Language(s): Latin
1. Fols. 1–115:
Incipit: || Cum ordinem Cisterciensem per Rationem quo non ⟨ ⟩ ordine suo conuenire non ⟨.....⟩ possunt Eam te Si vacante sede propria scribat capitulo et prebend’ conferat episcopus ibi creatus mandatum adimplere tenetur
Explicit: Cum secundum Item dicit quod supra capitulo proximo
Final rubric: Explicit iiijtus liber
An unidentified commentary on Sext. 2. Fols. 116–56v:
Incipit: Assit principio sancta maria meo
Rubric: Incipit liber quintus In antecedente de accusacionibus et inquisicionibus
Incipit: Si legitimus non sentitur per Iohannem dicit tamen
Explicit: retinendo requiritur canonica Institucio Sequuntur alie regule quas non oportet summare Expliciunt casus summarij
Apparently the previous item concluded. Fols. 157v–8, 160rv have ‘Regule Iuris in sexto’, an index; fols. 157, 158v–9v left blank, now with added texts.
3. Fols. 161–80:
Incipit: Lucio Vecturio suo CICERO salutem Collegi ea que pluribus modis dicuntur quo verio prompcior que ad id totum quid plerumque multo major pars trahi in hos omnes potent formas […] Abditum Opertum Absconditum Obbscurum Obumbratum Obtusis Cecum Inuolutum Tectum Coopertum
Explicit: Vitare Declinare Caucre Subterfugere Operitur Prestolatur Exspectatur Sustinet
Final rubric: Expliciunt synonoma M T CICERONS
Explicit: Qui scripsit carmen sit benedictus Amen quod Wylton
PS.-CICERO,
Synonyma,
because it was known to Isidore of Seville, usually referred to as ‘the Isidorian Synonyma’; for discussion, see Martin Schanz, rev. Carl Hosius, Geschichte der Römischen Literatur, 4th edn. 1 (Munich, n.d.), 548–9, a reference we owe to Michael Winterbottom.
4. Fols. 180v–6:
Incipit: Colores precipue pertinentes ad ornatum dictaminis sunt duo scilicet circuicio et transsumpcio
Explicit: [fol. 183] illa verba specialia stant sub vno verbo generali vt preexpositum est Tris sibi vult similem tetras sibi disimilem vult
Incipit: In predicto versu ponuntur regule cadenciarum fundari
Explicit: et sentenciam multarum clausarum de quibus non tracto causa breuitatis
Final rubric: Explicit tractatus rethorice habitus sub compendio datus a magistro SYMONE ALKOKE doctore in theologia anno domini Mocccmo27o. quad Wylton
SIMON ALCOCK,
De modo dividendi themata (Sharpe, no. 1628 [608]), , in fact two brief and unpublished tracts; for their relationship, see Martin Camargo (ed.), Medieval Rhetorics of Prose Composition (Binghamton, NY, 1995), 112 n. 31. 5. Fols. 186v–195:
Incipit: Versus salutacionis Salue plus decies quam sunt momenta dierum | Quot generum species […] Quot sut [sic for sunt] partes epistole Parcium epistole quedam sunt ipsam essentialiter integrantes et quedam accidentaliter
Explicit: inter hunc nominatiuum sacerdotes et hoc verbum choruscarent est nimis prolix distancia Explicit etc
THOMAS MERKE bishop of Carlisle (d. 1409), ‘Formula moderni et usitati dictaminis’ (Sharpe, no. 1791 [668–9]), ed. Camargo, Medieval Rhetorics, 105–47, with our MS described at 111–13. The incipit, ten verses in total, is Walther, no. 17138, cited from three German MSS.
6. Fols. 195–201:
Incipit: In dei nomine Amen ad instantiam dilecti mei W pro sua doctrina feliciter amplianda tam in modo dictandi
Explicit: meam simplicitatem vobis \ad presens/ notam facere non formidans
A further ars dictaminis, an incomplete version at Lincoln Cathedral MS 237, fols. 67v–70v.
