the bishops of Salisbury. Formerly kept at the Diocesan Registrary Office; transferred to Wren Hall (1950s), to Trowbridge (1980) and to Chippenham (2007).  Following restoration (1896), extensively annotated by C. Wordsworth.

184 pp. 265x190. Compiled by many hands, largely ruled a single column. After p.92, one fol. gone; fol. following p.114 misplaced as pp.125–6, and before p.115 three(?) fols. gone; before p.155, insertions numbered 155(1) and 155(2); after p.158, insertions numbered 158(1) and 158(2); pp.173–6 gone; last fol. (pp.183–4) formerly lay loose after p.40. Medieval cover stored separately.

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London, British Library, MS Harley 1001 [includes OCR]

LONDON, BRITISH LIBRARY
MS HARLEY 1001
s.xiv
Risby, Suffolk
Sarum Ordinal

Description of contents.

  • Ordinal for the Office, f.1r
  • Ordinal for the Mass, f.84v; additional material relating to customary and ordinal, f.115r.
  • Customary, f.117r; Addiciones, f.155v; Nota de Kyrieleison per annum, f. 162r.

Previous reports. Frere, The Use of Sarum, I, p.lii; catalogue, no. 1001.

Previous shelfmarks. 63.64.D.2

History: Inscription Iste liber constat ecclesie de Rysbey in comitatu de Suffolke. Ordinele. on f.162r. Names: Thomas Storgan; Johannes Hatche de Rysby, ff.162r, 162v.

165 ff. 217x146. Square notation. In a single hand, ruled in 2 columns. 2 fols. gone after f.162.

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Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 44 [includes NCC]

OXFORD, CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE
MS 44
s.xiv
Sarum
Sarum Ordinal

Description of contents.

  • Ordinal, beginning with the Office, f.1r; for the Mass, f.122v; for occasional services f.165r.
  • Customary, f.171r.
  • Tonary, f.193v.
  • Motiua ad hoc quod sacerdotes et alii clerici infra sacerdotis ordines constituti diuina officia uirtute ordinis eis debita studiose dicant pariter et deuote, f.210v(for transcription see Thomson).

Previous reports. Frere, Bibliotheca Musico-Liturgica no. 501; Coxe p.16; Thomson catalogue, MS 44.

Previous shelfmarks. No. 1511. 4 and D.2.3.

History: Scribal attribution to ‘Robertus’. Inside front board reads Liber Coll.Corp.Christi, Ex dono Mri Henrici Parry eiusdem socii, April 23 1619.

214 ff. 285x195. Square notation. In a single hand, ruled in 2 columns. Fols 7 and 136a gone.

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Salisbury, Salisbury Cathedral Library, MS 175[includes NCS]

SALISBURY CATHEDRAL LIBRARY
MS 175
s.xiv
Salisbury Cathedral
Sarum Ordinal

Description of contents.

  • Kalendar, f.2r, with July and August missing.
  • Ordinal for the Office Temporale only, f.7r.
  • Customary, f.74v
  • Ordinal continues for the Office Sanctorale and Common, f.92v.
  • Ordinal for the Mass, f.136r, including the order of the Mass (f.162r)
  • Ordinal for occasional services, f.189r.
  • Tonary, f.195v.

Previous reports. Frere, Bibliotheca Musico-Liturgica no. 606; Maunde Thompson catalogue, p.34.

Previous shelfmarks. None noted.

History: Appears to have been in the continuous possession of Salisbury Cathedral. Inscription Iste liber pertinet ad Johannem Robertum on front flyleaf.Names: Wyllyme Rydlaye; Nycholas Redlay, ff.59v, 195v.

214 ff. 185x147. Square notation.Ruled in a single column. Fols 9, 115, 128, 189, 207, 213 gone.

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