MS. Bodl. 691
Summary Catalogue no.: 2740
Contents
Preceded by the Retractationes
Fols iii-xii comprise ten leaves, and a fragment of an eleventh, of an early 14th-century synopsis of the work, of which synopsis two or three leaves are missing at the beginning
M. B. Parkes notes that in the fourteenth century John Grandison inserted a small quire into the front of the manuscript containing a synoptic table of contents. Grandison numbered each entry in this table and then worked his way through the manuscript, dividing the text into books (Scribes, Scripts and Readers: Studies in the Communication, Presentation and Dissemination of Medieval Texts [London: Hambledon Press, 1991], p. 67)
A series of notes by Grandison apply sentences in the treatise to English events; see fols 25, 160 ('sic fratres Coneweye et ei adherentes'); 186v ('Bathonia'); 211 ('Nota hic verba pro archiepiscopo de Armachan. contra fratres')
Physical Description
Condition
Layout
2 cols
Decoration
Pächt and Alexander i. 449, pl. XXXVII
Fine initials, fols 72v, 84v, and 92v were added to a manuscript produced in France (late 11th century- early 12th century) by an illuminator in England the middle of the 14th century
A considerable number of the 14th-century capitals contain miniatures (by at least two artists). The most detailed of these is on fol. 1v, offering a representation of the redeemed in Paradise under the outstretched arms of a female figure, the Church, with Christ above and angels round (Summary Catalogue)
Other initials added in the middle of the 14th century in England are lacertine grotesques and the like, in a peculiar style, see fols 1r, 32v, 84v, 118v, 148v, 181v, etc. (Summary Catalogue)
Binding
Stamped white sheepskin (c. 1602) on older sewing and boards, worn and mended
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Exeter, Devon, Cathedral church of St Peter: "Liber Ecclesie Exoniensis" (s. xiv) (MLGB3)
Notes added by John Grandison, Bishop of Exeter 1327–1369, apparently after the completion of the illumination (Pächt and Alexander iii. 639, pl. LXIV)
Presented by the dean and chapter of Exeter in 1602
Record Sources
Digital Images
Digital Bodleian (10 images from 35mm slides)
Bibliography
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2023-02-16: Description revised to incorporate all the information in the Summary Catalogue (1922), with additional reference to published literature as cited.