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MS. Laud Misc. 268

Summary Catalogue no.: 1229

A Bede on Acts; Germany, 14th century. B John of Damascus, De fide orthodoxa; Italy (?), late 13th / early 14th century. C John of Damascus, Ps.-Augustine; France (?Paris), 14th century, first half

Physical Description

Composite: three manuscripts probably brought together at Eberbach Abbey around the mid-fourteenth century.
Form: codex
Extent: i + 120 + i leaves (flyleaves early modern parchment)
Dimensions (leaf): 305 × 210 mm.

Binding

Standard binding of the Laudian collection, calf over pasteboards, c. 1638-9; rebacked.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

Eberbach, Cistercian abbey: identifiable as H 8 in the catalogue of 1502 ('Bede in actus apostolorum Item Sentencie Iohannis damasceni et quam plures libri eiusdem Item liber de spiritu et anima Initium Domino in christo desiderantissimo etc.': N. Palmer, Zisterzienser und ihre Bücher (1998), p. 239, without reference to the present manuscript). Rust marks on fol. 120v probably from the chain-staple of the Eberbach libraria maior . Part B (fols. 43-78), originally quires 14-16 of a larger manuscript, shares annotation with part C (fols. 79-120); fol. 42 was added to part A (fols. 1-42) when it was joined to part B.

William Laud: acquired 1638 (ex libris, fol. 1r) after the disperal of the Eberbach library in the Thirty Years' War.

Part of his third donation to the Bodleian, 1639.

MS. Laud Misc. 268 – Part A (fols. 1-42)

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. (fols. 1ra-41rb)
Rubric: [running head] Actus ap(osto)l(orum)
Rubric: Incipit prefacio Bede presbiteri in actus apostolorum
Incipit: (pref.) Domino in Christo desiderantissimo
Rubric: (fol. 1vb) Incipit textus eiusdem
Incipit: Primum quidem sermonem feci. Quod ait primum quidem non est aduerbium ordinis iuxta illud apostoli, Primum quidem gratias ago deo meo, sed sicut ex greco facillime patet, primum nomen est adiungendum ad hoc quod sequitur sermonem, ut sit sensus quod primum fecerit sermonem de Ihesu ewangelium scribendo, secundum sit modo facturus apostolorum actus addendo. De omnibus o Theophile que cepit Ihesus facere et docere. De omnibus se dicit Christi factis et dictis in ewangelio scripsisse non quod omni comprehendere potuerit, ne sit contrarius Johanni
Explicit: (fol. 37va) dixerat esse saluandas. Et docens que sunt […] Bonum certamen certaui, cursum consummaui, fidem seruaui
Incipit: Acheldemac ager sanguinis
Explicit: Theatrum locus aspectatio uocatur, quod in eo stat desuper populus, atque spectat ludos scenicos dum exerceantur
Final rubric: Explicit exposicio Bede presbiteri in actus apostolorum

A conflation of Bede's Commentary and Retraction on Acts (fols. 1ra-37va), listed by M. L. W. Laistner, A handlist of Bede manuscripts (1943), p. 24, alongside other manuscripts preserving different conflations of the two texts. Followed (fols. 37vb-41rb) by the Nomina regionum et locorum de Actibus Apostolorum.

Lemmata not marked; sections marked (sporadically) by marginal signs resembling '3'. Scribal corrections.

Fols. 41rb4-41v blank (fol. 41v ruled). Fol. 42r blank (unruled).

(fol. 42va-b)

Prologue to the following item (part B)

Rubric: Incipit prologus in libro theo\lo/gie Iohannis Damasceni. Dignissimo et diuinitus honorabili patri Cosme episcopo Maiomaensi Iohannes indignus
Incipit: Altitudinem mentis et inopiam lingue
Explicit: oracionum precium rependatis
Final rubric: Explicit prologus Iohannis presbiteri Damasceni, qui Mansur liber incipit, in quo est tradicio cuncta ortodoxe fidei capitulis centum divisa a Burgundione iudice ciue Pisano de Greco in Latinum domino Eugenio tercio bone memorie pape translatus. Continet autem hic liber quindecim capitula.

