Folger Shakespeare Library
CELM

John Skelton

c.1460–1529

Introduction

Only two manuscripts are known to contain Skelton's handwriting. One is his autograph manuscript of a congratulatory poem on the accession of Henry VIII (*SkJ 6). The other is a medieval manuscript chronicle containing Skelton's annotations (*SkJ 30). In addition, there exist contemporary scribal copies of Skelton's translation of Diodorus Siculus (SkJ 28) and of his Speculum principis (SkJ 29), the latter probably his presentation copy to Henry VIII. Various other poems attributed to Skelton are found in complete or partial transcripts in early miscellanies.

The Canon

The canon of Skelton's writings is by no means certain and is open to amendment. For present purposes, the entries below are based on the assessment by Robert Kinsman and Theodore Yonge in Canon (1967). The distinction made here between works evidently by Skelton and works of doubtful authorship is based on the classification in Canon except for the poem Wofully araid, which is here treated as a doubtful item (SkJ 23-7) rather than as a definitely lost work, and for the addition of a poem by William Cornish in which it has been argued (though not generally accepted) that Skelton might just possibly have had a hand (SkJ 22.1). For the record, entries are also given, in a catgegory of Apocryphal Poems, to some ten poems that at various times have been attributed to Skelton, and survive in manuscripts, but which Kinsman and Yonge firmly reject from the canon (SkJ 14-27.5).

Various scholarly discussions and surveys of Skelton's manuscript and printed texts have been published, among them A.S.G. Edwards, Skelton's English Poems in Print and Manuscript, Trivium, 31 (1999), 87-100, and Jane Griffiths, What's in a Name? The Transmission of John Skelton, Laureate in Manuscript and Print, Huntington Library Quarterly, 67/2 (2004), 215-35.

Early nineteenth-century copies of some poems by or attributed to Skelton can be found in the Bodleian (MS Eng. misc. e 573), made by Richard Heber (1774-1833), and in the British Library (Add. MS 24542), three prayers doubtfully attributed to Skelton (see SkJ 19-20), copied by Joseph Hunter (1783-1861). These manuscript texts are not given entries below. On the other hand entries are given to some copies by Joseph Haslewood (1769-1833) which may conceivably have been transcribed from earlier manuscripts (SkJ 5.5, SkJ 7.5, SkJ 9.5, SkJ 10.5, SkJ 27.5, SkJ 31).

Miscellaneous

A manuscript household book which throws some light on Skelton's relationship with the Howard family was edited by G.F. Nott in The Works of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, and Sir Thomas Wyatt, 2 vols (London, 1815-16), I, Appendix II, pp. iii-vi. Now in the University of California at Berkeley, this manuscript is discussed in Melvin J. Tucker, California MS. AC 523, formerly Phillipps MS. 3841, N&Q, 209 (October 1964), 374-6.

What would seem to be a lost manuscript of Latin verse and prose by Skelton is a small octavo volume once owned by the Dering family, of Surrenden, Kent, offered at Puttick and Simpson's, 13 July 1865 (Dering sale, third day), lot 838. For other Lost Pieces see Canon, pp. 24-33.

Five boxes of editorial papers by Robert S. Kinsman (1919-2006), chiefly relating to Skelton, are in the Massachusetts Interdisciplinary Center for Renaissance Studies, Amherst.

Abbreviations

Canon
Robert S. Kinsman and Theodore Yonge, John Skelton: Canon and Census, Renaissance Society of America, Bibliographies and Indexes No. 4 (Darien, Connecticut, 1967).
Carlson
The Latin Writings of John Skelton, ed. David Carlson, Studies in Philology, 88/4 (Fall, 1991).
Dyce
The Poetical Works of John Skelton, ed. Alexander Dyce, 2 vols (London, 1843).
Scattergood
John Skelton, The Complete English Poems, ed. John Scattergood (Harmondsworth, 1983).

Verse

(1) Poems by Skelton

Colyn Cloute ('What can it auayle')

Canon, C12, p. 5. First published London, [c.1530]. Dyce, I, 311-60. Scattergood, pp. 246-78.

SkJ 1

Copy of a 1107-line version, plus a Latin epilogue (see SkJ 3).

This MS collated in Dyce.

A miscellany, in several hands, compiled by John Colyns (d.c.1542), mercer, of the parish of St Mary Woolchurch, London.

c.1522-39

Discussed, with eight pages of facsimiles, in Carol M. Meale, The Compiler at Work: John Colyns and BL MS Harley 2252, in Manuscripts and Readers in Fifteenth-Century England: The Literary Implications of Manuscript Study, ed. Derek Pearsall (Cambridge and Woodbridge, 1983), pp. 82-103, and, with ten pages of facsimiles, in Carol Meale, London, British Library, Harley MS 2252: John Colyns' Boke: Structure and Content, EMS, 15 (2009), 65-122.

SkJ 2

Copy of lines 462-80, beginning Som men thynke that ye and subscribed The profecy of Skylton, 1529.

Edited from this MS in Dyce, I, 329.

A quarto composite volume of verse and prose, partly on vellum, partly on paper, c.110 leaves.

Mid-late 16th century
The British Library: Lansdowne MSS (Lansdowne MS 762 ff. 75r-6r)
'Colinus Cloutus, quanquam mea carmina multis'

Canon, C11, p. 5. First published in Dyce (1843), I, 360.

SkJ 3

Copy of a Latin epilogue to Colyn Cloute (see SkJ 1).

Edited from this MS in Dyce.

A miscellany, in several hands, compiled by John Colyns (d.c.1542), mercer, of the parish of St Mary Woolchurch, London.

c.1522-39

Discussed, with eight pages of facsimiles, in Carol M. Meale, The Compiler at Work: John Colyns and BL MS Harley 2252, in Manuscripts and Readers in Fifteenth-Century England: The Literary Implications of Manuscript Study, ed. Derek Pearsall (Cambridge and Woodbridge, 1983), pp. 82-103, and, with ten pages of facsimiles, in Carol Meale, London, British Library, Harley MS 2252: John Colyns' Boke: Structure and Content, EMS, 15 (2009), 65-122.

