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

MS. Bodl. 38

Summary Catalogue no.: 8849

Physical Description

Composite: four parts
Extent: 2 + 72 + 2 fol.
Dimensions (leaf): 110 × 70 mm.

Binding

Old parchment binding.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

A Fleury provenance for the whole volume (as well as for part 2 only) has been suggested but is regarded as doubtful by M. Mostert ( The library of Fleury (1989), BF913-BF916).

Petri Danielis Aurel. ’ (d. 1603)

Paul Petau (d. 1614): his pressmark ‘G (?) 30’ on fol. 1 (G. Constable in Consuetudines Benedictinae Variae, Corpus Consuetudinum Monasticarum 6 (1975), ex inf. E. Pellegrin, p. 3).

His son, Alexandre Petau (d. 1672): listed in the catalogue of his manuscripts, Leiden, Voss. lat. Q. 76, and in B. Montfaucon, Bibliotheca (1739) (as ‘1441’: I.68 (Prudentius), 91 (Maximianus) (Constable, ex inf. E. Pellegrin, as above).

Nicolas Heinsius (d. 1681); no. 5 in the sale catalogue of his books.

Bought at the Heinsius sale (1683) by Edward Bernard (d. 1697)

Bought by the Bodleian from his widow in 1698.

MS. Bodl. 38 – Part 1

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. (fol. 1)
Maximianus, Elegiae
2. (fol. 13)
Poems
Incipit: Premia tot forme

Twenty elegiac lines.

Incipit: Lux oculis lux bbanda

Eighteen elegiac lines.

Incipit: Quisquis ad excelsi

Twenty-three hexameters.

Incipit: Quod micat ornatum

Twenty-three elegiac lines, vv. 2–36 on a later leaf in the hand of Petrus Daniel, who adds collations of the other poems with a different manuscript.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

History

Origin: 12th century

MS. Bodl. 38 – Part 2

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. (fol. 16–19)
(fol. 16)

Introit trope on the Os iusti

Incipit: Alle voce celsa

Prose on (?) the Alleluia Eripe me

Incipit: Laude voceque
(fol. 17)

Proses

Incipit: Eripe in te fidentem
Incipit: Sancti spiritus gratia

St. Benedict

(fol. 18)

Opening words of the R. Sancti immaculata and V. Beata et virgo et gloriosa

(fol. 18v)

R. Hodie Maria virgo, V. Simeon iustus, for the Purification of the Virgin.

(fol. 19)

Ant. Preclarus dies ortus est of St. Nazarius, priest and martyr.

2. (fols. 19v-23v)
Star time table
Incipit: In Natale Domini cum Geminos quasi super dormitorium iacentes uideris et signum Orionis super Capellam Omnium Sanctorum

Pr. G. Constable, ‘Horologium stellare monasticum’, in Consuetudines Benedictinae Variae, Corpus Consuetudinum Monasticarum 6 (1975), pp. 1–18.

3. (fol. 24)
Rubric: Versus de Albuino
Incipit: Veni frater albuine

Pr. B. Bischoff, Mittelalterliche Studien II, p. 74.

4. (fol. 25)
Form of exorcism

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

Layout

Fols. 16–19: 10 lines, written space 70 × 50 mm.

Musical Notation:

French adiastematic non-rhythmical neums

History

Origin: 11th century ; France

Provenance

From an unidentified Benedictine monastery in north-central France: Fleury and S. Aignan, Orléans, have been suggested but there are difficulties with both (see Constable, as cited art. 2 above).

MS. Bodl. 38 – Part 3

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. (fol. 30)
Boethius, De consolatione philosophiae

Books 1–2, poetical parts only; incomplete, lacking I.3.9 (Emicat) - II.2.5 (retrahat manum) due to loss of some leaves.

2. (fol. 56v)
Poem
Incipit: Foebus abierat subtractis cursibus

Rhythmical poem of twenty-five lines.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

History

Origin: 11th century

MS. Bodl. 38 – Part 4

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. (fol. 58)
Prudentius, Psychomachia

Lacking lines 56, 88–9, 120–247; mutilated in lines 57–87, 90–117.

2.
Poem
Incipit: O Dee cunctiparens

Thirty hexameters.

(fol. 72)
Arithmetical computation

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

History

Origin: 11th century

Additional Information

Record Sources

Description adapted (2018) from published works cited in the description and from the following sources:
S. J. P. Van Dijk, Handlist of the Latin Liturgical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library Oxford Vol. 1: Mass Books (typescript, 1957), p. 116 [part 2, esp. fols. 16–19]
Summary Catalogue III (1895)

Last Substantive Revision

2022-04-04: Add binding information from Summary Catalogue.