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

St John's College MS 149

Theological miscellany

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: -glici generis
Form: codex
Support: Vellum (FSOS/FHHF).
Extent: Fols. iii + 205 + iii (numbered fols. iv–vi).
Dimensions (leaf): 208 × 145 mm.

Binding

A modern replacement. Sewn on three 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. xii and xiii ; England

Provenance and Acquisition

Pen-trials, including ‘Robertus ⟨? de lorde⟩’ (fols. 197 and 205v; mixed anglicana/secretary, s. xv).

Booklet 1 = Fols. 1–81

Contents

Language(s): Latin and Old English

1. Fols. 1–59v:
Rubric: Incipit prologus AEILREDI abbatis REIUALLIS in uita beati aedwardi
Incipit: Mvltis ueterum studio fuisse didiscimus illustrium uirorum qui filiis floruere temporibus actus […]
Rubric: [fol. 2] Incipit epistola AEILREDI abbatis REIEUALLIS ad abbatem Laurentium Westmonasterii
Incipit: Dilecto et diligendo et intimis uisceribus amplectendo uenerabili domino et patri Laurentio […] Factus sum insipiens sed tu me coegisti Quis enim ego […]
Rubric: [fol. 4] Incipit vita Beatissimi Regis aedwardi et confes⟨ ⟩
Incipit: Gloriose ac dilecti regis aedwardi uitam literis tradituri ex uerbis beatissimi petri
Explicit: deuotius et expressius extollendum tanti meriti patronum omnium corda commouit
Final rubric: Explicit vita Sancti aedwardi Regis et confessoris […]
AILRED OF RIEVAULX, Vita S. Edwardi

Sharpe, no. 62 (28–30), ed. PL 195:737–90. A list of chapters intervenes between Aelred’s letter and the text (fol. 3rv).

2. Fols. 60–72v:
Incipit: Domino sancte metropolitane dorouernensium ecclesie archiepiscopo Dunstano uere moribus et etate maturo ABBO FLORIACENSIS monachus leuita etsi indignus […] Postquam a te uenerabilis pater digressus sum cum multa alacritate […]
Rubric: [fol. 61] Incipit passio Sancti aedmundi Regis et Martiris
Incipit: Adsciti aliquando in britanniam precario munere in pernitiosum auxilium tres germani populi
Explicit: nos cum sibi digne famulantibus expiet a peccatis quibus meremur supplicium Per eum qui uiuit [form ending] Amen
Final rubric: Explicit passio sancti aedmundi Regis et martiris
ABBO OF FLEURY, Passio S. Eadmundi

Sharpe, no. 1(1–4), ed. Michael Winterbottom, Three Lives of English Saints, Toronto Medieval Latin Texts 1 (1972), 67–87; see further Antonia Gransden, ‘Abbo of Fleury’s Passio sancti Eadmundi’, Revue bénédictine 105 (1995), 20–78.

3. Fols. 72v–81v:
Rubric: Incipit prefacio in vita Beati Kenelmi Regis et Martiris
Incipit: De beato kenelmo in tota anglia clarissimum est quod regius fuerit filius […]
Rubric: [fol. 73] Incipit passio sancti Kenelmi Regis et Martiris
Incipit: Kenvlfvs gloriosissimus et piissimus rex merciorum anno domini octingentesimo nono decimo imperii
Explicit: ut per huius sancti sui intercessionem ad electorium suorum nos perducat consortium qui in trinitate perfecta uiuit [form ending] amen
Final rubric: Explicit passio Beati Kenelmi regis et martiris
Vita et miracula Sancti Kenelmi

ed. Rosalind C. Love, Three eleventh-century Anglo-Latin saints' lives: Vita S. Birini, Vita et miracula S. Kenelmi and Vita S. Rumwoldi (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996), pp. 49-89, where our MS is represented by sigla J. The Vita et miracula recension corresponds to BHL 4641 n, p and r (Love 1996, p. xc, n. 8).

