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

MS. Hamilton 52

Summary Catalogue no.: 24482

Henricus de Frimaria, De perfectione interioris hominis; Germany, 14th century, middle or second half

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. (fols. 1r-129r)
Henricus de Frimaria, De perfectione interioris hominis
Incipit: Qui non causidici(?). Et est inuocatio et con(?)tinencia libri presentis cuius titulus est liber de perfeccione spirituali interioris hominis. Istum librum pro honore dei et edificacione legencium studiose concepit magister Henricus de Vrimaria
Incipit: (fol. 2r) Quia multa predicabilia pulcra et vtilia licet sparsim et diffuse in libris collacionum
Incipit: Quia meriti rationali virtutes non possunt inseri nisi prius uicia exterpuntur
Explicit: gloriam eterne beatitudinis recepturi. Qui est honor et gloria in secula seculorum amen
Final rubric: Explicit liber de perfeccione interioris hominis studiose conceptus per magistrum Henricum de Vrimaria sacre theologie professore ex libris collacionum et institucionum sacrum patrum […]
2. (fol. 129v)

Fifteenth-century pen-trials (including 'Anno lxviii') and additions:

Prayer
Rubric: Oratio magistri henrici thoctzen cum legere uoluit

The distich 'Littera gesta docet' with note on the four levels of interpretation.

‘Ne confundaris . taceas . fugias et patiaris. Hoc Bernardus.’

Fol. 64b, an inserted slip, is from a table of contents for another book from St Peter's Erfurt.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: paper, folded in octavo. Watermarks: two circles with cross (WZIS), pear with two leaves (type Piccard ii.508–730)
Extent: 129 + 1 folios (1–64a, 64b, 65–129: 64b is an inserted slip)
Dimensions (leaf): 200 × 145 mm.

Collation

1–15(8) (fols. 1–120), 16(8+1) (one leaf added at the end of the quire) (fols. 121–9)

Layout

1 col., c. 31–3 lines. Partly frame-ruled, partly unruled; written space 160–70 × 100–5 mm.

Hand(s)

One scribe, textualis with cursive features.

Additions on fol. 129v in hybrida.

Decoration

Five-line red initial with simple penwork decoration in red, fol. 1r.

Elsewhere mostly three-line initials in red or the ink of the text, or both, sometimes with simple silhouette decoration.

Binding

15th-century binding of brown leather over boards, stamped and ruled in blind; clasp, mostly lost; four (of five) bosses on the lower board (none on the upper board); contemporary contents label and pressmark (D XXXIIII). Bindery of St Peter's Erfurt, Einbanddatenbank 501181s: stamps s015807, s015809, s015813, s015822 and possibly others. Tabs.

Accompanying Material

Traces of offset from a missing pastedown on the lower inside board.

History

Origin: 14th century, middle or second half ; German

Provenance and Acquisition

Benedictine abbey of St Peter, Erfurt: ex libris, fol. 1r, 15th century, with pressmark D 34; ex libris, 18th century, fol. 1r.

Friedrich Gottlieb Julius von Bülow, 1760-?1831 (?): possibly identifiable as 469 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.

Record Sources

Description by Matthew Holford (Oct. 2020). Previously described in the Summary Catalogue.

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)

Bibliography

Last Substantive Revision

2020-10-08: Description finalized for Polonsky German project.