Verse
(1) English Verse
Davy the Diser (‘Longe was I ladye lucke your seruynge man’)
First published in Workes (London, 1557), p. 1433. Yale, Vol. 1, p. 46.
MrT 1
Copy in: A folio volume of works by Sir Thomas More, in a professional secretary hand, with some corrections or emendations possibly in another hand, probably produced by members of the More circle, i + 455 leaves, in modern half red morocco gilt. c.1550-7.
Later in the library of John Theyer (1598-1673), antiquary.
Edited principally from this MS in Yale, Vol. 1, with a facsimile on p. 46.
MrT 1.5
Copy, in a secretary hand.
In: A printed exemplum of St Augustine, De civilitate Dei, ed. J.L. Vives (Basle, 1512 [i.e. 1522]), with MS poems by More. Mid-16th century.
Formerly in the Sacristy Library of the Catholic Church of SS Peter and Paul, Lower Brailes, Warwickshire. Inscribed ‘J. Ball’, ‘Thomas Brudenell est possessor’ [i.e. probably Thomas Brudenell (1578-1663, first Earl of Cardigan] and ‘George Brudenell’ [i.e probably George Brudenell (1685-1732), third Earl of Cardigan].
This volume recorded in Yale, Volume 3, Part II, p. 67.
Facsimile in Yale, Volume 3, Part II, after p. 303.
MrT 1.8
Copy, in a secretary hand.
In: MS additions in a printed exemplum of Sir Thomas More's Utopia, 3rd edition, together with his Epigrammata, 1st edition (Basle, 1518). Early-mid-16th century.
Christie's, 23 June 1993, lot 170, with facsimile examples in the sale catalogue.
Facsimile in Christie's sale catalogue, p. [222].
Fortune Verses
The Fortune Verses first published, in a 313-line version, including a ‘Prologue’ beginning ‘As often as I consydre, these old noble clerkes’; ‘The wordes of Fortune to ye people’ beginning ‘Myne high estate power & auctoryte’; ‘To them that tristith in ffortune’ beginning ‘Thow that arte prowde of honour, shape or kynne’, and ‘To them that seketh ffortune’ beginning ‘Who so deliteth to prove & assay’, in The Boke of the fayre Gentylwoman...Lady Fortune (London, [1556?]). Yale, Vol. 1, pp. 31-43. The texts of this poem are also discussed in Hubertus Schulte Herbrüggen, ‘Sir Thomas Mores Fortuna-Verse’, Lebende Antike Symposion für Rudolf Sühnel (Berlin, 1967), 155-72.
MrT 2
Copy of More's verses on Fortune (in 37 stanzas), headed ‘The words of ffortune to ye people’.
In: A memorandum book and miscellany, in long narrow ledger-format, in neat secretary hands, partly rubricated, 248 (plus eight unnumbered) leaves, imperfect at the end, in contemporary vellum. Entitled ‘A Boke of dyueris tales and balettes and dyuersis Reconynges &c.’ and inscribed ‘Iste liber pertineth Rycardo Hill, servant with M. Wynger, alderman of London’. Compiled largely by Richard Hill (b.c.1490), citizen and grocer of London, free of the Company of Merchant Adventurers. c.1520.
A deleted inscription (p. 178) ‘Iste liber partinet John Stokes’. Notes on farming matters dated 1731 including the name ‘Robert Tombs’.
Edited from this MS in Songs, Carols, and other Miscellaneous Poems, ed. Roman Dyboski, EETS, ES 101 (London, 1907-8), pp. 72-80, and primarily from this MS in Yale, Vol. I, with a facsimile of f. 104r on p. 30.
MrT 2.5
Copy of lines 53-193, comprising ‘The wordes of ffortune to the pepull’ and ‘To them that trusteth yn Fortune’, in a secretary hand.
In: A volume of materials relating to the Woodford family of Burnham, Buckinghamshire, in several hands, 33 pages, in remains of a contemporary vellum wrapper. c.1510-18.
Notes on f. 1r by Thomas Martin (1697-1771), of Palgrave, Suffolk, antiquary and collector. Formerly Guildhall Library, MS 1756.
This MS edited and discussed in A.S.G. Edwards and M.T.W. Payne, ‘A New Manuscript of Thomas More's “Fortune Verses”’, RES, NS 60 (September 2009), 578-87.
London Metropolitan Archives, CLC/267/MS 017561756, ff. 3v-12v (versos only).
The Lamyntacyon off Quene Elyzabeth (‘Ye that put your trust & confydence’)
First published, as A ruful lamentacyon, in Workes (London, 1557). Yale, Vol. 1, pp. 9-13.
MrT 3
Copy in: the MS described under MrT 2. c.1520.
Edited from this MS in Songs, Carols, and other Miscellaneous Poems, ed. Roman Dyboski, EETS, ES 101 (London, 1907-8), pp. 97-9.
MrT 4
Copy in: A folio MS of poems chiefly by Thomas Hoccleve, 91 leaves of vellum.
Lewes ye Loste Lover (‘Ey flatteringe fortune, looke thow neuer so faire’)
First published in Workes (London, 1557), p. 1432. Yale, Vol. 1, p. 45.
These verses also appear in most of the manuscripts of William Roper's Life of More: see MrT 87 and the note on them in Yale, Vol. 1, pp. xcvii-cxix.
MrT 5
Copy in: the MS described under MrT 1. c.1550-7.
Edited from this MS in Yale, Vol. 1, with a facsimile on p. 44.
MrT 5.2
Copy, in a secretary hand.
In: the MS described under MrT 1.5. Mid-16th century.
Facsimile in Yale, Volume 3, Part II, after p. 303.
MrT 5.5
Copy in: A folio volume of state tracts, in secretary hands, 219 leaves, in contemporary vellum with ties. c.1620s-30s.
MrT 5.8
Copy, in a secretary hand.
In: the MS described under MrT 1.8. Early-mid-16th century.
Facsimile in Christie's sale catalogue, p. [222].
A praier of Picus Mirandula vnto god (‘O holy god of dredefull magestee’)
Yale, Volume 1, pp. 120-3.
See MrT 34.
(2) Latin Verse
Epigrammata
255 Epigrammata first published, as Epigrammata Clarissimi disertissimique viri Thomæ Mori Britanni, in Basle, 1518. Yale, Vol. 3, Part II, with English translations.
Epigrammata. 19-23 (‘Si qua dies unquam, si quod fuit Anglia tempus’)
Yale, Vol. 3, Part II, pp. 100-17, with English translations.
MrT 6
Copy of five Latin epigrams (Yale Nos. 19-23), with a prose preface, in a formal roman hand, with rubrication and illumination, on vellum throughout, written for the coronation of Henry VIII on 24 June 1509, the MS evidently presented to the King. 1509.
In: An octavo composite volume comprising three independent MSS in different hands, 138 leaves.
Edited from this MS in Bradner & Lynch (1953), pp. 15-24. Yale, Volume 3, Part I, pp. 100-116. Facsimile of ff. 12v-13r in Henry VIII Man and Monarch, ed. Susan Doran (British Library, 2009), p. 63. Facsimile examples in Yale, Vol. 3, Part II, after p. 107.
MrT 7
Copy of the five epigrams and the prose preface, imperfect.
In: An octavo miscellany of English and Latin verse and prose, in a small secretary hand, 79 leaves (largely blank), disbound. Early 17th century.
Leeds University Library, Brotherton Collection, MS Lt 25, ff. 1r-6r.
—— 56. Alivd (‘Fleres, si scires unum tua tempora mensem’)
Yale, Vol. 3, Part II, pp. 130-1, with English translation.
MrT 8
Copy of the Latin epigram, followed by an English translation beginning ‘Knowest thow a moneth should end thy dayes’, all ascribed at the side to ‘Sr. Tho: Moore’.
In: An octavo miscellany of verse and prose, closely written in possibly several minute predominantly secretary hands, 291 leaves (ff. 212-16 bound out of order after f. 24), in modern calf. c.1640s.
Inscribed (f. 1r) ‘Joseph Hall’ (not the bishop). Later owned by John Payne Collier (1789-1883), literary scholar, editor and forger, who has entered in pseudo-17th-century secretary script copies of various ballads on ff. 39r-41r, 107v-79r, 181r-v, 227r-8v, 243r-6r, as well as adding foliation (1-284) before the more recent foliation (1-291, used below). Quaritch's sale catalogue ‘of English Literature’ (August-November 1884), item 22350, Collier's transcript of the MS made c.1860 being item 22352. Formerly Folger MS 2071.7.
Discussed, with facsimile examples, in Giles E. Dawson, ‘John Payne Collier's Great Forgery’, SB, 24 (1971), 1-26.
Epigrammata. 68. Paraenesis ad virtvtem veram (‘Heu miseris quicquid misero blanditur in orbe’)
Yale, Volume 3, Part II, pp. 138-9, with English translation.
MrT 8.5
Copy in: A MS volume of letters addressed to Erasmus and his friends. Early-mid-16th century.