In the margin, fol. 76, partly cut away, written in insular, ‘Kenelm kinebern inne clenc⟨o⟩ dene under þa þorne lið hefd⟨es⟩ bereved’ (as transcribed in Love 1996, p. 66). Not included in IMEV.

Physical Description

Collation

1–88 910 108 (–8, blank and now a stub). No catchwords or signatures.

Layout

Writing area 152–7 × 100 mm. . In long lines, 25 lines to the page. Frequent prickings to fol. 59, thereafter none; bounded and ruled in black and brown ink to fol. 59v, thereafter in brown ink.

Hand(s)

Written in protogothic bookhand, s. xii3/4 or ex., by two scribes, one responsible for item 1, the second for items 2–3. Punctuation by point and punctus elevatus (both scribes).

Decoration

Headings in red.

Both the preface and item 3 introduced by 6-line red and blue initials with leaf-like decorative patterns in the same colours and a line of alternate red and blue ‘uncial’ lettering.

In item 1, 2-line arabesque capitals, red, green, and blue, on flourishing of a contrasting colour, at chapter heads.

One-line text ink capitals to divide the text.

Partial added running titles ‘sancti Edwardi’ etc. s. xiv in.

History

Origin: s. xii3/4

Booklet 2 = Fols. 82–98

Contents

Language(s): Latin

4. Fols. 82–91v:
Rubric: Incipit Passio sancte cristine uirginis et Martiriis que est Nono kalendas augusti
Incipit: Erat temporibus diocliciani imperatoris quedam de tyro sacra et nobilissima uirgo
Explicit: sub imperatore dioclitiano nono kalendas augusti die quinta feria in tyro ciuitate Regnante domino nostro ihesu cristo [form ending] Amen Explicit passio [as the initial rubric]
Passio S. Christianae

Cf. BHL 1748–57 [Catalogue encoder's note added in 2023: Love 1996 p. cxxvii n. 204 cites BHL 1756]

cf. the version ed. J. E. Cross and C. J. Tuplin, ‘An Unrecorded Variant of the “Passio S. Christinae”…’, Traditio 36 (1980), 161–236 at 187–203. Other copies appear at Angers, BM, MS 813, fol. 1; and Rouen, BM, MS 260, fol. 179.

5. Fols. 91v–8v:
Rubric: Incipit passio sanctarum uirginum Spei Fidei et Caritatis
Incipit: Erat mulier [later] quedam nomine sapientia de genere primo ualde diues
Explicit: earum matris sapientia die kalendarii augustarum Rome sub adriano imperatore regnante in perpetuum domino nostro [form ending] Amen

BHL 2970, unpublished.

Physical Description

As the carry-over of the rubricator and of one of the scribes shows, booklets 2 and 3 were produced together (and the rubricator reappears in booklet 4). The second scribe of booklet 2 may have carried on past a projected end to his work or may have finished his contribution and then taken over from the first scribe in mid-quire. But the final scribe of booklet 4 is certainly overrunning an original planned fascicle boundary signalled by the odd quire 23. And similar behaviour, involving a change in plan about how much of Elizabeth to present, may be at issue at fol. 153, where that scribe runs on across the very brief quire one would expect at the end of a fascicle.

Layout

This booklet and the next were produced together. Writing area 157 × 100 mm. . In long lines, 25 lines to the page. Prickings; bounded and ruled in brown ink.

Hand(s)

Two scribes: the first writing transitional protogothic bookhand/gothic textura (fols. 82–94), the second protogothic bookhand (fols. 94–113v). Punctuation by point, punctus elevatus, and punctus interrogativus (both scribes).

