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

MS. Lat. misc. c. 75

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

Collectanea of John Bale: seven manuscripts bound together

Physical Description

Composite: fols. 1–24 || fols. 25–52 || fols. 53, 54 || fols. 55–121 || fols. 122–143 || fols. 144–175 || fols. 176–205
Form: codex
Support: Parchment.
Extent: 206 leaves
Dimensions (leaf): 315 × 215 mm.
Foliation: Foliated 1–205 (111 occurs twice).

Binding

Early 19th century binding by Stuart Ray, 43 Duke St., London, with his ticket.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

John Bale, bishop of Ossory (1495–1563) ; perhaps nos. 27, 48, 49, 57, 77, 78, 133, 152, 153, and 170–3 in his library list (see H. McCusker, 'Books and manuscripts formerly in the possession of John Bale', The Library, 4th series, 26 (1936), 144–65).

Sir Gregory Page-Turner, Bart., of Battlesden, Bedfordshire ; sold 19 October 1824, lot 2716.

Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792–1872) , his MS. 3119.

William H. Robinson, Ltd.; the Robinson Trustees; sold at Sotheby's, 28 November 1973, lot 610; bought by H. P. Kraus.

MS. Lat. misc. c. 75 – Part 1

Contents

Language(s): Latin

(fol. 1r)
Poem on the fall of Troy,

here attributed to Prior Hugo

Incipit: Pergama flere volo
(Carmina Burana, no. 101; WIC 13985).
(fols. 1r-23v)
Nigel Witeker, Speculum stultorum
Incipit: (dedication) ⟨D⟩ilecto sibi in Christo et semper diligendo fratri Willelmo suus Nigellus
Incipit: (text) Suscipe pauca tibi veteris Guillelme Nigelli
(WIC 18944).
(fol. 24r)
Simon Capra Aurea, Ilias
Incipit: Diviciis ortu specie virtute triumphis
(WIC 4645)
(fol. 24v)
Poem on the fall of Troy
Incipit: Viribus atque minis Danaum data Troia ruinis

ending imperfect after the first 18 lines (WIC 20582)

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

Collation

1(12)-2(12)

Layout

2 cols., 40–50 lines

Hand(s)

semi-cursive hand

Decoration

Headings in red.

Initials in blue with red penwork.

History

Origin: 14th century ; English

MS. Lat. misc. c. 75 – Part 2

Contents

Martin of Troppau, Chronica pontificum et imperatorum

With popes on versos and emperors on rectos, ending with the death of Pope Nicholas IV (in 1294); fol. 52 originally blank, with rough cursive additions down to 1318, and a list of popes in the same hand ending with Sixtus IV 'nunc sedens'.

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Foliation: Old foliation indicates the loss of seven leaves: one at the beginning, three after fol. 34, and three after fol. 40.

Layout

2 cols., 51 lines

Decoration

Headings and paraphs in red.

History

Origin: 13th century, late ; English

MS. Lat. misc. c. 75 – Part 3

Contents

Language(s): Latin

List of Pictish and Scottish kings.,

from the earliest times to the death of Alexander III (in 1286), giving the number of years reigned by each king, and recording a few important events:

(fol. 53v)
Rubric: Incipiunt nomina Pictorum
Incipit: Gruchne filius Kemis clemens et primus iudex accepit monarchium et regnavit in terra Pictorum l. annis

fol. 53r is blank except for the outline of a large cusped quatrefoil, perhaps intended to contain decoration of some sort.

(fol. 54r-v)
Incipit: Summa annorum quibus regnaverunt ante Scottos mille ducenti et xxxix anni et iiiior menses. Summa regnum lxv. Fergus filius Herc
Incipit: Summa annorum a tempore Fergus filius Herc ad tempus Alpin cccta et viitem anni et tres menses. Kineth filius Alpin
Incipit: Suma annorum a tempore Kinet usque ad tempus Alexandri ultimi d. lxvii. et siluit tum sine rege tot annis quot intervenerunt sil.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

Collation

Two consecutive single leaves, each with the stub of its conjugate leaf.

