Merton College MS. 241
Former shelfmark: C. 1. 16
GEOFFREY BABIO, DEFENSOR &c.; S. XI ex., XII 2/4
Contents
Language(s): Latin
f. irv blank. The stubs (one preceding, two following f. i, two more following fols. 59 and 67) were all cut from the same small book, English s. xiii, an astronomical text with marginal notes.
Physical Description
Collation
Binding
Standard Merton s. xvii; sewn on four bands; formerly chained from the usual position. f. i was a pastedown in an earlier binding, which had an iron chain-staple from the front foredge near the foot.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Probably made at and for Exeter Cathedral.
On f. 1v is a formal table of contents on ruled lines, which includes items now lost: ‘Haec continentur in hoc uolumine | Versus de monacho captiuo | Multi sermones | Excepciones Ysidori de diuersis uirtutibus | Expositio missae per uersus | Itinerarium Ierusolimitanorum | Descriptio sanctorum locorum | Excerptum ex gestis regum Francorum | Vita Willelmi nobilissimi regis Anglorum | Epitaphium eiusdem | Hystoria Appollonii Tyriensis | Liber Gildae sapientis de excidio Britanniae et quaedam pulchra miracula | Prophetia Merlini.’ The fine English hand of s. xii1, and the format, look very like the tables of contents found in manuscripts of that date or earlier from Exeter Cathedral.
At least some of the missing items were apparently still there in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries: John Bale (Appendix C, no. 58) mentions the ‘Vita Guilhelmi Anglorum regis’, beg. ‘Pater huius Guilhelmi fuit Robertus dux Normannorum’ (= Breuis Relatio de Guillelmo Nobilissimo, ed. RHS, Camden 5th ser, 10 [1997], 7–48), and the Gildas at least went missing between 1600 and 1620: Edward Browncker, from Wadham College, to Archbishop James Ussher: ‘It is true, according to Dr. James his Catalogue, there was one Gildas in Merton Colledge Library, but he was Gildas Sapiens, not Gildas Albanius, whom Pitts says was the author of the book entituled, De Victoria Aurelii Ambrosii [i.e. the Historia Britonum]; neither is that Gildas Sapiens now to be seen in Merton Colledge, he has been cut out of the book whereunto he was annexed’ (R. Parr, The Life of ... James Ussher ... with a Collection of Three Hundred Letters ... [London, 1686], p. 72). The title ‘de excidio’ in the table of contents suggests the genuine work of Gildas; however, William of Worcester (Itinerary, ed. and transl. J. H. Harvey [OMT, 1969], p. 278) made extracts in 1480 ‘de libro Gilde sapientis ... in collegio Mertonis Oxonie’, and they show that what he saw was a copy of the Gesta Britonum commonly ascribed to Gildas.
Given to the College in 1374 by William Reed, fellow from 1344, still in 1357, d. 1385, for whom see MS 8: UO49. 48.
Inside the front board is a sheet of paper with ‘F. 4, 3’ (canc.) and titles, s. xvii, including ‘Multi sermones; et [desiderantur inserted] alii tractatus.’ Also ‘P. 3. 8. Act:’, canc. and replaced with ‘C. 1. 16 (CCXLI)’ in red; the College bookplate.
Merton College MS. 241 – Part I (fols. 1–17v)
Contents
Language(s): Latin
f. 1, of which only the upper half remains, is blank. On f. 1v is a formal table of contents on ruled lines, which includes items now lost (see provenance).
Pr. from this, the unique copy, by L. R. Lind, The Vita S. Malchi of Reginald of Canterbury (Urbana Ill., 1942), pp. 153–76; WIC 2434; BHL 5190d.
WIC 1710, also in Bodl. Libr., Add. C. 93, f. 1v (s. xv, English), and Angers, Bibl. mun. 303 (s. xii, Saint-Aubin).
Physical Description
Layout
Blind-ruled in 34 long lines.
Hand(s)
Art. 1 is written in an expert early protogothic bookhand of Norman type; another rewrites f. 3 lines 20–2, and another art. 2. All are of Exeter-Durham appearance.
Decoration
On f. 2 a handsome 10-line initial C of Norman type (perhaps by the artist of the Carilef Bible, Durham Cath. A. 1. 1), outlined in ink of text, enclosing twining foliage stroked with red and green, on a dark-blue ground. Red or green initials begin each line of art. 1, changing to red or blue art. 2.
History
Merton College MS. 241 – Part II (fols. 18–95v)
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Babio 48, 47, 28, 49, 41, 50, 1, 69, 8, 80, 51, 70, Ps.-Augustine 271, Babio 13, 16
Babio 20, 23, 22, 24, (Ivo of Chartres 15), 3–5, 7, 62, 9, 18, (Ivo 6–8), 83, 2, 6, 10–12, 14–15, 17, 19, 21, 25–7, 29–33.
F. Liverani, Spicilegium Liberianum (Florence, 1863), p. 58. Ivo as in PL 162, Babio pr. as Hildebert in PL 171.
Extracts from 27 chapters.
Excerpted from cc. 31–45, 16 above not in Defensor, 4, 7, 6, 8–14, 16. The full text ed. CCSL 117/1 (1957), pp. 1–234; H.-M. Rochais, ‘Contribution à l’histoire des florilèges ascétiques du haut moyen age latin: le “liber scintillarum”’, RB 63 (1953), 246–91, esp. 270–4.
Physical Description
Layout
Fols. 18–33, 77–84v blind-ruled, the rest with crayon, in 41 long lines. Fols. 34–84 pricked in both margins.
Hand(s)
Written in expert English protogothic bookhands: (1) fols. 18–33 line 10, 77–84v; (2) fols. 33 line 11 – 56v; (3) very variable, but probably a single hand, fols. 57–76v, fols. 85–94v.
Decoration
Plain red or green initials, some with a little ornament in the other colour.
History
Additional Information
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
2019-09-09: First online publication