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

St John's College MS 130

Theology: Hugh of Fouilly, Ralph of Battle, Bernard, Augustine

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. Fols. 1–33v:
Rubric: Tractatus magistri HUGONIS DE FOLIETO super nouein beneficiis religionis
Incipit: Avdiant seculares quos delectatio temporalium retinet qui religionis abhorrent habitum
Explicit: ac⟨c⟩edas et sine reuerentia et sine deuotione
HUGH OF FOUILLY, De claustro animae,

beginning in book 1, ch. 8, ed. PL 176:1033 A 6–1086 C 8. Book 2 is presented as if it is a separate text, ‘de xij. abusionibus claustri’, beginning at fol. 14.

2. Fols. 34–6v:
Rubric: Quod sint octo que obseruantes monachi non nimis esse segnes sui ordinis a quoquod facile sunt iudicandi
Incipit: Octo sunt que si diligenter a monachis obseruantur per horum obseruantiam
Explicit: usque in finem perseuerauerit uitam eternam sine dubio possessurus est
RALPH OF BATTLE, 'De octo a monachis observandis' (Sharpe, no. 1234 [444], ), ed. (as LANFRANC, ‘Sermo sive sententiae’) PL 150:637–40, ; and Hugh Farmer, ‘Ralph’s Octo Puncta of Monastic Life’, Studia Monastica 11 (1969), 19–29., The remainder of this booklet and item 11 below contain an anthology of Ralph’s shorter pieces, almost certainly copied, selectively but in the same text order, from BodL, MS Laud misc. 363, where this text appears at fols. 27–9. Laud misc. 363 is a book of s. xii returned to St Albans c.1345 by Richard de Bury bishop of Durham, or his executors (see Ker, MLGB 168, 300, ). See further R. W. Southern, ‘St Anselm and his English Pupils’, MARS 1 (1941), 3–34 at 25–8, ; and St Anselm and his Biographer (Cambridge, 1966), 206–9, 321. In the first of these discussions, Southern argues that BL, MS Royal 12 C.i represents Ralph’s corrected versions of his texts (and is the source of Royal 7 A.iii) but that the Laud MS derives from an unedited predecessor version.
3. Fols. 36v–46v:
Rubric: Meditatio cuiusdam cristiani de fide et quia multa que secundum fidem credimus et secundum rationem intelligimus
Incipit: Quicunque in sanctitate desiderat proficere non eum tedeat omni hora se inspicere
Explicit: In cor eius ascenderet que diligentibus se deus preparauit Ad hanc leticiam nos peruenire faciat filius dei [form ending] Amen

Unpublished; equivalent to Laud misc. 363, fols. 33v–43.

4. Fols. 46v–50v:
Rubric: De hoc quod dicitur quia spiritus sanctus amor est et de processione eius a patre et a filio
Incipit: Superius dixi quia spiritus sanctus amor dicitur propter amorem videlicet quo se inuicem diligunt
Explicit: quod sicut iam multotiens diximus predestinati uel presciti ad bonum vel ad malum

Unpublished; equivalent to Laud misc. 363, fols. 43–6v.

5. Fols. 50v–4v:
Rubric: Fides exposita quomodo credatur unus deus trinitas et trinitas unus deus
Incipit: Credo adoro et veneror vnum deum in trinitate et trinitatem in vnitate
Explicit: eos autem qui bona fecerunt ducet cum magna gloria ad regnum celorum

Unpublished; equivalent to Laud misc. 363, fols. 49–52v.

6. Fols. 54v–5:
Rubric: Quid dicere sit dei et quia quemadmodum uerbo dei facta est creatura ita eodem uerbo facto caro fit panis et vinum eiusdem uerbi caro et sanguis in celebratione misse
Incipit: Inter ominia mirabilia que deus fecit nichil tam mirabile tamquam vehementer stupendum est
Explicit: ad salutem nostram comedere et bibere qui nos in hiis asserit se comedere et bibere Amen

Unpublished; equivalent to Laud misc. 363, fols. 52v–3.

