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

OR BROWSE BY

MANUSCRIPTS
WORKS
PEOPLE
PLACES

MS. Lat. th. e. 40

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

Contents

Language(s): Latin

(fol. iii verso)

16th-century list of contents, including a 'Sermo de corpore ... Christi', formerly at the end of the manuscript, now missing.

Language(s): Latin
(fol. 1r)
Julian of Toledo, Prognosticon (pr. PL, XCVI, cols. 453–57, 460–524).
Language(s): Latin
(fol. 22r)
Systematic florilegium
Incipit: Si quis humane intelligencie
Language(s): Latin
(fol. 52r)
Innocent III, De sacramentis ecclesiasticis (pr. PL, CCXVII, cols. 773–916).
Language(s): Latin
(fol. 102r)
Hildebert of Le Mans, Hymn in honour of the Trinity,

here written as prose (pr. PL, CLXXI, col. 1411); Carmina Minora, ed. B. Scott (rev. ed., 2001) no. 55.

Language(s): Latin
(fol. 102v)
Rubric: Incipit liber catholice fidei editus a beato Augustino episcopo qui vocatur manuale sive speculum
(pr. among Alcuin's works, PL, CI, cols. 1027–98).
Language(s): Latin
(fol. 130v)
Hymns
Incipit: Deus pater piissime
(Chevalier 36677; WIC 4319)
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: O lumen verum
(Chevalier 13147)
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: O Maria maris stella Sponsa Christi dei cella
(Chevalier 13194)
Language(s): Latin
Language(s): Latin
Verses
Incipit: Pax vobis ego sum qui mortem morte peremi

Five hexameters

Language(s): Latin
(fol. 133r)
Ps.-Bernard, sermon on St. John the Baptist
Rubric: Sermo beati Maximi episcopi (added in a later hand)
(pr. PL, CLXXXIV, cols. 991–1002).
Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: ad quantum
Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: iii + 138 leaves
Dimensions (leaf): 180 × 130 mm.
Dimensions (written): 140 × 100 mm.

Collation

1(8), 2(10), 3(6), 4(8), 5(8) (wants 1, 3, 6–8), 6(10)–8(10), 9(8), 10(10), 11(10), 12(12), 13(8), 14(8), 15(6) (wants 6), 16(6), 17(4)

Layout

2 cols., 43 lines; written below top line

Hand(s)

Written by ' Gichars '

Decoration

Good historiated initials. (Pächt and Alexander i. 533)

Seven historiated initals, in blue, white, carmine and burnished gold:

  • (fol. 22r) A bishop with book addressing a clerk.
  • (fol. 37r) St. Augustine with a book.
  • (fol. 103r) St. Francis preaching to friars.
  • (fol. 126v) Christ seated with an orb, blessing.
  • (fol. 130v) Ps. 109: Last Judgment.
  • (fol. 132r) Virgin and Child.
  • (fol. 133r) The Decollation of St. John the Baptist, badly flaked.

Directions to the illuminator survive as follows: 'diaconus' (fol. 22r); 'Augut[inus]' (fol. 37r); 'Joh[an]es' (fol. 133r).

Other initials in red with blue flourishing or vice versa.

Binding

19th cent. calf binding with the arms of the Signet library

History

Origin: 13th century, third quarter ; French, North

Provenance and Acquisition

Colophon in French by the scribe Gichars: 'De dame deu de gloire qui en la croiz fu mis / Soit sire Gichars benoit [corrected to benoiz] et a bone fin pris / Amen amen chascuns en die / Que dex otroit a sarme vie / Totes les foiz que il regardera en cest livre / De toz maus soit il delivre' (fol. 101v)

Inscribed 'Iste [liber] est ... [remainder thoroughly erased]' (fol. iii verso).

Presented to the Society of Writers to the Signet, Edinburgh(arms on binding), by J. Macfarquhar , 1814

Sotheby's 1 Nov. 1960, lot 2411; bought from Quaritch, 1961.

Record Sources

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

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2017-07-01: First online publication.