MS. Kennicott 13

Summary Catalogue no.: Not in SC (late accession)

Bible (imperfect)

(fol. 1r-28r)

Genesis, beg.imperf. at 6.20 ('et ex omni...') due probably to the loss of one quire and one leaf before fol. 1; and wants 10.18 – 12.6 due to the loss of a leaf after fol.2v.

(fol. 28r-53r)

Exodus.

(fol. 53r-70r)

Leviticus.

(fol. 70r-92v)

Numeri.

(fol. 93r-114v)

Deuteronomii.

(fol. 114v-129r)

Iosue (pref. attributed to Jerome, Stegmüller, Repertorium 311).

(fol. 130r-)

Iudicum, ends imperf. at 14.19 due tot he loss of one or more quires

The number of verses of each book is recorded at the end. Two 15th cent. hands added Vulgate chapter numberings throughout.

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: crescite(present fol. 2r)

Form: codex

Support: parchment of average quality; several leaves with original page markers (fols. 68, 74. 77. 84 etc.)

Extent: ii (paper) + 140 + ii (paper)

Dimensions (leaf): 325 × 210 mm.

Dimensions (written): 235 × 150 mm.

Collation

1(8)(wants 1, 4), 2(8) – 11(8), 12(6), 15(8) – 18(8), one quire missing at the beginning and several quires at the end. No catchwords or signatures visible.

Layout

Ruling in drypoint, 38 (quire 1) or 37 horizontal lines; the top and bottom pair, or the first and third, and ante-penultimate and last lines, or a combination of these, ruled the full width of the page, in one column bounded by pairs of vertical bounding lines extending the full height of the page; prickings frequently survive in the three outer margins.

36 – 37 long lines

Hand(s)

Fine caroline script, above top line, perhaps by more than one scribe.

Decoration

Good initials (partly mutilated). (P&A iii. 66)

One fine five-line initial in blue, red and green, filled with red and uncoloured foliage (fol. 28r); one similar but simpler initial, lacking blue (fol. 93r); one green initial edged with red, and with simple small red trefoil design (fol. 70r); two plain red initials (fol. 114v, 115r); one smaller plain red initial at Gen. 39.1 (fol. 20r); the initial on fol. 53r excised, with traces of colours offset onto the facing page.

The opening words of each book either written in coloured display capitals in red, or red and green, or in ink in majuscules and touched with red, or red and green

Occasionally the start of a chapter is given a coloured initial (fols. 28v, 139v)

Medieval (?) sketch of a male figure in the fore-edge margin of fol. 98v.

Binding

18th cent. binding.

History

Origin: c. 1100 ; English (?) or ; French, Normandy (?)

Provenance and Acquisition

Perhaps written in a Cistercian house to judge to the angular punctus flexus punctuation, perhaps adapted for reading aloud since numerals have been expanded interlinearly and accents have been added in places (e.g. fols. 1r, 16v ff.)

Two 15th-cent. readers added modern chapter numbers in ink in the margins

Unidentified 16th-cent. English reader, inscribed '... the xxj day of may anno domini' (fol. 58r)

Benjamin Kennicott, Radcliffe librarian; deposited by the Radcliffe trustees, 1872.

Record Sources

Typescript description by Bodleian Library staff, revised by Peter Kidd, late 1990s.

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