Merton College MS. 300
Former shelfmark: A. 3. 1
SENECA; c. 1300, s. xv 3/4
Contents
Language(s): Latin
On f. iii, in a rough Italian cursive hand, s. xiv, is a table of contents to I, and ‘Libri Senece’. On f. iiiv are scribbles, s. xv, including an extract from ‘quadam epistola apostrophando ad Senecam’, ‘Plutarchus siquidem grayus uester et Trayani principis doctor comparans suos Grecos ad nostros latinos ...’. f. iv is blank.
Physical Description
Collation
Binding
1963; full tan goatskin. Fols. i-ii and 218–19 are modern paper binding leaves. f. iii has the mark of a brass chain-staple near the foot of the foredge.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
On f. iiiv ‘Iste liber operum Senece est Iohannis ex Bello Vallorum familia episcopi Andegauensis.’ John of Beauveau was bp. of Angers 1451–1479.
On f. ivvis ‘liber Collegii de Mertone in Oxon’ incatenandus in communi libraria eiusdem ad utilitatem sociorum ac aliorum studentium ibidem Ex perquisicione magistri Ricardi Fitz James nuper Custodis eiusdem. Et continentur in hoc uolumine omnia opera Senece uiri disertissimi.’ It was placed in the library on 2 Aug. 1494 (Registrum, p. 184). For Fitzjames, warden 1483–1507, see MS 9. The inscription was written at least thirteen years after the book came to the College.
On f. ivvare the James no. ‘93’, ‘Q. 2. 13. Art:’, and contents (I and II), s. xvii. ‘13’ is inked on the foredge.
Merton College MS. 300 – Part I (fols. 1–156v)
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Ed. L. D. Reynolds (2 vols, Oxford, 1965), I, pp. 320–3.
Ed. A. Gercke (Leipzig, 1907).
For a while in roughly alphabetical order, from works by or attrib. to SENECA
Ed. L. D. Reynolds (Oxford, 1977). The table of contents shows that Dial. 2 and 7 are missing after this.
Ed. L. D. Reynolds (Oxford, 1977).
Ed. L. D. Reynolds (Oxford, 1977).
Ed. L. D. Reynolds (Oxford, 1977).
Ed. L. D. Reynolds (Oxford, 1977).
Ed. L. D. Reynolds (Oxford, 1977).
CPL 191; ed. L. Boccolini Palagi (Biblioteca Patrum 5: Fiesole, 1985).
Followed by the epitaph ‘Cura labor meritum sumpti pro munere honores’ (Hildebert; WIC 3960).
Ed. L. D. Reynolds (Oxford, 1965).
Ed. F. Haase (Leipzig, 1902).
CPL 1080; ed. C. W. Barlow, Martini Episcopi Bracarensis Opera Omnia (New Haven, Conn., 1950), pp. 236–50; Bloomfield 4457.
Ed. H. J. Müller (Vienna, 1887); ed. L. Hakanson (Leipzig, 1989).
Ed. C. Hosius (Leipzig, 1914), pp. 210–51.
Ed. C. Hosius (Leipzig, 1914), pp. 1–209. Followed by a table of contents in red.
Annotated in a humanistic bookhand (similar to that of Florius), and in a humanistic cursive.
Physical Description
Layout
Ruled with crayon in 2 cols of 64 lines.
Hand(s)
In the expert gothic rotunda bookhand of Gerard Iohannes, notary of Remiremont, diocese of Toul: Colophons, no. 5302 (Trier, Staatsbibl. 1345).
Decoration
Italian. Splendid 8–9 line initials with 1–3-sided borders in colours and gold, often mutilated, that on the original fol. 1 gone altogether: fols. 1 (Seneca in conversation with Lucilius), 5 (mutil.), 9 (sea and sky), 16 (the four winds), 18 (mutil.), 22, 25, 28 (mutil.), 31v, 37v (mutil.), 40, 44, 49, 53v, 57 (24-line, mutil.), 92v, 96, 100v, 103, 115v (mutil.), 116v, 117v (mutil.), 119v, 121, 122v, 126, 130v, 132, 133, 134v (mostly excised), 136v, 138v, 143, 146v (king with sword and buckler), 149v, 153; red initials flourished in violet, blue initials flourished in red; red or blue paraphs; red highlighting.
History
Merton College MS. 300 – Part II (fols. 157–207v)
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Ed. O. Zwierlein (Oxford, 1986). In the order Hercules Furens, Thyestes, Oedipus, Phaedra, Octauia, Oedipus (‘Iam nocte pulsa’), Hecuba, Medea, Agamemnon, Octauia (‘Iam uaga celo’), Hercules Oetheus (‘Sator deorum’).
Ed. C. F. Russo (6th edn., Florence, 1965).
Physical Description
Layout
Ruled with red ink in 2 cols of 60 lines.
Hand(s)
In the Italian gothic rotunda bookhand, influenced by humanistica, of Franciscus Florius, a Florentine scribe working in France, c. 1449–80: C. F. Finlayson, ‘Florius Infortunatus’, Scriptorium 16 (1962), 378–80; Colophons, nos 4133, 4262–4; G. Tournoy, ‘Francesco Florio's Novella revisited’, Humanistica Lovaniensia 40 (1991), 30–42, manuscripts listed at pp. 32–3. Xavier Binnebeke has recently recognized his hand in Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Hamilton 97 (Boethius).
Decoration
French. On f. 157 a 6-line initial in colours and gold, on a square ground with 2-sided border; at the foot an ornament or coat of arms has been excised; champe initials open each play; plain red or blue initials and paraphs; highlighting in yellow.
History
Merton College MS. 300 – Part III (fols. 208–17v)
Contents
Language(s): Latin
The same index is in Auxerre, Bibl. mun. 82 (s. xiv), fols. 69v-74v, and 243 (AD 1358), fols. 38–45.
Physical Description
Layout
Written in 2 cols of 33–5 lines.
Hand(s)
French bastarda, perhaps of Bishop John of Angers.
Decoration
None.
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
2019-10-25: First online publication