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

MS. Laud Misc. 457

Summary Catalogue no.: 1161

Chrysostom, Anselm, Alcuin, Boethius, and saints lives; Germany (Eberbach), c. 1200/1210

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. (fol. 1r)
Calendrical verses

With a table from 1064–1588 (in eight-year intervals)

Rubric: Hic tua picta metris Dyonisi pagina floret
Incipit: Bis grege gens timuit cassari cras pateat pax

Instructions for using the verses are in the right-hand column:

Rubric: Hec nequit ornatis describi pagina uerbis
Incipit: Dictio preponit punctum monosillaba queuis
2. (fols. 1v-80r)
John Chrysostom, Homilies on Hebrews
Rubric: Incipit expositio beati Iohannis cognomento Crisostomi in Epistolam ad Ebreos
Incipit: Multifarie et multis modis olim Deus locutus est
Explicit: cum quo patri, gloria una cum sancto spiritu, imperium honor nunc et semper et in secula seculorum. Amen.
Final rubric: Explicit commentarium Iohannis episcopi Constantinopolitani in epistola Pauli apostoli ad Hebreos ex notis editum post eius obitum a Constante presbitero Antioceno et translatum est de Greco in Latinum a Muciano scolastico.
3. (fols. 80r-99r)
Anselm, Cur Deus homo
Rubric: Prefatio Anshelmi Cantuariensis archiepiscopi in libro Cur Deus homo
Incipit: (prol.) Opus subditum quod propter quosdam
(capitula)
Incipit: (prol.) Prologus anshelmi de incarnatione verbi. Quamvis post apostolos sancti patres
Incipit: (text) Sepe et studiose a multis rogatus sum
Explicit: non nobis attribuere debemus qui est bene dictus in secula. Amen.
Final rubric: Explicit liber Cur Deus homo.
4. (fols. 99r-104r)
Wandalbertus (c. 813–870), Life of St Goar
Rubric: In Christi nomine incipit prologus Wandalberti diaconi in vitam et actus atque miracula beati Goaris, editus ad illustrem virum Marcwardum, abbatem monasterii Prumie
Incipit: (prol.) Miracula divinorum operum humano generi
Incipit: (text) Goar igitur Aquitanie provincies
Final rubric: Libellus de vita et actibus sancti ac beatissimi Goaris confessoris, editus a Wandalberto diacono, ex precepto Marcuuardi abbatis. Explicit feliciter.

BHL 3566.

5. (fols. 104r-110r)
Wandalbertus (c. 813–870), Miracles of St Goar
Rubric: Incipit alter de miraculis que gesta sunt apud memoriam sancti Goaris, ex quo ecclesia eius edificari cepta est feliciter.
Incipit: (prol.) Explicitis iam que vita
Incipit: (text) Sed ut ad narrationem veniam, cella S. Goaris
Explicit: que inserenda prudens aliquis estimaverit, opportune possit inserere.

BHL 3567.

6. (fols. 110v-113r)
Life of St Giles
Incipit: Sanctorum quidem me propensiori cultu

BHL 93.

7. (fols. 113r-115r)
Passio S. Iacobi apostolis fratris S. Iohannis evangeliste
Incipit: Apostolus Domini nostri Ihesu Christi Iacob, frater beati Iohannis apostoli et evangeliste omnem Iudeam et Samariam visitabat

BHL 4057.

8. (fols. 115r-129r)
Ps.-Salonius, Interrogationes et responsiones in Proverbiis
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: Dialogus magistri Albewini in Parabolas
Incipit: Parabole Salomonis filii David regis Israel. Interrogatio. Parabole qua lingua dicuntur? R⟨esponsio⟩. Greca, latina vero interpretantur similitudines.
Explicit: Ille solus qui Deum timet, et mandata eius custodit.

Stegmüller, Bibl. 7589.

9. (fols. 129r-143r)
Alcuin, Quaestiones in Genesim
Rubric: Dialogus magistri Albewini in Genesim
Incipit: Quomodo convenit quod in Genesi legitur? Requievit Deus die septimo
Explicit: absque sorte dedisse eam tribui Joseph, et mausoleum eius ibi hodieque cernitur.

PL 100, 516–558; Stegmüller, Bibl. 1085.

10. (fols. 143r-145v)
Alcuin, De benedictionibus patriarcharum
Rubric: De benedictionibus xii Patriarcharum
Incipit: Quid intelligendum est de benedictionibus quibus Iacob patriarcha benedixit filios suos
Explicit: Ascensor equi est quisquis iniquitatibus huius mundi extollitur, qui retro cadere dicitur.

Part of Quaestiones in Genesim, printed as Interrogatio 231 in PL 100, 558–566; Stegmüller, Bibl. 1085.

11. (fols. 145v-163r)

Boethius, Opuscula sacra, with marginal and interlinear gloss attributed to Remigius of Auxerre.