Epigramma ad tanti principis maiestatem in sua peuricia ('Si quid habes, mea musa, dei resonantis amenam')

Canon, C51, p. 15. First published in F.M. Salter, Skelton's Speculum Principis, Speculum, 9 (1934), 25-37 (pp. 36-7). Carlson, pp. 42-3 (with a translation).

SkJ 4

Fair copy on vellum, headed Ad tanti principis maiestatem in sua pericia, quando erat insignitus Dux Eboraci, etc., Skeltonis Laureatus hoc Epigramma et., appended to the MS.

Edited from this MS in Salter. Facsimile of ff. 24v-5r in Carlson, pp. 2-3.

An octavo MS of Speculum principis, in a formal hand, in black and red ink with some engrossed lettering and decoration, 30 vellum leaves, in contemporary leather on boards stamped with the Tudor royal arms and initials H A.

Dedicated to Prince Henry (Henry VIII), dated from Eltham, 28 August 1501, and probably Skelton's presentation MS to Henry.

c.1509-10

Possibly once in Lincoln Cathedral Library. Inscribed (f. 1r on an affixed slip) Mr Bramley, late of Acton, Jemima Sewall[?], Geo Murray...Mar 1854. Purchased from Puttick & Simpson's, 15 July 1865, lot 838.

Facsimile of ff. 21v-2r in Henry VIII Man and Monarch, ed. Susan Doran (British Library, London, 2009), p. 30.

Garlande of Laurell ('Arectyng my syght towarde the zodyake')

Canon, C27, p. 9. First published in an incomplete version [London], 1523. Complete in Pithy pleasaunt and profitable workes of maister Skelton (London, 1568). Dyce, I, 361-427. Scattergood, pp. 312-58. Edited by F.W. Brownlow, as John Skelton: The Book of the Laurel (Newark, Delaware, 1990).

SkJ 5 c.1495-1523

Copy; in a professional hand, with some additions and corrections in another hand, imperfect, lacking about three fifths of the text.

This MS collated in Dyce. Partly edited from this MS, and collated, in John Skelton, The Book of the Laurel, ed. F.W. Brownlow (Newark, Delaware, 1990), with facsimiles of ff. 209r and 218v on pp. 19 and 27.

A folio volume of miscellaneous tracts and verse, 272 leaves, imperfect from fire damage, each leaf mounted.

Inscribed (f. 2v) by John Stow (1524/5-1605), London historian.

The British Library: Cotton MSS (Cotton MS Vitellius E. X ff. 208r-25v)
'Gentle Paule, laie down thy sweard'

A couplet, first published in Edward Halle, Vnion of the Two Noble and Illustre Famelies of Lancastre & Yorke (London, 1568), sig. TTt2v. Scattergood, p. 358.

See SkJ 30.

SkJ 5.5

Copy by Haslewood, headed On Cardinal Wolsey.

A small collection of poems by or attributed to Skelton, in the hand of Joseph Haslewood (1769-1833), bibliographer and antiquary, at least some transcribed from earlier MS sources, 47 folio pages, disbound.

c.1808-33

Later in the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), manuscript and book collector: Phillipps MS 10112.

Quoted and discussed in David Carlson, Joseph Haslewood's Manuscript Collection of Unpublished Poems by John Skelton, PBSA, 81 (1987), 65-74.

'I, liber, et propera, regem tu pronus adora'

[Dyce, I, 147].

See SkJ 30.

A Lawde and Prayse Made for Our Souereigne Lord the Kyng ('The Rose both White and Rede')

Canon, C35, p. 11. First published in Dyce (1843), I, ix-xi. Scattergood, pp. 110-12.

*SkJ 6
Autograph

Autograph, untitled, subscribed Per me laurigerum britonu skeltonida Vatem:, on two conjugate folio leaves, once folded as a letter or packet, endorsed A lawde and prayse made for our Sovereigne Lord the Kyng, probably the MS presented to Henry VIII in 1509.

c.1509

Edited from this MS in Dyce and in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII, ed. J.S. Brewer, Vol. II, Part II (London, 1864), p. 1518.

Complete facsimile and transcript in Croft, Autograph Poetry, I, 6-8. Facsimile examples in William Nelson, John Skelton, Laureate (New York, 1939), p. 164; in Maurice Pollet, John Skelton, trans. John Warrington (London, 1971), after p. 62; in John Skelton, The Book of the Laurel, ed. F.W. Brownlow (Newark, Delaware, 1990), p. 26; in DLB, vol. 136, Sixteenth-Century British Non-Dramatic Writers. Second Series, ed. David A. Richardson (Detroit, 1994), p. 306; and in Henry VIII Man and Monarch, ed. Susan Doran (British Library, London, 2009), p. 62.

National Archives, Kew (E 36/228/7-8)
Manerly Margery Mylk and Ale ('Ay, besherewe yow, be my fay')

Canon, C37, p. 11. First published in Sir John Hawkins, A General History of the Science and Practice of Music (London, 1776), III, 2. Dyce, I, 28-9. Scattergood, pp. 35-6.

SkJ 7

Copy, in a musical setting by William Cornish, untitled.

Edited from this MS in Hawkins; in Dyce; and in Early Tudor Songs and Carols, ed. John Stevens, Musica Britannica XXXVI (London, 1975), pp. 128-30.

A folio songbook, in a single formal rounded secretary hand, with rubrication and colour decoration of initial letters, 145 vellum leaves, in old red morocco gilt.

c.1500s

Inscribed (f. 1r), probably by the compiler or commissioner of the volume, Robertus Fayrfax Doctor in Musicis iacet sepidtus in Ecclesia Monasteriali Scj Albani: i.e. by Robert Fairfax (1464-1521), Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, composer. Later owned and inscribed by Ralph Thoresby (1658-1725), Yorkshire antiquary and topographer.

SkJ 7.5

Copy by Haslewood.

Carlson, pp. 68-9.