7. Fols. 55–8v:
Rubric: De creatore et creatura et quid inter se differunt creature Capitulum
Incipit: Due res sunt scilicet creator et creatura vnam de hiis duabus rebus videmus
Explicit: per ineffabilem bonitatem tuam perduc ad gloriam tue eterne contemplationis Amen

Unpublished; equivalent to Laud misc. 363, fols. 53–5v.

8. Fols. 58v–73v:
Rubric: Quod omnia deus bona fecit et quod ipse essentialiter semper bonus fuit et est et erit
Incipit: Suauissime et dulcissime domine ihesu criste qui es pius amator hominum et benignissimus redemptor
Explicit: inenarrabilem gloriam cum omnibus sanctis tuis in eterna felicitate possidere per eterna secula Amen

A series of meditations and prayers, at one time ascribed to ANSELM OF BEC. This ascription was demolished by André Wilmart, Auteurs spirituelles et textes dévots au moyen âge (Paris, 1932), 158–61 and the pieces re-ascribed to RALPH OF BATTLE by Southern (1941). The MS presents:

a. Fols. 58v–63:

the incipit, equivalent to Laud misc. 363, fols. 55v–9v, ed. as ANSELM, meditatio 19, beginning with ch. 3, PL 158:805; the incipit of the text as printed (PL 158:803) appears at fol. 57v, and the selection includes material not in the printed text.

b. Fols. 63–5:
Rubric: Vnde viuat anima et vnde uiuat caro et de gloria bone anime et de infelicitate male anime quando exeunt a corpore
Incipit: Cum anima manet in corpore viuit homo secundum carnem […]

equivalent to Laud misc. 363, fols. 59v–61, ed. as ANSELM, meditatio 5, PL 158:733–6.

c. Fols. 65–7:
Rubric: De peccatore quomodo excitet animam suam ad corrigenda peccata sua
Incipit: Anima mea anima misera et feda diligenter recollige ad te intrinsecus […]

equivalent to Laud misc. 363, fols. 62–4, ed. as ANSELM, meditatio 4, PL 158:729–33.

d. Fols. 67–8v:
Rubric: Oratio ne pro ullo peccato desperare debeat peccator quia pius est et misericors dominus et non mortem peccatoris sed uitam desiderat
Incipit: Miserere mei deus […] Credimus quod hanc orationem spiritus sanctus dictauit […]

equivalent to Laud misc. 363, fols. 65–7, ed. as ANSELM, oratio 6, PL 158:872–5.

e. Fols. 68v–71v
Rubric: Oratio ne desperemus quia si ueram penitenciam agimus veram misericordiam sine dubio de omnibus nostris peccatis inueniemus
Incipit: Cum ad peccata que feci respicio et penas et tormenta intelligo […]

equivalent to Laud misc. 363, fols. 67–70, ed. as ANSELM, meditatio 6, PL 158:736–40.

f. Fols. 71v–3v:
Rubric: Oratio ad cristum cumpeccator reminiscitur que cristus pro peccatoribus fecit
Incipit: Ad te dulcissime deus et benignissime domine ihesu qui fons pietatis […]

equivalent to Laud misc. 363, fols. 76–8, ed. as ANSELM, oratio 15, PL 158:888–91.

9. Fols. 74–88v:
Rubric: Incipiunt Meditationes beati BERNARDI CLAREUALLIS abbatis De cognitione dei Capitulum Im.
Incipit: Multi multa sciunt et seipsos nesciunt alios inspiciunt et semetipsos deserunt
Explicit: in quo sponsum cum sponsa perspicies vnum eundem dominum glorie qui vivit [form ending]
Final rubric: Expliciunt Meditationes beati BERNARDI
PS.-BERNARD, Meditationes,

ed. PL 184:485–508.