Booklet 3 = Fols. 99–113

Contents

Language(s): Latin

6. Fols. 99–111:
Rubric: Incipit liber domni GISLEBERTI abbatis de Symoniacis
Incipit: Diligendo patri et domino sancte cantuariensis ecclesie summo pontifici Anselmo Frater Gilebertus abbas Westmonasterii que preparauit deus diligentibus se Quia uobis multam deus concessit gratiam
Explicit: omnino quam debet accipit quod tradit omnino aliter quam debet tradit
Final rubric: Explicit liber de Symoniacis
GILBERT CRISPIN, 'De symoniacis' (Sharpe, no. 364 [142–3]), ed. from this, the unique copy, Anna S. Abulafia and G. R. Evans, The Works of Gilbert Crispin, Abbot of Westminster (London, 1986), 142–57.
7. Fols. 111–13v:
Rubric: Incipiunt pauca de uirtutibus Beati gregorii cesariencis episcopi quinto Nonas Iulii
Incipit: Digniss\i/mvm puto beati uiri Gregorii Gneocesariensis episcopi gesta que sub orientali
Explicit: catholice fidei expositionem breuiter editam dereliquit Ac quinto idus iulii in domino requieuit
Final rubric: Explicit de sancto gregorio Gneocesariensis episcopo
Vita Gregorii thaumaturgi

BHL 3678b (in the supplement) [Catalogue encoder's note added in 2023: Love 1996 p. cxxvii n. 206 cites BHL 3677]. Another copy appears at Douai, BM, MS 870, fols. 118v–19v.

Physical Description

Collation

118 128+1 (+8, its stub showing after fol. 90) [the intermediate booklet boundary] | 138 148 (–8, blank and a stub). No catchwords or signatures.

Decoration

Headings in the same hand as the previous booklet.

A 5-line red arabesque capital with blue flourishing and leaf-patterns at the head of item 4; a 5-line blue arabesque capital with red decoration and flourishing and a part of the opening line in alternate red and blue ‘uncial’ at the head of item 6.

Smaller arabesque capitals elsewhere.

Booklet 4 = Fols. 114–92

Contents

Language(s): Latin

8. Fols. 114–70:
Rubric: Incipit epistola uel prefatio in uisiones ELISABEHT
Incipit: Dilecto quondam magistro suo nunc autem dilectissimo patri et domino B abbati de forda frater ROGER Gustum uere salutis et pacis Qui uere diligit semper amico […]
Rubric: [fol. 115] Incipit prelocutio
Incipit: Fuit in diebus eugenii pape secundi in treuerensi episcopatu in cenobio cui nomen sconau […]
Rubric: Incipit allocutio ELISABEHT
Incipit: Promptum in me est frater per omnia dilectioni tue sacratissime confiteri nam et
Explicit: obtuli supra easdem reliquias reuelationes elisabeth quas ostendit illi dominus de exercitu sancte ursule regine
Final rubric: Explicit liber uiarum dei et reuelationum ELISABETH

ROGER OF FORD (Sharpe, no. 1364 [588]), selected excerpts from ELIZABETH OF SCHÖNAU’S Visiones or Revelationes, the whole ed. F W. E. Roth, Die Visionen und Briefe der hl. Elisabeth, 2nd edn. (Brunn, 1886). The contents of Roger’s abbreviation are summarized by Ruth J. Dean, ‘Elizabeth, Abbess of Schönau, and Roger of Ford’, Modern Philology 41 (1944), 209–20 at 216–17. See further Dean, ‘Manuscripts of St Elizabeth of Schönau in England’, Modern Language Review 32 (1937), 62–71 at 62, 64–6; and the description of our MS in Kurt Köster, ‘Elisabeth von Schönau: Werk und Wirkung im Spiegel der mittelalterlichen handschriftlichen Überlieferung’, Archiv für mittelrheinische Kirchengeschichte 3 (1951), 243–315 at 261–2.

9. Fols. 170–6:
Incipit: Item dilectissimo magistro suo frater ROGERUS Metrum quod nobis per symundum fratrem meum transmisi quia incertus sum utrum […]
Rubric: Incipiunt uersus
Incipit: Orbis opes pereant tinea putredine labe | Tu de perpetua uirgine
Explicit: miracula matris | Carminae commemoret uoce iubente patris
ROGER OF FORD, Poem on the virgin,

ed. A. G. Rigg, ‘Roger of Ford’s Poem on the Virgin: A Critical Edition’, Cîteaux 40 (1989), 200–14, where our MS is collated.

