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

MS. Hamilton 51

Summary Catalogue no.: 24481

A: Moral excerpts; B: Iacobus de Voragine, Legenda Aurea; C: Sermons, from Christmas to Trinity Sunday; D: Gospel harmony on the Passion, dated 1430. Germany: A, B 14th century, C, D 15th century

Physical Description

Composite: A: fols. 1–86; B: fols. 87–181; C: fols. 182–215a; D: fols. 216–223
Extent: 227 leaves
Dimensions (leaf): 200 × 140 mm.
Foliation: 1–184, 185a, 185b, 186–195, 196a, 196b, 197–206, 207a, 207b, 208–214, 215a, 215b, 216–223

Binding

Medieval. Sewn on three slit tawed bands, laced into wood boards, covered with half brown leather. No pastedowns. Vestiges of a single clasp. Red-stained fore-edge tabs. Two medieval paper labels stuck to the front cover, one with a title ‘Passional[ … ]’, the other with ‘G [ … ] [possibly 7 corrected to 13]’ (the upper board split vertically, with a repair that obscures parts of these inscriptions). 19th-century gilt leather spine-label ‘51.’

Accompanying Material

Quire-strengtheners made from 12th-cent. MS. waste

History

Provenance and Acquisition

Erfurt, Charterhouse: their ownership inscriptions (fol. 1r). Parts 2 and 3 were already old before being bound: part 2 has significant damage to the edges of the leaves, part 3 begins at ‘201’ in an old foliation. Identified by Lehmann (Mittelalterliche Bibliothekskataloge, II (1928), pp. 4, 368) as the Passionale bequeathed by Johannes Orthonis von Aldendorf and as the ‘Pars iemalis passionalis fundatoris, quem videlicet fundator domus Carthusiensium Erffordiensis eidem contulit. | Kalendarius. | Liber tercius de gestis et monitis et exemplis sanctorum patrum. | Liber in medi­cina. |’, G. 7 in the late 15th-century catalogue, but the contents and implied date do not seem to correspond well; an alternative identification is G. 13: ‘Passionale cum multis sermonibus abbreviatis de tempore et sanctis.’ Medieval table of contents stuck to the inner face of the upper board.

Friedrich Gottlieb Julius von Bülow, 1760-?1831 (?): perhaps identifiable as 290 in the catalogue of part 3 of his sale, 10 Oct. 1836 ('Passionale sanctorum, una cum quibusdam sermonibus etc.')

Sir William Hamilton, 1788–1856

Presented to the Bodleian Library by his sons and received in 1857. Formerly ‘Addit. MSS. Bodl. IV. A. 6.’ (fol. 1r).

MS. Hamilton 51 – Part A (fols. 1–86)

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. (fols. 1r–26r)
Moral excerpts
Rubric: \Moralitates collecte ex diuersis doctoribus/ [later title]
Rubric: \Moralitates et auctoritates pulchre sed confusa modo collecte | Notabilia bona extracta vage de quibusdam sermonibus/ [table of contents]
Incipit: Sciendum nobis est quod ubi Christus fundamentum est bonorum quoque operum sequatur edificium. Cuius cumque edificii christus fundamentum non fuerit, destruetur
Explicit: numquam vilia perpetrarent

Stegmüller, Bibl. 10152, this copy only.

2. (fols. 26v–76v)
Sermons
Rubric: \Sermones de beata uirgine abbreuiati; De apostolis et euangelistis similiter abbreuiati; Ibidem de sancto Iohanne baptista, Natiuitate Christi(?) et Maria Magdalena; Item de ascensione domini usque ad festum trinitatis; Et ididem de dedicacione; De martyribus, de confessoribus, de uirginibus; De angelis, de animabus, de corpore(?) Christi/ [table of contents]
Incipit: Missus est angelus &c. (Luke 1:26) In hoc ewangelio quatuor possunt notari. Gabrielis ad virginem missio
Incipit: Ave, gratia plena (Luke 1:28) Notandum quod sunt quatuor Aue, Commendatiuum Aue, Deceptiuum Aue, comminatorium Aue, commendatorium ⟨Aue⟩.

Stegmüller, Bibl. 10153, this copy only, listed as a commentary on Missus est.

