“M[emorandum] that I dame Margaret Hasley ladi and sister of the Meneresie [Minoresses] of London have be [by] the lecense of my sovren geve this boke to the use of Dame Anne Bassynburne sister of the same Priory and after hir death to the comforte of hir sisters and not to be geve nor lent without the place aforesaid. On whos soule God have mercy. Amen.”
Pore Caitif (Poor Wretch)
Possibly Dame Margaret Hasley, scribe
ca. 15th century CE, London, Kingdom of England (present-day United Kingdom)
Ink on paper in 16th-century black Moroccan leather binding
The Pore Caitif (or Poor Wretch), an anonymous English devotional manual written in the late fourteenth century CE, was intended for a lay audience, yet found itself entwined with monastic lives of the period. What sets this copy apart is its remarkable provenance and the intimate connection it reveals between two nuns, Dame Margaret Hasley and Dame Anne Bassynburne, sisters of the Minoresses of London. The book’s final page includes a personal inscription written by Hasley, gifting the volume to Bassynburne, and instructions that after her death it should remain in their Priory. Intriguingly, the handwriting of Hasley’s inscription seems to closely match the main text of the book, suggesting that she may have been the scribe of this manual herself. This book thus emerges not only as a manual of spiritual guidance, but as a tangible link to the lived experiences of medieval women, highlighting their agency in shaping their own devotional practices.
Joseph R. Kopta
Digitized manuscript at Temple Digital Collections
Bibliotheca Philadelphiensis repository
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