Manuscript M.775 in the Morgan Library is a book (codex) made in the late 15th century that is a compilation of various works, mostly on the topic of Chivalry. The working title of it is “Ordonances of Chivalry” but this was given to it in the 19th century. It is often referred to as “The Hastings Manuscript” after a previous owner, the Lord Hastings, who owned it in the late 19th century.
It is now owned by and housed at the Morgan Library in New York City. The Morgan Library has graciously given me permission to reproduce digital images of this manuscript on this site (and Academia.edu eventually) as I publish my research into it. If you would like to obtain permission to re-publish the images, you will need to get permission from the Morgan Library. Permission to use the images you need may be obtained here.
The analysis on this site is my work with the help of others and each author including myself maintain copyright on our own work. Please use the contact form on this site if you’d like to reproduce my research. I make it available here, free of charge for the sake of open research and education.
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Contents
This manuscript contains the following works, and my research will be linked below as it becomes available. I’ve created an index of each page in the PDF of scans I was sent. This is a labor of love and will likely take a little time as I learn to read the writing and modernize the Middle English. (Note: The folios pages link to the original scans of the manuscript.)
Background on the book coming soon.
| PDF of Scans | Content | Transcription/Modernization |
|---|---|---|
| fols 0-2v | Front Matter | N/A |
| fols 3r-4v | Abilment for the Jusus of the Pees | Needs proofreading. |
| fols. 5r-11v | Memoriale – a table for calculating daily and yearly expenses | Work in Progress |
| fols. 12r-13v | The Assize of Bread and Ale, and tables of Weights and Measures | Work in Progress |
| fols. 14r-15r | Poem on the Coronation of Henry VI in 1429 | Work in Progress |
| fols. 25r-121v | Vegetius, De re militari, an English translation completed for Thomas Lord Berkeley | Not started yet. |
| fols. 122v-123v | How a man schall be armyd at his ese when he schal fighte on foote | Essay on this is here. |
| fols. 124r-130r | Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, Letter to Richard II on Tournaments | Not started yet. |
| fols. 131r-138v | Sailing directions | Not started yet. |
| fols. 139r-195r | Aristotle, Secreta Secretorum, translated into English verse by John Lydgate and Benedict Burgh | Not started yet. |
| fols. 195v-198r | How Knyghtis of the bath shulde be made | Not started yet. |
| fol. 199r | To make agua composyta (added in a slightly later hand) | Not started yet. |
| fol. 200r | Last page or prologue of a poem in English beginning: I that to youre service wolde were able and ending: The pore effecte of my litill konnynge | Not started yet. |
| fol. 200-274v | Christine de Pizan, Pistill of Othea to Hector; translated into English verse, with a gloss in prose | Not started yet. |
| fol. 275r | Recipe for a powder | Not started yet. |
| fols. 275v-282v | The Challenges of Pierre de Masse and Philip Boyle and the results of their combats with Sir John Astley in 1438 and 1441-1442, followed by the oath of a herald on appointment | Not started yet. |
| fols. 283r-291r: | Calendar in Latin, thunder prognostications, astrological tables and diagrams | Not started yet. |
| fols. 293r-320r | Parvus Cato and Magnus Cato, translated into English verse by Benedict Burgh | Not started yet. |
| fol. 320r | John Lydgate, Four Things that make a Man a Fool | Not started yet. |
| fol. 320v | Medical recipes. | Not started yet. |
| fol. 321r-end | End Matter | N/A |