10. Fols. 89–110:
Rubric: Liber BERNARDI de precepto et dispensatione Epistola sancti BERNARDI abbatis CLAREUALLENSIS ad abbatem Columbensem de sequenti opere
Incipit: Domino Abbati Columbensi frater Bernardus dictus Abbas de Claraualle \ualere [marg.]/ in domino semper Rescriptum meum ad epistolas duorum Carnotensium […]
Rubric: Incipit liber beati BERNARDI abbatis CLAREUALLIS de precepto et dispensatione Capitulum I.
Incipit: Qua mente iam tacebo qua fronte tamen loquar crebris epistolis et nunciis
Explicit: siue in paucis siue in multis vestre debui quod et studui satisfacere voluntati
Final rubric: Explicit liber [as the initial rubric].
BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX, De precepto et dispensatione

Ed. Leclercq et al., Opera, vol. III (Rome, 1963), 253–94, where our MS is not noted.

11. Fols. 110v–12v:
Rubric: De perpetua virginitate sancte Marie et de ueritate corporis et sanguinis domini […]
Incipit: De nostra domina sancta Maria dulcissima matre domini nostri ihesu cristi credimus quod ipsa
Explicit: de virgine sumpsit nec cum intrauit nec cum de illa exiuit eius virginitatem uiolauit
RALPH OF BATTLE

equivalent to Laud misc. 363, fols. 31v–3v.

12. Fols. 113–33v:
Rubric: Liber BERNARDI de xii. gradibus humilitatis Incipit prologus in libellum sancti BERNARDI abbatis de xii. gradibus humilitatis Prologus
Incipit: In hoc opusculo cum in euangelio illud quod dominus ait diem vltimi iudicii […] [the text] Rogasti me frater Gaufride quatinus ea que de gradibus humilitatis
Explicit: quos ascendendo melius tu in corde tuo quam in nostro codice leges
BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX, De xii. gradibus humilitatis

Ed. Leclercq et al., 15–59.

13. Fols. 133v–40v:
Rubric: Incipit liber BERNARDI de ordine uite et morum institucione capitulum I
Incipit: Morum insignia et ornamenta virtutum in illis proculdubio cernimus
Explicit: nutrit huius seculi desertum que necligentes monachos duris morsibus depascunt
Final rubric: Explicit \ liber / BERNARDI [as the initial rubric]
PS.-BERNARD, De ordine vitae,

ed. PL 184:561 B 1–583 A 13 (slightly less than the whole). Fol. 140v has only five written lines.

Beneath the explicit an added note (anglicana, s. xv2): ‘quicquid enim sine peccato mortali potest omitti vitandum est pocius quam ex excercio eius scandalum oriatur secundum SCOTUM’.

14. Fols. 141–57:
Rubric: Incipit Epistola BERNARDI ad Assellinum ecclesie Romane cardinalem et cancellarium de diligendo deum
Incipit: Uiro illustri domino Assellino ecclesie romane diacono cardinali et cancellario BERNARDUS abbas dictus DE CLARAUALLE domino viuere et in domino mori Orationes a me et non questiones poscere solebatis
Explicit: locus aut misericordie tempus \ vbi / nullus profecto esse potent miserationis affectus
BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX, De diligendo deo

Ed. Leclercq et al., 119–54. The verso is blank, and fol. 157 is not a full leaf, but an irregular tab supplied to hold the short end of the text.

15. Fols. 158–63:
Rubric: Incipit tractatus BERNARDI qui dicitur sp\e/culum peccatorum
Incipit: Qvoniam karissime in hac uia deficientis uite sumus dies nostri sicut umbra pretereunt
Explicit: et peccata fugias semper tua nouissima in corde diligenter meditando et cetera
Speculum peccatorum

In fact, PS.-AUGUSTINE, ed. PL 40:983–92.

16. Fols. 163–5v:
Rubric: Incipit sermo sancti AUGUSTINI de verbis apostoli Fundamentum aliud […]
Incipit: In his verbis apostoli fratres audiuimus illum dicentem fundamentum aliud
Explicit: et elemosinarum largitate possimus redimere Prestante domino nostro [form ending]
Final rubric: Amen Explicit sermo [as the initial rubric]
AUGUSTINE

Sermones, App. 104, ed. PL 39:1946–9. Fol. 165v is only about half-filled.