A small collection of poems by or attributed to Skelton, in the hand of Joseph Haslewood (1769-1833), bibliographer and antiquary, at least some transcribed from earlier MS sources, 47 folio pages, disbound.

c.1808-33

Later in the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), manuscript and book collector: Phillipps MS 10112.

Quoted and discussed in David Carlson, Joseph Haslewood's Manuscript Collection of Unpublished Poems by John Skelton, PBSA, 81 (1987), 65-74.

SkJ 7.8

Copy, in a cursive hand, untitled, on the verso of the final flyleaf (f. 77v) in a printed exemplum of Caxton's Dictes or Sayeingis of the Philosophres (London, 1477).

Mid-late 16th century

This MS edited and discussed, with a facsimile, in A.S.G Edwards and Lynne R. Mooney, A New Version of a Skelton Lyric, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, 10 (1994), 507-10 and Plate 12.

Palinodium ('Iam nunc pierios cantus et carmina laudis')

Canon, C51, p. 15. First published in F.M. Salter, Skelton's Speculum Principis, Speculum, 9 (1934), 25-37 (p. 37).

SkJ 8

Fair copy on vellum, headed Ad serenissimam iam nunc suam maiestatem regiam, Skeltonidis Laureati non ignobile palinodium, etc., appended to the MS.

Edited from this MS in Salter.

An octavo MS of Speculum principis, in a formal hand, in black and red ink with some engrossed lettering and decoration, 30 vellum leaves, in contemporary leather on boards stamped with the Tudor royal arms and initials H A.

Dedicated to Prince Henry (Henry VIII), dated from Eltham, 28 August 1501, and probably Skelton's presentation MS to Henry.

c.1509-10

Possibly once in Lincoln Cathedral Library. Inscribed (f. 1r on an affixed slip) Mr Bramley, late of Acton, Jemima Sewall[?], Geo Murray...Mar 1854. Purchased from Puttick & Simpson's, 15 July 1865, lot 838.

Facsimile of ff. 21v-2r in Henry VIII Man and Monarch, ed. Susan Doran (British Library, London, 2009), p. 30.

Poems against Garnesche ('Sithe ye haue me chalyngyd, Master Garnesche')

Canon, C2, p. 3. First published in Dyce (1843), I, 116-31. Scattergood, pp. 121-34.

SkJ 9 Mid-16th century

Copy, in a secretary hand, untitled.

Edited from this MS in Dyce.

A folio composite volume of miscellaneous papers, in verse and prose, in various hands, including that of John Stow (1524/5-1605), London historian, 192 leaves, in 19th-century half-leather gilt.

SkJ 9.5

Copy by Haslewood.

Carlson, p. 67.

A small collection of poems by or attributed to Skelton, in the hand of Joseph Haslewood (1769-1833), bibliographer and antiquary, at least some transcribed from earlier MS sources, 47 folio pages, disbound.

c.1808-33

Later in the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), manuscript and book collector: Phillipps MS 10112.

Quoted and discussed in David Carlson, Joseph Haslewood's Manuscript Collection of Unpublished Poems by John Skelton, PBSA, 81 (1987), 65-74.

Poeta Skelton laureatus libellum suum metrice alloquitur ('Ad dominum properato meum, mea pagina, Percy')

See SkJ 12.

'Quamvis annosa'

See SkJ 30.

Speke, Parrot ('My name is Parrot, a byrd of paradyse')

Canon, C41, p. 12. Lines 3-237 first published in Certaine bokes copyled by mayster Skelto (London, [c.1545]). A text of 513 lines first published in Dyce (1843), II, 1-25. Scattergood, pp. 230-46.

SkJ 10

Copy of lines 1-59, 230-513.

Edited partly from this MS in Dyce. Facsimiles of f. 133*v in Meale (1983), p. 90, and of f. 134r in Meale (2009), p. 75.

A miscellany, in several hands, compiled by John Colyns (d.c.1542), mercer, of the parish of St Mary Woolchurch, London.

c.1522-39

Discussed, with eight pages of facsimiles, in Carol M. Meale, The Compiler at Work: John Colyns and BL MS Harley 2252, in Manuscripts and Readers in Fifteenth-Century England: The Literary Implications of Manuscript Study, ed. Derek Pearsall (Cambridge and Woodbridge, 1983), pp. 82-103, and, with ten pages of facsimiles, in Carol Meale, London, British Library, Harley MS 2252: John Colyns' Boke: Structure and Content, EMS, 15 (2009), 65-122.

SkJ 10.5

Copy by Haslewood.

Carlson, pp. 66-7.

A small collection of poems by or attributed to Skelton, in the hand of Joseph Haslewood (1769-1833), bibliographer and antiquary, at least some transcribed from earlier MS sources, 47 folio pages, disbound.

c.1808-33

Later in the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), manuscript and book collector: Phillipps MS 10112.

Quoted and discussed in David Carlson, Joseph Haslewood's Manuscript Collection of Unpublished Poems by John Skelton, PBSA, 81 (1987), 65-74.

Tetrastichon Skelton, laureati ad Magistrum Rukshaw, sacrae theologiae egregium professorem ('Accipe nunc demum, doctor celeberrime Rukshaw')

See SkJ 12.

'That ever England had'

See SkJ 30.

The Tunnyng of Elynour Rummyng ('Tell you I chyll')

Canon, C42, p. 12. First published [c.1520]. Dyce, I, 95-115.

SkJ 11

Copy, being an attempted MS facsimile in a single hand of a 16th century printed edition of Skelton's poem, on ff. 1r-11v of 24 octavo leaves, the reverse end (ff. 12v-24 rev.) with rules of a society of bellringers in another hand dated 1662-3, in black leather gilt, with stamped royal cipher of Charles II.

Mid-late 17th century

Inscribed (heavily deleted) on a flyleaf William Daniel 1693. Sotheby's, 15 June 1870.

