View online

Exeter College MS. 23

Stephen Langton; Anselm; etc.; England, s. xiiiⁱⁿ

Language(s): Latin

*1. (fol. ii^v)

*1(a).

Contents list

The date is s. xiiiⁱⁿ. Item 12 below is added in a hand of s. xv.

*1(b).

‘De xii prophetis hee lecciones ad missas sunt excerpte.’

Nine feasts in a hand of s. xii/xiii, and a tenth added, s. xv.

2. (fols. 1^r-6^v)

Stephen Langton, In librum Thobie

Rubric: Incipit prologus magistri Stephani Cantuariensis archiepiscopi in expositionem libri Thobie.

Incipit: In genesi legimus. Fiant luminaria in firmamento celi ... In quarum utraque peritus fuit.

Rubric: Incipit liber Thobie.

Incipit: Thobias ex tribu et ciuitate Neptalim etc. Ecce in principio commendat personam

Explicit: Cetera usque ad finem libri patent.

Final rubric: Explicit Expositio magistri Stephani Cantuariensis Archiepiscopi. In libro Thobie.

Stegmüller, Bibl., 7761; Glorieux, Théologie, 104j⁶; Lacombe and Smalley, 67, 178, 179. On Langton see Sharpe, Latin Writers.

3. (fols. 7^r-17^r)

Stephen Langton, In librum Judith

Rubric: Incipit prologus magistri Stephani Cantuariensis archiepiscopi in expositionem libri Iudith.

Incipit: In ecclesiastico legitur. Lucerna splendens super candelabrum aureum

Explicit: Vsque in presentem diem id est dum durat presens seculum.

Final rubric: Explicit expositio magistri .S. Cantuariensis Archiepiscopi. In libro Iudith.

Stegmüller, Bibl., 7762; Glorieux, Théologie, 104j⁷; Lacombe and Smalley, 67, 178.

4. (fols. 17^r-22^v)

Stephen Langton, In librum Hester

Rubric: Incipit eiusdem .S. prologus in exposicionem libri Hester.

Incipit: In prouerbiis legitur. Mulier graciosa inueniet gloriam

Explicit: stultorum perdet illos.

Rubric: Expositio profatio[sic]

Incipit: Librum Hester uariis translatoribus constat esse

Incipit: [fol. 17^v] Duplex enim fuit ordo sentenciarum. In diebus assueri regis

Explicit: Verbum notabile contra illos qui temere iudicant.

Final rubric: Expliciunt Notule magistri Stephani Cantuariensis archiepiscopi. in libro Hester.

Stegmüller, Bibl., 7763; Glorieux, Théologie, 104j⁸; Lacombe and Smalley, 67, 165, 178.

5. (fols. 23^r-165^r)

Stephen Langton, In libros xii prophetum minorum (Series A)

Rubric: Incipit prologus magistri Stephani Cantuariensis in prophetas duodecim.

Incipit: Ossa duodecim prophetarum pullulant de loco suo. nam corroborauerunt Iacob

Explicit: Membra coniungere.

Rubric: Explicit prologus. Incipit Osee propheta.

Incipit: Verbum domini quod factum est ad Osee filium Beeri in diebus Ozie

Explicit: [fol. 78^v] Non erit fuga||

Incipit: ||[fol. 79^r] et maiores stillabunt

Explicit: sed sedebit Ierusalem secura.

Final rubric: Explicit Malachias propheta.

Stegmüller, Bibl., 7843–54. For other manuscripts see Lacombe and Smalley, 67, 145–7. Because of the excision of a leaf, our text has a gap between fols. 77^v/78^r in the commentary on Amos, iii. 9.

6. (fol. 165^r)

6(a).

Pamphilus de amore,

lines 12, 21–2

Rubric: Incipiunt prouerbia Pamphili

Incipit: Solet ars dominum sepe iuuare suum. ¶ Conditus ignis. acrior effusus parcior esse solet

ed. F. G. Becker, Pamphilus: Prolegomena zum Pamphilus (de amore) und kritische Textausgabe, Beihefte zum “Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch”, 9 (Ratingen, Düsseldorf, 1972). M. Manitius, Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters, iii (1931), 1032–4.

6(b).