17. Fols. 166–79v:
Rubric: Incipit epistola CIRILLI ad Augustinum de mirabilibus que contigerunt post mortem beati Ieronimi presbiteri
Incipit: Venerabili viro episcoporum eximio Augustino yponensi presuli Cirillus ierosolomitanus episcopus omnium sacerdotum infimus Illius sequi uestigia cuius in terris sanctitas radiare non cessat
Explicit: exultent dicentes Dominus soluit compeditos dominus illuminat cecos Cui est honor [form ending] Amen
Final rubric: Explicit epistola CIRILLI ad beatum Augustinum

In AUGUSTINE, Epistolae App. 19, ed. PL 33:1126–52.

18. Fols. 179v–83v:
Rubric: Incipit Meditatio BONAUENTURE
Incipit: Anima dei imagine insignita pio saluatoris cruore redempta ceteris creaturis
Explicit: non cesses dicendo Filie ierusalem nuntiate dilecto dicentes quia amore langueo Amen Explicit

Unidentified; the incipit resembles Bloomfield, no. 0412 (BL, MS Burney 359).

19. Fols. 183v–8v:
Rubric: Incipit Epistola sancti AUGUSTINI Episcopi et doctoris ad Cirillum presbiterum de transitu Ieronimi doctoris
Incipit: Gloriosissime cristiane fidei athlete sancte matris ecclesie lapis angularis
Explicit: potest optinere cum nullatenus possit suo desiderio defraudari vale et ora pro me
Final rubric: Explicit epistola [as the initial rubric]
AUGUSTINE

Epistolae App. 18, ed. PL 33:1120–6. Beneath the text are four erased lines (see Provenance).

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: -cessitatem
Form: codex
Support: Vellum (FSOS/FHHF).
Extent: Fols. iv + 188 + i (numbered fol. v).
Dimensions (leaf): 227 × 147 mm.
Dimensions (written): 160–70 × 95 mm.
Foliation: An accurate early modern foliation through fol. 57.

Collation

1–38 48+1 (+9) [fol. 33, a booklet boundary] | 5–98 [fol. 73, a booklet boundary] | 108 118(–8, blank) [fol. 88, a booklet boundary] | 12–148 [fol. 112, a booklet boundary] | 15–168 1712 [fol. 140, a booklet boundary] | 188 198+1 (+9, a large tab, the stub of which shows at the head of the quire, preceding fol. 149) [fol. 157, a booklet boundary] | 208 [fol. 165, a booklet boundary] 21–228 238(–8, blank). Throughout, boxed catchwords at the centre of the leaf (sometimes red-slashed). In booklet 1, all leaves in the first half of each quire signed with a letter and a roman numeral, later in brown crayon, quires 1–4 = A–d. At the foot of fol. 33v, in brown crayon, ‘4’ ‘xij Abus’. In booklet 2, most signatures cut away, but quires 6 and 7 bear two sets, on all leaves in the first half: an older one, in which they are e and f; and a more recent series in brown ink, I and k. In Bookets 3–8, all leaves in the first half of each quire signed, with a letter (I–y) and a roman numeral. Quire 11 also bears an older set of signatures, roman numerals only, as do booklets 5–6.

Layout

In long lines, 33 lines to the page. Prickings rare; bounded and ruled in brownish ink.

Hand(s)

Written in anglicana formata (with textura r and g, d variable). Punctuation by medial point (often with a tail) and punctus elevatus.

Decoration

Headings in red.

Decorated capitals at the heads of texts, most elaborately a 4-line blue capital on violet and gold leaf, with a crude demivinet with buds and a bird in the same colours (fol. 1; a demivinet with gold-leaf leaves and dragon on fol. 110v).

More usual elsewhere is a 4-line blue lombard with gold leaf on red flourishing, sometimes extended to a demivinet with bar border and flourish.

At minor divisions, 2-line blue lombards on red flourishing.

Red-slashed capitals break the text, in some texts red and blue 1-line lombards.

In some texts, running titles in either red or text ink.

See AT, no. 334 (34), dating the book s. xiv ex. and suggesting manufacture at St Albans.