This MS and its texts by More (on a single page) discussed in Gilbert Tournoy, ‘Un nouveau témoin de quelques poésies de Thomas More’, Moreana, 25 (December 1988), 189-90.
Epigrammata. 125. De Mediocritate e Graeco (‘Ingratum est quicquid nimium est: sic semper amarum est’)
Yale, Volume 3, Part II, pp. 170-1, with English translation.
MrT 8.8
Copy in: the MS described under MrT 8.5. Early-mid-16th century.
—— 141. Epitaphium Abyngdonii cantoris (‘Attrahat huc oculos, aures attraxerat olim’)
Yale, Vol. 3, Part II, pp. 200-1, with English translation.
MrT 9
Copy by Kennett, headed ‘1512 Sir Tho: Mores Epitaph vpon Henry Abyngdon Organist to the King's Chapell / Epitaphium Abyngdonii Cantoris’, with a sidenote ‘Tho. More Epigramm. 4to. 1517’, and subscribed ‘This was the first pure Latine Epitaph made in England’.
In: A quarto volume of biographical memoranda, in a single cursive italic hand, compiled by White Kennett (1660-1728), Bishop of Peterborough, historian, 184 leaves, in modern half-morocco gilt. Late 17th-early 18th century.
Epigrammata. 145. De Mediocritate e Graeco (‘Agros ego haud porrectiores appeto’)
Yale, Volume 3, Part II, pp. 194-5, with English translation.
MrT 9.2
Copy in: the MS described under MrT 8.5. Early-mid-16th century.
Epigrammata. 160. Altervm de Eodem [Abyngdon, the Singer] (‘Hic iacet Henricus, semper pietatis amicus’)
Yale, Volume 3, Part II, pp. 202-3, with English translation.
MrT 9.5
Copy in: A large quarto theological miscellany, in English and Latin, 177 leaves, in modern half-morocco. Volume III of the collections of Dr James Wedderburn (1585-1639), Bishop of Dunblane. c.1634.
MrT 9.8
Copy, with lengthy heading ‘An Epitaph Written by Sr Thomas More vpon yedeath of Henry Abingdon one of ye gentlemen of ye chappel: whch devise ye authour was fayne to put in meeter...the suppliant was exceeding satisfyed as if ye authour had hit ye nail on ye head’, followed by a translation (‘The same though not verbatim Construed...’) beginning ‘Here lyeth old Henry, no friend to mischevos envy’.
In: A quarto verse miscellany, in English and Latin, in several hands, 46 pages (plus blanks), in contemporary calf. c.1665.
Bookplate of Thomas Philip (1781-1859), Earl de Grey, of Wrest Park, Bedfordshire.
—— 235. In pvellam divaricatis tibiis eqvitantem (‘Ergo, puella, uiri quis te negat esse capacem’)
Yale, Vol. 3, Part II, pp. 252-3, with English translation.
MrT 10
Copy, headed ‘Thomæ Mori equitis aurati epigramma in mulierem diuaricatis pedibus equitante’.
In: A quarto commonplace book, with entries largely under headings, in Latin and English, 163 leaves (including many blanks), in half-morocco. Inscribed (f. 1r) ‘Johnes Mauritius Ano...1604’: i.e. John Morris (d.1658), antiquary and book collector, probable compiler. 1604-5.
—— 258. Epitaphivm in sepvlchro Iohannae olim vxoris Mori destinantis idem sepvlchrum et sibi et Aliciae posteriori vxori (‘Chara Thomae iacet hic Iohanna uxorcula Mori’)
A Latin prose epitaph and Latin epigram made by More for the tomb of his two wives and himself at Chelsea. First published in Desiderius Erasmus, De praeparatione ad mortem (Basle, 1534). Nicholas Harpsfield, Life and Death of Sir Thomas More, ed. Elsie V. Hitchcock, EETS 186 (London, 1932), pp. 278-81. Opus epistolarum Des. Erasmi Roterodami, ed. P.S. Allen, X, (Oxford, 1941), pp. 260-1. Yale. Vol. 3, Part II, pp. 270-1, with English translation.
MrT 11
Copy of the epitaph and epigram.
In: A MS containing works of Thomas More. End 16th-early 17th century.
This MS discussed in Clarence H. Miller, ‘A Vatican Manuscript containing Three Brief Works by St. Thomas More’, Moreana, No. 26 (1970), 41-4, with a facsimile of the epistola on f. 51r on p. 42.
Epigrammata. 262. De fele et mvre (‘Muscipula exemptum feli dum porrigo murem’)
Yale, Volume III, Part 2, pp. 274-5, with English translation.
Epigrammata. 276. Tabula loqvitur (‘Quanti olim fuerant Pollus et Castor amici’)
An epigram on paintings, with a lengthy introduction beginning ‘Verus in tabulam duplicem...’. First published in Desiderius Erasmus, Auctarium selectarum aliquot epistolarum (Basle, 1518). Bradner & Lynch, pp. 120-1. Yale, Vol. 3, Part II, pp. 298-300, with English translation.
MrT 12.4
Copy of More's verses on pictures of Erasmus and Peter Gilles (‘Tabella loquitur’, beginning ‘Quanti olim fuerant Pollux et Castor amici’, and ‘Ipse loqvor Morvs’, beginning ‘Tu quos aspicis, agnitos opinor’), in a copy of More's letter to Gilles, 7 October [1517].
In: A letterbook compiled for Erasmus by his pupils. Early 16th century.
The handwriting of this MS is designated ‘Hand B’ in Opus epistolarum Des. Erasmi Roterdami, ed. P.S. Allen, I (Oxford, 1906), p. 605. Facsimile of ff. 207r-8r in Yale, Vol. 3, Part II, after p. 299. Formerly cited in IELM, I.ii (1980) as MrT 14.
Athanaeum Library, Deventer, Holland, I, 91 (101 G 6), f. 207v.
Epigrammata. 278. Tetrastichon ab ipso conscriptum triennio antequam mortem oppeteret (‘Moraris, si sit spes hic tibi longa morandi’)
More's verses punning on his own name. First published in Doctissima D. Thomæ Mori...Epistola (Louvain, 1568). Yale, Vol. 3, Part II, pp. 302-3, with English translation.
MrT 12.6
Copy, in a copy of Talbot's treatise Aurem ex stercore.
In: A quarto commonplace book of verse and miscellaneous material, compiled by Robert Talbot (1505/6-58), antiquary, 204 leaves. Mid-16th century.
MrT 12.8
Copy in: A folio miscellany of almost entirely Latin verse, entitled ‘A Boke of Verses Named Auru è Stercore’, in several court and italic hands, one predominating, written or compiled by Robert Talbot (1505/6-58), antiquary, 231 leaves, in 19th-century marbled boards. Mid-late 16th century.
Inscribed ‘This is ffrances [?]Aungers booke of the gift of Thomas Buttes of Great Bydingh...the iv daye of July Ao dni .1581: ...’ Bookplate of ‘Wm Constable’.
MrT 12.9
Copy, in an italic hand.
In: the MS described under MrT 1.5. Mid-16th century.
Facsimile in Yale, Volume 3, Part II, after p. 303.
MrT 13
The epigram quoted in one of two brief anecdotes about More.
In: A small pocket book of jokes and anecdotes, in verse and prose, in a single hand, written from both ends, ii + 92 leaves (plus eleven blanks), in contemporary calf. c.1667-70.
Containing a note by Bertram Dobell. Formerly MSS 2. 23.
MrT 13.1
Copy, in an italic hand, headed ‘Allusio ad Nomen Mori’.
In: the MS described under MrT 1.8. Early-mid-16th century.
Epigrammata. 278 [addendum]. Aliud eiusdem Distichon eodem conscriptum tempore (‘Qui memor es Mori, longæ tibi tempora vitæ’)
More's epitaph for his own tomb, an addendum to Epigrammata. 278. Yale, Volume III, Part 2, pp. 302-3, with English translation.
MrT 13.4
Copy, in an italic hand.
In: the MS described under MrT 1.5. Mid-16th century.
Facsimile in Yale, Volume 3, Part II, after p. 303.
MrT 13.6
Copy, in an italic hand, headed ‘T. Mori’.
In: the MS described under MrT 1.8. Early-mid-16th century.
Epigrammata. 279. Thomæ Mori Tetrasthicon (‘Seu numeris astricta probas, seu libera uerba’)
Yale, Volume 3, Part II. pp. 302-3, with English translation.
MrT 13.8
Copy, in a neat italic hand, on a flyleaf.
In: A MS volume containing works by the humanist Jerome Busleyden (c.1470-1517). Early-mid-16th century.
Edited from this MS in Yale, Volume 3, Part II, p. 68, with a facsimile of the MS after p. 263.
Epigrammata. 280 (‘Misisti mihi quae legenda legi’)
Yale, Volume III, pp. 304-5, with English translation.
MrT 13.9
Copy, in an italic hand.
In: the MS described under MrT 1.5. Mid-16th century.
Facsimile in Yale, Volume 3, Part II, after p. 303.