Vitalis Blesensis, Geta,

lines 14, 270, 484

Rubric: Prouerbia Gete

Incipit: ¶ Quemlibet in modicus aligat eris amor multa licet sapias re sine nullus eris. ¶ Fessis post onera fit mage grata quies. ¶ Improuisa magis uulnera sepe nocent.

ed. A. Paeske, Der “Geta” des Vitalis von Blois: kritische Ausgabe, Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades ... der Universität Köln (Cologne, 1976). Manitius, ibid., 1016–18; WIC 7272 etc.

7. (fols. 165^v)

Rubric: Excerptum de uita beati Thome

Incipit: Beatissimus martyr Thomas Cantuariensis archiepiscopus ob uanas que nagas cordis cogitationes reprimendas

Explicit: Hunc inquam habebat. ibidem ab oracione ad lectionem se excipiens.

Part of the chapter ‘Qualis [Thomas Cantuariensis] fuerit in officio altaris’ from Herbert of Bosham’s Life of Becket, ed. J. C. Robinson, Materials for the History of Thomas Becket, iii (RS 67: London, 1877), 210/23–211/2; and as part of the Quadrilogus, ed. ibid., iv (1879), 286/33–287/9). In the margin, in the hand of John Grandisson, bp. of Exeter, d. 1369, is the title “Qualiter beatus Thomas martyr inter missarum solempnia se habebat’.

8. (fols. 165^v-180^v)

Anselmus, Orationes,

1–3, 5, 7–19

Rubric: Incipiunt meditationes sancti Anselmi episcopi

Incipit: (prol.) Orationes siue meditationes que subscripte sunt

Explicit: (prol.) pietatis affectum.

Rubric: Oratio ad deum patrem omnipotentem.

Incipit: Omnipotens deus et misericor pater

Explicit: semper exaudias saluator mundi. qui cum patre et spiritu sancto uiuis que regnas deus per omnia secula seculorum etc.

as ed. by F. S. Schmitt, Sancti Anselmi opera omnia, iii (Edinburgh, 1946), 5–75. On no. 7 see A. Wilmart, RTAM 2 (1930), 189–204 (this manuscript at 202). In the margin of fol. 165^v, in Grandisson’s hand, is the title ‘Oraciones cum meditacionibus beati Anselmi. Prologus.’ On Anselm see Sharpe, Latin Writers.

9. (fols. 180^v-182^r)

Anselmus, Meditatio 3

Rubric: Meditatio redemptionis humane. Anselmus.

Incipit: Anima christiana anima de graui morte resuscitata

Explicit: Occupet me totum et possideat me totum. quia tu es cum patre et spiritu sancto deus solus benedictus in secula seculorum. Amen.

ed. Schmitt (as above), 84–91.

10. (fols. 182^r-183^r)

Anselmus (attrib.)

Rubric: Oratio ad .N. angelum dei.

Incipit: Sancte ac beate angele dei cui me diuina bonitas ex quo per baptismatis sacramentum in filium adoptauit

Explicit: merear ipso prestante cui cum patre et spiritu sancto una est diuinitas equalis gloria coeterna maiestas. Amen.

ed. A. Wilmart, ‘Prières à l’ange gardien’, Auteurs spirituels et textes dévots du moyen âge (Paris, 1932, repr. 1971), 537–58, at 544–51. Our manuscript is no. 6 in his list of seven manuscripts, all now in England.

11. (fol. 183^r)

Claudianus, In Rufinum

Rubric: Incipiunt prouerbia Claudiani magni

Incipit: Res hominum multa caligine volui aspicio. Aeroque diu florere nocentis

ed. J. B. Hall (Leipzig, 1985) beginning with l. 12, and followed by 52 further lines of manuscript.

12. (fols. 183^v-187^r)

Alexander of Ashby (attrib.), Argumenta bibliorum,

without the prologue

Rubric: \Vetus et novum testamentum breuiter versificatum/

Incipit: Ante dies omnes mundi fuit omnes in uno

Explicit: Absque dolore quies et sine nocte dies.

Final rubric: \Explicit Biblia versificata/

Stegmüller, Bibl., 1114 (York Minster, MS XVI. Q. 14 item 8); WIC 1291 (this copy and BL, MS Royal 6 B. xi item 12). Bale, Index, 22, recorded another copy ‘ex musaeo Roberti Talboti’. For others see Sharpe, Latin Writers. The titles added above are in Grandisson’s hand.

