MS. Bodl. 496
Summary Catalogue no.: 2159
Physical Description
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Presented by sir George More in 1604.
MS. Bodl. 496 – Part 1
Contents
Latin poems chiefly of the Goliardic type composed in the 12th and 13th centuries. The longer ones are:
Language(s): Latin
Ends abruptly on fol. 72v 'crederet esse Deo', sixty-five leaves being lost, the catchwords being 'Et non pensaret'. Without title or author's name
This piece is in a different hand from the next.
From fol. 192 the scribe of this part of A seems to be 'T.G.', cf. foll. 203v, 236v 'T. Graunt', 240 ('Graunt').
Sixty-two fables.
It appears therefore that this treatise was written by John Matthew, a monk of Glastonbury, in 1431 at the desire of abbot Nicholas Frome (1420–65), and that the present MS. is a rather later copy.
Twenty-one Latin processional hymns (Versus) beginning 'Salve festa dies', of which the larger number are unpublished: the last three are added.
Shorter poems, chiefly Goliardic, of which the incipits are here given:
(on confession), fol. 242.
(on virtues and vices), fol. 238.
(Goliae 'Disputacio inter vinum & aquam'), fol. 227v.
(on the Seven deadly sins), fol. 234.
(dialogue between Man and Reason), fol. 237.
('Metrum de Curia seculari & spirituali'), fol. 204v.
('Condiciones male plurimorum sacerdotum'), fol. 214v.
('Exclamacio contra Legistas'), fol. 206v.
(moral), fol. 144.
(Goliae 'Disputada in consilio nubendi'), fol. 230.
(on the Seven deadly sins), fol. 242.
(moral), fol. 239.
('Phisonomia versificata'), fol. 235.
(exhortation to confession), fol. 13v.
(on life's hardships), fol. 13.
Among the Latin miscellanea are:
(fol. 145v), a metrical charm of st. Dorothea
(fol. 204) an epitaph on Alexander the Great, attributed to Demosthenes
(fol. 215v) an arithmetical puzzle in verse about so arranging a mixed crew of thirty Christians and pagans, that when every tenth man was thrown overboard all the pagans perished first
(fol. 224v) 'Acta regis Henrici quinti', a short chronology, 1412–22
(fol. 240v) Twenty-three mnemonic distichs, chiefly for astrological facts
(fol. 241v) Excerpts from 'Galfridus Anglicus in Papa stupor mundi', i.e. from the Poetria nova of Galfridus de Vino Salvo
(*fol. 247) a hymn to st. Mary the Virgin
The pieces marked with an asterisk are in rather later hands than the rest.
Physical Description
Decoration
Coloured capitals.
History
MS. Bodl. 496 – Part 2
Contents
Physical Description
History
Additional Information
Record Sources
Bibliography
Online resources:
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2020-07-23: Description revised to incorporate all information in SC.