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

Christ Church MS. 378

‘The Book of Orts’

Contents

This manuscript number signifies what was originally a large envelope into which unmounted miscellaneous fragments were tossed. After recent conservation, each of them is now mounted on separate board leaves, all of which are the inhabitants of a guardbox. Inside the front cover, following the title: ‘begun Feb 18 1901 anno primo Edw vij’, probably in the hand of Frederick Y. Powell (1850–1904), then Librarian. On him, see Oliver Elton, Frederick York Powell. A Life and a selection from his letters and occasional writings, 2 vols (Oxford, 1906), and H.A.L. Fisher, rev. Carolyne Larrington in Oxford DNB. It was him who gave the collection its present title. He pulled the items from early bindings, but only in rarely did he leave any indication of the specific volume from which one came. Loose in the guardbox is a copy of the relevant pages from Teresa Webber’s typescript supplement to Kitchin’s catalogue (see MS 372 above).

Of the 79 items, the medieval examples are assigned the numbers 1–28.

Fragment 1

Contents

Language(s): Latin

Scholastic quæstiones

The single text break, on rb: ‘[.]queritur vtrum materia existente de . de virtus q.. vniuersitate . . .’.

The typescript supplement suggests Duns Scotus as the possible author. The word ‘Frydey’ appears at top centre of what now is the recto, in a script contemporary with the text, suggestive of the volume’s academic use.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: Fol. 1
Dimensions (leaf): 275 × 215 mm.

Condition

With two additional fragments from the same manuscript, one pasted to the folio, filling out a large tear in the leaf.

Layout

In double columns, each column 233mm high, the leading edge column 80mm wide and the inner column 75+mm, with about 10mm between columns, in about 70 lines to the column.

No signs of pricking; does not appear to have either bounds or rules.

Hand(s)

Written in heavily abbreviated academic anglicana, s. xiii/xiv or s. xivin.

Punctuation by point and double virgula.

Decoration

No decoration, a four-line blank for possible initial at the text break cited above.

History

Origin: s. xiii/xiv or s. xivin.

Fragment 2

Contents

Missal, Use of Sarum
Language(s): Latin
1. Fol. 1ra-vb
Incipit: ||spiritus quia fecit nobiscum misericordia⟨m⟩ suam ⟨Secretum⟩ Santifica quesumus domine
Explicit: quo bene pastus eris Quod te santificet cristum qui te benedicet qui sic accedis||

Services for Trinity Sunday and Corpus Christi Day, ed. Francis H. Dickinson (see MS 87 above), 454–57, with a different sequence, ‘Salua festa dies toto uenerabilis euo . . .’ of Venantius Fortunatus.

2. Fol. 2ra-vb
Incipit: ||egenum et pauperem in die mala liberauit eum dominus Alleluya
Explicit: quoniam ille pro nobis animam suam posuit et nos debemus pro||

Services for the first and second Sundays after Trinity, ed. Dickinson, 461–64.

A summary description of this fragment is provided by the on-line ChCh Music Catalogue [accessed 1st February 2013].

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: A bifolium.
Dimensions (leaf): 364 × 230 mm.

Layout

In double columns, each column 250–55 × 75 mm. , with 12mm between columns, in 39 lines (or 13 staves with the words) to the column.

No signs of pricking; no bounds or rules, except the red ink for the musical staves.

Hand(s)

Written in gothic textura quadrata

Punctuation by mid point and punctus elevatus.

Musical Notation:

Music on red staves, four lines.

Decoration

A three-line champe in gold leaf with blue and violet, with green leaf extenders (fol. 2vb at the head of the second Sunday). At lesser divisions, three-line blue lombards with red flourishing. A few red and blue paraphs to divide the text.

History

Origin: s. xv

Fragment 3

Contents

Missal, Use of Sarum
Language(s): Latin
1. The recto-verso
Incipit: ||suscipe nostra hac die precata in qua es assumpta ad celi claustra
Explicit: Vt in poli aula leti iubilemus alleluya
2. The verso, starting at fourth stave
Rubric: Feria ija. sequencia
Incipit: Post partum uirgo maria dei genitrix fecunda gracia tonantis plena
Explicit: parens inclita felix puerpera Per te lux et||

The sequences for the feast of the Assumption and the following day, ed. Dickinson, 868–70.

A summary description of this fragment is provided by the on-line ChCh Music Catalogue [accessed 1st February 2013].

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: Fol.: 1
Dimensions (leaf): 270 × 188 mm.
+ 13mm from the conjoint leaf
Dimensions (written): 220 × 145 mm.

Layout

In long lines with four-line musical staves in red, 9 to the page.

No signs of pricking; signs of bounds in lead, but the only visible rules the red of the staves.

Hand(s)

Written in gothic textura quadrata.

Punctuation by point only.

Musical Notation:

Four-line musical staves in red.