Binding

Brown leather over millboards, s. xvii, with a stamped fillet. Sewn on five thongs. Nail-holes from a chain-staple in Watson’s position 6, as well as slits in both boards from cloth ribbons to close the book. Gold ‘130’ at the top of the spine, in black ink on leading edges with a note of contents ‘Hugo de Foliet…’ On the leading edge of the lower board a pasted paper tab with the old shelfmark ‘38’. Stamped gold dots on the leading edges of both boards and leading and bottom edges red-flecked. Pastedowns modern paper, a College bookplate on the front pastedown. At the front, four paper flyleaves; at the rear one paper flyleaf (v).

Preceding fol. 1, a fragment from the pastedown of an earlier binding, from a noted service book (one line only).

History

Origin: s. xv1 ; England

Provenance and Acquisition

⟨Hunc librum⟩ dedi⟨t⟩ frater ⟨Henricus⟩ Wylum fratri Ioh⟨anni⟩ Bywell per licenciam ⟨domini Iohannis [? i.e., Whethamstede] abbatis⟩ Monasterii sancti Alb⟨an⟩i qui liber post mortem predicti fratris ⟨Iohannis⟩ remanebit in conuentu ciusdem dom⟨ ⟩ cui ⟨ ⟩ propicietur ihesus cristus’ (fol. 188v, s. xv1) (Ker MLGB 130, 302; from the latter, the inscription was once more readily legible than now).

Hum.[?] Dyson’, perhaps Humphrey (fols. 13v, 33v, 36v, 188v, s. xvi2).

‘Liber Collegij Diui Johannis Baptistae Oxon’ ex dono Dominj Gulielmi Paddej militis et olim ejusdem Collegij Convictoris 1634’ (fol. ivv at the top; below this, s. xix notes on contents, ascribed by a former St John’s librarian to Miss P. M. Ireland).

Record Sources

Ralph Hanna, A descriptive catalogue of the western medieval manuscripts of St. John's College, Oxford (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002) (with Hanna's transcription of 'Adam Dyson' in the provenance changed to 'Hum.[?] Dyson'; MLGB3 also has the latter).

Availability

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

Bibliography

    Alexander, J. J. G., and Elźbieta Temple, Illuminated Manuscripts in Oxford College Libraries, the University Archives and the Taylor Institution (Oxford, 1985).
    Bloomfield, Morton W., et al., Incipits of Latin Works on the Virtues and Vices, 1100-1500 A.D., Including a Section of Incipits of Works on the Pater Noster (Cambridge Mass., 1979).
    Farmer, Hugh, ‘Ralph’s Octo Puncta of Monastic Life’, Studia Monastica 11 (1969), 19–29.
    Ker, N. R., Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books. Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks. 2nd edn. (London, 1964), extended by Andrew G. Watson, MLGB: Supplement to the Second Edition. RHS Guides and Handbooks 15 (1987).
    Leclercq, J, et al. (eds.), S. Bernardi Opera, vol. III (Rome, 1963).
    Migne, Jacques-Paul (ed.), Patrologia Latina 33 (Paris, 1845).
    Migne, Jacques-Paul (ed.), Patrologia Latina 39 (Paris, 1846).
    Migne, Jacques-Paul (ed.), Patrologia Latina 40 (Paris, 1845).
    Migne, Jacques-Paul (ed.), Patrologia Latina 150 (Paris, 1854).
    Migne, Jacques-Paul (ed.), Patrologia Latina 158 (Paris, 1853).
    Migne, Jacques-Paul (ed.), Patrologia Latina 176 (Paris, 1854).
    Migne, Jacques-Paul (ed.), Patrologia Latina 184 (Paris, 1854).
    Sharpe, Richard, A Handlist of the Latin Writers of Great Britain and Ireland before 1540. Publications of the Journal of Medieval Latin 1 (Turnhout, 1997).
    Southern, R. W., St Anselm and his Biographer (Cambridge, 1966).
    Southern, R. W., ‘St Anselm and his English Pupils’, MARS 1 (1941), 3–34.
    Watson, Andrew G., A Descriptive Catalogue of the Medieval Manuscripts of All Souls College Oxford (Oxford, 1997).
    Wilmart, André, Auteurs spirituelles et textes dévots au moyen âge (Paris, 1932).

Funding of Cataloguing

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

Last Substantive Revision

2023-10: First online publication

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