Parr (Catherine, Queen of England and Ireland, sixth consort of Henry VIII, 1512-48) Prayers or meditations wherein the mind is Stirred patiently to suffre all afflictions here to sette at naughte the vaine prosperitee of this worlde, and allwaie to longe for the everlasting felicitie: collected out of certaine holy woorkes by the moste vertuous and gracious Catharine Quene of Englande, france, and Irelande... 1545, manuscript in Tudor English, on vellum, in girdle-book format, 9pp. only (not complete, text in the main hand ends with paragraph beginning "Beholde therefore good Lorde", and after this the following paragraph in another hand beginning "Haue mercy on mee"), prayers and meditations title and text and a duplicate of the title in a contemporary mid century Tudor hand, other manuscript prayers including 2pp. of prayers at beginning ("Replenish my harte (Lord)" derived from Psalm 119) and 16pp. of prayers in two other contemporary Tudor hands, c. 20pp. of religious text at end in several hands in early 17th-century script and culminating in ownership inscription of Mary Woodcock dated 1721, together c. 47pp. excluding blanks, ALs from HL Thompson (1870s) of Christ Church, Oxford, to Mr Waters (having consulting the Bodleian Library) identifying the manuscript loosely inserted, original crimson velvet, worn and rubbed but retaining much of its colour, remains of ties, 103 x 75mm., n.p., n.d. [c. 1550 & later].

⁂ Probably written as an exercise by a young Tudor lady of high status.

"Catherine... ordered multiple copies of her own Prayers or Medytacions... (1545) for distribution to her ladies. Four of the printed copies were bound in crimson velvet; she particularly favoured the daughter of Sir Brian Tuke, Master of the Posts, by presenting her with a manuscript version, written in girdle-book format, kept in the Mayor's Parlour at Kendal, Cumbria... ." - James P Carley. The Books of Henry VIII and his Wives, p. 138, 2004.

"Prayers or Meditations, issued on 29 May 1545, appeared under... [Catherine's] own name, the first work ever published by an English queen. Prayers or Meditations consists of two parts, a paraphrase of portions of chapter 3 of Thomas à Kempis's The Imitation of Christ, with interpolated original material, and a compilation of five original prayers written by the queen, particularly an extraordinary one for men to say when going into battle." - Oxford DNB.