Decoration

Text 2 is introduced by a four-line blue lombard with red flourishing, with a leaf pattern inside the initial. Versals have alternate one-line red and blue lombards.

History

Origin: s. xvin

Provenance

Formerly a pastedown, removed from printed book e.3.56, which brings together in an Oxford binding Quaestiones et decisiones physicales insignium virorum, ed. George Lokert ([Paris]: Josse Badius, s.d.) with two smaller works, Antonio Trombetta, Tractatus formalitatum (Venice: [Jacopo Pencio], 1505) and Giles of Rome, Questiones ed materia coeli et de intellectu possibili (Padua: Hieronymus de Durantis, 1493) [ISTC, ia0008100]. The printed book includes a donation note to ChCh by William Watkinson (a Houseman), dated 30 March 1579 (Ker, ‘Provision, 504). The fragment is listed as Ker, PD, no. 1182 (110). Cf. fragment 13 below.

Fragments 4–6

Contents

Language(s): Latin

No. 5ra-vb, no. 6ra-vb, no. 4ra-va
Incipit: ⟨Q⟩ueratur vtrum actus habeat diffinicionem videtur quod non quia diffinicio debet significare scienciam rei
Explicit: predicant in quod de eo ut argumentum est set forma accidentalis habet predicatum||
Incipit: ||habet quiditate habet difficionem quia diffinicio significat quiditatem set actus habet quiditatem
Explicit: possunt generare et ex putredine vt lendes qui generatur ex cohitu ?preiudiciali||
Incipit: ||quod in causis formalibus non est procedere in instrumentum set nulla vna
Explicit: non esse natura que aliquando est sub esse et aliquando sub non esse
Scholastic quæstiones

Forming a partial commentary on Aristotle, Metaphysics, book 7; not those of Duns Scotus (as the typescript supplement suggests) although the incipit to one question on fol. 1ra partially corresponds to the opening of Scotus on book 7. No. 6rb is blank, and has written upside down the old ChCh shelfmark of ‘F. 10. 14. Strat’ which is recorded in pencil on the leaf as equating with e.2.59b: Scotus’s Sentence commentary and quodlibets (Venice, 1497 and 1498).

Red running titles on rectos, perhaps added, identifying the leaves as being from ‘7mus. liber’. At the openings of the questions, two-line unfilled blanks for capitals. Some marginalia in a humanist-influenced script, s. xvex.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: Fols: 3
Dimensions (leaf): 300–2 × 205–7 mm.

Layout

In double columns, each column 245 × 50 mm. high, leading edge column 80mm and inner column 75mm, with 10mm between columns, in 53–54 lines to the column.

No signs of pricking; any bounds or rules now faded.

Hand(s)

Written in anglicana formata.

Punctuation by point and double virgula..

History

Origin: s. xiv1

Fragments 7–8

Contents

Language(s): Latin

From a text break no. 7, fol. 2ra: ‘Deinde queritur de vtilitate temporali que non excusatur cum adminculo necessitatis uel veritatis vbi queruntur duo [P]rimo de vtilitate temporali prout excusat cum adiutorio actionis quero si excusat tam ex parte \ex/ comunicantis quam ex comunicantis quam alterius cuiusque . . .’

Unidentified; a pencil note on no. 7 suggests that the fragments present part of a work of Averroes. However, the text, which discusses ‘ignorantia iuris notorii’ [no. 7, fol. 1ra] is more likely to be a canon law commentary.

Both bifolia have signs of being used as pastedowns, and have large holes at their foot showing damage from chain-staples. The second bifolium has at the last verso ‘Thomas Jhelope’ written vertically in the margin (s. xvi; no match in AO), while the first has a shelfmark ‘O.1.Lib.10.Art.Sup.’, which is not now identifiable in the ChCh collection.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: Fols: 4, a pair of bifolia
Dimensions (leaf): 285 × 200–5 mm.

Layout

In rather uneven double columns, each column (where fully preserved) 235–45 × 70 mm. , occasionally up to 75–80 mm, with 10–13 mm between columns, in 44–47 lines, some leaves lacking the upper margin.

No prickings; signs of bounds in ink, but no rules.

Hand(s)

Written in informal gothic textura rotunda, perhaps not English.

Punctuation by point only.

Decoration

At textual divisions, unflourished one- and two-line red lombards. The text is divided by red paraphs and occasional red-slashed capitals.

History

Origin: s. xiiiex.

Provenance

Both bifolia have signs of being used as pastedowns, and have large holes at their foot showing damage from chain-staples. The second bifolium has at the last verso ‘Thomas Jhelope’ written vertically in the margin (s. xvi; no match in AO), while the first has a shelfmark ‘O.1.Lib.10.Art.Sup.’, which is not now identifiable in the ChCh collection.

