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

MS. Bodl. 426

Summary Catalogue no.: 2327

Physical Description

Two separate manuscripts (fols. 1–118, fols. 119–261) probably bound together for Sir Walter Cope.

Binding

Stamped leather, English, late 16th century.

Accompanying Material

Fol. i is a marginal fragment containing a thirteenth-century note on a philosophical (?) treatise.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

Presented by Sir Walter Cope in 1602.

MS. Bodl. 426 – Part 1

Contents

1. (fol. 1)
Philippus Presbyter, Commentary on Job
Rubric: Incipit liber commentarii Philippi praesbiteri ad Nectarium episcopum in libris sancti Iob
Rubric: Praefatio Philippi ad ⟨Nect⟩tarium
Incipit: Adhortante immo potius compellente
Rubric: prologus Philippi in sanctum[sic]
Incipit: Sanctus Iob uir summae patientiae
Incipit: Uir erat in terra Chur nomine Iob. Cui dubium quod terra illa
CPL 643; bks. 1–2 only.
Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Dimensions (leaf): 295 × 220 mm.

Layout

1 col., 31 lines, written space 240 × 170–5 mm.

Hand(s)

Modified Irish script. (Pächt and Alexander iii. 6)

Decoration

Fine initials. (Pächt and Alexander iii. 6, pl. I)

Coloured initials, rubrics.

History

Origin: c. 840–850 ; English, Wessex (?)

Provenance

The scribe also wrote charters of Æthelwulf, king of Wessex, dated 838 and 847 (BL MSS Cotton Augustus II. 20, II. 37, and VIII. 36, Sawyer nos. 1438, 298).

St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury: ‘Di.III.Gª IIII’ ‘Liber sancti augustini Cantuariensis’, late 13th-early 14th century, fol. iv verso.

St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury: BA1.137 in the late-fifteenth century catalogue (ed. Barker-Benfield, I, 419; = BA7.7 = BA8.7); "cum A." (added to title, fol. 1r); seen by Leland at the abbey (MLGB3).

MS. Bodl. 426 – Part 2

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. (fol. 119)
Peter of Blois, Epistolae
Rubric: Epistole Petri Blesensis ...

143 letters.

4. (fol. 254v)
Ps.-Peter of Blois, De XII utilitatibus tribulationis

Ends at the end of fol. 261r with 'regnum celorum secundum', a few lines being left untranscribed.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

Layout

2 cols.

Decoration

Penwork border, initials. (Pächt and Alexander iii. 950).

History

Origin: 15th century, first half ; English

Provenance

Arms of Bury St. Edmunds abbey, and initials of William Babington, abbot 1446–1453.

Additional Information

Record Sources

Description adapted (2018) from the following sources:
A. G. Watson, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts c.435–1600 in Oxford Libraries (Oxford, 1984), no. 88 [part 1: physical description, origin, provenance]
Summary Catalogue (1922) [parts 1 and 2: contents, acquisition, binding]
Otto Pächt and J. J. G. Alexander, Illuminated Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford , III (1973), nos. 6 [part 1: decoration], 950 [part 2: decoration, dating, provenance]

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (12 images from 35mm slides)

Bibliography

Last Substantive Revision

2018-11-23: Revised to incorporate all information in Watson, Pächt and Alexander, and SC.