Versus in tabulam duplicem
See MrT 12.4.
Prose (including prayers)
The Apology
First published in London, 1533. Yale, Vol. 9, ed. J.B. Trapp (1979).
MrT 14
Copy, in an italic hand. Late 16th century.
In: A folio composite volume of miscellaneous MSS of verse and prose, in Latin, Greek and English, in various hands, 188 leaves, bound with other MSS in vellum boards.
Among collections of Anthony Wood (1632-95), Oxford antiquary.
Assertio quod omne perjurium sit mortale peccatum
A Latin meditation on the meaning of perjury, written while in the Tower (April 1534-July 1535), and relating to A Dialogue concerning Heresies, Book III, Chapter 7. Yale, Vol. 6, Part II, pp. 764-7, ed. R.S. Sylvester, with an English translation.
MrT 15
Copy in: the MS described under MrT 1. c.1550-7.
Edited from this MS in Yale, Vol. 6, Part II, with a facsimile of f. 437v facing p. 768.
MrT 16
Copy in: A folio volume of documents relating principally to John Fisher (c.1469-1535), Bishop of Rochester, Catholic saint, 313 leaves, imperfect. Mid-16th century.
MrT 17.5
Copy, in Latin and English.
In: A duodecimo miscellany of devotional tracts, in Latin and English, in a non-professional cursive hand, 279 leaves of vellum (including numerous blanks), in modern binding. Mid-16th century.
This MS and its Thomas More contents discussed in Daniel Kinney, ‘Rewriting Thomas More: A Devotional Anthology’, Manuscripta, 33 (1989), 29-35.
MrT 17.8
Copy in: A folio volume comprising a treatise by Sir Thomas More, 342 leaves, in contemporary black calf, bearing the Royal Tudor Arms and Tudor Crown, traces of silk ties. Mid-16th century.
The Confutation of Tyndale's Answer
First published in 2 vols, London, 1532-3. Yale, Vol. 8, Parts I-III (1973).
MrT 18
Copy of the ‘preface to the crysten reader’.
In: A small quarto volume of works by Thomas More, apparently transcribed from Workes (1557), iii + 106 leaves, in marbled boards. Mid-16th century.
This MS recorded in Yale, Part III, p. 1420.
MrT 18.5
Copy of ‘The Preface to the Chrysten reader’.
In: Copy of two works, transcribed from More's printed Works (1557), pp. 335D-357F, on 27 folio leaves. Late 16th century.
De tristitia Christi
First published, as Expositio passionis Domini, in Thomae Mori...omnia...latina opera (Louvain, 1565). Mary Basset's English translation, An exposicion of a parte of the passion of our saviour Iesus Christe, published in Workes (London, 1557), pp. 1350-1404. Yale, Vol. 14, Parts I & II.
*MrT 19
Autograph draft, with extensive revisions, entitled ‘De tristitia tedio pauore et oratione Christi ante captionem eius’, together with rough notes and drafts for the same work.
In: Autograph volume of writings by Sir Thomas More while imprisoned in the Tower (17 April 1534 to 6 July 1535, but before 12 June 1535 when he was denied writing materials), left unfinished, 161 leaves. 1534-5.
MrT 20
Copy in: the MS described under MrT 1. c.1550-7.
This MS collated in Yale. Facsimile of f. 327v in Yale, Vol. 13, facing p. xxiv.
MrT 21
Copy in: A folio volume of More's works, in an accomplished hand, in varying secretary and italic scripts, with ornamental capitals, probably produced for a man of wealth or high position, i + 234 leaves. c.1553-8.
Acquired by the Bodleian between 1605 and 1611.
This MS collated in Yale.
Devout Instructions, Meditations and Prayers
Devout Instructions &c. first published in Workes (London, 1557), pp. 1405-18. Yale, Vol. 13, with English translation.
MrT 22
Copy of More's English ‘godly instruccion’, here beginning ‘Beyre no malice nor evill Will to any man…’.
In: A folio theological miscellany, on paper and parchment, with some rubrication, iii + 159 leaves, in calf over oak boards, with remains of clasps. Compiled by Robert Parkyn (d.1570), curate of Adwick-le-Street, Yorkshire. c.1551.
Afterwards owned by the Cooke family, baronets. Crouch of Doncaster, February 1931 (Cooke-Yarborough sale), lot 769.
See A.G. Dickens, ‘Robert Parkyn's Narrative of the Reformation’, English Historical Review 62 (1947), 58-83.
Workes (1557), p. 1405. Yale, Vol. 13, pp. 207-8. This MS collated in Yale.
MrT 22.8
Copy, headed ‘A prayer’ and beginning ‘Helpe me dere father’. Ascribed to ‘sir Thomas Moore’, but it is actually by John Fisher, two of whose autograph drafts of the prayer are in the National Archives, Kew.
In: the MS described under MrT 22. c.1551.
See A.G. Dickens, ‘A New Prayer of Sir Thomas More’, The Church Quarterly Review, 124 (1937), 224-37 and David Rogers, ‘St. John Fisher: An Unpublished Prayer to God the Father’, The Month, NS 7 (1952), 106-11.
*MrT 23
Autograph devotional notes in Latin out of which was apparently assembled the Latin ‘godly instruccion’ (beginning ‘Vita per offensam dei seruata erit...’), on the last gathering of the MS.
In: the MS described under MrT 19. 1534-5.
Workes (1557), pp. 1405-7. Edited from this MS in Yale, Vol. 13, pp. 209-11. Facsimiles of ff. 158r, 159v, in Thomas More's Prayer Book (Yale, 1969), pp. xxx, xxxii; of ff. 156v-61v in Yale, Vol. 14, Part I, and see Part II, 744-5.
MrT 24
Copy of the Latin godly instruccion (beginning ‘Vita per offensam dei seruata erit...’).
In: the MS described under MrT 11. End 16th-early 17th century.
This MS collated in Yale, Vol. 13.
*MrT 25
Autograph marginalia in More's Prayer Book denoting his arrangement of verses of the Psalms to form what was eventually his ‘deuoute prayer, collected oute of the psalmes of Dauid’ (beginning ‘Domine quid multiplicati sunt qui tribulant me?’), probably written while he was a prisoner in the Tower of London.
In: More's prayer book. 1534-35.
Workes (1557), pp. 1408-16; Yale, Vol. 13, pp. 214-25. The annotated pages reproduced in Thomas More's Prayer Book (Yale, 1969), and see pp. xxxi-xxxiv; discussed in Yale, Vol. 13, p. clviii et seq.
*MrT 26
Autograph of More's English ‘godly meditacion’ (beginning ‘Gyve me thy grace good lord...’) inscribed in his Prayer Book probably while he was a prisoner in the Tower of London.
In: the MS described under MrT 25. 1534-35.
Workes (1557), p. 1416-17. Edited from this MS in Yale, Volume 13, pp. 226-7. This MS reproduced, with a transcript, in Thomas More's Prayer Book (Yale, 1969), pp. 3-21, 185-7. Also discussed, with facsimile examples, in G. Marc'hadour, ‘A Godly Meditation’, Moreana, No. 5 (1965), 53-72.
MrT 27
Copy of More's English ‘godly meditacion’, here beginning ‘Gyue me the gre good lorde…’.
In: the MS described under MrT 22. c.1551.
Yale, Volume 13, pp. 226-7. This MS collated in Yale.
MrT 28
Copy of More's English ‘deuoute prayer’, here beginning ‘O Holy trinite the father the sone & the holy goste…’.
In: the MS described under MrT 22. c.1551.
Workes (1557), pp. 1417-18. Yale, Vol. 13, pp. 228-31. This MS collated in Yale.
MrT 28.5
Copy of More's English ‘devout prayer’ after he was condemned to death in July 1535, in a hand of varying anglicana, secretary and italic scripts, headed ‘Oratio devotissima Thomae More quondam Cancellarii Anglie’, with two other devotional texts, written on two vellum membranes sewn together in the form of a continuous prayer scroll (c. 2 ft 2 inches x 4 ft 3/4 inches), with a drawing of the risen Christ. Mid-16th century.
Formerly part of an album assembled c.1820 by the Rev. John Lodge (1793-1850), Cambridge University Librarian. Afterwards owned by the Palgrave family and by John Lewis, book collector.
Yale, 13, pp. 228-31. This MS discussed and edited in Derrick G. Pitard, ‘An Undescribed Manuscript of St. Thomas More's “A Devoute Prayer” and its Relation to Mid-Sixteenth Century Devotional Practice’, in Neglected English Literature: Recusant Writings of the 16th-17th Centuries, ed. Dorothy L. Latz (Salzburg, 1997), 107-30.
A Dialogue concerning Heresies
First published in London, 1529. Yale, Vol. 6, Parts I & II.
See Assertio quod omne perjurium sit mortale peccatum (MrT 5-17.8).
A Dialogue of Comfort
First published in London, 1553. Yale, Vol. 12.
MrT 29
Copy, with alterations and additions in a second hand, and marginal annotations in later hands (possibly including that of the editor William Rastell), on 207 folio leaves. c.1540-50.
