The sixteenth-century manuscript contains a copy of Katherine Parr’s Praieres or meditacions (1545) and Richard Taverner’s An epitome of the Psalmes (1539), plus two as-yet unidentified prayers. Our current theory is that it was written by members of a gentry household, due to the fact that it includes several different hands – possibly as many as six. The manuscript may have been used by members of a gentry household as an exercise book, possibly as a devotional aid for personal use, as carefully copying out texts in itself may have been an act of faith.

Katherine Parr (1512-1448) was the sixth consort of Henry VIII, who took over the fabric and endowments of Wolsey’s Cardinal College after Wolsey’s fall and death and re-designated them as King Henry VIII’s College. Katherine had an extensive involvement in intellectual patronage and was committed to providing cheaply priced works in the vernacular as support for religious reformation. Her 1545 Prayers or Meditations was the first book published by an English queen and it represented Katherine’s attempt to provide English readers, including Henry VIII, with a private counterpart to Cranmer’s Litany of 1544.

Although we unfortunately know nothing about the manuscript’s 16th-century provenance, its contemporary red velvet binding, high-quality vellum, and neat scripts suggest that it was owned by a family or group of high status, possibly members of the gentry class or even nobility. It eventually found its way into the hands of one Mary Woodcock in 1725, whose inscriptions still survive on folios 34v and 36r: 'Mary Woodcock Hir Book 1725'.

The manuscript has been digitised and can be seen on Digital Bodleian. It is freely available for research and has already been used in teaching sessions for Christ Church students. We would be delighted to share it with Old Members who would like to see it (contact the Library for more details).

Sophie Bacchus-Waterman, Digitisation Assistant, Christ Church Library.