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

OR BROWSE BY

MANUSCRIPTS
WORKS
PEOPLE
PLACES

St John's College MS. 139

Johannes Consobrinus, De usura and John Felton, Sermones

Physical Description

Comprising two originally separate MSS
Form: codex
Support: both on vellum (the first FSOS/FHHF, the second HSOS/HFFH).
Extent: Fols. iii + 40 + i (numbered fol. 41) + 266 (numbered fols. 42–307) + ii (numbered fols. iv–v).
Dimensions (leaf): 215 × 148 mm.

Binding

A modern replacement. Sewn on five thongs. At the front, a marbled paper leaf, one modern paper flyleaf, and one medieval vellum flyleaf (sewn to the stub of a second); at the rear, one modern paper flyleaf and another marbled paper leaf (iv–v).

History

Provenance and Acquisition

An erased ownership inscription ‘Robertus batson me suum agnoscit Testante Stonslye ⟨ ⟩ aliis quos ⟨ ⟩ pretium xxx. d’ (fol. 41v, s. xv ex.). He may be identifiable with a John Stonesley, a Cistercian monk of St Bernard’s College c.1506 (BRUO, 1789).

The College ex-libris is written over an older inscription: ‘Hicson hicson Me suum vendicat teste’ (fol. 1, upper margin, s. xvi); cf. ‘hixon Me suum vult’ (fol. 307v). He also signed our MS 116.

‘George Ferrar’ (fol. iii, s. xvii).

‘Liber Collegij Divi Joannis Baptistae ex dono Domini Gulielmi Paddei Militis et Collegii olim Convictoris 1634’ (fol. 1, upper margin).

Manuscript 1 = Fols. 1–41

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. Fols. 1–40v:
Incipit: || et temporalium curis totaliter dedita designat Nec mirum quod has duas ciuitates […]
Rubric: [fol. 2] Incipit primum capitulum de lege simpliciter
Incipit: Lex autem simpliciter ut ad omnes leges indifferenter se habet quedam regula
Explicit: lucratus est ut aliquid si potest tractare pauperibus propter amorem dei Qui viuit [form ending] Amen
Final rubric: Explicit tractatus de vsura Magistri IOHANNIS CONSOBRINI de portugallio
Johannes Consobrinus, De usura

Consobrinus was a Carmelite, and the work is the text printed as De iusticia commutatiua (Paris, 6 September 1494) (cf. the 1483 Paris edition, Copinger 1753, BMC 8:39–40), beginning imperfectly in the prologue at edn. sig. [A iii]. Fol. 41rv is ruled but blank.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: In qua parte (fol. 2)
Extent: Fols. 40 + i (fol. 41).
Dimensions (written): 140 × 90 mm.

Collation

112 (–1, –5; the stub of fol. 1 precedes its conjugate, fol. 10) 2–312 48 (–6, –7, probably both cancels); fol. 41 is a flyleaf at the end. Catchwords. All leaves in the first half of each quire signed with a letter and an arabic numeral; quires 1–4 = a–d (note, fol. 40 is signed d 6).

Layout

In long lines, 31 lines to the page. No prickings; bounded and ruled in lead.

Hand(s)

Written in continental textura semiquadrata. Punctuation by point only.

Decoration

Headings in red introduced by blue paraphs.

One- and 2-line blue lombards on red flourishing.

The text divided with alternate red and blue paraphs.

Frequent marginal notes on contents in the text hand, introduced by alternate red and blue paraphs.

History

Origin: s. xiv ex ; Italy

Manuscript 2 = Fols. 42–307

Contents

Language(s): Latin

2. Fols. 42–296:
Incipit: Penuria studencium in materia morali paupertasque Iuuenum qui copia priuantur librorum […] [the text, sermon 1] Dicite filie syon ecce rex tuus venit Matthei 21. Sciendum quod gracia dei est nobis neccessaria vnde Iohannis 15. sine me
Explicit: Gaudia leticie vite dulcedo perhennis | Gloria laus requies amor et concordia dulcis | Ad illa gaudia eterna perducat nos Ihesus cristus Amen
Final rubric: Expliciunt sermones dominicales per annum compilati per dominum IOHANNEM FELTON’ quondam vicarium ecclesie beate Marie Magdelene Oxon’ etc.
John Felton, Sermones

Sharpe, no. 689 (243–45); see further Alan J. Fletcher, ‘Magnus predicator et devotus. A profile of the life, work, and influence of the fifteenth-century Oxford preacher, John Felton’, Mediaeval Studies 53 (1991), 125–75. Followed by the topical index usual with the sermons (fols. 296v–307). Fol. 307v originally blank.

Added text:

fol. 307v:
Rubric: scotus in quolibetis questione 20.
Incipit: Tucius videtur facere applicacionem talem generalem digneris domine oblacionem
Explicit: materia [later over eras.] securior pars est eligenda hec ille ibidem

repeated, ‘vel secundum alium librum sic Tucius […] ’; in two anglicana hands, s. xv2

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: filia syon (fol. 43)
Extent: Fols. 266.
Dimensions (written): 145 × 90 mm.

Collation

5–2512 2614. Catchwords, often in half-boxes. All leaves in the first half of each quire signed with a letter and an arabic numeral; quires 5–26 = a–y.

Layout

In long lines, 31 lines to the page. No prickings; bounded and ruled in black and brown ink.

Hand(s)

Written in secretary. Punctuation by occasional point and virgula.

Decoration

Two- line blue lombards on red flourishing extended into a bar border at heads of the sermons.

The text broken with alternate red and blue paraphs.

Rubrics unfilled.

Marginal notation of parts and index guides for the sermons, prefixed by a blue paraph.

Running title with the sermon number prefixed by a blue paraph (58 sermons in all), the occasions added above the number, s. xv ex.

History

Origin: s. xv med. ; England

Additional Information

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

    Bibliotheca hagiographica latina antiquae et mediae aetatis (Brussels, 1898-1901).
    Catalogue of Books Printed in the XVth Century Now in the British Museum, 8 vols. (London, 1909).
    A. B. Emden, A Biographical Register of the University of Oxford to A.D. 1500, 3 vols. (Oxford. 1957–9).
    Alan J. Fletcher, ‘Magnus predicator et devotus. A profile of the life, work, and influence of the fifteenth-century Oxford preacher, John Felton’, Mediaeval Studies 53 (1991), 125–75.
    Richard Sharpe, A Handlist of the Latin Writers of Great Britain and Ireland before 1540. Publications of the Journal of Medieval Latin 1 (Turnhout, 1997).

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

2022-01: First online publication

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