Probably once owned by Sir Geoffrey Pole (d.1558). Inscribed ‘ex dono Edmundi Orson’.
Edited from this MS, with several facsimile examples, in Yale, Vol. 12. Facsimile example also in J.B. Trapp and Hubertus Schulte Herbrüggen, ‘The King's Good Servant’: Sir Thomas More 1477/8-1535 (National Portrait Gallery, (London, 1977), p. 115.
MrT 29.5
Copy, 333 leaves. Mid-late 16th century.
Probably from the library of Diego Sarmiento de Acuña (1567-1626), Count Gondomar, Spanish Ambassador to England.
Briefly discussed in Arantxa Domingo Malvadi, ‘Un Nouveau Manuscrit de More en Espagne’, Moreana, 33 (December 1996), 57-60.
MrT 29.8
A folio copy in two secretary hands, with corrections in a third hand. Mid-16th century.
This MS discussed in Ralph Hanna III, ‘Two New Texts of More's Dialogue of Comfort’, Moreana, 19 (1982), 5-11.
MrT 30
Copy in: the MS described under MrT 1. c.1550-7.
This MS collated in Yale, with a facsimile of f. 180v in Plate VIII after p. 320.
MrT 30.1
A recension and rearrangement of the work.
In: the MS described under MrT 17.5. Mid-16th century.
MrT 30.2
Extracts, with the compiler's comments and introduction, ‘A Pleasant conceited Fiction allegorically written by Sr. Thomas More, against Scrupulosity, wherein some Catholiques (yea and good ones too) are faulty: For preventing which inconvenience, this short Tract was composed, and here inserted, as followeth. The Tale of Mother Maude...’.
In: A folio composite volume of verse and prose, much of it Catholic, in several hands, one semi-calligraphic secretary hand predominating, with a formal title-page The Garden of Pleasure Comprehending the Choice Flowers of all my Readeinge though otherwise distinguished as hereafter appeareth Anno Dni 1636, ii + 437 leaves, in contemporary blind-stamped calf. Compiled in his later years by George Barlow (b.c.1558) of Slebech, dedicated (f. 2v) ‘To his Grandchild G: B:’, and (f. 416r) showing his original intention to publish the volume. 1636-40.
Later inscriptions including ‘John Barlow his book. Anno Domini 1732’ and (f. 313r) a note by ‘W. H. 1761’. Bookplate with monogram ‘RFG’.
Discussed in J. M. Cleary, The Catholic Recusancy of the Barlow Family of Slebech (Cardiff, 1956).
MrT 30.3
A formal copy, in a professional secretary hand, with elaborately ornamented initials, entitled ‘A Dialogue (between Anthony and Vincent) of Comforte agaynst Trybulation Incerti Avctoris (Eivsdem), de Perivrio’.
In: the MS described under MrT 17.8. Mid-16th century.
MrT 30.5
Copy, in a calligraphic secretary hand, with decorative features, in contemporay dark brown calf (rebound), with stamped Tudor rose and other patriotic emblems. Possibly a presentation MS to someone connected with the Royal Court. Mid-16th century.
This MS discussed in Ralph Hanna III, ‘Two New Texts of More's Dialogue of Comfort’, Moreana, 19 (1982), 5-11.
MrT 30.8
Copy. Copy, in a professional anglicana and secretary hand, some majuscules engrossed, with corrections and interlinear additions possibly in another hand, 118 folio leaves, in modern limp vellum with green ties. Mid-16th century.
Once owned bt Sir Geoffrey Pole (d.1558). Later owned by N.H. Tattersfield. Sotheby's, 10 July 1986, lot 9, with a facsimile example in the sale catalogue.
Facsimile in the British Library, RP 3529.
Expositio passionis
See MrT 19-21.
Historia Richardi Tertii
An unfinished work. The English version first published in The chronicle of Ihon Hardyng (London, 1543). The Latin version first published in Thomae Mori...omnia...latina opera (Louvain, 1565). Three versions in Yale, Vol. 2, pp. 1-93, 94-149, and Vol. 15, pp. 313-485, with English translations.
MrT 31
Copy of the early Latin version, in a single secretary hand, with corrections, incomplete, on 39 folio leaves, in early 17th-century leather. c.1500s-50.
Edited from this MS in Yale, Vol. 2, pp. 94-149, with a facsimile of f. 25v as the frontispiece.
MrT 31.5
Copy of the fullest version in Latin, in an accomplished hand. Early-mid-16th century.
In: A composite volume of tracts and Anglo-French treaties up to 1547.
Edited principally from this MS in Yale, Vol. 15, with a facsimile of f. 230v facing p. cxxxvi. Discussed, in relation to other texts of the work, by Alison Hanham in ‘The Texts of Thomas More's Richard III’, Renaissance Studies, 21/1 (February 2007), 62-84, and ‘Honing a History: Thomas More's Revisions of his Richard III’, RES, NS 59 (2008), 197-218.
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, fonds français n° 4996, ff. 208r-52r.
MrT 32
Copy of the Latin version, in an italic hand, transcribed from More's Latina opera (Louvain, 1565). c.1575-1600.
In: A quarto volume of state letters and speeches, 137 leaves.
This MS collated in Yale.
MrT 33
Copy of the opening pages of the Latin version, incomplete. c.1550-75.
In: A folio volume of tracts and chronicles, in various hands.
This MS collated in Yale.
MrT 33.5
Extracts from the English version.
In: A small unbound octavo booklet of verse, in English and Latin, in a secretary hand, written from both ends, 16 pages, formerly loosely inserted in Worcester College, Oxford, MS 58. Early-mid-17th century.
MrT 33.8
Copy, in a professional hand, headed ‘The History of King Richard the Third, (Unfinished.) Written by Master Thomas More, then one of the Under Sheriffs of London: About the year of our Lord 1515’, c.100 pages, in red morocco gilt stamped with the Sheffield arms. 1674-94.
Owned by John Sheffield (1647-1721), third Earl of Mulgrave, first Marquess of Normanby, and first Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, politician and author. Bonhams, 23 March 2010, lot 130.
Facsimile of the first page in Bonhams' sale catalogue, p. 91.
The History of King Richard III
See Historia Richardi Tertii, MrT 31-33.8.
Instructions and Prayers
See MrT 22-28.5.
The Life of John Picus, Earl of Mirandula
First published in London, [1510?]. Yale, Volume 1, pp. 51-123.
MrT 34
Copy of More's English verse translation of a prayer by Pico della Mirandola, beginning ‘O holly gode of dreydfull maieste’.
In: the MS described under MrT 22. c.1551.
Edited from this MS in A.S.G. Edwards, ‘Robert Parkyn's Transcript of More's “Prayer of Picus Mirandula vnto God”’, Moreana, 27 (May 1990), 133-8.
MrT 34.5
Copy of a hymn by Picus Mirandula, beginning ‘Almighty God whom majesty alone...’.
In: A folio miscellany of largely poems on affairs of state, in two professional hands, with others on six tipped-in leaves at the end, 205 leaves (plus blanks), in black morocco gilt. c.1730.
MrT 34.9
Extracts, in an italic hand, headed ‘The life of John Picus Erle of Mirandula out of Sr Tho: Moore’. Early 17th century.
In: A quarto composite volume of miscellaneous works and memoranda, in several hands, 32 leaves, in modern quarter-morocco gilt.
The Supplication of Souls
First published in London, 1529. Yale, Vol. 7, pp. 109-228.
All exempla of the two editions of 1529 bear a MS correction, evidently made in the printer William Rastell's workshop, on sig h2v: see Ralph Keen, A Correction by Hand in More's Supplication, 1529, Moreana, Vol. 20 (February 1983), 100.
MrT 35
Exemplum of the second edition (London, 1529). With MS annotations and emendations apparently made by William Rastell, used as the printer's copy of this work in Rastell's edition of More's Workes (1557). c.1557.
Armorial bookplate of Henry Cunliffe.
This item discussed in Yale, Vol. 12, p. xlviii, with facsimile examples after p. 320. See J.K. Moore, Primary Materials (1992), p. 32.
MrT 36
Copy of the second book.
In: the MS described under MrT 18. Mid-16th century.
This MS recorded in Yale, Part III, p. 1420.
MrT 36.5
Copy in: the MS described under MrT 18.5. Late 16th century.
MrT 36.8
Extracts. Early-mid-17th century.
In: A folio composite volume of state letters, papers and proceedings in Parliament, in various hands, 570 leaves, in red morocco gilt.
Translations of Lucian
More's translations of Lucian first published in Paris, 1506. Yale, Vol. 3, Part I.
MrT 37
Erasmus's autograph annotations, which may have been partly suggested to him by More, in a printed exemplum of Luciani Erasmo interprete dialogi &c. (quarto, Paris, 1514). Used as the copy-text for Luciani cynicus &c. (Basle, 1517). c.1517.
Yale, Vol. 3, Part I (1974), with facsimiles of these annotations facing pp. 1x, 1xii.
