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

MS. Laud Misc. 383

Summary Catalogue no.: 1285

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. (fols. 1r-59r)
Ps.-Auxilius of Naples, Commentary on Genesis
Rubric: Incipit Exameron Augustini episcopi ex Car.
Incipit: Omnis diuina scriptura bipertita est
Explicit: numerus minueretur uel deficeret

Identified and discussed by Michael Gorman, ‘The Commentary on Genesis Attributed to Auxilius in MS. Monte Cassino 29’, Revue Bénédictine, 93.3–4 (1983), 302–313. The commentary (attributed to Auxilius in Monte Cassino 29) comprises quaestiones and responsiones derived almost entirely from Augustine's De Genesi ad litteram. There are 138 quaestiones and responsiones in the fullest version; the text here and in Einsiedeln Stiftsbibliothek 136 contains 116; Gorman suggests that the Einsiedeln manuscript (Einsiedeln, 10th century, second half, according to Hartmut Hoffmann, Schreibschulen des 10. und des 11. Jahrhunderts im Südwesten des Deutschen Reichs (2004), 79) was the exemplar of the present manuscript.

2. (fols. 58r-73r)
Augustine, De Genesi ad litteram (extracts)
Rubric: De fide
Incipit: Dicimus itaque summum ipsum uerum unum ac solum deum
Explicit: sicut oporteret. Explicit.

As identified by Gorman, the extracts are 8.19.38–8.21.41; 8.25.47–8.27.50; 11.16.21–11.25.32; 11.36.49–11.42.60; the same extracts are found in the Einsiedeln manuscript.

3. (fols. 73r-77r)
Ps.-Seneca; Ps.-Paul, Epistolae

Preceded (fol. 73r-v) by Jerome's Vita Senecae ( = De viris illustribus, c. 12)

Rubric: Ieronimus in catalogo uirorum illistrium
Incipit: ⟨L⟩ucius annus seneca cardubensis fotini stoici discipulus
Explicit: a nerone interfectus est
Final rubric: Finiunt uerba Ieronimi
Rubric: Incipiunt epistule Senatoris S. ad Paulum apostolum et Pauli ad Senecam
Incipit: ⟨S⟩eneca Paulo salutem. Credo tibi paule nuntiatum
Explicit: ad deum istinc properantem. Vale semper karissime nobis. Data kal. augusti
4. (fols. 77r-81v)
⟨Martin of Braga (Ps.-Seneca)⟩, ⟨Formulae uitae honestae⟩ (extract)
Incipit: ⟨Q⟩uatuor uirtutum species multorum sapientium sententiis diffinite sunt
Explicit: tibi postula impertiri
5. (fols. 81v-85v)
⟨Ps.-Seneca⟩, ⟨Prouerbia⟩
Incipit: ⟨A⟩lienum est omne quicquid optando euenit. Ab alio expectes alteri quod feceris.
Explicit: Timidus cautum se uocat sordidus parcum. Turpia ne dixeris paulatim enim pudor rerum per uerba discutitur. | Displicere enim malis laudabile est.
6. (fols. 85v-91v)
Regula S. Augustini ad seruos Dei
Rubric: Ammonitio beati Augustini
Incipit: ⟨H⟩ec sunt qui ut oberuetis precipimus
Explicit: ut ei debitum dimittatur et in temptationem ne inducatur

Followed, fols. 91v-92r, by an added passage of admonitions:

Incipit: Et orate pro inuicem ut saluemini multum enim valet deprecatio iusti asidua. Sed ante omnia memores estote ut caritatem fraternitatis
Explicit: vos hoderunt ut sitis filii patris uestri qui in celis est

Most of fol. 92r blank; fols. 92v-93r blank.

7. (fols. 93v-134r)
⟨Ps.-Augustine⟩, ⟨Dialogus quaestionum LXV⟩

Capitula (fols. 93v-95r)

Incipit: ⟨L⟩icet multi et probatissimi uiri
Explicit: qui preesse desiderat non prodesse. Explicit. Amen.
Colophon: Uenimus ad portum nimio sudore libelli
8. (fol. 134r-v)
Similitudines per quas potest Christianus firmiter fidem catholicam credere et cognoscere (CPL 1756)
Rubric: Incipiunt similitudines per quas potest Christianus firmiter fidem catholicam credere et cognoscere. Amem.
Incipit: Vnus deus pater ex quo omnia et unus iesus christus per quem omnia
Explicit: ipsa caritas quam abet pater in filio et filius in patre

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: 134 fols.
Dimensions (leaf): 223 × 168 mm.
Dimensions (written): 170 × 118 mm.

Decoration

Initial. (Pächt and Alexander i. 45)

History

Origin: 11th century (third quarter (?)) ; Germany (or Switzerland, St Gall (?))

Provenance and Acquisition

Hartmut Hoffmann, Schreibschulen des 10. und des 11. Jahrhunderts im Südwesten des Deutschen Reichs (2004), p. 362, identified the script of fol. 15r with that of BAV Chigi H. V. 165 fols. 147r and 170r, described as a St Gall hand of around the third quarter of the eleventh century, and compared St Gall, Stiftsbibliothek 244 and 245.

Identifiable as b 22 in the Eberbach library catalogue of 1502.

William Laud, 1573–1645, 1638.

Part of his third donation to the Bodleian, 1639.

Record Sources

Description adapted (Oct. 2019) by Matthew Holford (with additional description of textual content) from the following sources:
Nigel F. Palmer, Zisterzienser und ihre Bücher: die mittelalterliche Bibliotheksgeschichte von Kloster Eberbach im Rheingau (Regensburg, 1998), p. 294 [physical description, date, provenance]
Otto Pächt and J. J. G. Alexander, Illuminated Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, I (1966), no. 45 [decoration, localization]
H. O. Coxe, Laudian Manuscripts, Quarto Catalogues II, repr. with corrections, 1969, from the original ed. of 1858–1885 [contents, localization, acquisition]

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)

Bibliography

Last Substantive Revision

2021-03-19: Revised description of fols. 1–73 with reference to Gorman 1983, and renumbered contents; revised date and localization with reference to Hoffmann 2004.