3. (fol. 76r–v)
Added sermon
Incipit: ⟨M⟩iseremini mei […] (Job 19:21) Istud uerbum est sancti Job qui dixit illud in afflictione sua positus
cf. Schneyer, VIII, p. 722 no. 85

Most of fol. 76v, and all of 77r, blank

4. (fols. 77v–86v)
Sermons
Incipit: ⟨P⟩robet autem […] (I Corinthians 11:28) Verba sunt apostoli ad Corinthios, in quibus innuit quod ad sacramentum eukaristie non probatus nullatenus accedat.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: paper

Collation

1(10)-7(10) (fols. 1–70), 8(8)-9(8) (fols. 71–86). Quires 1–7 numbered in arabic on the final verso.

Layout

Frame-ruled in ink and written in two columns of about 35 lines. Ruled space c. 155 × 105 mm. , with c. 8 mm. between columns.

Hand(s)

Gothic cursive (cursiva antiquior)

Decoration

Initials in plain red or omitted.

History

Origin: 14th century ; German

MS. Hamilton 51 – Part B (fols 87–181)

Contents

5. (fols. 87r–181v)
Iacobus de Voragine, Legenda Aurea (from Advent to St Eustace, 20 September)
Rubric: \Passionale sanctorum per totum annum ab Aduentu Domini/ [table of contents]
Incipit: ⟨A⟩duentus domini per quatuor septimanas agitur ad significandum quod quatuor sunt aduentus scilicet in carnem
Explicit: Passi sunt autem xii kl. Octobris
Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: paper

Layout

Frame-ruled in ink and written in two columns of about 28–36 lines. Ruled space c. 165 × 115 mm. , with c. 7 mm. between columns.

Hand(s)

Gothic cursive (cursiva antiquior)

Decoration

Initials in plain red or omitted.

History

Origin: 14th century ; German

MS. Hamilton 51 – Part C (fols. 182–215a)

Contents

Language(s): Latin

6. (fols. 182r–215av) (medieval ink foliation 201–226)
Sermons from Christmas to Trinity Sunday
Rubric: \ Sermones breues a nativitate domini usque ad festum sancte trinitatis/ [table of contents]

First complete sermon:

Incipit: Parvulus natus est nobis […] (Isaiah 9:6) Circa nativitatem domini tria occurrunt notanda Primum est Christi humilitas
Schneyer VIII, p. 643 no. 6 (from Munich Clm 9586)
(fols. 214r–215ar)

The last of the main series is:

Incipit: Benedicat nos Deus […] (Psalm 66:8) In tempore preterito peregimus festum patris festum filii festum spiritus sancti
Schneyer VIII, p. 646 no. 45 (from the same series in Clm 9586)
(fol. 215ar–v)

Another sermon is added:

Incipit: Veritas de terra orta est […] (Psalm 84:12) Exponuntur verba ista de nativitate Christi. glossa .i. Christus natus de virgine per quem iustificati sunt homines
Schneyer, V, p. 603 no. 329

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: paper

Layout

Frame-ruled in plummet and written in two columns of about 40–45 lines. Ruled space c. 180–5 × 115–20 mm. with c. 5 mm. between columns.

Hand(s)

Gothic cursive.

Decoration

Initials alternately red or blue.

History

Origin: 15th century ; German

MS. Hamilton 51 – Part D (fols. 216–223)

Contents

7. (fol. 216)
Gospel harmony on the Passion of Christ, with interlinear and marginal glosses on the first two and last two pages
Rubric: Concordancia de passione quatuor ewangelistarum
Rubric: \Passio domini predicabilis .. primo incepta est et non completa; Secundo habetur(?) in caduca et corrupta littera /
Incipit: Ante sex dies pasche (John 12:1)
Explicit: transfer calicem hunc a me verumtamen (Luke 22:42)

‘Inceptum in vigilia Kathedre Petri anno Domini mº ccccº xxxº.’

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: paper

Layout

Frame-ruled in ink (with two verticals at the fore-edge side) for a single narrow column of biblical text, with wide margins for glosses, and written with 18 well-spaced lines. Ruled area of the biblical text 135 × 50 mm.

Hand(s)

Gothic cursive.

Decoration

None.

History

Origin: c. 1430 ; German

Additional Information

Record Sources

Summary description (Feb. 2021) by Peter Kidd, edited and dimensions/collation of part A supplied by Matthew Holford. Previously described in the the Summary Catalogue (1897).

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)

Bibliography

Last Substantive Revision

2021-02-05: Revised summary description for Polonsky German.