Followed by a list of the fifteen chapters of the first book. The text translates the dedicatory letter for the De logica of John of Damascus, here repurposed for the De fide orthodoxa; noted by Thomson, Grosseteste, p. 45 n., who knew this version of the dedication only in the present manuscript.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: 42 leaves

Collation

1(8)-5(8) (fols. 1-40), followed by two leaves, structure unclear, but perhaps added to quire 5 at different times (fols. 41-2); catchwords; leaf (bifolium) signatures, bottom centre, in the form i-iiij.

Layout

(fols. 1ra-41rb) ruled in ink for two columns of 33 lines; ruled space c. 230 × 155-160 mm.

Hand(s)

Northern textualis, one hand. Punctuation includes the punctus flexus.

Decoration

Plain red initials (3 lines, fols. 1ra, 1vb; 2 lines, fols. 37vb, 42vb; 5 lines, fol. 42va). Majuscules stroked in red.

History

Origin: 14th century (second quarter / middle?) ; Germany, perhaps Eberbach, Cistercian abbey

Provenance

Use of punctus flexus suggests a Cistercian or Carthusian origin: Eberbach itself, the later home of the manuscript, should not be ruled out.

MS. Laud Misc. 268 – Part B (fols. 43-78)

Contents

2. (fols. 43ra-78vb)
John of Damascus, De fide orthodoxa (tr. Burgundio of Pisa) ed. E.M. Buytaert (St Bonaventure, NY, 1955).
Rubric: Incipit primus liber Johannis Damasceni greci quam incomprehensibilis est deus […]
Incipit: Deum nemo uidit umquam
Explicit: (fol. 78vb) ab ipso est gaudium fructificantes. Amen.
Final rubric: Explicit liber Sententiarum Johannis Damasceni [in ink of text]

Rest of fol. 78rb blank

Fol. 78v, list of chapters for each book.

Bk. 2, fol. 47vb; bk. 3, fol. 57rb; bk. 4, fol. 69ra.

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: 36 leaves

Collation

6(12)-8(12) (fols. 43-78); leaf (bifolium) signatures (apparently letters 'a'-'f', at least some quires with central bifolia marked '+'). Quires numbered xiiij-xvj in later crayon.

Layout

Ruled in faint ink for 2 cols., 51-2 lines; 205 × 130 mm. (inner bounding lines)

Hand(s)

Northern textualis libraria; one hand; Italian characteristics, notably the abbreviation for 'qui'.

Decoration

5-line puzzle initial in blue and red, fol. 43r; elsewhere 3-line (at the beginning of books) or 2-line initials in red flourished in light blue or dark blue flourished in red.

Additions:

Running heads added; corrections to the text, extensive in places, by various hands, some German; nota marks in various hands, some also found in part III.

History

Origin: 13th century, late, or 14th century, early ; Italy (?)

MS. Laud Misc. 268 - part C (fols. 79-120)

Contents

Language(s): Latin

3. (fols. 79ra-85rb)
John of Damascus, Elementarium dogmatum siue Institutio elementaris (tr. Robert Grosseteste)
Rubric: Incipit introductio dogmatum elementaris a voce sancti Johannis Damasceni ad Johannem sanctissimum episcopum Loadicie[sic]
Incipit: In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti, unius trisypostate et adorate dietatis
Explicit: semper cum ipso esse et frui ipsius gaudia et regno nunc et […]
CPG 8040
Thomson, Grosseteste, no. 2(iv), this ms. listed.

Grosseteste's translation includes, as c. 11, CPG 8052 (De duabus in Christo uoluntatibus)

4. (fol. 85rb-89ra)
John of Damascus, De hymno trisagion (tr. Robert Grosseteste)
Rubric: Epystola scripta ad Jordanem archimandritam de trisagio
Incipit: (fol. 85va) Dei honorato et zelo
Explicit: pro nobis orantes

Thomson, no. 2(v), this ms. listed

5. (fols. 89ra-99va)
John of Damascus, De logica (tr. Robert Grosseteste, with Grosseteste's prologue)
(fols. 89ra-90vb)
Rubric: Incipit prologus translatoris Johannis Damasceni c. xi. capitulum primum est sermo de phylocosmis, id est amatoribus mundi, et phyloteis, id est amatoribus Dei
Incipit: Quemadmodum dulce philocosmis existit sensibilium paradysorum
Explicit: ineffabili gaudio astans

Robert Grosseteste, translator's prologue to De logica; Thomson, no. 23 (this ms. listed)

(fols. 90vb-99va)
Rubric: Incipit epistula Johannis Damascenus in librum logice
Incipit: Sanctissime et deo honorabili patri Cosme ... Augustini quidem mentis et defectum lingue
Incipit: Ens commune nomen est omnium encium
Explicit: custodiens inconfusum et inuertibile

Capitula, 91rb.