Vpon the doulourus dethe and muche lamentable chaunce of the most honorable Erle of Northumberlande ('I wayle, I wepe, I sobbe, I sigh ful sore')

Canon, C18, pp. 6-7. First published in Pithy pleasaunt and profitable workes of maister Skelton (London, 1568). Dyce, I, 6-14. Scattergood, pp. 29-35.

SkJ 12 c.1516-23

A formal copy, possibly in the hand of William Peeris, heavily decorated and with colouring, preceded by a dedication, Poeta Skelton laureatus libellum suum metrice alloquitur, beginning Ad dominum properato meum, mea pagina, Percy, and ending with Tetrastichon Skelton, laureati ad Magistrum Rukshaw, beginning Accipe nunc demum, doctor celeberrime Rukshaw.

This MS collated in Dyce. Facsimiles of f. 166v in Naylor, p. 172, and in Carlson, p. 27.

A folio composite volume of 15th- and 16th-century works by John Lydgate and others, on vellum throughout, i + 212 leaves.

Once owned by Henry Fitzalan (1511?-80), twelfth Earl of Arundel, nephew of Henry Algernon Percy (d.1527), fifth Earl of Northumberland. Later in the library of Fitzalan's son-in-law John, first Baron Lumley (c.1533-1609), collector.

Discussed, with three pages of facsimiles, in Pat Naylor, Scribes and Secretaries of the Percy Earls of Northumberland, with Special Reference to William Peeris and Royal MS 18 D. II, EMS, 15 (2009), 166-84.

The British Library: Royal MSS (Royal MS 18 D. II ff. 165r-6v)
Why Come ye nat to Courte? ('All noble men, of this take hede')

Canon, C46 & C5, pp. 13-14, 4. First published in London, c.1545. Dyce, II, 26-67. Scattergood, pp. 278-311.

SkJ 13

Copy of the introductory lines and lines 838-1248.

Edited from this MS in Julius Zupitza, Handschriftliche Bruchstücke von John Skeltons Why come ye nat to court?, Archiv, 85 (1890), 429-36.

A quarto composite volume of verse, in various hands, 167 leaves (plus blanks), in calf.

Mid-16th century
SkJ 13.5

Copy of lines 753-6.

Cited in Clark, p. 14.

A notebook compiled by Thomas Plume (1630-1704).

Discussed in Andrew Clark, Dr. Plume's Pocket Book, The Essex Review, 14 (1905), 9-20.

Plume Library, Maldon (MS 25 [unspecified page number])

(2) Poems of Doubtful Authorship

How euery thing must haue a tyme ('Tyme is a thing that no man may resyst')

Canon, D52, p. 16. First published in Certaine bokes copyled by mayster Skelto (London, c.1545). Dyce, I, 137-8.

SkJ 14

Copy of a five-stanza version (plus a two-line burden).

This MS recorded in Canon.

A folio miscellany chiefly of heraldic and historical collections, in a single secretary hand, with rubrication, 418 leaves.

Compiled by Robert Commaundre (d.1613), rector of Tarporley, Cheshire, and chaplain to Sir Henry Sydney, Lord President of the Marches of Wales.

Late 16th-early 17th century
The British Library: Egerton MSS (Egerton MS 2642 f. 250v)
SkJ 15

Copy of the poem as stanzas 6 and 9-11 of an untitled thirteen-stanza poem beginning O god that in tyme all thingis did begin.

Edited from this MS in The Bannatyne Manuscript, ed. J. Barclay Murdoch, II, Hunterian Club (Glasgow, 1896), 227-30; The Bannatyne Manuscript, ed. W. Tod Ritchie, II, STS NS 22 (Edinburgh & London, 1928), 208-11; recorded in Canon.

A formal anthology of Scottish poetry, including 51 poems presently attributed to William Dunbar, largely in a single secretary hand, with a few later additions in other hands, in two tall folio volumes, with differing series of pagination and foliation, vol. I comprising 192 leaves (paginated 1-385), vol. II comprising 205 leaves (paginated 387-795), all leaves now mounted separately in window mounts, each volume in 19th-century green morocco elaborately gilt.

Compiled by George Bannatyne (b.1545), student of St Andrews and merchant burgess of Edinburgh. Subscribed on the last page finis. / 1568 but probably written over a period of some years.

c.1568

Descending to Bannatyne's son-in-law George Foulis. Later (c.1712) inscribed (p. 60) This book is gifted to Mr William Carmichael Be me James Foulis. Some annotations by Allan Ramsay (1684-1758), poet and editor, and by Thomas Percy (1729-1811), Bishop of Dromore, writer and literary editor. Presented in 1772 by John Carmichael, fourth Earl of Hyndford.

Generally cited as the Bannatyne MS. Complete facsimile, introduced by Denton Fox and William A. Ringler, published by the Scolar Press, 1980. Complete text edited in Murdoch and in Ritchie. Discussed in Priscilla Bawcutt, The Contents of the Bannatyne Manuscript: New Sources and Analogues, Journal of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 3 (2008), 95-133. A facsimile page in The National Library of Scotland Advocates' Library Notable Accessions up to 1925 (Edinburgh, 1965), Plate 43.

National Library of Scotland, Advocates MSS (Adv. MS 1.1.6 Vol. I, ff. 82r-3r (pp. 225-7))
Of the Death of the Noble Prince, Kynge Edwarde the Forth ('Miseremini mei, ye that be my frendis!')

Canon, D53, pp. 16-17. First published (lacking lines 37-48) in Certaine bokes copyled by mayster Skelto (London, c.1545). Complete in Dyce (1843), I, 1-5, and in Robert S. Kinsman, A Lamentable of Kyng Edward the IIII, Huntington Library Quarterly, 29 (1966), 95-108.

SkJ 16

Copy, subscribed A lamentable of Kyng Edward ye iiij, on ff. 131r-2r in a volume also containing copies of Mandeville's Travels and other works.

c.1487

Later in the library of the family of Frances Mary Richardson Currer (1785-1861), book collector, of Eshton Hall, near Skipton, West Yorkshire. William H. Robinson's sale catalogue No. 77 (1948), item 144 (p. 149), with a facsimile of f. 131r.

