MS. Canon. Misc. 575
Summary Catalogue no.: 20051
John the Deacon, Vita S. Gregorii Papae, etc.; 11th century, end, Austria(?), Carinthia(?)
Contents
Language(s): Latin (with an inscription in Greek)
Additions, made in the 12th century at St Paul's, Lavanttal:
Two lists of witnesses:
‘Iste sunt testes quod domn⟨a⟩ R⟨ich⟩g⟨ard⟩ ⟨predium⟩ sui | iuris famulis nomine Acema⟨ nnum(?) ⟩ filiis suis | sancto Paulo ⟨tra⟩diderit. Sigifridus comes khecil de ⟨H.⟩ | Adalberto de maltsemplag. Hærtwich et Almar frater eius | De ⟨ ... ⟩lawar’. Engilmar de Rudilndorf’ Uncertain readings are here derived from R. Flotzinger, Choralhandschriften österreichischer Provenienz in der Bodleian Library, Oxford (Vienna, 1991), p. 30.
‘Iste sunt testes predii quod tradidit sancto Paulo fritil homo Odalscalchi | ipsius permissu pro anima patris sui Griffonis. Odalscalc(us). Dietric(us) \de havenarispurk/ | Meginhalm(us). Wisint. Otto. Odalrich. Ekehardus. Heinricus’ Pr. from the St Paul’s Traditionscodex by A. von Jaksch, Monumenta historica ducatus Carinthiae: Geschichtliche Denkmäler des Herzogthumes Kärnten, iii: Die Kärntner Geschichtsquellen 811–1202 (Klagenfurt, 1904), p. 305 no. 775, where it is dated c.1144.
A diagram of the globe with five horizontal zones labelled frigida, temerata, cali, temperata, frigida.
A sketch of a man’s head, with pointed headgear.
Full-page miniature (see Decoration)
Prologue
Capitula list
There are further capitula lists before Books II (fol. 20r–21r), III (fols. 50r–51r), and IV (fols. 86r–88r).
A passage of about 30 words, originally omitted, is added in the left margin: ‘latenter autem perrixi … patres veneabantur’.
Overall, much like the version in PL, lxxiv, 346–47, and unlike the version ed. by A. Wellhausen, Die lateinische Übersetzung der Historia Lausiaca des Palladius, Texte und Studien, 51 (2003), pp. 573–76.
Extensively abraded and re-inked in the 14th(?) century.
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
Blind-ruled for 30 lines per page. Ruled space 210 × 135 mm.
Hand(s)
Caroline minuscule; incipits in majuscules.
Rustic capitals for rubrics and fol. 122.
Adiastematic neumes added above an added marginal antiphon for the feast of St Gregory: ‘Sex strux(it) in sicilia vir clarus monasteria’ (CANTUS 004878) (fol. 122v).
Adiastematic neumes added above two short lines written horizontally on recto of the former back pastedown (fol. 136r), both with the same melody: ‘puer ginitur[sic] nec mater ulla premitur angustia loco antiphon’ (Dreves, Analecta Hymnica, xx (1895), p. 67 no. 42, part of the third stanza), and: ‘Si commeditis de pomis loco positis(?) perennia’ (cf. ibid., stanza 5)
Decoration
Included by Pächt & Alexander in the volume devoted to the Italian school, but placed at the end, under the heading ‘Manuscripts of doubtful provenance’, stating ‘the hybrid and archaic-looking ornament of the border cannot easily be accounted for in a proper Italian milieu. Possibly the manuscript was made in the borderlands of Italy, Austria, and Dalmatia in some provincial centre’ (Pächt and Alexander, ii, p. 103 no. 1045, and pl. LXXXV).
(fol. iii verso) A full-page partially-coloured drawing, doubtless intended to represent St Gregory, consisting of a drawing of a saint in ecclesiastical garb, including a pallium, holding a book and blessing; the Dextera Dei blesses him from the upper left corner and in the lower left corner a figure kneels at his feet; a wide framing border incorporates pairs of birds, foliage, and the heads of strange horned creatures. Around the figure’s halo is added in Greek majuscules: ‘Ο ΑΓΙΟϹ | Ο ΑΓΙΟϹ | ΓΡΕΓΟΡΙΟϹ ΠΑΠΑ ΡΟ’ (‘O agios O agios Gregorios papa Ro(mae)’). A later hand added ‘S(an)c(tu)s Iohannis’ above the figure, the name subsequently erased. Near the kneeling figure, whose face has been effaced, is another added inscription, subsequently erased: ‘misero d(omi)ne monac(us)(?)’.
Large elaborate vegetal initials, drawn in ink and partially coloured in red, green, and yellow, at the beginning of the preface and each book (fols. 1r, 2v, 21v, 51v, 88r).
Diagrammatic climate map, fol. iii recto.
Binding
18th- or early 19th-century Italian binding. Sewn on four double bands laced into pasteboards covered with rough brown (sheepskin?) leather, each covered framed with triple gilt filets; the spine with red leather title-piece lettered in gilt capitals ‘Ioan diacon | Vita beati | Gregorii | Cod. memb. | perantiq.’
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Benedictine monastery of St. Paul im Lavanttal, Carinthia: with 12th-century copies of two of its documents on fol. iii recto; identifiable as no. 171 in its 1782 booklist: ‘Vita S. Gregorii Papae per Joannem Diaconum auf Pergament, Folio.’ (H. Menhardt, ‘Weitere Nachrichten von Kärntner Klosterbibliotheken’, Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen, 44 (1927), 593–611 at 602). Sporadic marginalia.
Matteo Luigi Canonici, 1727–1805
Purchased by the Bodleian in 1817. Former Bodleian shelfmarks: ‘Canon: Miscel: 575’ (fol. ir)
MS. Canon. Misc. 575 - fols. ii, 136 (former pastedowns)
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Physical Description
Layout
Blind-ruled for 17 lines per page. Ruled space c. 155 × 95 mm.
Hand(s)
Late Caroline minuscule
Decoration
Large initials in plain red (now very faded)
History
Additional Information
Record Sources
Digital Images
Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)
Digital Bodleian (7 images from 35mm slides)
Bibliography
Online resources:
Printed descriptions:
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2021-06-23: Description fully revised for Polonsky German digitization project.