This manuscript is written in the mid-fifteenth-century Norfolk dialect and was held in Hopton Hall in Derbyshire for centuries.   It is an anthology of religious prose and verse in medieval English.  Among others, a Lay Folks' Catechism and The Abbey of the Holy Ghost are to be found in this manuscript; these are the exegeses of Christian doctrine and dogmatic prose works which were widely known in the late Middle Ages.  There are also a few other religious prose pieces unique to this manuscript and as yet unpublished.

     In the Middle Ages, when the language of manuscripts was predominantly Latin, manuscripts in English were rather rare. They are therefore academically valuable today. The Hopton Hall manuscript is one of the most significant for scholars now working on Middle English literature.

     Manuscript on vellum, 43 1eaves, lacking a gathering after folio 28, otherwise complete, 36−40 lines per page written in brown ink in a small English cursive bookhand, about 50 decorated initials (2-lines high) in dark blue ink with red penwork extenders, headings and names of authorities in red, some staining and wear especially at the beginning and end, but generally in good original condition, stitched into vellum wrappers formed of an English document of 9 December 1659. 193×131 mm.

     A Middle English prose and verse anthology of ten verse and prose texts, seven of which are unique.