13. (fols. 187^r-195^r)

\Prouerbia poetharum/

13(a).

Incipit: Terra salutiferas habebas eademque nocentes

Ovid, 34 lines, beg. with De remedio amoris, 3.45.

13(b). (fol. 187^v)

Rubric: Ovidius tristium

Incipit: Cum fueris felix multos uenerabis amicos

Ovid, 14 lines, ending with Tristia, 5.12, 38.

13(c).

Rubric: Ouidius sine titulo

Incipit: Accipe perlongas tibi qui deseruiat annos

Ovid, 22 lines, beg. with Amores, 1.3.5.

13(d).

Rubric: Ouidius de Ponto

Incipit: Non est in medico semper releuetur ut eger

Ovid, 74 lines, beg. with De ponto, 1.3.17.

13(e). (fol. 188^r)

Incipit: Res est solliciti plena timores amor

Ovid, 22 lines, beg. with Heroides, 1.12.

13(f).

Incipit: Parua leues capiunt animos

Ovid, 64 lines, beg. with De arte amandi, 1.159

13(g). 188^v

Rubric: Idem in liber fastorum

Ovid, 10 lines, beg. with Fasti, 1.211.

13(h).

Rubric: Idem in 1^us Eneidum

Incipit: Furor ira que mentem precipitant

Virgil, 19 lines, beg. with Aeneid, 2. 316.

13(i). (fol. 189^r)

Rubric: Lucanus

Incipit: Stimulos dedit emula virtus

Lucan, 37 lines, beg. with De bello civile, 1.120

13(j).

Rubric: Oracius in sermonibus

Incipit: Ridentem dicere uerum quis uetat

Horace, 10 lines, beg. with Sermones, 1.1.24

13(k).

Rubric: Idem in epistolis

Incipit: Non possis oculo quantum contendere Lincheus

Horace, 82 lines, beg. with Epistola, 1. 1. 28

13(l). (fol. 189^v)

Rubric: Oracius in primo carminum.

Incipit: Mors equo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas

Horace, 50 lines, beg. with Carmina, 1. 4. 13

13(m). (fol. 190^r)

Rubric: Prouerbia Alexandri

Incipit: Vacuum ferit improba lingua palatum

Proverbia Alexandri, 278 lines, apparently the same text as WIC 11830, found in Cambrai, Bibl. mun., MS 977 (s. xiii), fol. 169^v et seq., entitled ‘Exceptiones quedam prouerbiorum Alexandri’

13(n). (fol. 191^v)

Rubric: Persius in prohemio

Incipit: Quis expediuit cythaco suum chere

Persius, 29 lines, Satyrae, 0.8

13(o).

Rubric: Martialis in primo epigramatum

Incipit: Crede mihi non est sapientis dicere

Martial, 14 lines, Epigrammata, 1. 15. 11

13(p).

Rubric: Prouerbia Auiani

Incipit: Non facile alterius repetas consortia dixit

Auianus, 22 lines, Fabulae, 9. 23

13(q). (fol. 192^r)

Rubric: Incipiunt prouerbia Architreni

Incipit: Amarum in muliere sapit membrorum sarcinia

Joh. de Hauvilla, Architrenius, 574 lines of which the first are 2.6–7, ed. P. G. Schmidt (Munich, 1974)

13(r). (fol. 195^r)

Rubric: Iuuenalis

Incipit: Probitas laudatur[sic] et alget

Juvenal, 40 lines, beg. with Satyrae, 1. 74

13(s).

Rubric: Oracius in poetria

Incipit: Segnius irritant animum[sic] demissa per aurem

Horace, 9 lines, beg. with Ars poetica, 180

Between (g) and (h) are further short excerpts from Ovid, Fasti and Metamorphoses, Virgil, Bucolics and Georgics. The heading, ‘Prouerbia poetharum’ on fol. 187^v is added in Grandisson’s hand.

14. (fols. 195^v-198^r)

Rubric: \De spiritu et anima Hugo de sancto Victore/

Incipit: Interior substancia q’ constituit hominem

Explicit: habet ponendi animam meam. dicit in sequentibus.