Layout

2 cols., 30 lines

Hand(s)

large bookhand

Decoration

Two initials in green

History

Origin: c. 1300 ; English

MS. Lat. misc. c. 75 – Part 4

Contents

Summary of Contents: Theological texts in several parts, mostly of Franciscan interest

Language(s): Latin

(fols. 56r-61v)
William of St. Amour, Tractatus de periculis novissimorum temporum
Incipit: Ecce videntes clamabunt
(fols. 62r-66r)
Robert Grosseteste, Sermonum ad fratres minores de laude paupertatis
Incipit: Pauper et inops laudabnt nomen tuum
(fols. 71r-80v)
Thomas Eccleston, Tractatus de adventu fratrum minorum ad Angliam
Incipit: In dulcedine Domini
(ed. A. G. Little, Collection de documents pour l'histoire du moyen âge, VII (1909))
(fol. 81r)
Account of the martyrdom of four Franciscans in India in 1321
Rubric: Martirum quorundam fratrum minorum
Incipit: Reverendo etc.
Incipit: Noueritis nos habuisse certa noua de Inde\i/a de fratribus minoribus martirio coronatis
Explicit: sunt martirio coronati. Anno domini Mº. CCCmo. xxjº.
Largely as pr. P. Golubovich, Biblioteca ... della Terra Santa (1913) II. 70–1, where attributed to Francesco de Pisa OP; for related texts cf. BHL 8259–8260.
(fols. 81v-85v)
Johannes de Plano Carpino, Liber Tartarorum
Rubric: Liber de vita et moribus et actibus Tartarorum
Incipit: Omnibus Christi fidelibus ... Cum ex mandato sedis apostolice

ending imperfect after about a third of the text.

[Quire(s) missing]

(fols. 86r-88v)
Account of a dispute between the Friars Minor and the Friars Preacher
Rubric: Impugnacio fratrum Minorum per fratres Predicatores apud Oxoniam
Incipit: Anno domini mº ccº lx ixº
(pr. from this manuscript by A. G. Little, The Grey Friars of Oxford (Oxford, 1892), Appendix C).
(fols. 88v-89v)
John Peckham, Letters concerning a dispute over the right of the Friars Minor to hear confessions

To all the faithful

Incipit: Universis ... J. permissione divina ... Novella questio que nobis insonuit

Undated

To Bishop Giffard of Worcester

Incipit: Nescimus quo Dei iudicio

Dated in Peckham's Register 16 September 1283.

(fols. 89v-93r)
Rubric: Dialogus beati Francisci et paupertatis
Incipit: Inter ceteras preclaras et precipuas virtutes
(fols. 93r-97v)
John Peckham
Rubric: Canticum pauperum
Incipit: Confitebor tibi domine

ending imperfect.

[Quire(s) missing]

(fols. 98r-121r)
Theological texts

Controversial theological texts mostly concerned with the dispute between the Friars Minors and 'Armachanus', i.e. Richard Fitzralph, Archbishop of Armagh, who was Chancellor of Oxford university in 1333.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

Collation

I6+1 (1st leaf added), II-IV12, V13, VI12; gatherings apparently all from the same manuscript, but not consecutive, and not in the original order, with gaps after fols. 85, 97, 103, and 110.

Hand(s)

Written in a variety of hands from rough cursive to formal bookhand.

Decoration

Penwork initials.

History

Origin: c. 1290 - c. 1350 ; English

Provenance

The volume containing these 68 leaves was seen by Bale at The Queen's College, Oxford ; a list of the 34 items it contained is written in a 15th-century cursive hand on fol. 55v. Almost all are of Franciscan interest and the volume probably came to Queen's from the Franciscan convent in Oxford .

