St John's College MS 100

Vulgate Bible

Language(s): Latin

Fols. 1^ra–332^vb

Rubric: Incipit prologus b⟨ ⟩

Incipit: Desiderii mei vesideratas accepi epistolas qui quondam presagio futurorum cum daniele […]

Rubric: [fol. 1^rb, the text] Incipit liber Bresith id est Genesis |

Incipit: [fol. 1^va] In principio creauit deus celum et terram […]

Rubric: [fol. 266^rb] Incipit euangelium secundum Matheum

Incipit: Liber generationis ihesu cristi filii dauid filii abraam

Explicit: expectantes beatam spem et aduentum glorie magni dei et saluatoris ||

The Vulgate Bible,

in Ker’s ‘usual order’ (MMBL 1:96–7), breaking off in Titus 2:13. With the following exceptions:

The MS omits the prayer of Manasses after 2 Chron., as well as 2/3 Ezra and Psalms. But it includes the Prayer of Solomon at the end of Ecclus. Deviations from the standard text order include: 1 and 2 Mac. follow Job; Lam. and Baruch appear in reverse order; Acts, the Catholic Epistles, and Apoc. follow the Gospels and precede the Pauline epistles.

The MS lacks prologues, except in prophets. There the following standard prologues are absent: Stegmüller, Bibl. 491 to Baruch (fol. 227^ra), Stegmüller, Bibl. 515 and 513 to Amos (fol. 256^rb). On several occasions, prologues other than the standard set occur: for Obadiah, Stegmüller, Bibl. 516 (fol. 258^ra, perhaps added later in a blank space); for Jonah, Stegmüller, Bibl. 522 (fol. 258^rb; for Micah, RB 525 (fol. 259^ra); for Nahum, Stegmüller, Bibl. 527 (fol. 260^ra); for Habakkuk, Stegmüller, Bibl. 529 (fol. 260^vb); for Zephaniah, Stegmüller, Bibl. 532 (fol. 261^va); for Haggai, Stegmüller, Bibl. 535 (fol. 262^rb); for Zechariah, Stegmüller, Bibl. 540 (fol. 262^vb); for Malachi, Stegmüller, Bibl. 544 (fol. 265^va).

Further, four prologues include additional material. The standard prologue to Daniel, Stegmüller, Bibl. 494, is preceded by a section beginning (fol. 245^va) ‘Raphael interpretatur curatio uel medicina dei vbi autem uel…’; and three other prologues have additional short paragraphs: Obadiah, ‘Arguuntur ui qui populum…’; Jonah, ‘De iona misso niniue orta…’; Micah, ‘Propter ydolatriam samarie…’ Only the first of these has been identified; cf. Stegmüller, Bibl. 2628.1 (9:40), among the fragments ascribed to GREGORY OF ELVIRA (or to ORIGEN).

There are considerable marginalia, especially distinctiones added by later users.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: autem uterque

Form: codex

Support: Vellum (HSOS/HFFH).

Extent: Fols. iii + 332 + iii (numbered fols. iv–vi).

Dimensions (leaf): 262 × 170 mm.

Collation

1–6¹² 7¹² (lacks an indeterminate leaf, a cancel without text loss, in the first half) 8–16¹² 17⁶ [fol. 197, the end of scribe 1’s stint] | 18–28¹² 29^? (three single leaves, fols. 330–2). Catchwords, usually under the inner columns, but nearly all cut away; only two signatures (fols. 61–2 = a, b). The end of 2 Macc. corresponds to a quire bound (fol. 167) and might be a subsidiary booklet.

Layout

In double columns.

Scribe 1 in double columns, each 170–8 × 48 mm. , with 7 mm between columns, in 54 lines to the column;

Scribe 2 in double columns, each column 165–70 × 47 mm. , with 5 mm between columns, in 57 lines to the column;

Scribe 3 in double columns, each column 178 × 49 mm. , with 8 mm between columns, in 54 lines to the column.

Frequent prickings; bounded and ruled in black ink.

Hand(s)

Written in gothic textura semiquadrata by three scribes, all writing above top line:

Scribe 1 copied fols. 1–197^vb (the end of Ecclus.)

Scribe 2 copied to the end of the Old Testament (fol. 266^rb)

Scribe 3 copied the New Testament, usually in brown ink

Punctuation by point and punctus elevatus (all three scribes).

Decoration

Headings in red.

On fol. 1^ra, a 6-line red and blue arabesque capital with floral infill in blue and white; on fol. 1^va, a red and blue I on a green ground, with a nimbed angel at the top and a floral spray at the foot.

Books introduced by 4- to 6-line blue or red and blue lombards on red flourishing; chapters sometimes have 1-line red lombards at the head, more usually only marked by marginal numbering, typically in one colour, blue, or red, or (early on) green, sometimes with a paraph in the contrasting colour.

Running titles similarly in red or blue lombards, often with contrasting paraph.

See AT, no. 179 (20).

Binding

A modern replacement. Sewn on five thongs. At the front, a marbled paper leaf and two modern paper flyleaves; at the rear, two modern paper flyleaves and another marbled paper leaf (iv–vi).

History

Origin: s. xiii in. ; England

Provenance and Acquisition

‘dauid’ (fol. 179, lower margin).

‘Liber Joannis Ryngrosij ex dono Domini Ricardi de Westowre’ (fol. 1, upper margin, s. xvi ex.).

‘Liber Collegii Sanctj Johannis Baptistae Oxon ex dono Richardi Butler Doctoris Theologiae Archidiaconi Northampt ⟨ ⟩ rogatu Reuerendo Patre Episcopo Roffensi 1613’ (fol. 2, upper margin).

Record Sources

Ralph Hanna, A descriptive catalogue of the western medieval manuscripts of St. John's College, Oxford (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002)

Availability

For enquiries relating to this manuscript please contact St John's College Library.

Bibliography

J. J. G. Alexander and Elźbieta Temple, Illuminated manuscripts in Oxford college libraries, the University Archives and the Taylor Institution (Oxford, 1985).

N. R. Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries. 4 vols. (Oxford, 1969–92).

Friederich Stegmüller, Repertorium Biblicum Medii Aevi, 11 vols. (Madrid, 1950–80).

Funding of Cataloguing

Conversion of the printed catalogue to TEI funded by the Thompson Family Charitable Trust

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2021-07: First online publication

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