Fragments 9–10

Contents

Language(s): Latin

From the only readily legible portion, no. 9va: ‘. . . refert ergo querere vtrum symus inplicet nasum in recto et vtrum significet ipsum in recto Cum ergo dicitur symus est ⟨.⟩asus canus is hec diffinitio denotat modum quo nasus inplicatur in symo sic est recta et condigna set si denotat modum quo nasus signat . . .’. A note in pencil on the first folio suggests that the author may be Augustine, and it has also been suggested that the text is part of a late medieval exegesis, perhaps of Ps. 113:6. However, the references to Aristotle, and the subject-matter in the portion quoted above suggest that this is a scholastic discussion of Metaphysics, book 7.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: Fols: 2, rubbed, discoloured and generally illegible
Dimensions (leaf): 263 × 195 mm.

Layout

In double columns, each column about 230 × 75–80 mm. , with 12–14mm between columns, in 47–61 lines.

No prickings or other signs of production.

Hand(s)

Written in anglicana, by what appear several very different hands.

Punctuation by point and occasional double virgula.

Decoration

No decoration; one-line blanks for capitals unfilled, one guide-letter.

History

Origin: s. xiii/xiv

Fragment 11

Contents

Language(s): Latin

verso precedes recto: ‘Castitatis lilium consolatrix omnium peccatorum venia — tulisti gaudia ⟨ ⟩ cum cristo uiuere possim⟨us in gloria⟩ Am⟨en⟩ Mater patunder a bookplate:ris ... adv⟩ocata¦¦ ⟨pe⟩ccatricis anime Aures tue pietatis ad nos uertens a peccatis te lau⟨d⟩ntes exi me — Educ nos potenti¦¦’. . .’

Parts of the Marian litany for Dominican Use, sequences 5 and 6 of the Mass as found in Perugia: Biblioteca Comunale Augusta, MS 2799; see the La Trobe Medieval Music Database [last accessed 29th December 2015]. At the foot of the recto, a note in an English gothic script (s. xiii): ‘mundi sit puella...’.

A summary description of this fragment is provided by the on-line ChCh Music Catalogue [accessed 1st February 2013].

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: A fragmentary leaf, used as a wrapper for an octavo book.
Dimensions (leaf): 285 × 185 mm.

Condition

representing nearly a complete leaf, with the upper margin absent, as is a vertical strip of the folio, with loss of a couple of letters of the text; part of the other vertical margin, to a breadth of 5mm, is present, as is the bottom margin, about 50mm deep. The written space was, therefore, originally 240 × 185 mm.

Layout

In long lines with four-line musical staves, 8 lines surviving.

No signs of pricking; bounded in black ink, the staves in red.

Hand(s)

Written in transitional protogothic bookhand.

Musical Notation:

Four-line musical staves in red.

Decoration

At the opening of the new anthem ‘Mater’, a four-line blue lombard with restrained red flourishing. Versals are one-line alternate red and blue lombards, unflourished.

History

Origin: s. xiii1

Provenance

Given the main script and this note, this must have been made very early in the life of the Order, presumably for one of its first English foundations, Holborn in London or perhaps Oxford (founded 1221).

The fragmentary leaf was used as the wrapper of printed book Wn.6.33, which is not now identifiable.

Fragment 12

Contents

Language(s): Latin

The full text: ‘. . . terram et accipiens septem ⟨panes⟩ gratias agens fregit et dabat discipulis ⟨suis ut⟩ apponerent et apposuerunt turbe Accipiens dominus septem panes agens fregit et dabat discipulis suis¦¦.’.

Noted liturgy (Mark 8:6), the wrapper from printed book WC.7.20: a Sammelband of nine theological pamphlets (Wittenberg and Tübingen, 1617 × 1623), preceded by a handwritten seventeenth-century contents list.

A summary description of this fragment is provided by the on-line ChCh Music Catalogue [accessed 1st February 2013].

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: A summary description of this fragment is provided by the on-line ChCh Music Catalogue [accessed 1st February 2013].
Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: A fragment, apparently a strip from a bifolium in an antiphoner.
Dimensions (leaf): 195 × 305 mm.

Layout

Five surviving lines with musical notation.

No prickings or signs of page preparation.

Hand(s)

Written in gothic textura precissa.

Musical Notation:

The music on red staves.

Decoration

A three-line red lombard at the opening of one verse.

History

Origin: Germany; s. xv

Fragment 13

Contents

Language(s): Latin

verso precedes recto: ‘sententiam de eo dictam penam sutinenant — nec liberam mortis facul¦¦ [versob] ⟨...⟩ quedam non habent sed que non habent in eas provincias — quicumque in ludum venatorium sunt dampnari¦¦ [rectoª] ⟨...⟩vi pene afficiuntur nec ad eum per⟨tinebunt cuius⟩ fuerint — abstinere iubeatur vel ad condicionem eorum que publice¦¦ [rectob] in metallum dampnari non po⟨ssunt nec in opus me⟩talli — ergo etsi temporario opere quis’.

