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

OR BROWSE BY

MANUSCRIPTS
WORKS
PEOPLE
PLACES

MS. Douce 52

Summary Catalogue no.: 21626

Contents

1. (fol. 1)
Proverbs

Latin hexameter proverbs or common places, arranged roughly in alphabetical order of subjects; ends imperfect in 'Sciencia.'

Incipit: Ascensus . Virtutum gradibus scandunt celestia iusti
Language(s): Latin
2. (fol. 13)
Proverbs

English proverbs with translations into Latin hexameters, arranged very roughly alphabetically, with some Latin proverbs: imperfect at beginning.

Incipit: He that doth as can . blame hym no man . Non est culpandus faciens quod scit, sed amandus

Partial edition (Middle English proverbs and Latin translations of the Middle English proverbs): Max Förster 'Die mittelenglische Sprichwörtersammlung in Douce 52', Festschrift zum xii. allgemeinen deutschen Neuphilologentage in München (1906), 44-60

IPMEP 840
Language(s): Middle English and Latin
3. (fol. 32)
Petrus de Alliaco, Epilogus mappae mundi (extract)
Incipit: Post tractatum de ymagine mundi ut res ipsa velud in speculo clarius apparet
Explicit: Hec due sosticia[sic] faciunt cancer capriconus
eTK 0166A as pr. Imago mundi [1477 × 1483] (ISCT ia00477000), sig. e2r-e3r.
Language(s): Latin
4. (fol. 36)
Grammar: Latin sentences
Incipit: Auete, pater reuerende
Colophon: Explicit communis loquela linguagij Latini secundum grammaticos
Language(s): Latin
5. (fol. 54a).
Treatise on metre
Incipit: Ecce colorum subtilitas in arte versificandi

Part of it is 'de metro Ymnarii.'

Heavily indebted to John of Garland: Camargo, 211.

Language(s): Latin
6. (fol. 77v-81r)
Dictamen
Incipit: In libro rethor⟨i⟩co notandum

Based at least on part of Guido Faba: Camargo 211.

Language(s): Latin
7. (fol. 81v-82r)
John of Garland, Parisiana poetria de arte prosaica, metrica et rithmica (extract on four prose styles: Camargo, 211)
Language(s): Latin
8. (fol. 82v-88v)
John Bridges, Compilatio de arte dictandi
Incipit: Ad honorem domini et juuenum informationem
Final rubric: Explicit compilacio magistri Johannis de Brigges de arte dictandi
ed. M. Camargo, Medieval Rhetorics of Prose Composition: Five English Artes Dictandi and Their Tradition, Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 115 (Binghamton: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1995)
Language(s): Latin
9. (fol. 89)
Dictamen
Incipit: De dictaminis consequenter arte est breuiter dicendum. Primo videamus
Final rubric: Explicit Tractatus de dictamine

Compilation partly based on Bernard of Meung, Flores dictaminum , also including material from Guido of Faba; see Camargo 211-13.

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: i + 103 leaves
Dimensions (binding): 5.875 × 4.5 in.

Hand(s)

At least three hands: A, arts. 1-3; B, art. 4; C, arts. 5-9.

Decoration

Penwork (fols. 1r-25v)

Binding

Leather (?) over wooden boards, recovered (for Douce (?)) in green leather.

History

Origin: 15th century ; English

Provenance and Acquisition

Francis Douce, 1757–1834

Bequeathed to the Bodleian in 1834

Record Sources

Description adapted (Oct. 2022) from the Summary Catalogue (1897), with additional reference to other literature as cited and limited additional physical description.
Summary Catalogue, vol. 4, p. 505

Bibliography

    M. Camargo, 'The English Manuscripts of Bernard of Meung's Flores dictaminum', Viator 12 (1981), 197-219, esp. 210-13.

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2022-10: Description revised to include all information in Sum. Cat. with reference to published literature.