Boethius, Opuscula sacra I-V (De trinitate)
Rubric: Anicii Manlii Severini Boethii V. C. et illustr. ex consulis ordinarii Patricii liber incipit. Quomodo Trinitas ...
Incipit: Investigatam diutissme questionem quantum nostre mentis
Incipit: Christiane religionis reverentiam plures usurpant
Explicit: bonorum cause perscribit
Remigius of Auxerre (?), Commentarium in Boethii Opuscula sacra
Incipit: questione sub. de sancta trinitate igniculum id est ingeniolum
Explicit: [cuncta sunt bona] iustum est deo tamen donante

Pr. (as John Erigena) by E. K. Rand, Johannes Scottus: I: Der Kommentar des Johannes Scottus zu den Opuscula sacra des Boethius. II: Der Kommentar des Remigius von Auxerre zu den Opuscula sacra des Boethius, Quellen und Untersuchungen zur lateinischen Philologie des Mittelalters, I.2 (Munich, 1906), 30–80.

Gloss preceded by text on the names in the title, cf. Anicii Manlii Severini Boetii Philosophiae consolationis libri quinque. Accedunt eiusdem atque incertorum opuscula sacra, ed. R. Peiper (1871), xxxiv n.

Incipit: Anicius ab anno dictus eo quod optabant annosum fieri
12. (fols. 163r-166v)
Life of St Pelagia (BHL 6606) Incipit conversio Sanctae Pelagiae
Incipit: Verba sacerdotis tanti et celata Latinis Eustochius famulus Christi
Incipit: Sacratissimus episcopus Antiochie civitatis convocavit ante se
Explicit: et nos faciat Dominus invenire misericordiam in die iudicii, cui est honor et gloria in secula seculorum. Amen.
13. (fols. 166v-182v)
Life, translation and miracles of St Servatius (BHL 7617–7621)
(fols. 166v)
Rubric: Incipit vita sancti Servacii episcopi et confessoris
Incipit: Ad illuminandum genus humanum
Explicit: annotare desieramus

BHL 7617

(fols. 166v-172r)
Incipit: Erant in diebus illis Iudeorum in partibus
Explicit: impendia sepulture sollempniter exacta sunt, cooperante signis et virtutibus illo cuius regnum et imperium sine fine permanet in secula seculorum. Amen.

BHL 7618.

(fols. 172r-175r)
Incipit: Post huius obitum Huni, subversis multis Gallie urbibus
Explicit: obsecramus per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum.

BHL 7619

(fols. 175r)
Incipit: Ad excolendam autem dominicam vineam
Explicit: quod magni meriti apud Deum credimus esse, nil scriptum invenire potuimus. De his hactenus nunc de beati translatione Servatii pauca perstringemus.

BHL 7620

(fols. 175r-182v)
Rubric: De translatione sancti Servatii
Incipit: Karolo magno monarchiam regni gubernante sarracenorum phalanges
Explicit: Sed quia nimis longum est si universa particulariter enarrare velimus, Dei hec operantis magnificentiam universaliter laudemus, cui sit laus et gloria in omnia secula. Amen.

BHL 7621

Final rubric: Explicit de translatione et miraculis gloriosi confessoris et episcopi Servacii
14. (fols. 183r-184v)
Life of St Lubentius
Rubric: Incipit vita sancti Lubentii confessoris
Incipit: Beatus igitur Lubentius a parentibus suis sancto Martino
Explicit: et divinae gratiae benedictionibus per omne evum mirificavit.

BHL 4968

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: 184 leaves
Dimensions (leaf): 344 × 255 mm.
Dimensions (written): 268 × 198 mm.

Hand(s)

Cistercian (flex) punctuation.

Decoration

Arabesque or silhouette initials in red, green, and red-and-green.

Fol. 22r, decorated initial with foliate and animal motifs.

Space for initial unfilled, fol. 150r.

Binding

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

History

Origin: c. 1200/1210 ; German, West, Eberbach abbey

Provenance and Acquisition

Attributed by Palmer (p. 109) to the Eberbach scriptorium.

Eberbach, Cistercian abbey: characteristic marginal annotations.

Fols. 115v-129r: Identifiable as 'Erb. Mi. 143' in the "Rheinischen Gesamtkatalog" from the 1470s (now Basel, Öffentliche Bibliothek der Universität, cod. F VI 53, pp. 1–28, on p. 4).

Identifiable as d 5 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 by Tuija Ainonen (December 2019) from the following sources (with additional description of the contents):
Nigel F. Palmer, Zisterzienser und ihre Bücher: die mittelalterliche Bibliotheksgeschichte von Kloster Eberbach im Rheingau (Regensburg, 1998), pp. 106, 209–10, 227, 295 [physical description, date, origin, provenance]
Otto Pächt and J. J. G. Alexander, Illuminated Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, 3 vols. (1966–1973) I, no. 105.
H. O. Coxe, Laudian Manuscripts, Quarto Catalogues II, repr. with corrections, 1969, from the original ed. of 1858–1885 [contents, acquisition]

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)
Digital Bodleian (5 images from 35mm slides)

Bibliography

Last Substantive Revision

2019-12-12: Description revised for Polonsky digitization project to include additional information from printed descriptions.