Justinian, Digestum novum

Correctly identified by Ker, PD, no. 1183 (110). The exact location is Dig. 48.19.8.12–48.19.10.2 & 48.19.6pr.-48.19.8.11.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: A fragmentary bifolium. It comprises the bottom two thirds of one leaf and the inner margin (30mm) of its twin.
Dimensions (leaf): 265 × 222 mm.

Layout

Text in double columns, each column 182 × 65–68 mm. , with 9mm between columns, in 36 surviving lines.

No signs of prickings; any bounds or rules now faded.

Hand(s)

Written in a university gothic textura semiquadrata.

Punctuation by point only.

Decoration

Headings and capitals unfilled; the capitals were intended to be written between the columns, where guide letters appear.

History

Origin: s. xivmed

Provenance

As with fragment 3 above, removed from printed book e.3.56, where it was a front pastedown. A hole at bottom right corner from a chain staple; the verso has ink scribbles (s. xvi) of crosses, one with two steps drawn below it, on which a caption ‘deduc me in semita mandatorum tuorum’ (Ps. 119:35).

Fragments 14–15

Contents

Language(s): Latin

No. 15ra-vb, no. 14ra-vb: ‘. . . -abolus uincitur non potentia Ex infirmitate quippe quam suscepit in carne mortali — per quem nunc reconciliacionem accepimus secundum ea que superius disputata sunt Deinde . . . // . . . constituere sapiencie dei non sunt subiecti Est igitur natura non facta — mauult carere quam mente cum eos nemo preponat nemo comparet lumi- . . .’.

Augustine, De trinitate,

13.14–16, 14.12–14 (CPL 329), ed. W. J. Mountain and Fr. Glorie, CC 50–50A (1968), 2:407/43–411/78, 443/21–448/67.

A couple of scribal maniculae on no. 14; an early reader adds arabic chapter numbers.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: Fols: 2
Dimensions (leaf): 310 × 195 mm.

Layout

In double columns, each column 196–98 × 60 mm. , with 8mm between columns, in 42 lines to the column.

No signs of pricking; bounded and ruled in lead.

Hand(s)

Written in gothic textura semiquadrata (frequent erect d, serifed tops to ascenders).

Punctuation by point and punctus elevatus.

Decoration

Running titles across the opening with ‘L’ and book number in alternate red and blue lombards and ‘de trinitate’ in red ink in the text hand. Chapter divisions marked by a blue paraph in the text and a marginal red paraph preceding the chapter number, in alternate red and blue lombards. The format imitates that frequent in thirteenth-century Bibles. The text is divided by red-slashed capitals.

History

Origin: s. xiiiex

Provenance

Both show signs of having been pastedowns, the verso of each showing. No. 14 was at the lower board, with a hole at bottom right from a chain staple.

Fragments 16–17

Contents

Language(s): Latin

Pp. 35ª (no. 16)-38b (no. 17) [text only]: ‘. . . -leccione episcopi conuenissent duos elegerunt vt v. de eodem capitulo eligerent electores — ex parte nostra ⟨ne ulterius in fa...⟩¦¦[35b] complicibus suis — canonicos quosdam ¦¦ [36ª] -moratus In secundo quoque articulo — contra electum veniat memoratum¦¦ [36b] –iosa est exemplo — si forsan in probatione de¦¦ [37ª] gremio ipsius ecclesie — ad apostolica sede ⟨per⟩venerunt¦¦ [37b] –tuum hereticum elegerint — ammonitionem et expectation¦¦ [38ª] –fato duce iusto — utrum vero iuram¦¦ [38b] –peramus ⟨de cetero...⟩ ratione regni — procederet ad s¦¦’.

Raymund de Penyaforte, Extra (the decretals of Gregory IX)

Materials from 1.6.30–36, ed. CJC, 2:74–83. The half-columns of the conjoints provide snippets of 1.5.4–5 (no. 17) and 1.6.3–4 & 7 (no. 16), demonstrating that these bifolia formed outer leaves of a quire.

The gloss on p. 35ª begins: ‘[I]n causis et i. Prestito siue quod lex dicit in antn’ de sanctis capitulo [a paraph sign] iubemus igitur abbatem Ydonea hec clausula semper subintelligitur etiam si non apponitur . . .’.

A few interlinear glosses in anglicana.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: Fragments from two bifolia, with the full width of the upper half of two consecutive folios (paginated 35–38) and part of their conjoints.
Dimensions (leaf): 207 × 251 mm.
+ 78 mm from the conjoined leaf.

Layout

In double columns, each column 160mm (surviving) x 55 mm, with 14–16mm between columns, in 32 surviving lines to the column. The gloss added in blank areas around the text, written out to a full writing area of 194mm (surviving) x 215mm.

No signs of pricking; any bounds or rules have now faded.

