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MS. Douce 176

Summary Catalogue no.: 21750

Contents

Gospel lectionary

Benedictine use.

Combined temporale and sanctorale (De circulo anni): Christmas tide (fol. 1v), the months January-March (fols. 6, 16v, 21v), Septuagesima-Easter (fol. 22v), Easter tide (fol. 62), the months May-December (fols. 68v, 77, 84, 91, 101v, 110, 111, 118); gospels for votive masses (fol. 121: De diversis causis) and masses of the dead (fol. 126v); two additions.

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: ii + 127 + ii fol.
Dimensions (leaf): 290 × 195 mm.
Dimensions (written): 220 × 155 mm.

Layout

28 lines.

Decoration

Important initials. (Pächt and Alexander i. 412, pl. XXXIV)

Fol. lv and 62 (Easter), elaborate zoomorphic capitals. Ornamentation mainly in green and stone red; in the titles of the gospels the colours alternate for words and parts of words.

Binding

French binding of 18th-century leather, with inset ivory (so-called 'Ada school', 212 × 125 mm., c. 800). Central panel, Christ trampling on a lion and serpent; framed with smaller scenes from the life of Christ (see Kahsnitz 1999). 'It is not certain ... whether [the ivory] formed part of the original binding' (Douce Legacy), although the balance of scholarly opinion is probably that manuscript and ivory were associated from the outset, with the ivory being a gift to Gisla (Gisela), abbess of Chelles and sister of Charlemagne.

History

Origin: c. 800 ; France, Chelles, Benedictine nunnery ; ivory, Germany, probably Aachen

Provenance and Acquisition

The attribution to Chelles was made by Bischoff in 1957 ('Die Kölner Nonnenhandschriften und das Scriptorium von Chelles', repr. in his Mittelalterliche Studien (1966), I.16-34, this ms. at 21, 23-4), followed by all subsequent scholarship.

St Faron, Meaux, according to an 18th century note signed 'Gosselin'(fol. 1)

Bought by Payne of London on 27 May 1833 at the sale of m. Abel Remusat (lot 8).

Francis Douce, acquired by November 1833 (Douce Legacy, no. 39), bought from Payne. Price, £31 10s., fol. iv recto.

Bequeathed by him to the Bodleian in 1834.

Record Sources

Adapted (2018, rev. 2024) from the following sources, with additional reference to published literature as cited:
The Douce Legacy (1984), cat. 39
Pächt and Alexander I no. 412
S. J. P. Van Dijk, Handlist of the Latin Liturgical Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library Oxford : Vol. 1: Mass Books (typescript, 1957)
Summary Catalogue (1897)
Summary Catalogue, vol. 4, p. 545

Availability

To ensure its preservation, access to this item is restricted, and readers are asked to work from reproductions and published descriptions as far as possible. If you wish to apply to see the original, please click the request button above. When your request is received, you will be asked to contact the relevant curator outlining the subject of your research, the importance of this item to that research, and the resources you have already consulted.

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (4 images from 35mm slides)
Digital Bodleian (1 image of binding from 35mm slides)

Microfilm

Microfilm available in the open shelf collections in the Weston Library (R. Films 101)

Bibliography

    Select bibliography:

    Lawrence Nees, ‘Early Carolingian Manuscripts and Ivories’, in Les Manuscrits Carolingiens: Actes Du Colloque de Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Le 4 Mai 2007, eds. Jean-Pierre Caillet and Marie-Pierre Laffitte, Turnhout: Brepols, 2009.
    B. Bischoff, Katalog der festländischen Handschriften des neunten Jahrhunderts II (2004), no. 3795
    799. Kunst Und Kultur Der Karolingerzeit: Karl Der Grosse Und Papst Leo III. in Paderborn (von Zabern, 1999), cat. X.7 [R. Kahsnitz]
    Codices Latini Antiquiores, II(2) (1972), no. 238
    Otto Pächt and J. J. G. Alexander, Illuminated Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, I (1966), no. 412

    Online resources:

    Earlier Latin Manuscripts

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2024-07: Revisions to description for Digital Bodleian publication.