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

MS. Laud Misc. 478

Summary Catalogue no.: 1057

Ps.-Bede; John Beleth. Germany, A) (fols 1–63) s. xiiex; B) (fols 64–75) s. xiiimed; C) (fols 76–87) s. xiiex.

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. 1235–1243. For purposes of scholarly citation, reference to the printed catalogue is requested.
Composite: A) (fols 1–63) || B) (fols 64–75) || C) (fols 76–87)
Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: i (17th-cent.) + 87 + i (17th-cent.) leaves
Foliation: i, 1–88, in modern (19th-cent.) pencil.

Collation

A) i–iii 8 | iv 8-1 | v 8 | vi 10-2 | vii & viii 8; B) ix 12; C)x 8 | xi 4.

Binding

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

History

Provenance and Acquisition

Mainz, Carthusian abbey of St Michael: MS. Laud Misc. 478 is composed of three different, German, parts, and already existed in this form at the Mainz Charterhouse: part B, of s. xiii med, was copied to supplement text missing in between the original parts A & C, of s. xiiex.

William Laud, 1573–1645: Ex-libris inscription of Archbishop Laud, dated 1638, at the lower margin of fol. 1r.

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

MS. Laud Misc. 478 – Part A) (fols 1–63)

Contents

1. (fols 1r–4r)
Ps.-Bede, Interpretatio Sibyllinorum verborum

Sibylla Tiburtina (1st recension) with prologue and De quindecim signis diei iudicii (pr. Basel 1563, etc.; ed.: PL 90. 1181B–86A (among Ps.-Bedan works); ed. E. Sackur, Sibyllinische Texte und Forschungen. Pseudomethodius, Adso und die Tiburtinische Sibylle (Halle a. S., 1898) 177–86; Stegmüller, RB, 124, see also 4100, Sibylla Tiburtina, red. 1).

Language(s): Latin
2. (fols 4r–63v)
Johannes Beleth, Summa de ecclesiasticis officiis

With prologue (ed. H. Douteil, CCCM 41A (1976); cf. ed. PL 202. 13A–166C; H. Douteil, CCCM 41 (1976) 160*f.). A selection of (occasionally abridged) chapters; several missing at their actual place are copied at the end, on fols 85r–87r.

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: a nobis. Respondit
Form: codex
Support: parchment; (fols 9, 26 & 30) Bookmarks: a small parchment slip pulled through a slit in the outer margin, (fol. 30) lost.
Dimensions (leaf): c.188–96 × 134–40 mm.

Collation

i–iii 8 | iv 8-1 | v 8 | vi 10-2 | vii & viii 8.

Layout

Ruling in ink, one column of 26–30 lines. Ruled space c.147–55 × 100–02 mm.

Hand(s)

late German protogothic script, s. xiiex; at least two, very similar hands, above top line. Marginalia and corrections in contemporary hands.

Decoration

Coloured initials in red, often embellished with dots or acanthus-like leaves.

Rubrication.

History

Origin: Late 12th century; Germany

Provenance

Mainz, Carthusian abbey of St Michael: the late 14th-cent. ex-libris inscription at the head of fol. 1r: ‘Fratrum Cartusiensium prope mogunciam’. Identifiable as E XIX S in cat. ii.

MS. Laud Misc. 478 – Part B) (fols 64–75)

Contents

2. (fols 64r–75v)
Johannes Beleth, Summa de ecclesiasticis officiis

Continuation of item 2, see above.

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment; (fols 67 & 75) remnants of medieval repair (stitching holes).
Dimensions (leaf): c.185–95 × 136–39 mm.

Collation

ix 12.

Layout

Ruling in lead point; one column of 26 or 27 lines. Ruled space c.147–154 × 105–10 mm.

Hand(s)

German textualis, s. xiiimed, by a single hand, above top line. Corrections in text hand.

Decoration

Coloured initials in red.

Rubrication.

History

Origin: Mid 13th century; Germany , written to supplement text missing in between parts A & C.

Provenance

Mainz, Carthusian abbey of St Michael: supplement to a Charterhouse book (A).

MS. Laud Misc. 478 – Part C) (fols 76–87)

Contents

2. (fols 76r–87r)
Johannes Beleth, Summa de ecclesiasticis officiis

Continuation of item 2, see above.

Language(s): Latin
3. (fol. 87v)
Tabula of virtues and vices
Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Dimensions (leaf): c.192–97 × 136–40 mm.

Collation

x 8 | xi 4.

Layout

Ruling in lead point, c.30–34 lines per page Ruled space c.161–70 × 102–10 mm.

Hand(s)

late German protogothic script, s. xiiex, by a single hand, above top line. Occasional marginalia; (fol. 80r) annotation in the right-hand margin, at right angles to the written space, in a contemporary hand. (fol. 87v, item 3) Additional hand, s. xiii, which also wrote in MS. Laud Misc. 192

Decoration

Coloured initials in red.

Rubrication.

History

Origin: Late 12th century; Germany

Provenance

Mainz, Carthusian abbey of St Michael: bound together with a Charterhouse book (A).

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)
Digital Bodleian (1 image from 35mm slides)

Bibliography

    Published descriptions:

    Daniela Mairhofer, Medieval Manuscripts from the Mainz Charterhouse in the Bodleian Library, Oxford: A Descriptive Catalogue, 2 vols. (Oxford, 2018), pp. 1235–1243

Last Substantive Revision

2023-10-01: Description revised for Mainz digitization project to include additional information from Mairhofer catalogue.