Digital Index of Middle English Verse: No. 709

DIMEV 709

IMEV 430.5

NIMEV 430.5

At my beginning Christ me speed

A tag to be learned as a child, or at beginning of a book — one couplet

Note: Ringler Jr. (1992)

XRingler Jr., William A. Bibliography and Index of English Verse in Manuscript 1501-1558. London: Mansell, 1992; prepared and completed by Michael Rudick and Susan J. Ringler

, TM 220; same as opening of 708 and 712; see also 2546.

Subjects: instruction, father to son; children, instructions for behaviour of; scribes

Versification: — two-line — aa

Bibliographic Ghosts: Dublin, Trinity College, Dublin 174: only the Latin version, ‘Domine sancte pater omnipotens sempiterne deus qui nos ad principium huius diei pervenire fecisti tua nos’.

Manuscript Witnesses:

1.Source: Oxford, Bodleian Library Tanner 178 (STC5572), f. 1v

Transcription:

At ourer begynnyng god be my spede
Wyth grase an vartv to prosede

Note: Written by a hand of the fifteenth century into lower margin.

2.Source: Cambridge UK, Cambridge University Library Addit. 3042, f. 2v

Transcription:

At my be gennynge god be my sped
In grace And uertue to prosede

Note: Added to blank folio by a fifteenth-century hand.

3.Source: Cambridge UK, Cambridge University Library Ii.6.36, f. 2v

Transcription:

At my begynnyg Crist me spede
In vereb and lernyg for to spede
In vereb and lernyg for to spede

Note: Added to originally blank flyleaf by an inexperienced hand.

4.Source: London, British Library Harley 3362, f. 89

Note: Copied three times as pen trials.

5.Source: London, British Library Royal 12 E.XVI, f. 186v

Transcription:

In mine begininge god be my good sped
In grace and vertue to procede

Note: Copied twice as pen trials. The version quoted appears upside down at the foot of the folio and the following variant appears at the head: ‘In the beginnyng god bi my sped / In…and vertu to prosed and’.

6.Source: Durham, Durham University Library Cosin V.iii.9, f. 17v

Transcription:

In the begynnyng god my speade
wythe ggrace & vertu

Note: Added to lower margin by a fifteenth-century hand.

Facsimiles:

Burrow, John, and A. I. Doyle, eds. Thomas Hoccleve: A Facsimile of the Autograph Verse Manuscripts. EETS s.s. 19 (2002).

Editions:

Furnivall, Frederick James, ed. Hoccleve’s Works: The Minor Poems. vol. 1. EETS e.s. 61 (1892); repr. with Gollancz (1925)

XGollancz, Israel. Hoccleve’s Works: The Minor Poems. vol. 2. EETS e.s. 73 (1925); repr. with 61, 1970

73; rev. J. Mitchell and A. Ian Doyle, 1970: 126.

7.Source: Lincoln, Lincoln Cathedral Library 189, f. 5v

Transcription:

In my begeninge god be my sped
in grace and vertue to proced

Note: Added (twice) to blank space after table of contents by a fifteenth-century hand.

8.Source: Cambridge MA, Harvard University, Houghton Library, Eng. 752 [olim *27282. 67.10; priorAshburnham 131], f. 184

Transcription:

In my Beginninge god be my spede
In grayce and vertue for to procede

Note: Signed ‘By me Thomas Kynton’ (f. 184).

Facsimiles:

Lydgate, John. Troy book : manuscript, [14--]. MS Eng 752. Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. [digital facsimile of Harvard, Houghton Library MS Eng 752 (http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.HOUGH:1192991)].

9.Source: Cambridge MA, Harvard University, Houghton Library, Richardson 35, f. 56ra

Transcription:

In my begynnyng god be me spyd
In grase and virtu for to prosyd

Note: Added by a later hand to space between chapters 161 and 162 of prose Brut.

10.Source: New York, Pierpont Morgan Library B5, f. 60v

Transcription:

At my beginyng god me spede
In grace and vertu to procede

Note: Marginal note, here with additional prose note; usually couplet opening.

11.Source: San Marino, CA, Henry Huntington Library HM 125 [olim Groves], f. 95v

Transcription:

In my begynynge god be my good spede
In grace & vertue all waye to prosed[e]

Note: Added to left margin, bottom to top, by a hand of the sixteenth century; signed ‘Chrystefer Byrkheade’ in right margin.

Editions:

Dutschke, C. W. Guide to Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Huntington Library. 2 vols. San Marino, CA: Huntington Library, 1989: 1.157.

12.Source: San Marino, CA, Henry Huntington Library HM 126 [olim Essex], f. iii

Transcription:

In my begenenge god be my sped
in Graes and vertu to prosed

Note: By a hand of the seventeenth century.

13.Source: Dublin, Trinity College, Dublin 340, f. 166

Transcription:

In my be gynnynge god be w[ ]
In grace and werte to procede

Note: Scribble in originally blank column added by a fifteenth-cnetury hand.