St John's College MS 163

Ambrose, Guy of Southwick, Bartholomew of Exeter

Language(s): Latin

1. Fol. 1

Rubric: Oratio apologitica Sancti AMBROSIJ

Incipit: Si tantum domine reatum nostre delinquentie cogitamus deputatum obseruationis nostre

Explicit: Exaudi peccatoris precem qui uisitas in dolore gementem Amen

In fact ANSELM, oratio 33 ed. PL 158:926.

2. Fols. 1–8

Rubric: Sermo beati AMBROSIJ de lapsu virginis ad ipsam transmissus

Incipit: Audite qui longe estis et qui prope qui timetis dominum et ecclesie eius

Explicit: hoc mihi donum hanc mihi gratiam de tuo fonte prestari cupio deus qui regnas [form ending] Amen

Pseudo-Ambrose, De lapsu virginis consecratae

Beginning with 1.2, ed. PL 16:367–84. Fol. 8^v is blank but ruled.

3. Fols. 9–34^v

Rubric: Incipit liber primus beati AMBROSII mediolanensis urbis episcopi de penitencia contra Nouatianos

Incipit: Si vatum finis ille est maximus qui plurimorum spectat profectum moderatio

Explicit: uinculis corporalibus et egressus omnes mundi istius nexu debemus absoluere

Final rubric: Explicit liber ij^us Beati AMBROSIJ [as the initial rubric]

Ambrose, De poenitentia

CPL 156, ed. Roger Gryson, Ambroise de Milan: La Pénitence, SC 179 (1971), 52–200. Fol. 35 is blank but ruled.

4. Fols. 35^v–43

Rubric: Incipit epistola directa a GUIDONE priore SUDWIC’ ad dominum W herfordensem episcopum super opere sequentj

Incipit: Amantissimo patri et domino Willielmo dei gratia venerabili herfordensi episcopo frater G sacerdotum cristi minimus et sola dignatione diuina Sancte Sudwic’ Ecclesie seruus indignus pastoralis cure officium salubiter exercere [the three words over erasure] Nouit uerus cordium inspector deus […]

Rubric: [fol. 36, the text] Incipit tractatus de uirtute confessionis et de quibusdam articulis eiusdem

Incipit: Qvanta sit virtus confessionis quam efficax quam salubris multis in locis

Final rubric: salubriter confitentium aduocatus ihesus cristus dominus noster cuius Regnum et imperium permanet in secula seculorum Explicit compendiosa compilatio de articulis confessionis ad dominum W herefordensem episcopum directa

Guy of Southwick, De virtute confessionis

Sharpe, no. 408 (157), ed. A. Wilmart, ‘Un opuscule sur la confession composé par Guy de Southwick vers la fin du XII^e siècle’, Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale 7 (1935), 337–52. Fol. 43^v is blank; a contents table for the next item follows (fols. 44–5), and fol. 45^v is blank but bounded and ruled.

5. Fols. 46–113

Rubric: Magistri BARTHOLOMEI EXONIENSIS episcopi liber penitencialis incipit

Incipit: Numquam nimis docetur aut scitur quod cum salutis dispendio tacetur et ignoratur

Explicit: cum trecentis palmatis excusant annum centum solidi dati in elemosinam annum excusant

Bartholomew of Exeter, Poenitentiale

Sharpe, no. 148 (69–70), ed. Adrian Morey, Bartholomew of Exeter (Cambridge, 1937), 175–300 (our MS noted at 165). Fol. 113^v is blank.

Added text:

fol. iv

Incipit: Circa pecuniam symoniace data cui restituenda sit inquire Sic ergo distinguent […]

outlining three conditions and three different solutions.

Written in protogothic bookhand, s. xii med.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: alto ruens

Form: codex

Support: Vellum (HSOS/HFFH).

Extent: Fols. iii + 113 + iv (the first a tab only, numbered fols. iv–vii).

Dimensions (leaf): 210 × 140 mm.

Dimensions (written): 162 × 95 mm.

Collation

1⁸ [fol. 8, a booklet boundary] | 2–5⁸ 6⁶ (– 4, a stub) [fol. 45, a booklet boundary] | 7–14⁸ 15⁴. Catchwords running into the gutter, about half of them cut away. Quires signed with roman numerals in lead on the final versos; 3–4, 6–7, 9–13 = iiii–v, vii–viii, x–xiiii. The signatures of Booklet 2 indicate that another one-quire booklet originally stood at the head of the MS. The contents table on fols. 44–5 shows tailoring between booklets 2 and 3 to join independent units into a consecutive MS.

Layout

In long lines, 32 lines to the page. Prickings; bounded and ruled in lead and bluish-black ink.

Hand(s)

Written in protogothic bookhand, one scribe for the whole, except for fols. 35^v–43, contemporary but with a much more s. xii aspect. Punctuation by point and occasional punctus elevatus.

Decoration

At text openings, 5-line green, gold, and red arabesque initials, often with decorative fill in blue or a contrasting colour.

Same initials, but 2 lines only, for smaller divisions within texts.

Headings in red.

Frequent running titles in red to indicate title and book division.

Binding

A modern replacement. Sewn on four thongs. At the front, a marbled paper leaf (dated 1835), a modern paper flyleaf, and a medieval vellum flyleaf pasted to a modern paper leaf; at the rear, a medieval vellum tab, two modern paper flyleaves, and another marbled paper leaf (iv–viii).

History

Origin: s. xii med. or xii² ; England

Provenance and Acquisition

‘Hic liber est ecclesie sancte MARIE de Suðwica [Southwick] Quem qui ei abstulerit uel titulum hunc dolo deleuerit uel aliam fraudem ei fecerit quominus eiusdem ecclesie sit anthema sit maranatha’ (fol. 46, lower margin; s. xiii in.) (Ker, MLGB 181).

A contents table for the book (fol. iii^v, s. xv¹).

‘Iohannes white de Suthwyk in Comitatu Sutht Armiger dedit hunc librum ⟨....⟩ white de london militi ad vsum Colegij per ipsum de nouo erecti in Oxon’ Anno 1555’ (fol. 1, 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

Eligius Dekkers and Aemilius Gaar, Clavis patrum latinorum, 3rd edn. (Turnhout, 1995).

Roger Gryson (ed.), Ambroise de Milan: La Pénitence, Sources chrétiennes 179 (1971), 52–200.

N. R. Ker, 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).

Jacques-Paul Migne (ed.), Patrologia Latina 16 (Paris, 1845).

Jacques-Paul Migne (ed.), Patrologia Latina 158 (Paris, 1853).

Adrian Morey (ed.), Bartholomew of Exeter (Cambridge, 1937).

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).

A. Wilmart (ed.), ‘Un opuscule sur la confession composé par Guy de Southwick vers la fin du XIIe siècle’, Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale 7 (1935), 337–52.

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

2022-02: First online publication

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