Hand(s)

The gloss added in blank areas around the text, written out to a full writing area of 194mm (surviving) x 215mm.

The text is written in Italian gothic textura rotunda, s. xiv, the gloss added in England in gothic textura semiquadrata, s. xvin, with the literae notabiliores showing English penwork.

Punctuation by point only (in both text and gloss).

Decoration

At the openings of the canons, the heading in text ink introduced by a one-line red lombard, with the text introduced by a three-line blue lombard with extended red flourishing. The rubricator has supplied, as line-filler, illustration at some incipits: a fish on p. 35b, a chicken on 37ª, a dog’s head in blue on the conjoint of p. 38.

History

Origin: Italy; additions, England; s. xiv; additions, s. xvin

Provenance

No. 17 was a wrapper to a part-book ‘Bassus’ with signature of ‘Tho. Kete’ (cf. no. 18 below); according to the ChCh on-line Music Catalogue, both fragments were used in binding the part-books that are now Mus. 1083–4, works of William Daman (London: W. Swayne, 1591) [accessed 1st February 2013].

Fragment 18

Contents

Language(s): Latin

The present second folio (a single column) precedes the first:: ‘. . . esset differencia inter procuratorem et syndicum — revocatio certiorare in¦¦ [fol. 1ra] sentire xxii q. v. Ita ve — indicat in in ⟨..⟩ ab¦¦ [fol. 1rb] –tegritas q. de voto — salutis eterne I. c. cum dilectus et I demit⟨..⟩r Si uero et xxij. q iiij. si aliquid ¦¦ [fol. 1v: blank]. . .’.

Apparently a commentary or glossed version of Raymund de Penyaforte, Extra. Fol. 1rb includes the incipit, ‘Ad aures ad terrores laycorum talis renunciationem tenet etiam si sponte fieret quia non est facta in manu prelati . . .’, Extra 1.40.3, ed. CJC, 2:219.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: Fragments of one bifolium, providing the complete bottom half of one leaf and a strip of its conjoint leaf.
Dimensions (leaf): 200 × 250 mm.
+ 83mm from the conjoint leaf.

Layout

In double columns, each column 143mm (surviving) x 50–60mm, with 7mm between columns, in 34 surviving lines.

No signs of pricking; any bounds or rules now faded.

Hand(s)

Written in gothic textura semiquadrata, conceivably by the glossing hand of the previous fragment.

Punctuation by point and punctus elevatus, some points altered later to virgulae.

Decoration

One three-line blue lombard with extended red flourishing.

History

Origin: s. xvin (?)

Provenance

The fragment was a wrapper to a part-book ‘Triplex’ with signatures of Kete (as no. 17) and ‘Robert Symons’, neither of whom appears in AO. As with nos 16 & 17, according to the ChCh on-line Music Catalogue, the fragment was used in binding the part-books that are now Mus. 1083–4, works of William Daman (London: W. Swayne, 1591) [accessed 1st February 2013].

Fragment 19

Contents

Language(s): Latin

From col. 328, a text division: ‘[S]ic querit questio satis necessaria etc. ostenso quod rectitudo bonitatis et peruersitas est ex fine hic inquirit utrum in voluntate possit esse peruersitas uel peccatum et diuiditur in partes duas in primo ostendit quomodo in involuntate peccatum esse possit . . .’.

Commentary on Peter Lombard, Sententiæ

The division is marked in the margin ‘qd 39.1’, marking the text as an unidentified (Oxford) commentary on Peter Lombard, Sententiæ; cf. the cited incipit with 2.39.1 in the edn, 2 vols (Grottaferrata, 1971), 1:553–54.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: The upper portion of a bifolium, cut for use as a wrapper, with numbered columns (an Oxford technique) 325–28+333–36.
Dimensions (leaf): 197 × 141 mm.

Collation

The numbered columns indicate that the leaves of the bifolium were originally separated by but a single leaf (the centre one of the quire, with one leaf cancelled?).

Layout

In double columns, each column 128mm (surviving) x 65–68 mm, with 9mm between columns, in about 41 surviving lines (below top line).

No signs of pricking; bounded and ruled in brown crayon.

Hand(s)

Written in academic anglicana.

Punctuation by point and double virgula.

Decoration

Two-line spaces for capitals unfilled. The text is divided by red paraphs and red-slashed capitals.

History

Origin: England (Oxford); s. xivin

Provenance

Removed from Mus. 345 (London, 1571), a part-book of music by Thomas Whythorne, this being (as written on front and back leaves) ‘Bassus’. For more on the printed book, see the on-line ChCh Music Catalogue [accessed 29th January 2013].

Fragment 20

Contents

Language(s): Latin

The present second folio precedes the first: [the text only] ‘. . . Vesper rum re ra pars est extrema diei | Noctis uel mondi vesper est — Intra ⟨...⟩ citra sapiens ultra prope sumpta . . . ¦¦ [fol. 1ra] . . . Et putes assis torrens sociabiliter istis | Dant hic ps iuncta — hic est stex retinebit | ⟨...⟩ coniunx contre locetur et ex lex . . .’.