Unidentified. Not an excerpt from Alcherus (Ps.-Augustine) De spiritu et anima, pr. PL, 40.77–843, nor the text by Costa ben Luca ed. C. S. Bacharach, Excerptae libro Alfredi Anglici ... seu Costa-ben-Lucae De differentia animae et spiritu (Innsbruck, 1878), 120–39, nor Ps.-Hugo de S. Victore, De unione spiritus et animae, as in Oxford, Merton College, MS 49 fols. 90–92^r. Chapters include ‘De anima et spiritu’, ‘De spiritu et mente’, ‘Quomodo anima dicitur fieri in spiritu’, ‘De memoria’, ‘Quomodo diliges dominum ex toto’, ‘Quomodo homo sit animalis et carnalis’. This item is in a later hand than the others although still written above the top line, and added in s. xv to the contents list on fol. ii^v. At the top of fol. 198^r is ‘xiijs et iiijd’. Fol. 198^v is blank except for ‘reuelat brigide’ ‘d conquestie’ and ‘prec. xvi s.’, all s. xiv/xv. On the prices see below, History.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: Galilea.

Form: codex

Support: parchment FHHF

Extent: 198 leaves preceded by one post-medieval paper flyleaf and one medieval membrane flyleaf, and followed by one post-medieval paper flyleaf.

Dimensions (leaf): 323 × 220 mm.

Dimensions (column): 245 × 70 mm.

Parchment of inferior quality. Fols. 184–6 are badly stained by a brown liquid.

Foliation:

Collation

1–6¹² 7¹² (wants 6) 8–16¹² 17⁸ (wants 8, blank). Catchwords, some trimmed. The only quire numbers are in pencil, supplied by the late 18th-century binder.

Layout

Two columns, 45 lines. Pricked in outer margins; ruled in crayon.

Hand(s)

Protogothic bookhand barely turning into gothic, by a number of scribes. All the scribes write above top line. Punctuation by low point and punctus versus. At the foot of fol. 159^v, is ‘.xx. qt^as’: as that leaf is the fourth leaf of the quire 14 and writing continues in the same hand to the end of the quire, it is unlikely to be the scribe’s calculation of work done but may refer to the stage he had reached in his exemplar.

Decoration

1/5-line plain red and green initials. Rubrics; red paraphs and stroking of letters; lemmata underlined red.

Binding

Sewn on five bands. Standard Exeter binding: simple and quite elegant, calf over millboards, the calf bearing blind decoration of a floral type, early 19th century. At the foot of fols. 198 back to 196 are stains which are probably from a chain clasp on an earlier binding.

History

Origin: s. xiiiⁱⁿ ; England

Provenance and Acquisition

Of monastic, possibly Cistercian, origin.

At the top right-hand corner of fol. 1^r is ‘Liber J. Exon’, in the distinctive hand of John Grandisson, bp. of Exeter 1327–69, in which there are also added titles before items 7, 8, 12, and 13. On him see BRUO.

On fol. 1^r, in the hand that wrote the same inscription in MS 43, is ‘Hunc librum dedit magister Thomas Plymyswode Collegio seu Aule de Stapyldonhalle Oxon’ ad chathenandum in libraria ibidem. Oretis pro eo.’ The Rector’s Accounts for 1417/18 record two payments for the carriage of ‘libros legatos’ to the College and a third payment for binding MS 43, the other identified survivor. Plymyswode was a fellow of Exeter College in 1384, inter alia rector of Heavitree, now part of the city of Exeter, in 1396, and d. 1418 (BRUO). Judging by the date of the hand, prices on fols. 198^r (xiijs. iiijd.) and 198^v (xvjs.) may relate to his ownership.

Recorded at Exeter c. 1600 as Ecloga, no. 3, then in CMA, no. 38.

Exeter library identifications are: on the front pastedown, ‘Ex: Coll: Oxon:’, ‘Q, 8–3 Gall’ (deleted), ‘172.G.3.’, ‘Coxe Cat. no. xxiii’ and the book stamp.

Record Sources

Andrew G. Watson, A descriptive catalogue of the medieval manuscripts of Exeter College, Oxford (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 2000.

Availability

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

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)

Funding of Cataloguing

Conversion of the printed catalogue to TEI funded by the Rector and Fellows of Exeter College.

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2020-04-29: First online publication