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

MS. Bodl. 186

Summary Catalogue no.: 2088

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. (fol. 1)
Liber hermeneumatum (Stegmüller, Bibl. 10091)
Rubric: Liber Expositionum parcium Veteris & Noui Testamenti
Rubric: Prologus in libro Ermeneumatum
Incipit: (prologue) Quoniam sunt nonnulli in conuentu
Incipit: (text) Prologus, prelocutio
Germain Morin, ‘Note sur un Liber Hermeneumatum ou commentaire biblique en forme de glose, de l’époque carolingienne’, Revue Bénédictine, 13.1–4 (1896), 66–71
2. (fol. 84)
Fulgentius Mythographus, Expositio sermonum antiquorum
Rubric: Liber Fulgentij episcopi ad Calcidium de quibusdam nominibus id est lxijbus
Incipit: Ne tuorum preceptorum
3.
(fols. 87v-96)
Eucherius of Lyon, Instructiones (II.1–3)
Rubric: Interpretationes Echirij episcopi de nominibus Hebraicis, ac uariis uocabulis atque exposi⟨ti⟩one diuersarum rerum
Incipit: Adonay in Latinum
Incipit: Alleluia in Latinum
Incipit: Mandragora in Genesi

Stegmüller, Bibl. 2261; this copy, VIII.ii.408, 'des. octo stadia passus mille faciunt. PL 50, 816'; Stegmüller, Bibl. 10096, lists fols. 91–6 as a separate work (Interpretationes nominum), but see Vivien Law and James P. Carley, ‘Grammar and Arithmetic in Two Thirteenth-Century English Monastic Collections: Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College, MS 75 and Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 186 (S.C. 2088)’, Journal of Medieval Latin, 1 (1991), 140–67 at 149.

(fol. 96)
Voces animalium

A list of words expressing the sound of animals, and some more peculiar words. Law and Carley, op. cit., item 4.

Incipit: Accipiter pipat. Anas trinnit

Followed by extracts from Caper, Orthographia (Law and Carley, op. cit., item 5)

4.
(fol. 96v)
Ps.-Cicero, Differentiae ‘Inter absconditum’
Rubric: Differentie similium partium orationis a Cicerone & ab aliis ...
Incipit: Inter absconsum & absconditum
(fol. 118)
Ps.-Cicero, Synonyma
Rubric: De diuersis partibus in eadem significatione positis
Incipit: Veturio suo Cicero salutem. Collegi ea que pluribus

At fol. 123v follow 'De uitiis gentium' and 'de uirtutibus earum', and notes on Latin names of places, Roma and Londonie being prominent. Law and Carley, op. cit., items 8–10

Incipit: Inuidia Iudeorum . . Ira Brittonum
Incipit: Prudentia Hebreorum . . Hospitalitas Britannorum
Incipit: Propriorum nominum alia
5.
Rubric: Liber primus domini Bede presbiteri de Ortographia
Incipit: Aeternus, aetas, aequitas
(fol. 125)
Alcuin, De orthographia

PL 100.901–20

(fol. 133v)
Bede, De orthographia

Law and Carley, op. cit., items 11–12: fols. 133v-141r, presented here as 'Liber secundus' of Bede, comprise the sections of Bede's text not incorporated into Alcuin's text.

6. (fol. 141)
Rubric: De numero iuxta Latinos
Incipit: Per I literam representatur unitas

Law and Carley, item. 13: extract from Petrus Elias, Summa in Priscianum. Followed by anonymous texts on numbers; an extract from Bede, De temporum ratione, on finger-counting; and a text on square roots (Law and Carley items 14–17)

7.
(fol. 144)
Priscian, De accentibus
Rubric: Liber de accentibus
Incipit: Litera est nota elementi

Followed by a note on grammar (Law and Carley, item 19)

(fol. 148v)
Rubric: Epilogus omnium uerborum
Incipit: Omnia uerba perfectam

Law and Carley, item 20. Followed by further extracts from Petrus Elias, Law and Carley, item 21.

8. (fol. 155)
Isidore, Etymologiae (alphabetical extracts)
Rubric: Partes ... excerpte & collecte de libro Ethimologiarum beati Ysidori Episcopi
Incipit: Anapestus repercussus

Law and Carley, item 22

9. (fol. 168v)
Petrus Elias, Summa in Priscianum (alphabetical extracts)
Rubric: Partes ... excerpte de Prisciano iuxta magistri Petri expo⟨si⟩tionem cognomento Helie
Incipit: Apostropha componitur ab apo

Law and Carley, item 23

(fol. 177)
Rubric: Diuerse terminationes diuersorum generum & regule ad discernendum nomina ... prout in Prisciano ...
Incipit: Omnia Latina nomina
Final rubric: Explicit liber omnium expositionum

Further extracts from Petrus Elias, Priscian, and Isidore: Law and Carley, items 24–31.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: iii + 199 leaves
Dimensions (binding): 11.375 × 8.25 in.

Layout

2 cols.

Decoration

Good fleuronnée initials. (Pächt and Alexander iii. 287)

Some rubrics in blue and green.

History

Origin: c. 1200 ; English

Provenance and Acquisition

Reading Abbey (?): rejected in MLGB, but Law and Carley, p. 146, suggest that 'Clemens Braye' on the front flyleaf is Clement Braye, monk of Reading in 1486.

Presented by William Burdet of Sonning in 1608.

Record Sources

Description adapted (April 2020) from the following sources, with additional reference to published literature as cited:
Otto Pächt and J. J. G. Alexander, Illuminated Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, III (1973), no. 287 [decoration, origin, date]
Summary Catalogue (1922) [contents, physical description, provenance and acquisition]

Bibliography

    Printed descriptions:

    Vivien Law and James P. Carley, ‘Grammar and Arithmetic in Two Thirteenth-Century English Monastic Collections: Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College, MS 75 and Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 186 (S.C. 2088)’, Journal of Medieval Latin, 1 (1991), 140–67

Last Substantive Revision

2020-05-11: Revised to incorporate all information in SC.