Alexander de Villa Dei, Doctrinale (with commentary)

Roughly lines 440–49, 464–74, 676–77, 683–89, ed. Dietrich Reichling (Berlin, 1893), 31–34, 47–48 passim. Reichling discusses the commentary tradition on the text (lxi-iii) and provides an extensive list of manuscript witnesses (cxxi-clxviii).

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: Most of the lower portion of a bifolium. Overall: 118mm (surviving) x 170mm.

Layout

In double columns, each column 88mm (surviving) x 60mm, with 9mm between columns, in about 26 surviving gloss lines.

No signs of pricking; any bounds or rules now faded.

In addition to formal blocks of explanation, written within the text column and preceding the lines explained, there are interlinear glosses.

Hand(s)

Written in two sizes of gothic textura, the text in formal semiquadrata, the gloss in a document-hand tinged variety, perhaps French, rather than English, s. xiiiex.

Punctuation by point only.

Decoration

The decoration has all faded, but text sections appear to have been introduced by a red paraph, extended glosses by a blue one.

History

Origin: France (?); s. xiiiex

Provenance

Formerly a wrapper, apparently for Mus. 343, one of the same set of part-books which is the source from our no.s 19, 21 and 22.

Fragments 21–22

Contents

Language(s): Latin

The two fragments are mounted according to the position of the later inscriptions on the wrappers (see below), so the text of no. 21 is now upside down, and the leaves of both fragments are folded back on themselves, so that the outer sides are now the inner. The sequence of passages of text is as follows: ‘[no. 22/2ra] aut faciunt egritudo tamen utilitatis compendio mitigatur — natura promictit exponi¦¦... [no. 22/2rb] ⟨conspu⟩enda puderetque eam nugis — grata sapienti est quod corrupcio¦¦ ... [no. 22/2vz] Sed neque ⟨consentientibus parcit⟩ quin eis – eru⟨bescent⟩ia non absorb⟨eat⟩.¦¦ ... [no. 22/2vb] immortales circumvenire et eis – nullum aut rarum esse¦¦ ...[no. 21/1va] –na vel convicia publicare — subrogavit si vero¦¦ ...[no. 21/1vb] merita prevalere non debeat ⟨...⟩torum fidelium voca — athenienses virtute ducis pro sal¦¦ ...[no. 21/1ra] ingerere ut per ignorantia — illius maiora faciebat du¦¦ ...[no. 21/1rb] Sed ⟨...⟩ sunt cum rectius — tribus habebit secum¦¦ ...[no. 21/2va] quantitatis ⟨diminutionem ⟩ in singulis generibus ⟨significant⟩ vel excessum. Licebit ne ergo — gentium cum vidisset ⟨dionisium⟩¦¦ ... [no. 21/2vb] subi autem obersvancior equi — Sobolis gracia et fidelium¦¦... [no. 21/2ra] cui in illius excusacione laboro qui ⟨prophet⟩heca — tenacitatis tante ut non¦¦ [no. 21/2rb]...⟨tene⟩re arbitratus est — ut causa deficiente e¦¦ ...[no. 22/1ra] et leniter cum gravitate Numquid – in sublimitate sunt. ¦¦...[no. 22/1rb] iniquitate ⟨...⟩est testimonio quia — est quantolibet tempore¦¦ ...[no. 22/1va] ⟨g⟩audere cum cristo E sententia – promissio carnis qui¦¦...[no.22/1vb] in iudicijs non ambulaverint — videatur esse sol¦¦

John of Salisbury, Policraticus

Materials from 3.13–14, 4.3–5, 4.8 and 4.10–11 (Sharpe no. 872 [309–10]), ed. Clement C. J. Webb, 2 vols (Oxford, 1909), 1:218/20–223/22, 240/14–249/29, 266/1–14, 267/18–70/18.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: Each item a strip from a bifolium, leaves from the same quire, reversed for use as wrappers and not readily legible on the exposed side; no. 21 was the central opening of the quire. No. 22 comes from the bottom of the leaves, with a lower margin of 30mm; no. 21 comes from the middle or upper part of the folio, with no margin. Overall: 135mm x 200mm (no. 21), and 139mm x 200mm (no. 22).

Layout

In double columns, each column 85mm wide, with height of 110mm (no. 21) and 135mm (no. 22) surviving; 13–15mm between columns; 24 and 19 surviving lines.

Each fragment provides the width of one column with the other partially cropped, with the loss of c. 10mm of text.

No signs of pricking (some signs of binding holes in very inner margin); signs of bounds in lead, but no visible rules.

Hand(s)

Written in formal secretary (anglicana d)

Punctuation by point only.