A Treatise to Receive the Blessed Body
First published in Workes (London, 1557), pp. 1264-9. Yale, Vol. 13, pp. 189-204.
MrT 39
Copy in: A theological miscellany, dated 19-20 July 1555. Compiled by Robert Parkyn (d.1569), curate of Adwick-le-Street, Yorkshire. 1555.
This MS collated in Yale.
MrT 41
Copy, in an accomplished professional secretary hand. Mid-16th century.
In: A quarto volume of theological tracts and papers, 56 leaves of vellum and paper, in quarter-vellum over marbled boards. Mid-16th century.
This MS collated in Yale.
MrT 42
Copy in: Composite volume of theological works. 1575.
This MS collated in Yale.
MrT 43
Copy, in a secretary hand, incomplete. c.1576.
In: A small quarto volume of Catholic devotional works, 65 leaves, in a recycled vellum wrapper from a late-13th-century choirbook.
Owned in 1920 by John Burns. Sold at Sotheby's, 1943/4. Then at Manhattan College, New York. Christie's, 24 June 1992, lot 77, to the Rev. Smith.
This MS collated in Yale. A facsimile of the first page in Christie's sale catalogue, p. 49.
A Treatise upon the Passion
First published in Workes (London, 1557), pp. 1270-1349. Yale, Vol. 13, pp. 1-177.
MrT 44
Copy, lacking the brief introduction and imperfect at the end.
In: the MS described under MrT 1. c.1550-7.
This MS collated in Yale, with a facsimile of f. 314v facing p. 160.
MrT 45
Copy, untitled.
In: the MS described under MrT 21. c.1553-8.
This MS collated in Yale, with facsimiles of ff. 37r and 149r facing p. 51 and p. xxvii. Facsimile examples also in M. P. Parkes, English Cursive Book Hands 1250-1500 (Oxford, 1969), facing p. 20.
Utopia
The Latin version first published in Louvain, 1516. Ralph Robynson's English translation published in 1551. Yale, Vol. 4.
MrT 45.2
A MS translation of Utopia into Castilian.
MrT 45.3
Extracts from Robynson's English translation.
In: The greater part of a quarto commonplace book of extracts, compiled by Edward Pudsey (1573-1613), iii + 104 leaves, in 19th-century green morocco gilt. Four leaves of this commonplace book are in the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, ER 82/1/21. c.1604-9.
Owned in 1615-16 by one ‘Bassett’ and in the 1880s by Richard Savage. At the Neligan sale, 2 August 1888, lot 1098. Bought by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1820-89), and his sale 4 July 1889, lot 1257.
All the Shakespearian texts except Othello were edited from this MS in Richard Savage's Shakespearean Extracts (1887). The MS also edited in Juliet Mary Gowan, An Edition of Edward Pudsey's Commonplace Book (c.1600-1615) (unpublished M. Phil., University of London, 1967). It was then found that the miscellany lacked several of its original leaves, including extracts from six plays by Shakespeare. These leaves were rediscovered in 1977 among Savage's papers at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, ER 82/1/21, and the Othello extracts identified by Gowan. The MS also discussed in J. Rees, ‘Shakespeare and “Edward Pudsey's Booke”, 1600’, N&Q, 237 (September 1992), 330-1, and in Fred Schurink, ‘Manuscript Commonplace Books, Literature, and Reading in Early Modern England’, HLQ, 73/3 (2010), 453-69 (pp. 465-9), with a facsimile of f. 31r on p. 467.
Discussed in Elizabeth McCutcheon, ‘More's Utopia as Commonplaced in Edward Pudsey's “Booke” (Circa 1600)’, Moreana, 27 (September 1990), 33-40.
MrT 45.4
Extracts, in a cursive secretary hand.
In: A folio volume of law readings, in several secretary hands, in modern quarter-morocco. Early-mid-17th century.
Inscribed (f. 1r) ‘Sum liber Edwardi Shurlande teste [?]Jo: Michell’.
MrT 45.5
Extract(s).
In: An octavo notebook of extracts, in a single small mixed hand, written from both ends, 165 leaves, in contemporary calf. Compiled by one William Bright, entitled ‘ffragmenta hic omnigena è varijs excerpta authoribus ad priuatum existunt vsum WB ex anno 1644’. c.1644-76.
Inscribed also inside the lower cover ‘Will: Bright Novemb 12th pretiu 8d 1645’.
MrT 45.7
Extract, headed ‘A Pleasant Conceipt written by Sr Thomas More in his Vtopia: Cap: 2. fol: 100’, beginning ‘The Vtopians in choosing Wives and Husbands...’.
In: the MS described under MrT 30.2. 1636-40.
MrT 45.8
A recension and extension of the work.
In: the MS described under MrT 17.5. Mid-16th century.
Books and Manuscript Volumes Owned or Inscribed by More
Prayer Book
*MrT 46
More's prayer book, comprising two incomplete printed books (a Latin Book of Hours, 1530, and a liturgical Latin Psalter, 1522), bound together and containing his autograph annotations, including the English prayer known as ‘A Godly Meditation’; used and probably annotated by More while he was a prisoner in the Tower of London (17 April 1534 - 6 July 1535, but before 12 June 1535 when he was denied writing materials).
In: the MS described under MrT 25. 1534-35.
Published in facsimile as Thomas More's Prayer Book, ed. Louis L. Martz and Richard S. Sylvester (New Haven & London, 1969). Facsimile examples also in The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library: A Guide to its Collections (New Haven, 1974), Plate XI; in J.B. Trapp and Hubertus Schulte Herbrüggen, ‘The King's Good Servant’: Sir Thomas More 1477/8-1535 (National Portrait Gallery, London, 1977), p. 117; and in A Thomas More Source Book, ed. Gerard B. Wegemer and Stephen W. Smith (Washington, DC, 2004), pp. 172-3, 269.
MrT 47
A prayer book used by the More family, comprising a Book of Hours (c.1490), with entries recording family events between 1531 and 1561 chiefly in the hand of More's son, John (c.1510-57), the entry for 1531 possibly in Sir Thomas's hand.
This item discussed in H. Schulte Herbrüggen, ‘A Prayer-Book of Sir Thomas More’, TLS (15 January 1970), p. 64.
Æneæ Sylvii Commentariorum de Concilio Basileæ celebrato Libri duo (Cologne, 1521)
*MrT 48
Printed exemplum, allegedly ‘having the Autograph of Sir Thomas More, and being in Henry VIIIth's binding’. c.1521.
Later owned by the Rev. William Parr Greswell (1765-1854), bibliographer. Sotheby's, 28 February-5 March 1855 (Greswell sale), lot 286.
This volume recorded in Mark English, ‘Lost Autographs of John Skelton, David Lyndsay, and Thomas More’, N&Q, 248 (December 2003), 385.
Calvin, Jean. A Faythful and moste godly treatyse concernynge the most sacred sacrament of the blessed body and bloude of our sauiour Christ...translated into Englishe...by Myles Couerdale (London, [1549?])
*MrT 49
A printed exemplum inscribed on the title-page ‘Tho. More me possedit pretiu...’
Hodgson's, 16 November 1904, to Pearson.
This volume recorded in Mark English, ‘Lost Autographs of John Skelton, David Lyndsay, and Thomas More’, N&Q, 248 (December 2003), 385.
Novis orbis regionum ac insularum veteribus incognitarum (Paris, 1532)
*MrT 50
A printed exemplum, inscribed in the hand of the book's editor Simon Grynaeus (1493-1541) ‘Thomas More lib. ex dono authoris’, and inscribed by More himself ‘Tho More, Eq.’ c.1532.
Also inscribed by Gennaro Cejannelli and Bartolomeo Diana, and once in the monastery of San Domenico, Bologna.
Theophilacti Archiepiscopi Bulgaria (1527)
*MrT 51
A printed exemplum allegedly belonging to Sir Thomas More with ‘numerous notes in his hand’. c.1527.
Recorded by William Carew Hazlitt (1834-1913), bibliographer and writer, in his annotated exemplum of his A Roll of Honour (1908), p. 161, in the British Library (Cup.410.g.343).
Letters
Certaine Letters
MrT 52
Copy of ‘certaine letters’ written by More ‘while he was prysoner in the Towre of London’ in 1534, including one to his daughter Margaret.
In: the MS described under MrT 18. Mid-16th century.
Letter to a Monk
Yale, Vol. 15, pp. 197-311, in Latin, with an English translation.
MrT 53
Copy in: A duodecimo volume of state and ecclesiastical letters and papers, in a single hand, 222 pages, in later black morocco gilt. In the hand of William Sancroft (1617-93), Archbishop of Canterbury, the first page (f. [ir] inscribed ‘Z / Sylloge Epistolarum quarundam insignium, aliorumque aliquot Monumentorum, facta manu RRP. Wilhelmi Sancroft. Archiepi Cantuar. Accesserunt Orationes eiusdem nonnulla in Academiâ Cantabrig. habitæ’. Mid-late 17th century.
Among collections of Henry Wharton (1664-94), Sancroft's chaplain (in 1688-9).
