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

MS. Bodl. 852

Summary Catalogue no.: 2611

Contents

Language(s): Latin

(fol. v verso)

Fifteenth-century table of contents; this shows that Passiones of SS. Paternus and Elphege formerly came between parts II and IV, and part III was then the last part. The detached section of the manuscript has been identified as the former London, British Library, Cotton Vitellius D. xviii fols. 1–27, of which only three damaged fragments survive.

Physical Description

Composite: four booklets, perhaps together by the twelfth century.
Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: v + 84 folios
Dimensions (inch): 8.875 × 6 mm.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

Malmesbury Abbey: fol. 1, ‘Malmesbur’’, ‘xxxix’, 15th century. Perhaps already there by the 1125, when William of Malmesbury referred (in the Gesta pontificum to works which he may have known from this manuscript. (Thomson, ‘‘Scriptorium’ of William of Malmesbury’, p. 123)

‘Willelmus malmesbey fecit scribi istum librum’, fol. ii verso (a false statement)

Probably acquired between 1618 and 1620.

MS. Bodl. 852 – Part 1 (fols. 1–31)

Contents

(fol. 1)
Fulbert of Jumièges, Vita S. Aichardi (BHL 182)
Rubric: Vita sancti Aychadri abbatis Gemmeticensis per Fulbertum
Incipit: Dominis suis Gimegiensis coenobii ... Fulbertus
Incipit: Inter nobilissimas Aquitanię urbes
Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Dimensions (leaf): 215 × 140 mm.

Layout

1 col., 27 lines, written space 155–60 × 100 mm.

Decoration

Good historiated initial and arched frame. (Pächt and Alexander i. 439, pl. XXXVI)

Coloured initials.

Rubrics.

History

Origin: 11th century, third quarter (1049 × c. 1072) ; French, Jumièges, Benedictine Abbey

Provenance

Fol. 31: list of the abbots of Jumièges in the hand of the original scribe, as far as Rotbertus, abbot 1049-c.1072. The names of two later abbots are added by two later scribes; the second, Ursus, was abbot from 1106, so the book must have remained at Jumièges until after that date.

MS. Bodl. 852 – Part 2 (fols. 32–67)

Contents

(fol. 32)
Vita S. Philiberti abbatis Gemeticensis (BHL 6805–6)
Incipit: Cum prisca patrum
Incipit: Sanctus igitur Philibertus
Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

Decoration

Coloured capitals.

History

Origin: 11th century, second half ; French, Jumièges, Benedictine Abbey (?)

MS. Bodl. 852 – Part 3 (fols. 68–74)

Contents

(fol. 68)
Ps.-Jerome, De natiuitate sanctae mariae (BHL 5343)
Incipit: Petis a me peticiunculam

BHL 5345

Incipit: Petis a me ut uobis rescribam

BHL 5344

Incipit: Otium Marię beatissimę

BHL 5334, usually with Ps.-Jerome, De ortu beatae Mariae et de infantia saluatoris.

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

Decoration

Coloured capitals.

History

Origin: 12th century ; French, Jumièges, Benedictine Abbey (?)

MS. Bodl. 852 – Part 4 (fols. 75–83)

Contents

(fol. 75)
Vita S. Vulganii (BHL 8746)
Incipit: Igitur gloriosus confessor Christi Wlganius
Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

Decoration

Coloured capitals.

History

Origin: 12th century ; French, Jumièges, Benedictine Abbey (?)

Additional Information

Record Sources

Description adapted (May 2019) from the following sources, with additional reference to published literature cited in the description:
A. G. Watson, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts c.435–1600 in Oxford Libraries (Oxford, 1984), no. 117 [provenance; part I: physical description, origin]
Otto Pächt and J. J. G. Alexander, Illuminated Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, I (1966), no. 439, pl. XXXVI [part I: decoration]
Summary Catalogue (1922) [part I: contents, acquisition; parts II-IV]

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (3 images from 35mm slides)

Bibliography

Last Substantive Revision

2019-05-10: Revised to incorporate all information in Watson, SC and Pächt and Alexander.