Decoration

On the near-illegible verso, three-line alternate red and blue lombards, the blue with red flourishing (that at no. 21/2vb for the opening of 4.5, 1:247/17). The text has marginal indexing letters in both text and red ink, with matching red paraphs in the text and the incipits underlined in red. Red-slashed capitals to further divide the text.

History

Origin: s. xv3/4

Provenance

From Mus. 342 and 344 (London, 1571; the same printing as no. 19), respectively partbooks for ‘Tryplex’ and ‘Tenor’. No. 22 has ‘my name ys Henry Cooke 1579’; he does not appear in AO.

Fragments 23A-23B (olim 23 & 24)

Contents

Language(s): Latin

The text runs from the right of the present verso of no. 23B to the left of the present recto of no. 23A: ‘. . fructus agrorum Vt sugeret ⟨mel⟩ de petra oleumque de saxo du⟨ ⟩ — factorem suum et ⟨reces⟩[no. 23rb]sit a domino — creatoris tui. [no. 23Bra] ⟨Vidit⟩ dominus et ad iracundiam concitatus est ⟨quia pr⟩ovcaerunt — ingente stulta irrita¦¦ [no. 23Ava] ⟨...s⟩ succensus est in furore — morsu amarissimo. [no. 23Brb] Dentes bestiarum imittam in eos — manus nostra excelsa [no. 23Avb] et non dominus fecit – conclusit illos? [no. 23Bva] ⟨N⟩on enim est deus — retribuam eis intem¦¦[no. 23Ara]pore ut labatur — dii eorum in quibus¦¦’.

Psalter (?)

The Vulgate Deut. 32:13–37. Given the consecutive text, a central bifolium, probably from a Psalter, since ‘Audite celi’ (Deut. 32:1) is one of the Old Testament ‘canticles’ typically joined to the Psalter.

Thanks go to the late Malcolm Parkes for advice on this fragment.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: A fragmentary bifolium, no. 23B the top of the joined leaves and no. 23A the foot.
Dimensions (leaf): 185 × 118 mm.
Dimensions (written): 160 × 95 mm.

Layout

In long lines, 17–19 lines to the page.

No signs of pricking, and no sign of bounds and rules.

Hand(s)

Written in caroline.

Punctuation by point and punctus elevatus.

Decoration

Versals introduced by one-line lombards, set in the margin, alternate red, green, and slate blue. Longer portions of the text are divided by red paraphs.

History

Origin: continental (eastern France?); s. xiex or xi/xii

Fragments 24A-24D (olim 24g, i, k, l)

Contents

Language(s): Latin

Text only: ‘[no. 24Dr] -gocii non si[no. 24Cv]t inungendi — [no. 24Dr] heredibus [no. 24Cv] petitio salva est. [no. 24Cr] Obtentu nomin[no. 24Dv]is primipili — [no. 24Cr vexatione quaci[no. 24Dv]tur.’

Justinian, Codex,

12.60.6.1–12.62.1 & 12.62.2–12.63.2.

The strips all come from one folio, with no. 24A being the very outer margin, blank apart from short glosses (two gothic hands, s. xiii), 24B the outer margin with gloss next to the text provided by 24C and 24D, which together provide one column of a bicolumnar layout. As presently mounted, only 24D presents its recto; for all the others, it is the verso which is uppermost.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: Four thin binding strips, the length of the original folio. Each strip 295mm x 38–45mm.

Layout

Originally, two columns (each column c. 52mm), 50 text lines (above top line), surrounded by gloss.

No signs of pricking or ruling.

Hand(s)

Written in protogothic bookhand (with tapering final s), with the gloss in a tiny version of the same script, s. xiii1.

Decoration

Items open with a one- or two-line blue majuscule with a little red flourishing; titles rubricated within the text.

History

Origin: s. xiii1

Provenance

The fragments were given their present lettering in January 2013: A = olim g, B = olim k, C = olim i; D = olim l.

Fragment 24E (olim 24h)

Contents

Language(s): Latin

Text: [no. 24Er] audi uocem meam ⟨...⟩ intendentes in uocem — Quia persectus es¦¦ [no. 24Ev] humiliavit in terra vitam – seruus tuus sum ⟨...⟩ Ant. Ne reminscaris domine ⟨... v⟩el parentum nostrum neque uin¦¦’

Book of Hours (?)

Section of the Penitential Psalms (Ps. 142, preceded by other verses: Ps. 129:2, 137:3, 140:3–4, 141:8), and followed by an antiphon, presumably from a Book of Hours for personal use.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: A fragment of a leaf, showing. Overall: 197mm x 87mm. It provides the full height of text (125mm), with the lower margin (71mm) and something a little short of its width (60mm).

Layout

19 long lines.

No signs of pricking or ruling, apart from a faint sign of the outer border drawn in pen.

Hand(s)

Written in gothic textura rotunda, s. xvin.