Letter to Martin Dorp
First published in Thomæ Mori Lucubrationes (Basle, 1563). Yale, Vol. 15, pp. 2-127, in Latin, with an English translation.
MrT 54
Copy in: A MS volume of state letters and papers. c.1518.
Formerly owned by the early 16th-century Alsatian humanist Beatus Rhenanus.
Cited in Yale, Vol. 15.
Facsimile in Yale, Vol. 15, facing p. cxx.
Bibliothèque Municipale de Sélestat, M345 (K 1103), ff. 6r-30r.
MrT 55
Copy, in an accomplished italic hand. Early 16th century.
In: A MS volume.
Formerly owned by Charles-Maurice Le Tellier (1642-1710), Archbishop of Rheims.
Facsimile in Yale, Vol. 15, facing p. cxxi.
MrT 56
Copy, in an italic hand. Late 16th century.
In: MS volume.
Cited in Yale, Vol. 15, p. cxxiii.
Letter to the University of Oxford
First published, as Epistola Thomæ Mori ad Academiam Oxoniensem, ed. Richard James (Oxford, 1633). Yale, Vol. 15, pp. 129-49, in Latin with an English translation.
MrT 57
Copy in: A folio composite volume of historical and miscellaneous papers, in various hands, 324 leaves, in 18th-century quarter-vellum marbled boards.
A deleted inscription inside the front cover, ‘This book I give to the Bodleyan Library after my decease...Aug. 3, 1710’, written by the volume's compiler Thomas Hearne (1678-1735), Oxford antiquary.
Facsimile in Yale, Vol. 15, facing p. cxxiv.
MrT 58
Copy in: A folio miscellany, in Latin and English, xii + 372 leaves, in 19th-century purple calf gilt.
Inscribed ‘Sum liber Roberti Dowi ex Collegio omnium Animarum’ [All Souls College, Oxford] and later owned by Peter Thompson of Bermondsey, Surrey. Acquired from Dr G. Wellesley, 15 February 1862.
Facsimile in Yale, Vol. 15, facing p. cxxv.
Miscellaneous Extracts from Works by More
Extracts
MrT 59
An extensive series of extracts from most of More's writings, probably taken by John Lewis from the printed Workes (London, 1557), f. 229 onwards in different hands.
In: A folio composite volume of tracts and miscellaneous collections, in various hands, 383 leaves, in contemporary reversed calf.
Owned in 1730, and largely compiled as Vol III of his collections, by the Rev. John Lewis (1675-1747), of Margate. Owned in 1749 by Thomas Lewis. Acquired from Peter Thompson.
MrT 60
Miscellaneous comments on faith and free will, including various extracts from works by More.
In: the MS described under MrT 17.5. Mid-16th century.
Cambridge University Library, MS Dd. 12. 41, ff. 165r-210v passim.
MrT 61
A compilation of extracts and comments relating to the seven sacraments, including various extracts from works by More, notably from A Dialogue of Comfort, A Treatise upon the Passion, A Dialogue concerning Heresies, and The Confutation of Tyndale's Answer.
In: the MS described under MrT 17.5. Mid-16th century.
Lives of Sir Thomas More
Cresacre More's Life of Sir Thomas More
First published c.1626.
MrT 62
Extract, headed ‘Sr Thomas Moors Advice to Mr Crumwell’.
In: An octavo miscellany, chiefly relating to state matters, written from both ends, 102 leaves (plus blanks), in half-calf. Late 17th century.
Once owned by John and William Ayshcombe. A receipt relating to ‘Edmun Savage’, 5 October 1630, on f. 103r.
MrT 63
Copy, in a single secretary hand, untitled, 151 quarto leaves, in modern half brown morocco. Early 17th century.
MrT 64
Copy, in a professional hand, untitled, 151 folio leaves. c.1620s-30s.
MrT 66
Copy, in a secretary hand, unascribed.
In: A folio composite volume of tracts and papers, in various hands, 486 leaves, in red morocco gilt.
MrT 67
Copy, in a single hand, 200 folio pages, in contemporary calf gilt. c.1620.
Bookplates of Samuel long and of ‘Alexander Moffatt 23 Abercromby Place Edinburgh’. Later owned by the Rt. Hon. John Elliott Burns (1858-1943), labour leader and politician. Sotheby's, 14 March 1944 (Burns sale, second portion), lot 234, to Maggs.
University of San Francisco, Gleeson Library, DA334.M8.M83 1620.
MrT 68
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, untitled, 159 quarto leaves (plus 23 blanks), in contemporary calf. Early 17th century.
Bookplate of Sir John Percivale, Bt, of Burton, Co. Cork, Ireland, dated 1702. Later in the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), book and manuscript collector: Phillipps MS 13141.
MrT 69
Copy of the last three chapters.
In: A quarto volume comprising two works, 119 leaves. Early-mid-17th century.
Formerly MS Vault Shelves/Cavendish.
John Hawkins's Life of Sir Thomas More
A life of More, based closely on William Roper's Life, by John Hawkins (c.1587-c.1641), grammarian, translator and physician. Unpublished.
MrT 70
Copy, in a secretary hand, entitled ‘The life, arraignment, and death of the famous and learned Sir Thomas More together with his vision’, including a dedication to Captain Marmaduke Rawdon [i.e. Sir Marmaduke Rawdon (1583-1646), merchant, shipowner, and captain-general of the Honourable Artillery Company] subscribed ‘John Hawkins’ and seven sonnets modelled on Spenser's Visions entitled ‘Sir Thomas More his Vision’. c.1630s.
Inscribed ‘D. Alexander Seton a Pitmoddon Eques Baronettus...in Bibliotheca sua, quae Edinburgi est, reponendum donavit. 1708’.
This MS discussed, and the seven sonnets edited in Constance Smith, ‘A Seventeenth-Century Manuscript of “A Vision” attributed to Thomas More’, Moreana, 10 (February 1973), 5-14. Also discussed, and the attribution of the ‘Vision’ to More dismissed, in Joseph Butkie, Sabita Sankaran and Donald Vecchiolla, ‘Some Reflections on the “Vision” attributed to Thomas More’, Moreana, 11 (1974), 33-8.
Nicholas Harpsfield's Life of Sir Thomas More
First published, edited by Elsie Vaughan Hitchcock and R.W. Chambers, as The life and death of Sr Thomas Moore. knight, sometymes Lord high Chancellor of England...by Nicholas Harpsfield (EETS, London, 1932).
MrT 71
Copy, in a cursive hand, with a title-page ‘The Life and Death of Sr Thomas More some tyme Lord Chancellor of England’, 94 folio leaves. Early 17th century.
Collated in Hitchcock & Chambers and described pp. xix-xx.
MrT 72
Copy, in a neat cursive hand. Mid-late 16th century.
In: A quarto volume, 135 leaves, in limp vellum. Mid-late 16th century.
This MS collated and briefly described in Hitchcock & Chambers, pp. xvi-xvii.
This MS collated and briefly described in Hitchcock & Chambers, pp. xvi-xvii.
MrT 73
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, unascribed. Late 16th-early 17th century.
In: A folio composite volume of state tracts and papers, in several professional secretary hands, 374 leaves, in contemporary limp vellum, with ties.
Yelverton MS 72, among papers of Sir Henry Yelverton (1566-1629), Justice of the Common Pleas, and his family, including papers descending from Robert Beale (1541-1601), Clerk of the Privy Council.
This MS collated and briefly described(as ‘in the possession of the Calthorpe family’) in Hitchcock & Chambers, p. xvii.
MrT 74
Copy, in one or possibly two professional secretary hands, with a title-page in roman script ‘The life and death of Sr Thomas Moore knight, sometymes Lord high Chancellor of England Written in the tyme of Queene Marie’, 109 leaves (plus blanks etc.), in panelled calf gilt. Early 17th century.
This MS collated in Hitchcock & Chambers and briefly described, pp. xviii-xix.
MrT 75
Copy, in an accomplised hand, untitled.
In: A quarto volume of writings by and about Sir Thomas More (including ‘The confession of my beliefe’), with a Protestant reader's critical annotations, 115 leaves, in contemporary vellum. Late 16th century.
Inscribed on a flyleaf ‘This booke was fovnde by Rich: Topclyff in Mr Tho: Moares Studdye amonge other bookes at Greenstreet Mr wayfarers hovse when mr Moare was apprhended: the xiijth of Aprll 1582’: i.e. owned by Sir Thomas More's grandson Thomas More of Barnborough, apprehended by Richard Topcliffe (1531-1604), pursuivant and interrogator.
Edited principally from this MS in Hitchcock & Chambers, described pp.xiii-xv, and the dedicatory epistle to William Roper edited on pp. 3-4.
MrT 76
Copy, imperfect, lacking the first two leaves and title.
In: A quarto volume of Catholic tracts, in a probably professional secretary hand, 163 leaves (plus blanks), in 18th-century calf gilt. Late 16th-early 17th century.
