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

Merton College E. 3. 1

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. (fols. 1–31v + Emmanuel)
RICHARD ROLLE, Latin Psalter

Fols. 1–6 contain the beginnings of Pss. 49 (f. 1v), 54 (f. 2), (Emmanuel has the beginnings of Pss. 82 and 87 on the exposed sides), 93 (f. 3), 95 (f. 3v), 99 (f. 4), 100–101 (f. 4v), 105 (f. 5r), 107 (f. 6v). The text is continuous from f. 7 ‘Hoc opus eorum’ (Ps. 108: 20), though occasionally hard to read and defective on fols. 14 and 31; ends ‘ex populo suo. Explicit compendiosa exposicio super psalterium per Richardum Heremitam de Hampole.’

Pr. Cologne 1536; Stegmüller, Bibl. 7298; Allen, Richard Rolle, pp. 165–9.

2. (fol. 32; 32v blank)
Ps.-AUGUSTINE (?REMIGIUS), De Laude Psalmorum
Incipit: Canticum psalmorum animas decorat
Explicit: peccatum agere.

Followed by the distich ‘Ter quinquagenas cantat Dauid ordine psalmos’: WIC 19209.

PL 131. 142B-D; Stegmüller, Bibl. 369, &c.

3.
RICHARD ROLLE, Emendatio Vitae
Incipit: (Beg. impf.) istarum semitarum
Explicit: et graciarum accio in secula seculorum amen.

From Merton Coll. 58. c. 8, three leaves.

Ed. N. J. Watson (Toronto, 1995), pp. 33–68; Allen, Richard Rolle, pp. 230–45.

4.
Ten things a man should try to possess in himself.
Incipit: Notandum est ut homo possit amplius proficere
Explicit: diffinire dicunt.

From Merton Coll. 58. c. 8, one leaf.

5.
RICHARD ROLLE, Oleum Effusum
Incipit: Expulsus
Explicit: (ends impf.) ita et opus tuum nam unde saluas

From Merton Coll. 58. c. 8, the same leaf as art. 4.

Allen, Richard Rolle, p. 63, q. v. for early printed editions.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: Thirty-two leaves
Dimensions (leaf): 295 × 205 mm.
Dimensions (written): 225 × 140 mm.

Collation

A bifolium, 24, two bifolia, 312, 414, 3 and 4 signed g, h; catchwords. The leaves in 58. c. 8 are two adjacent bifolia from the centre of a quire, those in Emmanuel are a bifolium.

Layout

In 2 cols of 51 lines.

Hand(s)

A single gothic textura.

Decoration

Red and blue initials, flourished in both colours and violet; blue initials flourished in red; red or blue initials.

History

Origin: S. XIV ex. ; England

Provenance and Acquisition

Written in England, probably at the College before the Reformation, dismembered by, and probably during, the 1590s, in Oxford.

Used in binding Merton Coll. ‘54. b. 12’ (F. de Ripa, Lyons 1541), ‘58. c. 4–8’ (Bertachinus, Basel 1573), and Cambridge, Emmanuel Coll. 318. 3. 14 (the 5th vol. of M. Flacius et al., Historia Ecclesiastica, Basel 1560–1574). The binder (‘C. E.’) worked for John Betts of Trinity Hall, Cambridge (d. 1599).

Additional four still in Merton Coll. ‘58. c. 8’, and two as pastedowns in Cambridge, Emmanuel College, 318. 3. 14; thirty-eight leaves altogether.

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

    MMBL 3. 665–6.

Funding of Cataloguing

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

Last Substantive Revision

2019-11-27: First online publication

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