MS. Lat. misc. c. 75 – Part 5

Contents

Language(s): Latin

(fols. 122r-124r)
Rubric: Apologia de versuciis atque perversitatibus pseudo theologorum et religiosorum
(fol. 124v)
Joachimite text
(fols. 125r-129v)
Arnoldus of Villanova

Three letters and another text

(fols. 130r-131v)
Rubric: De laude diei dominice et penis inferni
Incipit: Audite omnes populi

[Quire(s) missing]

(fols. 132r-143v)
Oraculum Cyrilli (Joachimite text)
Rubric: Epistolae Cyrilli presbiteri ad Abbatem Joachim super visionem mirabili
Incipit: Donum tocius divine sapiencie

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

Collation

I10, [quire(s) missing], II12

Layout

40–45 lines per page.

Hand(s)

The two quires written in similar but different hands, probably from a single manuscript

Decoration

Initials in red or blue, with penwork

History

Origin: 14th century, first half ; English

MS. Lat. misc. c. 75 – Part 6

Contents

Language(s): Latin

(fols. 144r-148)
Cassiodorus, Historia tripartita,

beginning imperfect in the Book XII chapter 4 (i.e. less than three full chapters from the end of the work).

(fols. 148v-)
Aimoin de Fleury, Life of St. Abbo
Rubric: Incipit epistola Haymonis Floriacensis monachi ad Herveum sancti Martini thesaurarium de vita et martyrio sancti Abbonis Floriaci cenobii
Incipit: Reverentissime vite viro domino Herveo
(Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina, I (1898), no. 3); the acrostic letter from Abbo to the Emperor Otto is on fol. 154v.
(fols. 158v-159r)
Four miracles of Abbo.
(fols. 160r-)
Life of St. Martial of Limoges
Rubric: Incipit sancti Martialis confessoris et apostoli Christi
Incipit: Predicante domino nostro ihesu Christo in tribu Beniamin

(the first page reproduced in the Sotheby's catalogue, pl. 29; BHL, no. 5552; pr. W. de Gray Birch, The Life of St. Martial (1872)).

(fols. 174v-175v)
Apocryphal letter from a Greek Emperor
Incipit: Kyrsalis sola Christi Dei clementia Constantinopolitanus imperator

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

Collation

I-IV8, pehaps the final four quires of the parent volume.

Layout

35–42 lines per page, in two columns

Hand(s)

Written by two hands, which change with a change of ruling at fol. 160, in a fine early gothic bookhand; headings in red.

Decoration

arge initials in red or green, a few with decoration of the other colour (that on fol. 160r illustrated in the Sotheby's catalogue).

History

Origin: 12th century, second half ; English, Ramsey (?)

Provenance

Ramsey Abbey : inscribed, 14th century, 'Liber Rameseye' (fol. 175v); before becoming Abbot of Fleury, Abbo taught for a year at Ramsey

MS. Lat. misc. c. 75 – Part 7

Contents

(fols. 176r-205v)
Thomas Rudbourne, Breviarium chronicorum
Incipit: Multi nobiles ac pietatis studio maxime operam dantes

ending imperfect in the year 1177 (the only other known manuscript is BL, Cotton, MS. Nero A.xvii; Sharpe, Latin writers, p. 678)

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment.

Collation

I8, II8, III6, IV8, [one or two quires missing].

Layout

48 lines per page

Hand(s)

bookhand; headings in red.

Decoration

Initials in blue with red penwork.

History

Origin: 15th century ; English

Provenance

Seen by Bale at All Soul's College, Oxford .

Additional Information

Record Sources

Draft description by Peter Kidd, late 1990s; description of fol. 81r revised Dec. 2018 by M. Holford, partly ex inf. Christopher MacEvitt, Dartmouth College.

Bibliography

Last Substantive Revision

2018-12-19: Description of part 4, item 5 (fol. 81r) corrected, partly ex inf. Christopher MacEvitt, Dartmouth College.