Merton College MS. 244

Former shelfmark: B. 1. 3

PORCHETUS SALVATICUS; S. XIV

Language(s): Latin

Fols. iii-iv are blank.

(fol. iv^v)

List of contents,

s. xiv: ‘In isto uolumine continentur subscripta / Alexander de ecclesiastica potestate est liber primus et sunt 9 capitula / Item idem de potestate uicarii Christi in terris est liber secundus in speciali et sunt 10 capitula / Item idem de cessione papali et sedium fundacione seu ?iunctamine lib. tercius et sunt 10 capitula / Item liber uictorie a Porcheo de Salua Ignis Ianuensis dominica fauente gratia compilato ad Iudaicam perfidiam subuertendam et ut prestantius ueritas fulgeat fidei Christiane.’ The author of the lost items was a contemporary of Porchetus, Alessandro Fasitelli of S. Elpidio: F. M. Powicke, ‘Alexander of St Albans: a literary muddle’, in Essays in History presented to Reginald Lane Poole (Oxford, 1927), pp. 247–54.

(fols. 1–101v; 102–4v blank)

PORCHETUS SALVATICUS OCarth, Liber Victoriae contra Iudaeos

Rubric: Incipit liber Victorie a Porcheo de Salua Ignis Ianuensis diuina fauente gracia compilato ad Iudaicam perfidiam subuertendam et ut prestancius ueritas fulgeat fidei Christiane.

Incipit: In nomine Dei altissimi qui est trinus et unus

Explicit: ad quam quidem uitam et requiem sempiternam nos inducat Dominus noster I. C. filius qui ... .

Final rubric: Explicit liber Victorie Deo gracias.

Pr. Paris 1520. MS 245 may be a copy of this one; another is Eton Coll. 130.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: patres sancti

Form: codex

Support: Parchment

Extent: 110 leaves (iv + 106)

Dimensions (leaf): 245 × 170 mm.

Dimensions (written): 195–205 × 135 mm.

The edges retrimmed and spattered with red.

Collation

A bifolium, 1–8¹², 9⁶, a bifolium; catchwords, nearly all cropped. The first bifolium consists of two single leaves joined by paper s. xvii, when f. iii may have been imported for the first time, since f. iv was formerly the front pastedown.

Layout

Ruled with pencil in 2 cols of 49 lines.

Hand(s)

Two scribes, dividing at f. 46a lines 3/4; the first writes anglicana, the second gothic rotunda bookhand.

Decoration

On f. 1 is a champe initial with 1-sided ivy-leaf border.

Otherwise blue initials flourished in red, red or blue paraphs.

Binding

Standard Merton s. xvii, sewn on six bands; formerly chained from the usual position; fols. i-ii, 105–6 are paper binding leaves, fols. i and 106 from a small printed book of s. xvi (running head ‘uirtus uitae’). f. iv, formerly a pastedown in an earlier binding, has marks of two foredge clasps and of one each at head and tail, and of a brass chain-staple near the foot of the foredge. f. 104, also a former pastedown, has corresponding clasp-marks, and the mark of the large iron chain-staple near the foot.

History

Origin: S. XIV ; one scribe writes with a script of English appearance.

Provenance and Acquisition

On f. iv^v‘Ad scolares aule Mertone de Oxon’ per dominum Ricardum Wyking’ nuper uicarium ecclesie de Westwell in Cancia iuxta Cantuariam’, s. xiv, and a possible press-mark ‘E 1’. It is not known what connection Wyking had with Merton. He was a clerk of Archbp. Bradwardine (see MS 312).

John Bale saw this MS at Merton (Appendix C, no. 2). Inside the front board is a sheet of paper, with two notes of the contents, of s. xvii and xviii, ‘P. 3. 11. Art:’, s. xvii, canc. and replaced with ‘B. 1. 3 (CCXLIV) in red; the College bookplate.

Record Sources

R. M. Thomson, A descriptive catalogue of the medieval manuscripts of Merton College, Oxford (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer), 2009.

Availability

For enquiries relating to this manuscript please contact Merton College Library.

Bibliography

Coxe, p. 95; Powicke, no. 339; Alexander & Temple, no. 291.

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

2019-10-01: First online publication

A catalogue of Western manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries and selected Oxford colleges