Inscribed on a flyleaf ‘John Burns, November 30 1926’: i.e. the Rt. Hon. John Elliott Burns (1858-1943), labour leader and politician. Acquired in 1944 from Quaritch.
Some verse contents of the volume briefly discussed or edited in Peter J. Seng, ‘Recusant Poems in a More Circle Manuscript’, Moreana, 19 (March 1982), 21-4.
MrT 77
Copy, in several cursive hands, 89 quarto leaves, in limp vellum. c.1600.
This MS collated in Hitchcock & Chambers and described, pp. xv-xvi.
MrT 78
Copy, in a cursive hand, imperfect.
In: A quarto volume of tracts, letters and religious poems, 146 leaves, in old calf gilt. Late 16th - early 17th century.
Sotheby's, 15 November 1926, lot 422A. Owned in 1932 by the Rt. Hon. John Burns: i.e. John Elliott Burns (1856-1943), labour leader and politician. Sotheby's, 14 March 1944 (Burns sale, second portion), lot 217, to Quaritch.
This MS collated in Hitchcock & Chambers and briefly described, p. xx.
Ro. Ba.'s Life of Sir Thomas More
A life of More written in 1599, possibly by Robert Basset (1574-1641), of Devon, a zealous Catholic and kinsman of More: see Andrew Breeze, ‘Sir Robert Basset and The Life of Syr Thomas More’, N&Q, 249 (September 2004), 263. The work first published in Christopher Wordsworth, Ecclesiastical History, vol. II (London, 1839). Edited, as The Lyfe of Syr Thomas More Sometymes Lord Chancellor of England, by Elsie Vaughan Hitchcock and P.E. Hallett (EETS, London, 1950).
MrT 79
Copy, possibly in two hands, lacking the dedicatory epistles, with a late-17th-century reader's note ascribing the work to John Harris, 119 quarto pages (plus blanks), in leather. Early 17th century.
This MS collated in Hitchcock & Hallett and described, pp. xv-xvi.
MrT 80
Copy, in a cursive hand, the Epistle Dedicatory to R. R. in another hand, vi + 131 quarto leaves, in vellum. Early 17th century.
Acquired on 12 November 1873 from C. T. Jefferies, bookseller, Bristol.
Collated in Hitchcock, Ro. Ba. and described, p. xii.
MrT 81
Copy, in a cursive secretary hand, lacking the dedicatory epistles.
In: A folio volume of tracts, 131 leaves, in leather.
This MS collated in Hitchcock & Hallett and briefly described, p. xiv.
MrT 82
Copy, in a single hand, lacking the dedicatory epistles, 73 quarto leaves. Early 17th century.
Collated in Hitchcock, Ro. Ba. and described, pp. xvi-xvii.
MrT 83
Copy, in a cursive secretary hand, headed (p. 7) ‘The life of Sr Thomas Moore sometimes L. Chancelor of England’, the epistle to the Curteouse Reader subscribed ‘Rd. Bar.’, imperfect, lacking the dedicatory epistle to R.R. and the ending after the first two pages of Chapter 18, ii + 122 quarto pages, in old brown calf. Early-mid-17th century.
Inscribed (f. ir) ‘James Carr’. Among the collections of Christopher Hunter (1675-1757), Durham antiquary and physician.
This MS collated in Hitchcock & Hallett and described, pp. xvii-xviii.
MrT 84
Copy, in at least three secretary hands, lacking a title-page. 1599.
In: A folio volume of tracts, in several hands, dating at the end up to 1642, 105 leaves, unfoliated, in contemporary limp vellum. Early 17th century.
Charles J. Sawyer, London, bookseller, sold 2 July 1919. Inscribed inside the front cover ‘John Burns. Feb 27 1919’: i.e. the Rt. Hon. John Elliott Burns (1858-1943), labour leader and politician. Burns sale, 1944, lot 534, to Maggs. Bought from Raphael King by Imre de Vegh in 1950 and donated to Harvard.
This MS (‘MS Burns’) collated in Hitchcock & Hallett and briefly described, pp. xiii-xiv.
MrT 85
Copy, in a secretary hand, headed (f. 201r) ‘The Life of Syr Thomas More Somtymes Lord Chancellour of England’, with (f. 199r) a preliminary dedication ‘To my deare and tres-deare friend R R’ subscribed ‘B R’, and a dedication (ff. 199v-200v) ‘To the courteous Reader’, subscribed ‘Ro: Ba:’. Early 17th century.
In: A folio composite volume of treatises, in various hands, 313 leaves, in contemporary calf gilt (rebacked).
Edited from this MS in Christopher Wordsworth. Edited principally from this MS in Hitchcock & Hallett., described, p. xii, and with a facsimile of p. 5 as frontispiece.
MrT 86
Copy, including preliminary epistles, closely written in a cursive hand, 88 folio leaves (including blanks), in a leather binding. Late 17th century.
With pasted-in Derby arms and inscription ‘The Right Honble James Earl of Derby Lord of Man and the Isles, 1702’[i.e. James Stanley (1664-1736), tenth Earl of Derby].
This MS collated and briefly described in Hitchcock and Hallett, pp. xiv-xv.
William Roper's Life of Sir Thomas More
First published in London, 1626. Edited, as The Lyfe of Sir Thomas Moore, knighte, written by William Roper Esquire, by Elsie Vaughan Hitchcock (EETS, London, 1935).
MrT 87
Copy, in a neat cursive secretary hand, untitled.
In: A double-folio-size composite volume of historical tracts and papers, many relating to state arraignments, in a single professional secretary hand up to p. 527, xxiv + 552 pages (plus blank pp. 553-684), in red morocco elaborately gilt. c.1610 [with addition to c.1630].
Presented to the Bodleian in 1620 by Sir Peter Manwood (1571-1625), judge and antiquary.
Collated in Hitchcock and briefly described, p. xviii.
MrT 87.5
Copy, with a title-page, ‘The Life and Deathe of Sir Thomas Moore sometimes Lord Chauncellour of England Written by William Roper of Eltham’, with the copyist's note NB. ‘The marginal notes were all added by me John Lewis Vicar of Minster in the Isle of Tenet who made an end copying this from a MS of the hand used in King Henry 8th time, lent me by Mr Thomas Beake of Stourmouth, October the 10th A. D. 1727’. 1721.
In: the MS described under MrT 59.
MrT 87.8
Copy, in a professional cursive hand, untitled. c.1630.
In: A large folio composite volume of state tracts, in English and Latin, in various professional hands, i + 488 leaves, in modern calf.
Among the collections of Browne Willis (1682-1760), antiquary, of Whaddon Hall, near Winslow, Buckinghamshire.
This volume discussed, with a facsimile of f. 92r (Plate IV after p. 272) in H.R. Woudhuysen, Sir Philip Sidney and the Circulation of Manuscripts 1558-1640 (Oxford, 1996), pp. 176-8.
This MS collated in Hitchcock and briefly described, pp. xviii-xix.
MrT 88
Copy, in two hands, 87 quarto leaves (including blanks), in modern leather. c.1600.
Inscribed (f. 9r) ‘Tho Bushell’: i.e. presumably Thomas Bushell (before 1600-1674), mining entrepreneur, mint master, and protégé of Francis Bacon. Owned in 1866 by Edmund Waterton, FSA (1830-87), of Walton, Yorkshire, allegedly a descendant of Sir Thomas More.
This MS collated in Hitchcock and briefly described, pp. xix-xx.
MrT 89
Copy, in at least three secretary hands, headed ‘Sr Thomas Moores Lyfe written by his sonne in lawe Mr Roper’, 62 quarto leaves, imperfect, damp-stained and with some paper losses, in modern half brown morocco. Early 17th century.
A label affixed to a flyleaf bearing the initials ‘H M’.
This MS collated in Hitchcock and briefly described, p. xiv.
MrT 90
Extracts from lives of More, including Roper's, headed ‘A Supplement of some things Relating To Sr Thomas More’. c.1717.
In: A quarto composite miscellany of verse and prose, in several hands, 100 leaves, in modern half morocco. Compiled in 1672 by John Bennet of Hart Hall, Oxford, and later used by the Rev. John King (1652-1732), of Exeter College, Oxford. c.1672-1718.
MrT 91
Copy, headed ‘The lyfe of Sir Thomas Moore knight Written by Willm Roper Esquier, who maryed margarett Daughter of the sayd Thomas moore, This Willm dwelt at Elthame in kent and dyed aboute.’, subscribed ‘Finis. 26 maij 1598:’. 1598.
In: A folio volume of heraldic and other treatises and papers, in several secretary hands, 191 leaves (plus 44 blanks), in modern quarter-morocco. Collected by Francis Thynne (1545?-1608), Lancaster Herald and antiquary.
Bookplate with the Markham arms. A flyleaf inscribed ‘F. J. Albers's’. Purchased from Thomas Rodd (1796-1849), bookseller, on 31 March 1838.
This MS collated in Hitchcock and briefly described, p. xiii.
