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

MS. Laud Misc. 323

Summary Catalogue no.: 796

John‏ Climacus, Scala paradisi; Sermons. A) (fols 1–27) Mainz Charterhouse, s. xivex; B) (fols 28–71) Germany, s. xivin; C) (fols 72–161) Germany, c.1300.

Physical Description

This description is abbreviated from Daniela Mairhofer, Medieval Manuscripts from the Mainz Charterhouse in the Bodleian Library, Oxford: A Descriptive Catalogue (Oxford, 2018), pp. 925–973. For purposes of scholarly citation, reference to the printed catalogue is requested.
Composite: A) (fols 1–27) || B) (fols 28–71) || C) (fols 72–161)
Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: i (17th-cent.) + 161 + i (17th-cent.) leaves
Foliation: i, 1–162, in modern (19th-cent.) pencil

Collation

A) i & ii 10 (fols 1–20) | iii 8-1; B) iv–vi 12 | vii 8; C) viii–xiii 12 | xiv 12-1 | xv 8-1

Binding

Brown tanned calf over laminated pulpboard for Abp. Laud, 1637–1639.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

William Laud, 1573–1645: MS. Laud Misc. 323 consists of three different parts, which were possibly bound together only in the course of the Laudian binding. Ex-libris inscription of Archbishop Laud, dated 1638, at the lower margin of fol. i verso.

Given to the Bodleian as part of his third donation, dispatched on 28 June 1639.

MS. Laud Misc. 323 – Part A (fols 1–27)

Contents

1. (fols 1r–25v)
John Climacus, Scala paradisi

Latin tr. by Angelus Clarenus, abridged version (pr. Venice, 1491 (Goff J309), etc.; Little 107, this copy). (fol. 1r) prologue.

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: custodiuit inextinguibilem (fol. 2r)
Form: codex
Support: parchment. (fols 25v, 2nd half–27v) palimpsest in part; (fol. 22) remnants of medieval repair (stitching holes).
Dimensions (leaf): c.176–84 × 122–32 mm.

Collation

i & ii 10 (fols 1–20) | iii 8-1

Layout

in ink, one column of 22–41 lines. Ruled space c.144–56 × 87–106 mm.

Hand(s)

textualis, s. xivex, by several hands from the Mainz Charterhouse. Occasional marginalia (including maniculae) and corrections in contemporary hands. Judging by the form of letter a, the underscript (see Material) is of s. xiv.

Decoration

Coloured initials in red.

Rubrication.

History

Origin: Late 14th century; Germany, Mainz Charterhouse

Provenance

Mainz, Carthusian abbey of St Michael: the 15th-cent. ex-libris inscriptions at the lower margin of fol. 1r: ‘Liber iste est fratrum Carthusiensium prope Mogunciam.’ (boxed in) and, in the same hand, of fol. 27v: ‘Liber iste est Carthusiensium prope Mogunciam’.

MS. Laud Misc. 323 – Part B (fols 28–71)

Contents

2. (fols 28ra–71vb)
Sermones dominicales per annum

Sermones dominicales. The present sermon collection resembles the Sermones dominicales series by Nicholaus de Haqueville, OFM (ed. Jean Quentin (Paris, not before 1477) (ISTC), etc.; Schneyer 4. 189–94, citing the present MS. at p. 194; Sharpe, Latin Writers, 383). The sermons transmitted here in general shorter; characteristic of this collection is the introductory phrase ‘auctoritas proposita scribitur’ following most prothemata. For full listing, see printed catalogue.

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: luto respiciendo (fol. 29ra)
Form: codex
Support: parchment; fols 47 & 62) remnants of medieval repair (stitching holes). (fol. 60) Remains of a bookmark: natural-coloured thread sewn into the lower outer margin.
Dimensions (leaf): c.185–88 × 130–39 mm.

Collation

iv–vi 12 | vii 8

Layout

ruled in ink and lead point, in two columns of 40 lines. Ruled space c.144–47 × 95–98 mm.

Hand(s)

German textualis, s. xivin, by two hands: hand B1) (fols 28ra–63vb); B2) (fols 64ra–71vb). A Carthusian hand from Mainz, s. xv, occasionally inserted corrections and marginalia.

Decoration

Coloured initials in red.

Rubrication.

History

Origin: Early 14th century; Germany

Provenance

Mainz, Carthusian abbey of St Michael: the 15th-cent. ex-libris inscription at the upper margin of fol. 28r, boxed in: ‘Iste liber est fratrum Carthusiensium prope mogunciam’.

MS. Laud Misc. 323 – Part C (fols 72–161)

Contents

3. (fols 72r–150r)
Sermones de tempore, Advent to Pentecost

Several sermons identical with those of the Sermones de tempore collection by Iohannes Ludovici de Herbipoli (d. 1480) who must have used identical sermons for his models. (fol. 149r & v) Two notes at the end. For full listing, see printed catalogue.

Language(s): Latin
4. (fols 150r–151r)
Patristic extracts

Extracts from from Augustine, Bernard of Clairvaux, Gregory the Great, Jerome, Seneca, and Anselm of Canterbury.

Language(s): Latin
5. (fols 152v–153v)
Theological (liturgical) quaestiones
Rubric: Quaestiones de diversis
Language(s): Latin
6. (fol. 153v)
Theological notes (on mass)
Language(s): Latin
7. (fol. 154v)
Medical verses,

20 verses on drinking, eating, etc. Beginning identical with Regimen sanitatis Salernitanum, ll. 5, 6, 8, & 9 (ed. S. de Renzi (1859) 5. 1; – Walther, IC, 1039 & cf. 18083; Thorndike–Kibre 96 & cf. 1471). Followed by short sermon on the rewards of fasting.

Language(s): Latin
8. (fols 155r–161v)
Sermons

Sermones septem de tempore (Schneyer 9. 518f., after MS. Stuttgart, WLB, HB I 90, fols 1r–62v).

(fol. 161v) Note, in a different hand, s. xv.
Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: Pro tali lazaro (fol. 73r)
Form: codex
Support: parchment; (fol. 89) remnants of medieval repair (stitching holes).
Dimensions (leaf): c.181–88 × 131–36 mm.

Collation

viii–xiii 12 | xiv 12-1 | xv 8-1

Layout

in ink and lead point, one column of hand C1) 42, otherwise 27 or 28 lines. Ruled space c.144–47 × 95–98 mm.

Hand(s)

German textualis, c.1300, by several hands. Marginalia in the text hand and in hands of s. xv from the Mainz Charterhouse. Items 4 & 5 inserted by additional hands, of s. xiv & xv.

Decoration

(fol. 72r) a seven-line initial in red and blue, with split body; fleuronnée decoration in red (inside) and blue (outside) a half-page border.

Coloured initials in red and blue.

Rubrication.

History

Origin: c.1300; Germany

Provenance

Mainz, Carthusian abbey of St Michael: the 15th-cent. ex-libris inscriptions at the upper margin of fol. 72r, boxed in: ‘Iste liber est Carthusiensium prope mogunciam’, and at the lower margin of fol. 161v, in the same hand: ‘Iste liber est fratrum Carthusiensium prope magunciam.’

Additional Information

Record Sources

See above. 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)

Bibliography

    Published descriptions:

    Daniela Mairhofer, Medieval Manuscripts from the Mainz Charterhouse in the Bodleian Library, Oxford: A Descriptive Catalogue, 2 vols. (Oxford, 2018), pp. 925–973

Last Substantive Revision

2023-09-01: Description revised for Mainz digitization project to include additional information from Mairhofer catalogue.