Decoration

Each verse opens with a filigree initial, alternating between gold on blue and blue on red.

History

Origin: s. xvin

Fragments 25–26

Contents

Language(s): Latin

From no. 25vb, a text division: ‘Correccio 2º. Capitulo f⟨rater⟩na correccio S 2ª 2ᵉ q 33 in precepto est ⟨ ⟩ ceptum est affirmatiuum non obligat ad semper set pro loco et tempore vnde obmissio eius vno modo . . .’.

Distinctiones theologicae

From a book of distinctiones or collection of citations for priests; the opening resembles John Bromyard, Summa predicantium C.xvi.2.2 (Sharpe no. 622 [220–21]), ed. Hain 3994*, BMC 2:427 (Nuremberg, 1485), fol. [m 4rb]. The printed text includes the reference to Aquinas, Summa theologiae IIª IIae, Q. 28, art. 2, in the edn. (Rome, 1962), 1242–43.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: Two pieces from the upper portion of (the same?) bifolium, used to strengthen a spine, one side close to illegible. On the assumption that these represent a single leaf, with no. 25 the upper portion, and no. 26 the lower, overall: 145mm x 205mm.

Layout

In double columns, each 121mm (surviving) x 80mm, with 18mm between columns, in 21 surviving lines.

The fragments come from portions of the leaf which would not have been pricked; there are remnants of bounding lines in brown crayon, but no rules.

Hand(s)

Written in anglicana.

Punctuation by point only.

Decoration

At divisions, two-line alternate red and blue lombards with flourishing of the other colour, with restrained marginal extenders. The text is divided by red paraphs.

History

Origin: s. xvin

Provenance

Removed from printed book ZT.2.6f: Decimatertia centuria ecclesiasticae historiae (Basel: Officina Oporiniana, 1574), which is in a London sixteenth-century blind-stamped binding by ‘RB’ (on whom, see J. B. Oldham, English Blind-Stamped Bindings(Cambridge, 1952), 33). The other volumes of the Centuriae owned by ChCh (ZT.2.6a-e) are in later centrepiece bindings, with pastedowns, still in situ , taken from a glossed Bible (German?, s. xv).

Fragment 27

Contents

Language(s): Middle English

The recto: ‘. . . -de al fro ym ⟨ ⟩ yat vs fro ⟨ ⟩ when I ⟨ ⟩ and wiht ⟨ ⟩ yreld boy ⟨ ⟩ iht grete ⟨ ⟩ blody was yi ⟨ ⟩ w⟨..⟩ noght fle ⟨ ⟩ oy ⟨..⟩ was fre ⟨ ⟩ d in herte — Amen. ⟨...⟩st hye fader gode — grace for. . .’.

Prayers

Unidentified vernacular prayers.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: A strip, used to support the spine of a book, illegible on the verso. One fragment.
Dimensions (leaf): 252 × 46 mm.

Layout

The inner edge of a column from a book in double columns, beginning with the top of the leaf, with 51 surviving lines.

No visible bounds or rules

Hand(s)

Written in anglicana.

Decoration

Signs of red-slashed capitals to divide the text.

History

Origin: England; s. xivex

Fragment 28

Contents

Language(s): Middle French

Fol. 2ra-vb: ‘. . . et l’outrageuse charite dieu le pere dont il nous ama ⟨....⟩ qui pur son mauueis serfes — Car selonc les lois del ⟨ ⟩ quant vus hauz hommes n’a nul enfant ⟨ ⟩ re le fil de vn poure homme se il ve . . .’.

Laurent of Orleans OP, La Somme le roi

Kaeppeli, no. 2809 [3:63–64]; the text here corresponds to the Middle English translation, The Book of Vices and Virtues, ed. by W. Nelson Francis, EETS 217 (1942), 94/1–100/8, and to the copy of La Somme in BL, Cotton MS Cleopatra A.v, fols 81v/12–86/3.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: A fragmentary folio, with part of its conjoint. Overall: 223mm x 182mm + 85mm from the conjoint leaf. The conjoint leaf has at its top the width of a full column, but further down becomes narrower.

Layout

In double columns, each column 223mm x 75–80mm wide, with about 8mm between columns, in 51 (of 53 or 54) surviving lines.

Hand(s)

Written in anglicana.

Punctuation by point and punctus elevatus.

History

Origin: s. xivmed

Provenance

Removed from the front of our MS 107; the fragment was seen in situ by Kitchin who recorded it as ‘duo folia continentia fragmentum sermonis gallice scripti’ (46).

Additional Information

Record Sources

Ralph Hanna and David Rundle, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Western Manuscripts, to c. 1600, in Christ Church, Oxford (Oxford, 2017).

Availability

For enquiries relating to this manuscript please contact Christ Church Library.

Last Substantive Revision

2017-07-01: First online publication.

See the Availability section of this record for information on viewing the item in a reading room.