Thomson, no. 2(v), this ms. listed

6. (fols. 100ra-110ra)
John of Damascus, De haeresibus (tr. Robert Grosseteste)
(fols. 100ra-108ra)
Rubric: (fol. 99va) Tabule centum heresum[sic]

[Capitula]

Rubric: (fol. 100ra) Incipit liber heresum Johannis Damasceni
Incipit: Omnium heresium matres et primitive quatuor
Explicit: dedi tibi et tuis mensam incorruptibilem
Rubric: (fol. 107ra) Disputatio ad Agarenos
Incipit: Si interrogatus fueris a Sarraceno
Explicit: ad ipsum alterum

Thomson, no. 2(ii), this ms. listed.

CPG 8044 (De haeresibus), CPG 8075 (Disputatio Christiani et Saraceni)

Followed (fol. 108ra-110rb) by further material on heresies:

i.

Lists of heresies from Josephus (six), Johannes Damascenus (one), Isidore (one), Gennadius of Marseilles (four) (fol. 108ra-vb)

ii.

Notes from Isidore on Hereses , Scisma , and Supersticio (fol. 108vb); 'De heresibus Iudeorum' (fol. 108vb-109ra); 'Nomina Christianorum hereticorum', in three columns (fol. 109ra), apparently headings for the following item, a list of heresies named after their originators, 'Quidam eciam heretici qui de ecclesia recesserunt ex nomine suorum auctorum ...' (fols. 109ra-110rb, here presented as 27 numbered entries). For all of this cf. Rabanus Maurus, De institutione clericorum, II.58.

7. (fols. 110ra-120vb)
Ps.-Augustine, De spiritu et anima
Rubric: Liber de spiritu et anima Johannis presbiteri Damasceni […]
Incipit: Quoniam dictum est mihi ut meipsum cognoscam sustinere non possum
Explicit: ex desiderio patrie sue et visione Dei quam cernere finis noster affectat

As PL 40.779-816, chapter divisions here differing; type 2 of the text in the classification by Leo Norpoth, Der pseudo-augustinische Traktat De spiritu et anima (1971). Sections 1-10 with medieval numbering in arabic. This copy not noticed by F. Römer, Die handschriftliche Überlieferung der Werke des heiligen Augustinus II/1-2, Grossbritannien und Irland (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Phil.-hist. Klasse, Sitzungsberichte 276, 281: Vienna, 1972).

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: 42 leaves (fols. 79-120)

Collation

9(12)-11(12) (fols. 79-114); 12(six) (fols. 115-120; possibly 8-2, 7-8 cancelled); catchwords; leaf (bifolium) signatures in several forms: letters 'a'-'f', horizontal lines i-iiiiii, roman numerals i-vj; central bifolia marked with '+'.

Layout

Frame-ruled in plummet for 2 cols. of typically 52-53 lines; 208 × 132 mm.

Hand(s)

One hand; "halbkursive" (i.e. two-compartment /a/, /f/ and /s/ extending below the baseline, /b/, /d/, /h/, /k/, /l/ usually without loops) by a German scribe.

Decoration

Seven- to three-line puzzle initials in dark blue and red, with flourishing in light blue and red, fols. 79r, 85v, 89r, 91r, 110r,

Otherwise 2- (occasionally 3-) line initials in alternating (dark) blue and red with flourishing in contrasting red or (light) blue, in a style associated with Parisian production of the earlier fourteenth century (cf. P. Stirnemann, 'Fils de la vierge', Revue de l'Art 90 (1990), 58-73 (cat. 47).)

Leadpoint note relating to the initials, fol. 120v: "iijC et xx leistres(?)"

Additions:

Nota marks, also found in part B.

History

Origin: 14th century, first half ; France, Paris (?) (Parisian (?) decoration, German script)

Additional Information

Record Sources

Description by Matthew Holford, November 2023. 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).
Quarto Catalogue, col. 222
Quarto Catalogue, col. 223
Summary Catalogue, vol. 2, part 1, p. 53

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2023-11: Matthew Holford: new description.