St John's College MS 169

Guillaume de Paris, dialogue on the sacraments

Language(s): Latin

Fols. 1–82:

Incipit: Quoniam me sepius rogasti petre postquam sacerdocij sacrum ordinem suscepisti […] [the text] Quia sacramentum baptismi ianua est ominum aliorum sacramentorum

Explicit: in hoc opere fesso ipsum exora a quo omnia sacramenta virtutem obtinent dominum videlicet ihesum cristum qui cum patre [form ending] Amen

GUILLAUME DE PARIS, De sacramentis

In dialogue form (sometimes ascribed to William of Paris, Petrus Gillo, or John Simon, priest of St Simphoriano); for William, confessor to Phillip IV, who d. 1311/14, see Kaeppelli, no. 1618 (2:130–2, where our MS is cited). Followed by a table of contents (fols. 82–7) with a brief introduction explaining its use, ‘Ad cogniscionem opens predicti et inuencionem que in eo continentur faciliorem est notandum […] ’ Fol. 87v and the remainder are blank. There are a good many corrections, marginal notes, and indications of contents in upper margin in the hand of the ownership note (see “Provenance”).

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: excusare

Form: codex

Support: Vellum (FSOS/FHHF).

Extent: iv + 90 (numbered 1–87, v–vii) + ii (numbered viii–ix).

Dimensions (leaf): 203 × 135 mm.

Dimensions (written): 145–150 × 98 mm.

Collation

1¹⁰ 2–10⁸ 11⁸. Quires 1–4 are signed with a roman numeral and capital letter (2–4 only) on the first recto, i–iiij and B–D. Catchwords (none in the last two quires).

Layout

In long lines, about 31 lines to the page. No prickings; bounded in black ink, no rules.

Hand(s)

Written in anglicana (with secretary a). Punctuation by occasional medial point.

Decoration

Chapter numbers marginally in text ink.

A 3-line blue lombard on red flourishing at the head of the prologue.

One-line alternate red and blue lombards to break up the text; an unflourished 2-line blue lombard at the head of the index, where chapter numbers are introduced with alternate red and blue paraphs.

Binding

A modern replacement. Sewn on five thongs. At the front, a marbled paper leaf (dated 1916 on the verso), a modern paper flyleaf, and two medieval vellum flyleaves; at the rear, one modern paper flyleaf and another marbled leaf (vii–ix). The last leaf of the MS proper (fol. vii) was a pastedown in an earlier binding.

History

Origin: s. xv^2/4 ; English

Provenance and Acquisition

‘þe lyttell pars oculi’ (fol. vii, s. xv).

‘Istum librum emit M Ric’ lagharn’ a domino Willielmo Chapman’ capellano anno domini M^moCCCC^mo sexagesimo octauo pro ij s et oret Ric’ pro animabus Iohannis et parentum Willielmi’ (fol. 87, lower margin, in anglicana consonant with that date). Laghorn was a Fellow of Magdalen 1459–77 and donated volumes to that College library (BRUO 1107, implying that our MS may have been part of the Magdalen bequest).

‘Liber Collegij Sancti Johannis Baptistae ex dono Thomae Walker in Artibus Magistri et ejusdem Collegii Socij’ (fol. 2, upper margin, s. xvii).

Record Sources

Ralph Hanna, A descriptive catalogue of the western medieval manuscripts of St. John's College, Oxford (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002) (with correction of a typographical error in the provenance)

Availability

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

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

2020-11: First online publication

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