MrT 92
Copy, entitled ‘The lyfe of Sr Thomas Moore Knt written by William Roper Esqr. who marryed Margarett Daughter of ye sayd Sr Thomas, This William liued at Eltham, & dyed about. &c.’, subscribed ‘Finis. 26o Maij. 1598’. Early 17th century.
In: A large folio volume of antiquarian and heraldic tracts and papers, with a two tables of contents in other hands, 158 leaves, in modern calf gilt. The first 31 items, in a neat roman hand, are transcribed from collections of Francis Thynne, now British Library Add. MS 11388.
This MS collated in Hitchcock and briefly described, pp. xii-xiii.
MrT 93
Copy, closely written in a secretary hand, untitled and unascribed, 47 folio pages (plus blanks), in modern panelled calf. Late 16th century.
Edited principally from this MS in Hitchcock and briefly described, p.xi.
MrT 94
Copy, in an accomplished secretary hand, with some rubrication, and with a title-page ‘The lyfe of Sir Thomas Moore sometyme Chancellor of Englande written by the sonne in lawe Williame Roper of Eltham in the countye of Kent Esquier’, subscribed ‘January. 4. 1602. Ætat suæ 24’, 48 quarto leaves, in modern half-morocco gilt. c.1600.
Inscribed (f. 1v) in a later hand ‘Sir Wm Strickland Bart a descendant from Sir Th: More had another Copy of the following Life very similar to this’, with a pencil annotation ‘Autograph of Joseph Planta Esqr’: i.e. Joseph Planta (1744-1827), principal librarian of the British Mueum.
Collated in Hitchcock and briefly described, pp. xi-xii.
MrT 95
Copy, in the hand of Thomas Baker (1656-1740), Cambridge antiquary, transcribed from MrT 98. c.1700.
Recorded in Hitchcock, p. xvii.
MrT 96
Copy, imperfect.
In: A folio volume comprising two tracts (the second a Life of John Fisher), in a single hand, 94 leaves, in modern binding. Late 16th century.
Collated in Hitchcock and described, pp. xiv-xv.
MrT 97
Copy in: A folio miscellany of tracts, letters, plays and verse, for the most part in a single secretary hand, partly on inserted sheaves of long narrow ledger-size leaves, written from both ends, 248 leaves, in contempoary vellum with metal clasps. Compiled by a University of Cambridge man. Early 17th century.
Inscribed at the end ‘Josephus Diggins me possedit’: i.e. by Joseph Diggins, of Clare Hall, Cambridge (matric. 1607, d.1658). Christie's, 5 December 1973, lot 84, to Hofmann & Freeman.
MrT 98
Copy, in a neat cursive secretary and italic hand, entitled ‘Sr T. Mores Life by his son in law William Roper’, 28 folio leaves (plus blanks), imperfect. Early 17th century.
This MS collated in Hitchcock and briefly described pp. xvi-xvii.
MrT 99
Copy, closely written in a mixed hand, headed ‘The life and death of Sr Tho: More Kt. Lo: Chancellor of England written by Willm Roper his sonne in lawe Anno Dni 1535’. Early 17th century.
In: A large folio composite volume of tracts and miscellaneous papers, in various hands and paper sizes, 229 leaves, in reversed calf. Second volume of the miscellaneous collections of Richard Davis of Sandford.
Owned by William Fulman (1632-88), Oxford antiquary.
MrT 100
Copy, in a single professional hand, with a title-page decorated in colours, ‘The Life, araignment, and death, of the famous learned, Sir Thomas More Knight, Somtimes Lord Chauncellor of England’, i + 74 quarto leaves, in contemporary vellum gilt with traces of ties. With (f. 2r]) a dedication ‘To the worshipfull louer, and cherisher of learning Mr Simon Gearing’, subscribed ‘William Hill’. Late 16th-early 17th century.
Inscribed (f. ir) ‘Hunc Liber perlegi Ottuell Meverell’ and (f. 1v) ‘Dedit Collegio Etonensi Franciscus Goode A.M. 1731’.
This MS mentioned in Hitchcock, p. 2.
MrT 101
Copy, untitled, on three separate sheaves of paper in different secretary hands, subscribed ‘vita Thomae Mori p Roperio’.
In: the MS described under MrT 5.5. c.1620s-30s.
MrT 102
Copy, untitled, subscribed ‘EA. 16. Septemb: 1631’.
In: A quarto volume of state and miscellaneous tracts, two by women, in a single predominantly secretary hand, one ‘EA’, 274 leaves, in contemporary calf (rebacked), with traces of clasps. 1631-9.
Later owned by the Rev. Dr Cox Macro (1683-1767), antiquary (his No. 98), and then by the Gurney family of Norfolk. Sotheby's, 31 March 1936 (Gurney sale), lot 159.
John Rylands University Library of Manchester, English MS 875, ff. 7r-86r.
MrT 103
Copy, closely written in one secretary hand, with a title-page ‘The Life and Death of Sr Thomas More knight sometymes Lord Chauncellor of England / Written by William Roper his sonne in Lawe Anno Domini 1535’, i + 64 quarto leaves, in modern red morocco. Late 16th-early 17th century.
MrT 104
Copy, in a neat cursive secretary hand, with a title-page, ‘The Life and Death of Sir Tho: More Kt: somtyme Lo: Chauncellor of Eng: written by Wm Roper his Sonne in lawe: An: Do: 1535’, 52 quarto leaves (plus blanks), in modern morocco gilt. c.1600.
This MS collated in Hitchcock and briefly described pp. xvii-xviii.
Victoria and Albert Museum, Dyce MS 46 (Pressmark Dyce 25.F.41).
MrT 105
Copy, in a single secretary hand, lacking a title, 63 folio leaves, in vellum boards. Inscribed later on a flyleaf ‘This written by William Roper son in law of Sr Thomas Moore’. Early 17th century.
Owned in 1716 by Edward Burton, of Oriel College, Oxford. Inscribed on a flyleaf ‘I lent this MS to Mr Hearne who publish'd it at Oxon in 8vo. 1716’: i.e. the copy text for G. Roperi vita D. Thomæ Mori...lingua Anglicana contexta (Oxford, 1716), edited by Thomas Hearne (1678-1735), antiquary. Later inscribed ‘John Burns. August 26 1921’. Bookplate of W.A. Foyle (1885-1963), of Beeleigh Abbey, Essex, bookseller. Christie's, 12-13 July 2000 (W.A. Foyle sale, Part III), lot 303.
Edited from this MS in Hearne.
MrT 106
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, untitled, on 133 quarto pages, in contemporary vellum gilt. Late 16th-early 17th century.
Once owned by William Say (d.1529), a family friend of the Mores. Christie's, June 1972.
MrT 107
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, on 70 quarto leaves, disbound. c.1614.
Subscribed ‘Ex3 et concordat cum originalle 28o. Junij: 1614 per me Ric: Towneley’. Purchased by Yale from the descendants of Sir Mathew Hale (1609-76), Lord Chief Justice of England.
MrT 108
Copy, in a formal accomplished secretary hand, with a title-page decorated in gilt and colours ‘The Life, Araignment, and Death, of the famous learned, Sir Thomas More Knight: Somtymes Lord Chauncellor of England’, with a later note about More's death on the rear endpaper dated 1679, ii + 73 quarto leaves, in contemporary limp vellum gilt, with remaining holes for ties. Early 17th century.
Bookplates of Edward May and Alexander Murray of Broughtoun Esqr. Inscribed in pencil (f. iiv) ‘Ap. 10. 1723 Collat. & perfect. P. J. Wright’. Later owned by W. Fagg, London. Christie's, 9 December 1965, lot 202, to C.A. Stonehill.
This MS mentioned (as ‘now belonging to Mr. Fagg’) in Hitchcock, pp. xxvi and p. 2.
MrT 109
Copy, in a cursive hand, 63 folio pages, in modern half-morocco gilt. Early 17th century.
Inscribed ‘I lent this MS to Mr Hearne who published it at Oxon in 8o’. Later owned, and inscribed 26 August 1921, by the Rt. Hon. John Elliott Burns (1858-1943), labour leader and politician. Sotheby's, 14 March 1944 (Burns sale, second portion), lot 250
This MS used by Thomas Hearne (1676-1735), Oxford antiquary, for his Latin edition of Roper's Life of More (Oxford, 1716). Collated in Hitchcock, and briefly described (as ‘MS J’), pp. xv-xvi.
MrT 110
Copy, in a cursive hand, entitled ‘The Life and Death of Sr Thomas More knight sometymes Lord Chauncellor of England. Written by William Roper his Sonne in Lawe Anno domini 1535’, 64 quarto leaves, unfoliated, in modern morocco. Late 16th century.
Later owned by the Rt. Hon. John Elliott Burns (1858-1943), labour leader and politician. Sotheby's, 14 March 1944 (Burns sale, second portion), lot 249.
This MS collated in Hitchcock, and briefly described (as ‘MS B’) p. xvi.
MrT 111
Copy, in a single professional secretary hand, 222 quarto pages, in contemporary vellum. Early 17th century.
Inscribed ?‘M. D.’ Sotheby's, 15 December 1980, lot 52.