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

MS. Laud Misc. 236

Summary Catalogue no.: 1014

Ambrose, Expositio de Psalmo CXVIII; Lives of Saints. Germany (Eberbach?), 13th century, first half or middle

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. (fols. 2v–144vb)
Ambrose, Expositio de Psalmo CXVIII
Rubric: In nomine sancte trinitatis. Incipit expositio de psalmo centesimo octauodecimo sancti Ambrosii mediolanensis urbis episcopi
Incipit: Licet mistice quoque ueluti tube
Explicit: (22.29.2) dignaris suscipere quem inueneris, inponere umeris quem susceperis. Qui cum patre […]
Final rubric: Explicit liber ambrosii [in the ink of the text]

Fols. 1r-2r are reject leaves of the same text (1.1 to 1.14 'per euangelium per apostolos|').

2. (fols. 145ra–162va)
Odo of Glanfeuil (Ps.-Faustus), Vita S. Mauri (BHL 5773)
Rubric: Incipit vita sancti Mauri abbatis
Incipit: Faustus famulorum christi famulus omnibus monachis qui sunt in oriente et occidente
Incipit: Postquam diuinitas domini et saluatoris nostri
Incipit: Beatissimus igitur Maurus clarissimo senatorum genere patre euticio
Explicit: annis .xl. diebus xiiij. Per omnia benedictus deus qui regnat in secula seculorum amen
Final rubric: Explicit uita sancti Mauri abbatis

Fol. 162vb and part of 162va blank.

3. (fols. 163ra–168rb)
Sebastian of Monte Cassino (?), Vita S. Hieronymi presbiteri (CPL 622, BHL 3870)
Rubric: Incipit uita sancti Iheronimi presbiter
Incipit: Plerosque nimirum illustrium uirorum non ambigo nosse
Explicit: saluos facere et ad adnitionem ueritatis uenire, qui cum patre […]
Final rubric: Explicit uita sancti Iheronimi presbiteri

Part of fol. 168rb blank; fol. 168v blank.

4. (fols. 169ra–171va)
Vita S. Lucae evangelistae (BHL 4973)
Rubric: Incipit uita sancti Luce ewangeliste
Incipit: Igitur gloriosissimus apostolus et ewangelista ihesu christi domini lucas natione fuit syrus ciuis antiocensis, arte nichilominus medicus, discipulus autem apostolorum
Explicit: Hoc autem diuina prouidentia constat actumm, ut scilicet per plura […] per omnia secula seculorum amen

Fol. 171vb contains the first eight capitula for the following item ('Quibus provectibus ... Machinatio ...') as pr. MGH SS rer. Merov. IV.283.

5. (fols. 172ra–194vb)
⟨Walafrid Strabo⟩, Vita et miracula S. Galli

Cf. BHL 3427–9.

Rubric: Incipit vita sancti galli confessoris
Incipit: Cum preclara santissimi uiri columbani
Explicit: Secundus mirabilia que post modum per merita eius dominus ostendit manifestat
Rubric: (fol. 187rb) Incipit liber primus de miraculis que post obitum sancti Galli dominus per eum facere dignatus est
Incipit: Meritis beatissimi Galli cotidie per miraculorum
Explicit: (fol. 191rb) absque demonis infestatione transegit
Final rubric: Explicit liber primus de miraculis sancti Gall confessoris
Rubric: (fol. 191va) Incipit liber secundus
Incipit: Preterea tam multa furore demonum per eiusdem sancti patris merita sunt liberati
Explicit: (fol. 194vb) signi effectum splendoris singularitate commendauit
Final rubric: Explicit liber secundus

Part of 192va blank, fol. 192vb blank (II. 32 and II. 33).

6. (fols. 194vb–200ra)
⟨Walafrid Strabo⟩, Vita S. Otmari (BHL 6386)
Rubric: Incipit vita sancti hotmari abbatis
Incipit: Igitur hotmarus genere alamannorum oriundus in etate puerili a fratre suo rethiani curiensem perductus est
Explicit: iteratam fuisse sollempnia\sollerr[sic]iam/
Final rubric: Explicit vita hotmari abbatis
7. (fol. 200rb–ra)
Incipit: Sancti merita benedicti inclita
Explicit: qua ipse gloriosus triumphat

Sequence for St Benedict: Analecta Hymnica 54.52–3 (no. 35); WIC 17235; Chevalier 18542; SK 14653; addition, thirteenth century.

8. (fol. 200v)
'Sunday list'

Note of events in sacred history occuring on Sunday similar to those found in later versions of the 'Sunday letter': creation, creation of the angels, crossing the Red Sea, manna, the miracle at Cana, feeding of the five thousand, baptism of Christ, resurrection, Pentecost, Day of Judgement; see C. Lees, 'The ‘Sunday Letter’ and the ‘Sunday Lists’', Anglo-Saxon England 14 (1985), 129–151. Addition, thirteenth century.

Incipit: In die dominica creata sunt omnia. in die dominico omnia consumnauit deus ex quo ceteri lucem accipiunt sicut est clarior sol aliis sideribus, ita dominica clarior est omnibus diebus
Explicit: In die dominico erit dies iudicii

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: 200 folios
Dimensions (leaf): 296 × 198 mm.
Dimensions (written): 228 × 146 mm.

Decoration

Red silhouette (arabesque) initials with penwork decoration, in the same style as MSS. Laud Misc. 222, Laud Misc. 287 and London, BL, Arundel MS. 245.

Binding

Standard Laudian binding of calf over pasteboard, 1638–9; rebacked.

History

Origin: 13th century, first half or middle (second quarter?) ; German, Eberbach, Cistercian abbey (?)

Provenance and Acquisition

Eberbach, Cistercian abbey: ex libris, fol. 200v, 14th century (?) (reworked fifteenth or sixteenth century).

Identifiable as b27 in the Eberbach library catalogue of 1502 (Palmer, p. 265: 'Ambrosius super psalmum Beati immaculati. Item vita sancti maurj abbatis. Vita sancti Iheronimi. Vita sancti luce ewangeliste. Vita galli confessoris. Vita othmari abbatis. Initium Licet mistice.')

William Laud, 1573–1645, 1638.

Part of his third donation to the Bodleian, 1639.

Record Sources

Description adapted by Matthew Holford (June 2020) from the following (with additional description of content): Nigel F. Palmer, Zisterzienser und ihre Bücher: die mittelalterliche Bibliotheksgeschichte von Kloster Eberbach im Rheingau (Regensburg, 1998), pp. 109, 209–10, 284 [physical description, date, provenance]. Previously described in the Quarto Catalogue (H. O. Coxe, Laudian Manuscripts, Quarto Catalogues II, repr. with corrections, 1969, from the original ed. of 1858–1885)

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)
Digital Bodleian (2 images from 35mm slides)

Bibliography

Last Substantive Revision

2020-06-08: Description revised for Polonsky German.