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MS. Douce 237

Summary Catalogue no.: 21811

Contents

De infantia saluatoris (Gospel of Ps.-Matthew)
Incipit: En certains iours entre ceulx du peuple disrael estoit vng homme qui avoit nom Ioachim, de la lignee de Iuda
Explicit: mon pere est ce ton bon plaisir que les pouvres pecheurs, qui par pechie ont perdu ta grace, soient periz et mis a dampnacion. Et adone tons ceulx, qui la estoient eurent grant paour et moult ses merveillierent des faitz et des parolles de Jhesus en disent, Benoist soit celuy, qui est venu ou nom de nostre seigneur. Amen.

French prose translation

Language(s): Middle French

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: 67 leaves
Dimensions (binding): 6.75 × 5 in.
Dimensions (leaf): c. 165 × 120 mm.

Decoration

Pächt and Alexander i. 746, Pl. LVIII

Good miniatures

Good initials

Binding

Red leather with gold ornament, 16th century

History

Origin: c. 1470–1480 ; France

Provenance and Acquisition

Scratched on the binding: 'P. B. 1613'

Scratched on the binding: 'A Iacques Benion [Bemon, Bemou ?] legas Marguerite Suren'

In the manuscript are notes in Douce's hand: 'F. Douce. Paris' and 'The present MS. came from the Soubise collection'

Probably no. 116 in the sale catalogue of Charles de Rohan, prince de Soubise, printed 1788 for January 1789. It is not known whether Douce visited Paris in 1789, but a note in MS. Douce B subt. 254 (Item 152) shows that he was there in 1791 and could have purchased this manuscript then. He read it in January 1799 (MS Douce f. 14, fol. 7v), i.e. before his next known visit to Paris in 1817 (The Douce Legacy, [1984], pp. 140-141). MS. Douce 189 and MS. Douce b. 2 were also in the Soubise sale (lots 5351 and 3993) (D. M. Rogers, 'Francis Douce's Manuscripts: Some Hitherto Unrecognised Provenances' [1975], pp. 329 and 339)

Acquired by Francis Douce, 1757–1834 in Paris

Bequeathed to the Bodleian in 1834

Record Sources

Description adapted (August 2024) by Stewart J. Brookes from the Summary Catalogue (1897) and the Catalogue of the Printed Books and Manuscripts Bequeathed by Francis Douce, esq. to the Bodleian Library (1840), The Douce Legacy [1984], with additional reference to published literature as cited. Decoration, localization and date follow Pächt and Alexander (1966)
Summary Catalogue, vol. 4, p. 564
Printed Books and Manuscripts Bequeathed by Francis Douce, p. 38

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (51 images from 35mm slides)

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2024-08-23: Description revised to incorporate all the information in the Summary Catalogue (1897)