10. Fols. 176–81:
Rubric: Incipit passio sancte Margarete uirginis
Incipit: Cvm per uniuersum orbem per sancti spiritus alumpnos cristi euuangelium passim succedentibus miraculis
Explicit: kalendas augusti sub olibrio prefecto in antiochia ciuitate regnante domino nostro [form ending] Amen
Final rubric: Amen Explicit passio [worn] margarete uirginis et martiris
Passio Sanctae Margaritae

BHL 5306, ed. Elizabeth A. Francis, ‘A Hitherto Unprinted Version of the Passio Sanctae Margaritae’, PMLA 42 (1927), 87–105 (a reference to our MS at 88).

11. Fols. 181v–91:
Rubric: Incipit passio sanctarum virginum vndecim Milium apud col...nam quiescentium tercii decimo kalendas Novembris […]
Incipit: Fvit in britannie finibus Rex quidam deonotus tam uita quam nomine
Explicit: celebritas agitur sequens dies sanctę cordulę laudibus impendatur ad laudem domini nostri [form ending] Amen

BHL 8430a (in the supplement); see further Wilhelm Levison, ‘Das Werden der Ursula-Legende’, Bonner Jahrbücher 132 (1928), 1–164 at 96–8, 163. Fols. 191v–2v were originally blank.

Added text:

fol. 192rv:
Rubric: Conscilium remis habitum presidente papa calixto
Incipit: Que sanctorum patrum sanctionibus de prauitate symoniaca stabilita sunt nos quoque spiritus sancti iudicio
Explicit: Bernardus grossus Odo de palumbario Simon et mio Reienelmus et suifranco filii eorum [added in an informal hand:] osmundus scriptor prioris de binedona

The ‘Decreta synodalia’ within HESSO, ‘Relatio de concilio Remensi’, ed. MGH Scriptores, 12:426–7, with a list of those excommunicated at the end of the text. Written in protogothic bookhand, s. xii ex. in a writing area 160 × 100 mm. , 24 lines to the page.

Physical Description

Collation

15–168 176? (the six leaves are all pasted to stubs) 18–198 202 2110 228 238+2 (+2, +9, fols. 173 and 180, both singles) 236 246 (–6, blank). No catchwords or signatures.

Layout

To fol. 181v: writing area 158 × 100 mm. . In long lines, 25 lines to the page. No prickings; bounded and ruled in brown crayon.

From fol. 182 (nearly all the final item, the last two quires): writing area 148–72 × 90 mm. In long lines, 25 lines to the page. Prickings; bounded and ruled in stylus.

Hand(s)

To fol. 181v: written in protogothic bookhand, s. xii ex. by three scribes, respectively responsible for fols. 114–54v, 155–81, fol. 181v (this hand the rubricator).

From fol. 182 (nearly all the final item, the last two quires): written in another protogothic of a much more mid-century mien. Punctuation by point and punctus elevatus (all three scribes).

Decoration

The same rubricator and decoration as the previous booklet; many unfilled spaces for headings in Elizabeth’s Liber viarum.

History

Origin: s. xii ex and mid-century

Booklet 5 = Fols. 193–7

Contents

Language(s): Latin

12. Fols. 193–7:
Rubric: Incipit ⟨pietalem⟩
Incipit: Non scandent celum liuoris habentia telum | Celsa petit uirtus
Explicit: nos hunc dimittere uisem | Laudo concedo tibi complacet optima credo
Final rubric: Explicit liber

The ‘Liber Pitaleon’, proverbial verses (Walther, no. 12163); Walther cites other copies at Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.3.56, fols. 31–4v; and Douai, BM, MS 749, fol. 103v. Fol. 197v is blank.

Physical Description

Collation

254+1 (+3, pasted in). No signatures.

Layout

Writing area 155 × 115 mm. . In long lines, 24 lines (fols. 193–4) and 36 lines (fols. 194v–7) to the page. Prickings; bounded and ruled in brown and black ink.

Hand(s)

Written in a single transitional protogothic bookhand/ gothic textura, s. xiii in. Punctuation by a medial point at the caesura.