Edited from this MS in Kinsman. Collated in Dyce.

Corning Museum of Glass ([no shelfmark])
SkJ 17

Copy, with alterations, headed Here folowythe the Epitaphy of Kynge Edward ye fowrthe complyd by [John Lidgate monke of Burie deleted] Skelton.

This MS collated in Kinsman.

A folio volume of poems by John Lydgate and others, in several secretary hand with some rubrication, 288 leaves, in 19th-century morocco. compiled by or for John Stow (1525?-1605).

Chiefly in the hand of John Stow (1524/5-1605), London historian.

Puttick & Simpson's, 15 July 1874.

On Tyme ('Tyme is a thing that no man may resyst')

See SkJ 14-15.

[Prayers]

Canon, D54, p. 17, First published in Certaine bokes copyled by mayster Skelto (London, c.1545). Dyce, I, 139-40.

SkJ 19

Copy of three prayers, here untitled, namely to the father of Heauen (beginning O Radiant Luminary of lyght intermynable), To the Seconde Parson (beginning O Benygne Jesu, my souerayne Lord and Kynge), and To the Holy Gooste (beginning O Firy feruence, inflamed wyth all grace) written on the end-papers. Late 15th-early 16th century.

This MS recorded in Canon.

A 14th century MS Registrum brevium cancellariae, with colour and gold decoration, ff. 96v-7r occupied by later notes dated 1654-5, and ff. 97v-100r with verses in a formal 16th-century hand, 101 small octavo vellum leaves, in modern red morocco.

Inscribed (f. 97r) Gabriell Wettenhall and Thomas Wetenhall. Later owned by William Pickering (1796-1854), publisher. Bookplate of William Falconer, Chester. Sotheby's, 12 December 1854 (Pickering sale), lot 156.

SkJ 20

Copy of three prayers, to the Father of Heauen, To the Seconde Parson, and To the Holy Gooste.

At the end of an octavo 16th-century MS prayer book (use of Sarum), 129 leaves, in contemporary vellum.

1583

Inscribed on the cover Robert Cooke. Later owned by John Meade Falkner (1858-1932), writer and businessman. Sotheby's, 12 December 1932 (Falkner sale), lot 86, to Quaritch. Sotheby's, 8 July 1957, lot 78.

Recorded in De Ricci, Supplement, p. 406.

'Qui trahis ex domiti ramum pede diue leonis'

Canon, D55, p. 17. First published in Friedrich Brie, Skelton-Studien, ES, 37 (1907), 1-86 (p. 28). Carlson, pp. 58-1 (with a translation).

SkJ 21

Copy, untitled and ascribed to Skeltonidis laureati, among other verses and medical prescriptions, on a tipped-in leaf of parchment.

Edited from this MS in Brie and, with a translation, in Carlson, pp. 58-9. Discussed, and an additional couplet printed, in David Carlson, John Skelton's Latin Verses Qui Trahis, N&Q, 233 (March 1988), 29.

A folio composite law book, in Latin and Law French, in several hands, 101 leaves, in modern half-calf on marbled boards.

Mid-16th century

Once owned by Walter Ashwell (Ashwell Waltero constat liber iste benigno) and his wife Margery.

'Salve plus decies quam sunt momenta dierum!'

Canon, D53, p. 17, First published in Pithy pleasaunt and profitable workes of maister Skelton (London, 1568). Dyce, I, 177.

SkJ 22 c.1580s

Copy, headed Ex Jo. Skelton Poeta laureato.

This MS collated in Dyce.

A folio volume of historical papers, in several hands, one predominating, ii + 322 leaves, in modern half red morocco.

Compiled largely by Sir James Ware (1594-1666), antiquary and historian.

Subsequently owned by Henry Hyde (1638-1709), second Earl of Clarendon, politician (constituting Clarendon MSS Vol. 36). Bookplate of Jeremiah Milles (1714-84), Dean of Exeter, antiquary (Milles Collection Vol. XXXIV).

To the Father of Heauen ('O Radiant Luminary of lyght intermynable')

See SkJ 19-20.

To the Holy Gooste ('O Firy feruence, inflamed wyth all grace')

See SkJ 19-20.

To the Seconde Parson ('O Benygne Jesu, my souerayne Lord and Kynge')

See SkJ 19-20.

A Treatise bitwene Trouth and Information ('The knowlege of God passyth comparison')

First published in Pithy plesaunt and profitable workes of maister Skelton (London, 1568). The poem, generally accepted as by William Cornish, is reprinted in Nan Cooke Carpenter, Skelton's Hand in William Cornish's Musical Parable, Comparative Literature, 22 (1970), 157-72. It is here argued that The poem is obviously not Skelton's, but there are signs that the laureate probably had a hand in its composition.

SkJ 22.1

A formal copy.

A folio composite volume of 15th- and 16th-century works by John Lydgate and others, on vellum throughout, i + 212 leaves.

Once owned by Henry Fitzalan (1511?-80), twelfth Earl of Arundel, nephew of Henry Algernon Percy (d.1527), fifth Earl of Northumberland. Later in the library of Fitzalan's son-in-law John, first Baron Lumley (c.1533-1609), collector.

Discussed, with three pages of facsimiles, in Pat Naylor, Scribes and Secretaries of the Percy Earls of Northumberland, with Special Reference to William Peeris and Royal MS 18 D. II, EMS, 15 (2009), 166-84.

The British Library: Royal MSS (Royal MS 18 D. II ff. 163r-4r)
Verses Presented to King Henry VII ('O moste famous noble king! thy fame doth spring and spreade')

Canon, D 57, p. 18. First published in Elias Ashmole, The Institutional Laws and Ceremonies of the Most Noble Order of the Garter (London, 1672). Dyce, II, 387-8. Discussed and Skelton's authorship rejected in Richard Firth Green, The Verses Presented to King Henry VII: A Poem in the Skelton Apocrypha, ELN, 16 (1978), 5-8.

