Four of the chief English grammarians of the 16th century were connected
with Magdalen College Grammar School at Oxford. The first master was
John Anwykyll (1481?-87); the first usher and second master was John
Stanbridge (1481?-88, 1488–94, _d._ 1510); John Holte, the author of the
©Lac Puerorum©, was master; and Robert Whittington was Stanbridge’s
pupil at the school. Dean Colet, William Lily and Cardinal Wolsey were
also members of Magdalen (see Bloxam’s ©Register of Magdalen College©,
iii., ad init.). Of the Latin Grammar in Latin which is now before us
and has been assigned with probability by Bradshaw to Anwykyll, no
complete copy is known, but it was reprinted at Deventer in 1489. The
©Vulgaria Terentii© occurs also separately, and consists of sentences
from Terence with English translation.
There appear to be two different editions of this Grammar (not
Vulgaria), for it can be shown that the Cambridge fragments are not of
the same edition as the Bodleian book. Not only, for instance, are the
contents of sign. h 3 in each entirely different, but the signatures
themselves are in different type, and in the Corpus (Cambridge) fragment
the signature is n 3, and yet it belongs to the Compendium and not the
Vulgaria. The height of the printed page also varies considerably, and
the width of the Vulgaria pages is less than that of the Grammar. The
subject needs further investigation.
_Parts known._
1. London—British Museum, Vulgaria Terentii only, with written date at
end 5 Jan. 1500/1. Marked C. 33. i. 3.
2. Oxford—Bodleian. A fragment containing signn. fg^8hk^6lm^8 and
(Vulgaria) n-q^8. Sign. i probably contained the Tertia pars
grammaticae. With the Condover Hall (Cholmondeley) bookplate:
bought by the Bodleian from Quaritch in 1892: in whose Rough List,
no. 124, May 1892, it is priced £100. Now marked Inc. e. E 2
1483/1.
3. Oxford—Bodleian. The Vulgaria only, bound first in a volume
containing also P. P. Vergerii de ingenuis moribus liber (Louvain,
Joh. de Westphalia, n. d.), and Adelardi Quaestiones (n. pl. or
d.). The following interesting inscription is in it:—“1483. Frater
Johannes grene emit hunc librum Oxoñ de elemosinis amicorum
suorum.” In plain 15th cent. binding. Owned also by Henry Strathyn
at Bedford, John Uncle, Robert Hunter (all 16th cent.). Bought by
the Bodleian at the T. Thomson sale Jan. 1866 (lot 1068) for £36.
Marked Auct. R. supra 2.
4. Cambridge—University Library. The Vulgaria only. Bound originally
in a volume containing Perotti Erudimenta Grammatices (Par. 1488):
Opusculum quintu-pertitum grammaticale (Gouda, 1486); Ars
Epistolandi Jac. P(ublicii) (n. pl. or d.); the Vulgaria; Matheoli
Perusini tractatus de memoria (n. pl. or d.). Marked AB. 5. 16. 4.