7. Fols. 201v–2v:
Incipit: Studiose agendum est vt eaque promittuntur opere compleantur | que procedunt de labiis meis
Explicit: vt peruertet semitas iusticie Ira patris filius stultus et dolor matris que genuit eum
Proverbs. Added text:
a. Fol. 115v:
Incipit: xxiij. distinctio qui episcopus humilitas de pe di ij dist’ sus Imutacio saluatoris […]
A pair of distinctiones, a quotation on the qualities of a good bishop, and five verses, inc. ‘Primo precipitur quod sit sine crimine presull | Monogamus sobrius...’ (Walther, no. 14624).
b. Fol. 157:
Incipit: Anna solet dici tres concepisse marias […]
(six verses, Walther, no. 1060, claiming to know 32 copies, to which add BodL, Laud misc. 486 and 513). Items (b)–(e) have been added in three mixed anglicana/secretary hands, s. xv ex. c. Fol. 157:
‘Cor sapit et pulmo loquitur fel ammouet iras | Splen ridere facit cogit amare iecur’ (not in Walther).
d. Fol. 157:
Incipit: Nota quare quilibet baptizatus vngitur in fronte […]
e. Fol. 157:
‘Iste sunt differencie gracie et virtutis Tu spiras vbi vis tu munera diuidis vt vis | Tu quid vis cui vis tu quamuis munere quo vis’ (Walther, no. 19536).
f. Fol. 158v:
Incipit: Concianotorum precipuus salamon sanctus edoctus ab alto viros gloriosos laudare me admonet ad effectum […]
with two similar snippets on fol. 159v
g. Fol. 180:
grammatical notes, on words related to ‘grandis’; and the versus ‘Tria sunt necessaria Pax sapiencia Copia | Tria sunt contraria \lis/ inopia fraus mulierum’ (not in Walther) (s. xv ex.).
Secundo Folio: Innocencius
Form: codex
Support: Mixed vellum and paper. With the exception of a single bifolium (fols. 119 + 124), quires 10–12 are entirely vellum (HSOS/HFFH). Elsewhere, the scribe has taken roughly equivalent numbers of vellum and paper bifolia (most usually three of each; the last three quires are larger) and folded them together. The paper usually appears folded in
quarto, and although regular paper-vellum-paper alternation is not universal, the quires appear to have been formed from half-sheets. The watermarks are uncertain:
A: Uncertain: fols. 152 and 155 in quire 14.
B: Tête humaine: of the type Briquet, nos. 15600 et seq., most common s. xv2/4, in quires 15–17.
Extent: Fols. iii +
202 + iii (numbered fols. iv–vi).
Dimensions (leaf): 190 × 110 mm.
Dimensions (written): 128 × 73 mm.
Collation
112 (–1 –3 to 10) 2–712 814 916(–15?, a paper stub) 1012 (–1, a vellum stub) [fol. 115, a booklet boundary] | 1112 128 1312 1412+1 (+13) [fol. 160, a booklet boundary] | 15–1714. Catchwords, boxed and early examples red-slashed, none after quire 14. All leaves in the first halves of quires signed with a roman or arabic numeral, a few quires given numerical signatures on the first recto or last verso; in this system, quires 1–3 = I–iij; quire 12 = ij (of booklet 2).
Condition
Fols. 1 and 2 have been torn and replaced with parchment, half and third respectively torn away.
Layout
In long lines, about 30 to the page. No prickings; bounded in brown crayon, no rules.
Hand(s)
Written in anglicana (although secretary a and g) by a scribe named Wylton (see Provenance below). Punctuation by occasional point and medial point.
Decoration
Lemmata written in textura with anglicana letter forms (item 1).
Some effort at running titles to indicate topics treated.
To the end of booklet 2, fol. 62, lemmata underlined in red, red-slashed capitals, some marginal red paraphs.
Binding
A modern replacement. Sewn on five thongs. At the front, a marbled paper leaf and two paper flyleaves (the date 1767 appears on the verso of fol. 1); at the rear, two paper flyleaves and another marbled paper leaf (iv–vi).
Provenance and Acquisition
Camargo suggests that the scribe ‘Wylton’ should be identified with a man who took his Oxford BCL before 1451; for him, see BRUO 2118.
‘hic codex pertinet Iohanni lacocke’ (fol. 202v, lower margin; s. xvi in., below an erased line, probably of ownership, illegible under ultraviolet light). The script may be too late to support identification with Camargo’s candidate, the lawyer described at BRUO 1081.