St John's College MS 183

John Cassian, Collationes (selections)

Fols. 1^v–84:

Incipit: Sponsionis nostre et itineris ordo compellit ut abbatis Nestorotis preclari in omnibus […] [fol. 22] Post sinaxim uespertinam ad repromissam narrationem intentis spiathis pariter ex more […]

Rubric: [fol. 32^v] Qvarata atque uicesima collatio

Incipit: abraham abbatis cristo fauente proclauditur omnium seniorum traditiones atque instituta concludens […] [fol. 66] Cvm uirtutem perfectionis uestre quia uclut magna quedam luminaria in hoc mundo […] [fol. 67] Cvm in cenobio Syrie consistentes post prima fidei rudimenta

Explicit: ad ea que desideratis diligentius indaganda mentis quoque addatur intentio est

JOHANNES CASSIANUS, Conlationes (CPL 512), books 14–15, 24, and 11 only, ed. Michael Petschenig, CSEL 13 (1886), 397–436, 672–711, 311–32. Each book is preceded (fols. 1^rv, 21^v–2, 31^v–2^v, 65^v–6) by a table of chapters. Fols. 84^v, v, and vi (which have been pricked with the remainder; vi is a former pastedown) are blank.

Language(s): Latin

Flyleaf text:

fol. iv^va–ra:

Incipit: || Placidas iert nome | Homme de graunt poeste | E vaillant Cheualer

Explicit: A plesyr se asta | Sur vn roche munta se ⟨.⟩yen addresser ||

Anglo-Norman verse,

romance hagiography (?), in six-line aabccb stanzas; see Johan Vising, Anglo-Norman Language and Literature (London, 1923), no. 130 (55). In double columns, alternate red and green paraphs to introduce each triplet; written in anglicana, s. xiv in. The former front pastedown bound in so that the original page foot is the leading edge. In addition to Placidas, the text mentions ‘Traian lempereour’.

Language(s): Anglo-Norman

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: ad institutionem

Form: codex

Support: Vellum (FSOS/FHHF), rather uneven in quality, the leaves often short at the page foot.

Extent: Fols. iv + 86 (numbered fols. 1–84, v, vi) + iii (numbered fols. vii–ix).

Dimensions (leaf): 190 × 125 mm.

Dimensions (written): 133 × 79 mm.

Collation

1–10⁸ 11⁶. Catchwords at the centre of the leaf (three all or partly cut away); no signatures.

Layout

In long lines, 19 lines to the page. Prickings; bounded and ruled in brown and black ink.

Hand(s)

Written in transitional protogothic bookhand/gothic textura, above top line. Punctuation by point only.

Decoration

Alternating 2- and 3-line red and green arabesque initials at textual divisions.

Blanks for headings unfilled.

Binding

Modern rebinding. Sewn on five thongs. At the head, a marbled paper leaf, two modern paper flyleaves, and a medieval vellum flyleaf (a pastedown in an earlier volume); at the rear, two modern paper flyleaves, and another marbled leaf (vii–ix).

History

Origin: s. xii/xiii ; England

Provenance and Acquisition

H⟨..⟩ l⟨.⟩b [most of a line illegible] qui ab eadem abstulerit vel titulum istum dolo deleuerit ⟨....⟩aramatha fiat fiat amen’ (fols. 1^v–2, the lower margin; anglicana, s. xiv in., mostly erased and not legible with ultraviolet). In spite of its erasure, plainly the ex-libris of Southwick Abbey (Hants.) (Ker, MLGB 181).

‘Liber continens verba Nestorotis abbatis et diditur [sic for diuiditur] in 3. libros cum singulorum capitulis prenotatis’ (fol. iv, s. xv¹, anglicana with secretary a); a further note here, of s. xvii, identifies the author and portions of his work.

‘vno tenemento de Farly’ (fol. v^v; mixed anglicana/secretary, s. xv²).

‘Sex sunt que odit dominus et septimum detestatur anima eius Oculos sullimes linguam mendacem’ (fol. vi, a different hand contemporary with the preceding).

Pen-trials (fol. iv, s. xv ex.).

‘Johannes Whyte de Suthwyke in Comitatu Sutht Armiger dedit hunc librum Thome White de london’ 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).

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).

Michael Petschenig (ed.), Conlationes XXIIII. Corpus Scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum 13 (1886).

Johan Vising, Anglo-Norman Language and Literature (London, 1923).

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

2022-08: First online publication

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