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

Merton College MS. 28

Former shelfmark: H. 1. 14

JOHN CHRYSOSTOM; S. X

Contents

Language(s): Greek

On 1r is a list (s. xiv?) of texts to be read on certain feast days, and in the MS itself the upper margin of the first page of homilies to be read accordingly has a corresponding note. On fol. 1r there is also a note by the main scribe in majuscules, perhaps a pen-trial: δύναται καί είς τούς άγίους τρεϊς παϊδας ιδτορία.

(fol. 2rv)
A list of the contents,

ending impf. in art. 13.

(fols. 3r-326r)
John Chrysostom
(fols. 3r-243r)
Ad populum Antiochenum homilia, 1–19, 21

PG 49.15–198, 211–22.

(fols. 243r-255r)
Ad illuminandos catechesis

PG 231–40.

(fols. 255r-270r)
Ad populum Antiochenum homilia 20

PG 197–212.

(fols. 270r-306v)
In illud, Vidi Dominum homiliae, 1, 4–6, 5

PG 56.97–107, 119–142, but no. 5 differs from the printed version according to Aubineau.

(fols. 306v-320v)
De sigillis sermo

PG 63.531–43 line 4 (ends impf.).

(fols. 321r-322r)
Contra theatra sermo,

impf. at each end.

PG 56.541, line 7 ab imo - 545 line 13.

(fols. 322r-326r)
Ad Demetrium, de compunctione (excerpt)

PG 47.406 line 24–409 line 28.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: 328 leaves
Dimensions (leaf): 270 × 183 mm.
Dimensions (written): 195 × 120 mm.
Parchment of fairly good quality, though many pages are rather yellowish, retrimmed.

Collation

Two single leaves, mounted by the binder as a bifolium (probably originally a quaternion, lacking 3–4), 1–98; 108(lacks 2), 11–398; (314) 408(lacks 8), 418. A quire or more missing from the end.

Layout

Ruled with stylus in 2 cols of 28 lines. Ruling pattern Leroy C 24C 2.

Hand(s)

One scribe; since the script on most folios rests on the line, a date in the 10th century and not later seems likely. E. Gamillscheg and D. Harlfinger (1981) list the scribe Petros (no. 351), suggesting however that he may have been the owner rather than the scribe.

Decoration

A cross outlined in ink of the text, tinted yellow, and a prayer by the scribe in majuscules on fol. 1: †κ(ύριε) βοήθει τώ σώ δούλω Πέτρω καί συγχώρισον τάς Άμαρτίασ αύτοϋ, ώς καί ϕίλ(ος)†

On the verso a framed, full-page portrait of Chrysostom in the same technique. An ornamental headpiece on fol. 3r, and some simple pen-work ornament elsewhere; titles and initials are in carmine.

Binding

Presumably s. xix, black leather over wooden boards with gold tooling: the edges gilded; two blank paper flyleaves at each end.

History

Origin: S. X

Provenance and Acquisition

Scribe or former owner Petros (E. Gamillscheg and D. Harlfinger (1981) no. 351).

On 1v, in an ?Italian gothic rotunda bookhand, s. xiv: Solidi .xij. | Sermones beati Johannis Christostomi. M. Aubineau, op. cit. below, identfied this MS as one referred to by Henry Savile as belonging to 'Croshauii nostri', who is presumably to be identified as William Crashawe (1572–1625/6).

Labels on the spine give the numeral 13 and the out-of-date shelf-mark H. 1. 14. Inside the front board is a College bookplate and previous shelf-marks H. 1. 14 (XXVIII) in red, O. 4. 13 Theol., canc., and in pencil 'olim N. iii. 2'.

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

    M. Aubineau, Codices Chrysostomici graeci I Britanniae et Hiberniae (Paris, 1968) pp. 90–1. E. Gamillscheg and D. Harlfinger, Repertorium der griechischen Kopisten 1 (Vienna, 1981), p. 179. Full description in I. Hutter, Corpus der byzantinischen Miniaturhandschriften 5. 1 (Stuttgart, 1997), pp. 97–8 with pls 399–407; she did not feel able to attribute the MS to particular region of the Byzantine world.

Funding of Cataloguing

Conversion of the printed catalogue to TEI funded by the Warden and Fellows of Merton College .

Last Substantive Revision

2019-11-18: First online publication

See the Availability section of this record for information on viewing the item in a reading room.