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MS. Lat. bib. c. 1

Summary Catalogue no.: 31375

Guardbook of biblical fragments

Physical Description

Form: guardbook
Extent: 8 fragments

MS. Lat. bib. c. 1 – fol. 1

Contents

Wisdom

Fragment: capitula (IV-XXVIII), text 1.1 - 3.18 (in part), ‘]domino in bonitate ... non habebunt spem nec in[’

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: part of a leaf

Layout

2 cols.; width of the column ruling c. 116 mm.

Decoration

Fine initial, damaged. (Pächt and Alexander i. 472, pl. XXXVIII)

History

Origin: 12th century, beginning ; French, South-west

Provenance and Acquisition

Dating after Pächt and Alexander. Formerly part of the volume now shelfmarked as MS. Eng. hist. a. 2 ('The Crawford charters', SC 31346), a collection possibly assembled by Robert Austen of Shalford Hall, Surrey (d. 1797) and including materials previously owned by Thomas Martin and Peter le Neve (see The Crawford collection of early charters and documents now in the Bodleian library, ed. A. Napier and W. Stevenson (1895), v-viii.

W. H. Crawford of Lakelands

His sale, Sotheby's 14 March 1891; purchased by the Bodleian.

MS. Lat. bib. c. 1 – fol. 2

Contents

Kings with gloss

Fragment: III Kings 22.49-54 (‘]runt quia confracte ... pater eius.’, IV Kings 1.1-14 (‘Prevaricatus est autem Moab ... primos et quinquagenos’)

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: large fragment of a leaf with the full height of the written area

Layout

1 col., 23 lines, height of the written area c. 205 mm., the 'marginal' gloss in smaller script in indented sections of the main text area.

Decoration

Good initial. (Pächt and Alexander iii. 427)

History

Origin: 13th century, middle ; English

Provenance and Acquisition

Dating after Pächt and Alexander. Provenance and acquisition as fol. 1

MS. Lat. bib. c. 1 – fol. 3

Contents

Peter Comestor, Historia scholastica Numbers 43 - 51

‘]edebant agnum ... xxi sepulchra[’, PL 198.1243-47

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: large part of a leaf preserving most of the text area

Layout

2 cols., 50 lines; written above top line (?); ruled in leadpoint (?); ruled space c. 195 × 120 mm.

Hand(s)

Protogothic

Decoration

Alternating plain 2-line red and blue initials.

History

Origin: 13th century, first half ; England (?)

Provenance and Acquisition

Provenance and acquisition as fol. 1

MS. Lat. bib. c. 1 – fol. 4

Contents

Commentary on Psalms (50.5-14),

‘] meam. Popule meus responde mihi quid feci tibi aut in quo molestus fui? ... manserunt in eodem loco donec penitus sanarentur[’

Incipit of commentary on Ps. 50.6:

Incipit: Ecce enim Quasi dicat uere uincis homines in iusticia quantumcumque iustos quia ecce enim in iniquitatibus. Quantus ardor penitentis quia non solum actualia sed etiam originale confitetur et ponit plurale pro singulari
Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: two large strips from one leaf, joined

Layout

2 cols., more than 46 lines, column width c. 85 mm.

Hand(s)

Protogothic

Decoration

Alternating plain 1-line red and green initials.

History

Origin: 12th century, late, or 13th century, early ; England (?)

Provenance and Acquisition

Provenance and acquisition as fol. 1

MS. Lat. bib. c. 1 – fol. 5

Contents

Commentary on Psalms (58.13-18, 59.1-8)

On Ps. 59 begins:

Incipit: Deus rep\p/ulisti Legitur in Paralipomenon quod Naas rege Amonitarum mortuo, misit Dauid nuntios ad consolandum filium suum Amon, cui suggesserunt satrape et principes sui, quod causa explorandi misisset eos David. Ideo Amon truncas et uestes puerorum David prescidit […] (fol. 5va) Deus reppulisti a uitiis per flagella. Malos repellit deus subtrahendo gratiam, offerendo mundi gloriam, unde expulsi sunt nec po(tuerunt) stare. Bonos vero repellit et derelinquit, differendo gratiam, exponendo eos pressuris
Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: large fragment of a leaf preserving most of the text area

Layout

2 cols., at least 47 lines, column width 90-95 mm..

Hand(s)

Protogothic

Decoration

Alternating plain 1-line red and green initials.

History

Origin: 12th century, late, or 13th century, early ; England (?)

Provenance and Acquisition

Probably from the same parent manuscript as fol. 4.

Provenance and acquisition as fol. 1

MS. Lat. bib. c. 1 – fols. 6-8

Contents

Bible

Three stray leaves from MS. Lat. bib. d. 8 (q.v.).

(fol. 6)

1 Maccabees, the usual prologues (end of Stegmüller 547, Stegmüller 553, 551) and text 1.1-54.

(fol. 7)

Romans 15.19 - 16.17, I Corinithians prol. (Stegmüller 685) and 1.1 - 2.9.

(fol. 8)

Genesis 32.10 - 35.13

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: 3 leaves

Layout

2 cols., 53 lines, ruled space 176 × 97 mm.

Hand(s)

Gothic bookhand (northern textualis)

Decoration

Fol. 6r, 10-line historiated initial (1 Maccabees), execution of the idolatrous Jew, holding a pig's head; fol. 7v: 8-line historiated initial (1 Cor.), Paul

6- to 8-line decorated initials (fols. 6, 7)

2-line initials in red and blue with flourishing in red and blue.

History

Origin: 13th century, end ; English(?)

Provenance

Among the numerous leaves (most with historiated initials) cut out from MS. Lat. bib. d. 8; the dating and localization follow those of Peter Kidd for that manuscript.

Fols. 6-7: Bloomsbury Auctions, Western Manuscript and Miniatures, 8 July 2020, lot 108 and lot 109; purchased by the Bodleian.

Fol. 8 purchased by Bruce Barker-Benfield from Maggs, late 1960s for 5 guineas; given by him to the Bodleian on 15 Oct. 2021.

Additional Information

Record Sources

Description by Matthew Holford, Dec. 2021. Previously described (fols. 1-5) in the Summary Catalogue (1924).
Summary Catalogue, Vol. 6, p. 44

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2021-12: Description of fols. 1-5 revised and fols. 6-8 added.