SkJ 22.3

Copy, occurring in a herald's chronicle of ceremonial events in the reign of Henry VII.

Canon, D57, p. 18. Edited from this MS in Ashmole. Discussed and collated in Green.

A quarto heraldic miscellany, iv + 237 leaves.

Early 17th century

Once owned by Sir William Le Neve (1592-1661), Clarenceux King of Arms, and by Arthur, Earl of Anglesey.

SkJ 22.5

Copy, untitled, with two introductory lines beginning Englande now Roioysse fore Ioyous may thou bee, in a herald's chronicle of ceremonial events in the reign of Henry VII.

Edited from this MS in Green.

A folio volume of historical collections up to the time of Henry VIII, in professional secretary hands, 316 leaves, in modern half brown morocco on cloth boards gilt.

The British Library: Cotton MSS (Cotton MS Julius B. XII ff. 50v-1r)
SkJ 22.8

Copy, with introductory lines beginning Englande now reioyse, for ioyous may thow be.

A folio volume of accounts of state and ceremonial events in the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII, in a single professional secretary hand up to f. 76r, a second hand thereafter, including an index, 126 leaves (including remains of excised leaves), in 19th-century calf gilt.

Late 16th century

Bookplate of Horace Walpole (1717-97), fourth Earl of Orford, of Strawberry Hill, author, politician and patron of the arts. Bought from Thomas Thorpe, 14 October 1843.

The British Library: Egerton MSS (Egerton MS 985 f. 32v)
'Wofully araid'

Skelton wrote a Wofully araid but it is uncertain whether his version can be identified with any extant poem incorporating these words: see Canon, L118, pp. 32-3. First published in Sir John Hawkins, General History of the Science and Practice of Music (London, 1776), III, 2. Dyce (1843), I, 141-3.

SkJ 23

Copy of a 62-line version, in a four-part musical setting by William Cornish, untitled.

Edited from this MS in Hawkins; in Dyce; and in Early Tudor Songs and Carols, ed. John Stevens, Musica Britannica XXXVI (London, 1975), pp. 92-7.

A folio songbook, in a single formal rounded secretary hand, with rubrication and colour decoration of initial letters, 145 vellum leaves, in old red morocco gilt.

c.1500s

Inscribed (f. 1r), probably by the compiler or commissioner of the volume, Robertus Fayrfax Doctor in Musicis iacet sepidtus in Ecclesia Monasteriali Scj Albani: i.e. by Robert Fairfax (1464-1521), Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, composer. Later owned and inscribed by Ralph Thoresby (1658-1725), Yorkshire antiquary and topographer.

SkJ 24

Copy of a 62-line version, in a three-part musical setting by John Browne, untitled.

A folio songbook, in a single formal rounded secretary hand, with rubrication and colour decoration of initial letters, 145 vellum leaves, in old red morocco gilt.

c.1500s

Inscribed (f. 1r), probably by the compiler or commissioner of the volume, Robertus Fayrfax Doctor in Musicis iacet sepidtus in Ecclesia Monasteriali Scj Albani: i.e. by Robert Fairfax (1464-1521), Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, composer. Later owned and inscribed by Ralph Thoresby (1658-1725), Yorkshire antiquary and topographer.

SkJ 25 Early-mid-16th century

Copy of a short version in the form of a prayer, on vellum.

Edited from this MS in Carleton Brown, Religious Lyrics of the XVth Century (Oxford, 1939), pp. 156-8.

A miscellany or religious works, in verse and prose, on vellum.

SkJ 26

Copy of the first two stanzas, written on the last page.

Edited from this MS, with a facsimile of f. 65r of the main MS, in Quaritch's sale catalogue of Illuminated and other MSS (1931), item 66, and in catalogue No. 474 (1933), item 148.

A 15th-century MS of the office of the dead (use of Sarum) and Psalms, on parchment, ii + 100 leaves (130 x 90 mm.).

Among the collections of James P.R. Lyell (1871-1948), book collector.

Bodleian Library, other MSS (MS Lyell 24 f. 100)
SkJ 27

Copy of a longer version, in the hand of John Symson, in black and red ink, subscribed Explicit J Skelton.

This MS collated in Dyce. Edited in Walter De Gray Birch, A New Poem by John Skelton, Athenaeum (29 November 1873), p. 697.

Twenty-nine quarto leaves of MS verse, bound up before and after a printed exemplum of Pseudo-Boethius, De disciplina scholarium cum notabili commento (Deventer, 1496), in contemporary blind-stamped calf.

In the hand of one John Symson, who also inscribes the first page liber ioannus symson dmi xxi.

1521

Also inscribed on the first page Wm Herbert 1774: i.e. William Herbert (1718-95), bibliographer and print seller. Later in the library of Richard Heber (1774-1833), book collector. In the collection of Robert H. Taylor (1908-85), American book and manuscript collector.

Princeton (RHT 16th-86 ff. 2r-3r)
SkJ 27.5

Copy by Haslewood of a 55-line version.

Edited in Carlson, pp. 69-70, 72-3.

A small collection of poems by or attributed to Skelton, in the hand of Joseph Haslewood (1769-1833), bibliographer and antiquary, at least some transcribed from earlier MS sources, 47 folio pages, disbound.

c.1808-33

Later in the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), manuscript and book collector: Phillipps MS 10112.

Quoted and discussed in David Carlson, Joseph Haslewood's Manuscript Collection of Unpublished Poems by John Skelton, PBSA, 81 (1987), 65-74.

Prose

The Bibliotheca Historica of Diodorus Siculus

Skelton's English translation of Diodorus Siculus from the Latin version of Poggio Bracciolini. Canon, C50, pp. 14-15. First published in London, 1956-7, ed. F.M. Salter and H.L.R. Edwards, 2 vols, EETS, 233 and 239.

SkJ 28

Copy, in three professional hands, with annotations in later hands, imperfect.

Early 16th century

Once owned by Robert Pen, a Gentleman of the Chapel under Henry VII and Henry VIII.

