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

MS. Hamilton 47

Summary Catalogue no.: 24477

Carthusian chapterhouse sermons; Germany, late 14th or early 15th century

Contents

Collationes capitulares, siue Sermones de tempore et sanctis

One hundred and sixteen Carthusian chapterhouse sermons, fully itemized in Schneyer VI.505–513 (sermones OCart): for the background see James Hogg, 'Early fifteenth-century Chapterhouse sermons at the Charterhouse of Mainz', in Medieval monastic preaching, ed. Carolyn A. Muessig (1998), 53–72. Identified authors are Bernard of Clairvaux, Henricus de Frimaria, Conrad Holtnicker, Jacobus de Voragine, Jordanus de Quedlinburg, Hugh of Lincoln; most sermons attested only here, two also found in Marseille 395.

(fols. 2r-11v)

Nativity, Schneyer 1–11

(fols. 11v-18v)

Epiphany, Schneyer 12–19

(fols. 19r-26r)

Resurrection, Schneyer 20–27

(fols. 26v-34r)

Ascension, Schneyer 28–35

(fols. 34r-40v)

Pentecost, Schneyer 36–42

(fols. 41r-46v)

Purification, Schneyer 43–48

(fols. 46v-51r)

Annunciation, Schneyer 49–54

(fols. 51v-59v)

Assumption, Schneyer 55–62 (rubric on fol. 51r). Rest of fol. 59v blank.

(fols. 60r-70r)

Nativity of the Virgin, Schneyer 63–71

(fols. 70v, 71v-74v)

Michaelmas, Schneyer 72–77

Fol. 71r contains a cancelled passage of Ps.-Bonaventure, Stimulus Amoris, III.ix 'Non cessat antiquus hostis ... aliquando liquefieri'.

(fols. 74v-78v)

All Saints, Schneyer 78–82

(fols. 78v-82v)

Nativity of John the Baptist, Schneyer 83–87

(fols. 82v-87r)

Mary Magdalen, Schneyer 88–92

(fols. 87r-98v)

St Hugh of Lincoln, Schneyer 93–101

(fols. 98v-104r)

⟨Michaelmas⟩, Schneyer 102–106

(fols. 104r-111r)

⟨All Saints⟩, Schneyer 107–112

(fols. 111r-112v)

John the Baptist, one sermon, Schneyer 113

(fols. 112v-113r)

Schneyer 114 (occasion not specified)

(fols. 113v-114r)

Schneyer 115 (occasion not specified)

(fols. 114r-116r)

Schneyer 116 (occasion not specified)

Fols. 116v-117v blank.

On the upper pastedown is a 15th-century table of contents itemizing the feasts 'in quibus de consuetudine fit collacio in capitulo monachorum', according to c. 3 of the Nova statuta, in liturgical order with reference to the manuscript's contemporary foliation.

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Paper folded in quarto. Watermarks often indistinct but include steer's head with cross on rod of one line, steer's head with six-pointed star on rod of one line, and (?) two circles.
Extent: 1 + 116 + 1 folios (foliated 1–118)
Dimensions (leaf): 205 × 140 mm.
Foliation: Contemporary foliation in roman numerals on the verso of folios; suggests two folios missing (presumably blank) between fols. 116 and 117.

Collation

1(seven leaves: probably 8–1, 1 canc.) (fols. 2–8), 2(10)-3(10) (fols. 9–28), 4(12) (fols. 29–40), 5(8) (fols. 41–8), 6(10+1, leaf added at the end of the quire?) (fols. 49–59), 7(10+1, leaf added at the end of the quire?) (fols. 60–70), 8(12) (fols. 71–82); 10(10) (fols. 83–92), 11(14) (fols. 93–106), 12(12+1–2, fol. 107 added at the beginning of the quire and 10–11 canc. after fol. 116?). Leaf signatures in the form of single letters or numbers. Catchword on fol. 58v.

Layout

1 col., c. 33–37 lines. Frame-ruled, ruled space 145–155 × 100–105 mm.

Hand(s)

Cursiva antiquior, fols. 1r-108r and 111r-112v by one hand.

Additions by several hands in cursiva and hybrida.

Musical Notation:

Pen-trial with musical notation on the lower pastedown.

