Merton College MS. 153
Former shelfmark: M. 3. 4.
HUGH OF ST CHER; S. XV (before 1466)
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Fols. ii, iii blank. On fols. iiv and iiiv are titles in hands of s. xvii.
Fols. 107v-9v blank;
Pr. Basel 1504; Stegmüller, Bibl. 3647, 3649, 3651, 3653, 3656, 3658, 3661. 3667, 3669, 3671, 3673.
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
Ruled with fine pencil in 2 cols of 60 lines.
Hand(s)
Fols. 1–121v by the scribe of MS 150 (bookhand of the professional scribe Henry Mere), whose work gradually deteriorates; fols. 122–81v in the formal bookhand, using anglicana and secretary forms, of Colyngbourne. Perhaps the professional scribe Thomas Colyngbourne, for whom see M. B. Parkes, English Cursive Book Hands (2nd edn., London, 1979), pl. 24(i), HUO 2. 415 n. 39. He wrote Bodl. Libr., Digby 172, fols. 25–52v, at Oxford between 1427 and 1451, Magdalen Coll., lat. 154, in 1448, and lat. 156. At first he writes the lemmata in slightly larger script, but gradually abandons this. His work is not as good as the Continental scribes of this set.
Decoration
In the style of MS 150 (large initials, typical English professional work of the period): on fol. 1 an 8-line I with 3-sided border, otherwise champe initials on fols. 20v, 36v, 53v, 67v, 72, 85, 94v, 101v, 110, 115, 120, 123, 124. Blue initials flourished in red; small plain red or blue initials as far as fol. 107; red underlining as far as fol. 130; red running heads between ruled lines, with blue paraphs, as far as fol. 122. Near the foot of fol. iiv, in a rough anglicana hand, is a decorator’s count of work, apparently not in this book: ‘half a venyt | 200 & halfe and vi champys | x spryngetis | 400 and half and xi parafys’. Separately, ‘iiij golde letteris’.
Binding
Late medieval, repaired, tawed skin (once pink) over flush, slightly chamfered oak boards; sewn on seven bands raised on the spine and outlined with string; plain endbands. Formerly chained from a brass staple at the foredge of the front board near the foot, from near the head of the foredge at the back, and from the large iron staple near the foot of the rear board. Two straps from recesses in the front board to catches at the rear, all gone. fols. i, 183 are modern paper blanks.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
At the head of fol. iiiv is Sever’s ex dono, as in MS 150. Also ‘O. 5. 4. Art:’, s. xvii, canc. and replaced with ‘M. 3. 4 (CLIII)’ in red.
On fol. iivis the College bookplate. ‘4’ is inked on the foredge.
Record Sources
Availability
For enquiries relating to this manuscript please contact Merton College Library.
Bibliography
Funding of Cataloguing
Conversion of the printed catalogue to TEI funded by the Warden and Fellows of Merton College .
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2019-06-21: First online publication