Edited from this MS in Salter and Edwards, with reduced facsimiles of ff. 73r and 247r in Vol. I, frontispiece.

Complaint

See SkJ 29.

Speculum principis

Canon, C51, p. 15. First published in F.M. Salter, Skelton's Speculum Principis, Speculum 9 (1934), 25-37.

SkJ 29

Fair copy on vellum, followed by Latin verses (SkJ 4 and SkJ 8) and Skelton's complaint to the King (headed, Skeltonis Laureatus, didasculus quondam Regius, etc., tacitus secum in soliloquio ceu vir totus obliuioni datus aut tanquam mortuus a corde, etc.), imperfect and lacking title.

Edited from this MS in Salter. Portions edited from this MS, with a translation, in Carlson, pp. 34-45. Facsimiles of parts of ff. 2r and 29r in Petti, English Literary Hands, Nos. 14, 15 (where it is suggested that the MS is autograph, but see P.J. Croft's review in TLS (24 February 1978), p. 241).

An octavo MS of Speculum principis, in a formal hand, in black and red ink with some engrossed lettering and decoration, 30 vellum leaves, in contemporary leather on boards stamped with the Tudor royal arms and initials H A.

Dedicated to Prince Henry (Henry VIII), dated from Eltham, 28 August 1501, and probably Skelton's presentation MS to Henry.

c.1509-10

Possibly once in Lincoln Cathedral Library. Inscribed (f. 1r on an affixed slip) Mr Bramley, late of Acton, Jemima Sewall[?], Geo Murray...Mar 1854. Purchased from Puttick & Simpson's, 15 July 1865, lot 838.

Facsimile of ff. 21v-2r in Henry VIII Man and Monarch, ed. Susan Doran (British Library, London, 2009), p. 30.

Annotations in Printed Books

Chronique de Rains

Canon, C31, pp. 9-10.

*SkJ 30
Autograph

Skelton's autograph annotations and dedications, including two Latin dedicatory poems beginning Quamvis annosa and I, liber, et propera, regem tu pronus adora and an English verse beginning That ever Englond had.

In a 15th-century French MS chronicle of the Third Crusade and exploits of Richard Coeur de Lion, a MS used by Skelton to teach history to Henry VIII when a Prince and presented to him after his accession to the throne.

[1511-12]

Parts of the dedications edited from this MS in James Nasmith, Catalogus librorum manuscriptorum quos Collegio Corporis Christi legavit Matthaeus Parker (Cambridge, 1777), p. 400, and in Dyce, I, 147. The dedications edited from this MS, with translations, in Carlson, pp. 45-6. See also H.L.R. Edwards, The Dating of Skelton's Later Poems, PMLA, 53.i (1938), 601-19.

Facsimile pages in William Nelson, John Skelton, Laureate (New York, 1939), after p. 116 and p. 174; in Petti, English Literary Hands, No. 16 (part of f. 1v); and in Henry VIII Man and Monarch, ed. Susan Doran (British Library, London, 2009), p. 31 (f. 7r).

SkJ 31

Copy by Haslewood of Skelton's two autograph Latin poems in SkJ 30.

Carlson, pp. 67-8.

A small collection of poems by or attributed to Skelton, in the hand of Joseph Haslewood (1769-1833), bibliographer and antiquary, at least some transcribed from earlier MS sources, 47 folio pages, disbound.

c.1808-33

Later in the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), manuscript and book collector: Phillipps MS 10112.

Quoted and discussed in David Carlson, Joseph Haslewood's Manuscript Collection of Unpublished Poems by John Skelton, PBSA, 81 (1987), 65-74.

Terentii Comoediæ, cum Commento Guidonis Juvenalis (Lyons, 1497)
SkJ 32

Printed exemplum, allegedly bearing on the verso of the last flyleaf manuscript notes and memoranda in different old handwritings, some probably by John Skelton, Poet Laureate.

c.1500?

Recorded in Mark English, Lost Autographs of John Skelton, David Lindsay, and Thomas More?, N&Q, 248 (December 2003), 385.

Untraced, miscellaneous ([Terence Comedies])

Apocryphal Poems

Elegy on King Henry the Seventh ('O wauering worlde all wrapped in wretchidnes')

Canon, R60, pp. 19-20. Edited in Dyce, II, 399-400.

See HaS 3.

'Hoyda joly rutterkin hoyda'

Canon, R62, p. 20. Edited in Sir John Hawkins, A General History of the Science and Practice of Music (London, 1776), III, 2. In a musical setting by William Cornish, in Early Tudor Songs and Carols, ed. John Stevens, Musica Britannica XXXVI (London, 1975), pp. 132-4.

SkJ 33

Copy, in a musical setting by William Cornish.

Edited from this MS in Stevens.

A folio songbook, in a single formal rounded secretary hand, with rubrication and colour decoration of initial letters, 145 vellum leaves, in old red morocco gilt.

c.1500s

Inscribed (f. 1r), probably by the compiler or commissioner of the volume, Robertus Fayrfax Doctor in Musicis iacet sepidtus in Ecclesia Monasteriali Scj Albani: i.e. by Robert Fairfax (1464-1521), Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, composer. Later owned and inscribed by Ralph Thoresby (1658-1725), Yorkshire antiquary and topographer.

The Image of Ypocresye

Canon, R64, p. 21. 2544 lines, attributed to Skelton in Thomas Hearne, Peter Langtoft's Chronicle (Oxford, 1725), II, 684-7. Full text in Dyce, II, 413-47.

SkJ 34

Copy, widely spaced, in a secretary hand, the first line illegible, 155 folio leaves, in modern half-morocco.

Inscribed (f. 1r) This Book I borrow'd of James West Esqr. To be Returned on Demand &c. / Tho: Martin / In his Leaue I haue Transcrib'd it and, in another hand, The transcript is in the possession of Rich Heber Esqr. who bought it at Dr. Farmer's sale. Also inscribed Le Neve Norroy AD 1724 posessorem libri, and with bookplate of Shelburne.