Decoration

A heading in red, and a 2-line red lombard with blue flourishing.

History

Origin: s. xiii in

Booklet 6 = Fols. 198–205

Contents

Language(s): Latin

13. Fols. 198–205
Rubric: [rubric supplied s. xiv in.] Incipit passi\o/ sancti Ciriaci sociorumque eius
Incipit: Cvm tociens plasmatoris nostri nomen inter nos predicetur et exaltetur quociens dignis laudibus
Explicit: per eum iuste pie et perseueranter petentibus innumera miraculorum conferuntur beneficia Largiente domino nostro [form ending] Amen

A Vita Quiriaci (Judas), not in BHL. Fol. 205v is blank. [Catalogue encoder's note added in 2023: Love 1996 p. cxxvii n. 210 identifies an approximate correspondence to BHL 2059a].

Physical Description

Collation

268. No signatures.

Layout

Writing area 155 × 105 mm. . In long lines, 23 lines to the page. Prickings; bounded and ruled in brown crayon and black ink.

Hand(s)

Written in a late protogothic bookhand/gothic textura, s. xiii med. (below top line), the first page in a different hand from the remainder. Punctuation by point and punctus elevatus.

Decoration

Two-line red lombards with penwork flourishing; red slashed capitals to divide the text.

History

Origin: s. xiii med.

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). In item 3, the transcription of the marginal note has been corrected; the apparently erroneous reference to Ker, Cat, p. 124 has been removed; and references to Love’s 1996 edition have been added (superseding Hanna's BHL number and his comparison to a different life of Kenelm). Encoder’s notes have been added in square brackets for items 4, 7, and 13.

Availability

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

Bibliography

    Abulafia, Anna S., and G. R. Evans (eds.), The Works of Gilbert Crispin, Abbot of Westminster (London, 1986).
    Bibliotheca hagiographica latina antiquae et mediae aetatis, 2 vols (Brussels: Société des Bollandistes, 1898–1901).
    Cross, J. E., and C. J. Tuplin, ‘An Unrecorded Variant of the “Passio S. Christinae”…’, Traditio 36 (1980), 161–236.
    Dean, Ruth J., ‘Elizabeth, Abbess of Schönau, and Roger of Ford’, Modern Philology 41 (1944), 209–20.
    Dean, Ruth J., ‘Manuscripts of St Elizabeth of Schönau in England’, Modern Language Review 32 (1937), 62–71.
    Francis, Elizabeth A., ‘A Hitherto Unprinted Version of the Passio Sanctae Margaritae’, PMLA 42 (1927), 87–105.
    Gransden, Antonia, ‘Abbo of Fleury’s Passio sancti Eadmundi’, Revue bénédictine 105 (1995), 20–78.
    Köster, Kurt, ‘Elisabeth von Schönau: Werk und Wirkung im Spiegel der mittelalterlichen handschriftlichen Überlieferung’, Archiv für mittelrheinische Kirchengeschichte 3 (1951), 243–315.
    Levison, Wilhelm, ‘Das Werden der Ursula-Legende’, Bonner Jahrbücher 132 (1928), 1–164.
    Love, Rosalind C., Three eleventh-century Anglo-Latin saints' lives: Vita S. Birini, Vita et miracula S. Kenelmi and Vita S. Rumwoldi (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996).
    Migne, Jacques-Paul (ed.), Patrologia Latina 195 (Paris, 1855).
    Pertz (ed.), Monumenta Germaniae Historica Scriptores 12 (1925).
    Rigg, A. G., ‘Roger of Ford’s Poem on the Virgin: A Critical Edition’, Cîteaux 40 (1989), 200–14.
    Roth, F W. E. (ed.), Die Visionen und Briefe der hl. Elisabeth, 2nd edn. (Brunn, 1886).
    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).
    Walther, Hans, Initia carminum ac versuum Medii Aevi posterioris Latinorum, 2nd edn (Göttingen, 1969).
    Winterbottom, Michael (ed.), Three Lives of English Saints, Toronto Medieval Latin Texts 1 (1972), 67–87.

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

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