MS. Canon. Bibl. Lat. 60
Summary Catalogue no.: 18953
The Ranshofen GospelsContents
Fol. 1r blank.
Canon tables
Fols. 5v-6v blank.
Jerome, Prol. to Gospels (Stegmüller 595)
Jerome, Prol. to Gospels (Stegmüller 596)
Prol. to Matthew (Stegmüller 581)
Prol. to Matthew (Stegmüller 601)
Prol. to Matthew (Stegmüller 590)
Capitula to Matthew
Fol. 14r blank.
Fol. 14v, full-page evangelist portrait (Matthew)
Matthew
Prol. to Mark (Stegmüller 607)
Capitula to Mark
Fol. 48r blank.
Fol. 48v, full-page evangelist portrait (Mark)
Mark
Prol. to Luke (Stegmüller 620)
Capitula to Luke
Fols. 72-73r blank.
Fol. 73v, full-page evangelist portrait (Luke)
Luke
Ps.-Bede, In evangelium Johannis (Stegmüller 620), prol.
Capitula to John
Fol. 109r blank.
Fol. 109v, full-page evangelist portrait (John)
John
Fols. 135v-136r blank.
Fol. 136v, note on the completion of the binding in 1178 (see under Provenance).
Fol. 137r, note on the relics formerly contained in the binding (‘in hac huius operationis structura subtus tabulam maiestatis domini’).
Fol. 137v blank.
Physical Description
Layout
1 col., 25-30 lines (usually 30), written space 200-5 × 125-30 mm.
Decoration
Important Canon Tables, miniatures, borders, initials. (P&A i.82, pl. VII)
Binding
Former treasure binding (‘celatura … in auro. argento. et lapidibus’, with ‘tabulum maiestatis’ containing a reliquary), described in the inscriptions on fol. 136v, 137r (see Watson, Swarzenski).
Present binding Italian, blue leather, 18th century, probably for Canonici.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Inscription, fol. 136v (transcribed in full in Watson) recording the completion of the binding in 1178 at the expense of Adelbard, provost of the Augustinian priory of Ranshofen, and Liutold, treasurer of Ranshofen, and its gift to the priory. This provides a terminus a quem for the writing and decoration of the manuscript; while a considerable interval between writing, decoration and inding is possible, most recent literature favours a date in the 1170s.
Liutold the treasurer was identified in earlier scholarship with the scribe and artist Liutold of Mondsee, an identification that is no longer accepted. Nevertheless the Ranshofen Gospels are associated on art-historical grounds with the Mondsee Gospels written and partly decorated by Liutold of Mondsee (Vienna, ONB, Cod. 1244, ), and with other manuscripts in the so-called 'Liutold Group' (notably a breviary-collectar, Munich, BSB, Clm 8271, , and a copy of Gratian's Decretum, Munich, BSB, Clm 13004, ), associated with Salzburg and the Benedictine abbey of St Peter (Klemm, Die romanischen Handschriften der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek I (1980) pp. 165-6); Schmidt attributes the Ranshofen Gospels themselves to St Peter's.
Possibly to be identified with the gospel book (‘Matheus’) listed in the mid-fourteenth-century library catalogue of Ranshofen (Mittelalterliche Bibliothekskataloge Österreichs, V.90).
Presumably seen at Ranshofen by Johannes Turmair (Aventinus) between 1519 and 1521: his Chronicon Ranshofense refers to ‘Alhardus, qui integre Adelhardus, evangeliorum vetustum codicem faciundum curavit’ (Johannes Turmair's genannt Aventinus sämmtliche werke I (1881) 68)
Mentioned by Hieronymus Mayor, canon of Ranshofen, in his 1650 Antiquarium Ranshovianum (Schmidt, Ranshofener Evangeliar, 4).
Matteo Luigi Canonici, 1727-1805, acquired at an uncertain date.
Purchased by the Bodleian in 1817.
Record Sources
Availability
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Digital Images
Digital Bodleian (28 images from 35mm slides)