SkJ 35

Transcript of the Lansdowne MS (SkJ 34), made by Thomas Martin (1697-1771), of Palgrave, Suffolk, antiquary and collector, 84 leaves, dated 23 February 1738.

1738

Inscribed by the Rev. Richard Farmer, FSA (1735-97), Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, literary scholar. A note dated 19 June [1798] by Mr Ritson returning the MS to Richard Heber (1774-1833), book collector. Thorpe's sale catalogue, 1836, item 1173, bought by Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), manuscript and book collector: Phillipps MS 9261. Sotheby's, 26 March 1895 (Phillipps sale), lot 1041.

The Manner of the World Now a Dayes ('So many poynted caps')

Canon, R65, p. 21. Published in London, c.1562. Dyce, I, 148-54.

SkJ 36

Copy.

A largely late-15th-century folio cartulary book of Missenden Abbey, Buckinghamshire, with some miscellaneous entries interspersed, 100 leaves.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 747 ff. 88v-9r)
Masteres Anne

Canon, R66, p. 21. Edited in The Romans of Partenay, ed. Walter W. Skeat, EETS 22 (London, 1866), p. vi.

SkJ 37

Copy.

Edited from this MS in Skeat.

A manuscript volume principally of The Romance of Earl Raymond of Poitiers.

15th century
Trinity College, Cambridge (MS R. 3. 17 (James 597) [vellum flyleaf])
Non meministi

Canon, R67, pp. 21-2. Edited by Ian A. Gordon in TLS (20 September 1934), p. 636.

SkJ 38

Copy.

Edited from this MS in Gordon.

A folio miscellany chiefly of heraldic and historical collections, in a single secretary hand, with rubrication, 418 leaves.

Compiled by Robert Commaundre (d.1613), rector of Tarporley, Cheshire, and chaplain to Sir Henry Sydney, Lord President of the Marches of Wales.

Late 16th-early 17th century
The British Library: Egerton MSS (Egerton MS 2642 f. 250v)
Petevelly constrayned am Y

Canon, R68, p. 22. Edited in Ewald Flügel, Liedersammlungen des XVI. Skelton, Athenaeum (29 November 1873), p. 697.

SkJ 39

Copy of a long version, beginning Thofe I doo syng my hert doth wepe, in a musical setting by Robert Cooper.

Edited from this MS in Ewald Flügel, Liedersammlungen des XVI. Jahrhunderts, besonders aus der Zeit Heinrich's VIII, Anglia, 12 (1889), 225-72 (pp. 266-7).

An oblong quarto volume of madrigals and other musical works, the lyrics in two or more secretary hands, 60 leaves, in half-morocco, stamped in gilt on both covers 1757.

Early 16th century
The British Library, Music Books and Manuscripts (Royal MS App. 58 ff. 19v-21r)
SkJ 40 Late 15th century

Copy.

Edited from this MS in Flügel.

Twenty-nine quarto leaves of MS verse, bound up before and after a printed exemplum of Pseudo-Boethius, De disciplina scholarium cum notabili commento (Deventer, 1496), in contemporary blind-stamped calf.

In the hand of one John Symson, who also inscribes the first page liber ioannus symson dmi xxi.

1521

Also inscribed on the first page Wm Herbert 1774: i.e. William Herbert (1718-95), bibliographer and print seller. Later in the library of Richard Heber (1774-1833), book collector. In the collection of Robert H. Taylor (1908-85), American book and manuscript collector.

Princeton (RHT 16th-86 pp. 5-6)
The Recule ageinst Gaguyne of the Frenshe Nacyoun

Canon, L106, p. 30. A lost piece; doubtfully identified in Friedrich Brie, Skelton-Studien, ES, 37 (1907), 1-86 (pp. 31-2), with SkJ 41.

SkJ 41

Seven lines, beginning How darest thou swere or be so bold also.

A quarto notebook, 74 leaves.

Late 15th century
Trinity College, Cambridge (MS O. 2. 53 (James 1157) f. 66)
Vexilla regis

Canon, L117, p. 32. A lost piece; doubtfully identified by Dyce (I, 144-6; II, 199) with verses beginning Now synge we, as we were wont, first printed in Christmas Carolles [c.1550] and in MS versions including: British Library (Add. MS 37049, f. 67v; Arundel MS 285, ff. 164v-8, edited in Carlton Brown, Religious Lyrics of the XVth Century (Oxford, 1939), pp. 151-6); and Edinburgh University Library (MS Borl. 205, f. 201, edited in Pieces from the Makculloch and the Gray MSS, ed. George Stevenson, STS 65 (Edinburgh & London, 1918), pp. 35-6).

SkJ 42

Edited from this MS in Pieces from the Makculloch and the Gray MSS, ed. George Stevenson, STS 65 (Edinburgh & London, 1918), pp. 35-6).

A folio volume of lecture notes on logic written in Louvain in 1477 by Magnus Makculloch, clerk to Archbishop William Schevez (d.1497), iii + 202 leaves, imperfect at the end, in modern brown calf gilt.

Chiefly in one professional secretary hand, with some engrossed lettering, in double columns, another hand, one Johannes, possibly John Purde, on pages including ff. iiv-iiir, 86r-7r, 181v, 183v, and 200r-2r.

Owned by David Laing in 1854.

Edinburgh University Library (MS Borl. 205 f. 201)
Vox Populi, Vox Dei ('I pray yow, be not wrothe')

Canon, R70, pp. 22-3. First published in Sir John Littledale's Roxburghe Club edition of Skelton's Magnyfysence (London, 1821). Edited in Dyce, II, 400-13.

SkJ 43

Copy.

Edited from this MS in Littledale.

A folio composite volume of miscellaneous papers, in verse and prose, in various hands, including that of John Stow (1524/5-1605), London historian, 192 leaves, in 19th-century half-leather gilt.

SkJ 44 Late 16th-early 17th century

Copy, in a neat secretary hand, as by Mr Skeltone poete Lawriate.

A small quarto volume comprising two separate MSS, 24 leaves, in later half-calf boards.

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