Decoration

Two-line coloured red initials; rubrics.

Additions:

Modest contemporary and later annotation.

Binding

Contemporary binding of red leather over boards; clasp lost; contemporary labels with title ('Collaciones capitulares') and pressmark. Tabs.

Accompanying Material

The upper pastedown is part of a bifolium of a Latin theological work on sin and punishment (Germany, 14th century), mostly covered by the table of contents.

The lower pastedown is a part of a late-fourteenth-century legal document issued by Gregory XI (?) (witnesses include ⟨Ber⟩told (?) dean of St Severus, for whom Urkundenbuch der Stadt Erfurt II (1889) nos. 709, 773), apparently related to a chantry in the church of St Mary at Erfurt, and attested by Heinricus Genonis of Cleves, dioc. Cologne; added later was a pen-trial with musical notation.

Between fols. 67 and 68 is a fragment from a fifteenth-century manuscript containing part of a Latin sermon on Eph. 5.15 (Videte quodmodo caute ambuletis) (Germany, 15th century)

For the endleaves see below.

History

Origin: 14th century, late, or 15th century, early ; Germany

Provenance and Acquisition

Erfurt, Carthusian abbey: ex libris, 15th century, fol. 2r; pressmark '0 107' on the front cover and the upper pastedown; listed under that pressmark in the late-fifteenth-century library catalogue (Mittelalterliche Bibliothekskataloge Deutschlands und der Schweiz, II: Erfurt, ed. P. Lehmann (1928), p. 505).

Friedrich Gottlieb Julius von Bülow, 1760-?1831: identifiable as 437 ('Collationes capitulares') in the catalogue of part 3 of his sale, 10 Oct. 1836.

Sir William Hamilton, 1788–1856

Presented to the Bodleian Library by his sons and received in 1857.

MS. Hamilton 47 - endleaf (fol. 1)

Contents

Language(s): Latin

(fol. 1r, upper / left column and fol. 1v, upper / right columns)
Commentary on Aristotle, Meteora (?),

‘]generat pluuia in yma parte aeris . et quia vapor ille humidus et grossus non poterat eleuari ad mediam regionem et non cadit nisi tempore magni caumatis ... — ... fit enim ex vapore[’ (1v col. 1)

‘] rigidior est pruina quam sit ros ... — ... proiciatur in aquam propter nimiam [’

‘]pressionibus aeris que fiunt ex vapore calido .... — ... facit coruscaciones in aere quas vocamus fulmen et similiter(?) facit [’

On rain, dew, frost, and thunder.

(fol. 1r, lower / right column and fol. 1v, lower / left column)
Philosophical text (unidentified),

']est deus sic ut patet(?) . metaphysice ...' (fol. 1r)

']. infinitos. Primo modo a est uera et est sensus ... ' (fol. 1v)

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: Part of a bifolium Width of the leaf 160 mm.

Layout

2 cols., width of the column c. 65 mm.; at least 51 lines.

Hand(s)

Cursiva antiquior; two scribes.

Decoration

No surviving decoration.

History

Origin: 14th century ; Germany

MS. Hamilton 47 - endleaf (fol. 118) and pastedown

Contents

Language(s): Latin

(fol. 181ra-va)
Ps.-Aristotle (Nicholas of Damascus), De plantis (tr. Alfred of Shareshill)
Incipit: ||materiis et positus est motus
Explicit: et erit fructus amaris
(fol. 181va-vb)
Aristotle, Meteora (translatio vetus)
Rubric: Liber Aristoteli philosophi sapientis in factura impressionum que fiunt in alto et inferius(?) tractatus
Incipit: Postquam precessit rememoratio nostra de rebus naturalibus
Explicit: supra hoc permixtum qui est||

Extensively annotated by a contemporary hand.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Dimensions (leaf): 205 × 145 mm.

Layout

2 cols., 47 lines; written space 205 × 145 mm.

Hand(s)

Early textualis currens.

Decoration

Space for initial unfilled.

History

Origin: 13th century ; Germany (?)

Additional Information

Record Sources

Description by Matthew Holford, Nov. 2020. Previously described in the Summary Catalogue.

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)

Bibliography

Last Substantive Revision

2020-11-17: Finalize description for Polonsky German.