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

OR BROWSE BY

MANUSCRIPTS
WORKS
PEOPLE
PLACES

MS. Laud Misc. 518

Summary Catalogue no.: 1274

Petrus Comestor, Historia scholastica. A) (fols 1–4) Mainz Charterhouse, s. xivex/xvin; B) (fols 5–101) Italy, s. xiiiin.

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. 1369–1380. For purposes of scholarly citation, reference to the printed catalogue is requested.
Composite: A) (fols 1–4) || B) (fols 5–101)
Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: i (17th-cent.) + 101 + i (17th-cent.) leaves
Foliation: i, 1–102, in modern (19th-cent.) pencil.

Collation

A) i 4; B) ii–vii 8 | viii 10 | ix–xii 8 | xiii 8-1.

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. 518 consists of two parts, bound together soon after the writing of part A, the index to part B, in the late 14th/early 15th century at the Mainz Charterhouse.

William Laud, 1573–1645: Ex-libris inscription of Archbp. Laud, dated 1638, at the lower margin of fol. 5r.

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

MS. Laud Misc. 518 – Part A) (fols 1–4)

Contents

1. (fols 1ra–4rb)

List of chapters to item 2.

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment; (fols 1r–4v) palimpsested: the primary script in part visible, especially on fol. 4 (8 lines, in Hebrew), see printed catalogue for description. The inner margin of fol. 1r shows remnants of parchment binding strips, written in bastarda of s. xv, at the Mainz Charterhouse.
Dimensions (leaf): c.202–07 × 151–53 mm.

Collation

i 4.

Layout

Ruling in lead point, two columns of 24–34 lines. Ruled space c.154–62 × 117–23 mm.

Hand(s)

bastarda, s. xivex/xvin, by a single hand from the Mainz Charterhouse; guides to initials. A second, contemporary hand from the Charterhouse is responsible for the rubrication (see below), and a third hand added folio-numbers to the list of chapters and commented on differences in the titles.

Decoration

Coloured initials in red.

Rubrication.

History

Origin: Late 14th century/Early 15th century; Germany: Index to the main volume, part B, written at the Mainz Charterhouse.

Provenance

Mainz, Carthusian abbey of St Michael: the 15th-cent. ex-libris inscriptions at the upper left-hand margin of fol. 1r: ‘Liber Carthusiensium maguncie’ and, in the same hand, of fol. 4v: ‘Liber carthusiensium prope magunciam’.

MS. Laud Misc. 518 – Part B) (fols 5–101)

Contents

2. (fols 5ra–100va)
Peter Comestor, Historia scholastica

Maccabees and New Testament (pr. Augsburg, 1473 (Goff P458), etc.; ed.: PL 198. 1525A–1538A; 1537–1644C; 1645A–1722A (Act); Stegmüller, RB, 6563, 6564, 6565 & 6785, attributed to Peter of Poitiers). For full listing, see printed catalogue. At fol. 62 are genealogies laid out in six small columns.

Language(s): Latin
3. (fols 100va–101vb)
Sermons

Four anonymous sermons, relating to the life of the Virgin Mary and the life of Christ. For full description, see printed catalogue.

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: muniuit sibi (fol. 6ra)
Form: codex
Support: parchment; (fols 7 & 10) remnants of medieval repair (stitching holes), (fols 46 & 49) stitching preserved, with natural-coloured thread. (fol. 5r) A hole in the inner upper and lower margins, presumably from corner bosses; (fols 100r–101v) in the outer margins rust stains, from catch or anchor plates of a previous binding.
Dimensions (leaf): c.200–08 × 145–53 mm.
Foliation: late medieval foliation, s. xivex/xvin, at the upper margin: (fols 6r–20r) partly, thereafter mostly erased, (fol. 63r) resuming with 1 (erased) at Acts, continuing up to fol. 100r; (fols 6r–61r) re-foliated by another, contemporary hand from the Charterhouse (= rubricator of part A), mostly in red lower-case roman numerals, in the top outer corner, starting with ‘.ij.’ on fol. 6r.

Collation

ii–vii 8 | viii 10 | ix–xii 8 | xiii 8-1.

Layout

(fols 5r–100v) Ruling in lead point, two columns of 35 lines. (fol. 101r–v) ruled for ad hoc, in lead point and ink, one and two columns. Ruled space c.145–54 × 94–97 mm.

Hand(s)

(fols 5ra–100va) late protogothic script, Italy, s. xiiiin, by a single hand, above top line; another, contemporary hand added the genealogy on fol. 62r, in a more compressed textualis; the four sermons at the end (item 3, fols 100va–101vb) written in textualis with cursive features, s. xiii. Marginal corrections and annotations by the scribe and contemporary up to 15th-cent. hands.

Decoration

(fols 5ra & 63ra) Flourished initials in red and blue

Coloured initials in red and blue, with extensions in purple and blue.

Rubrication.

History

Origin: Early 13th century; Italy

Provenance

Mainz, Carthusian abbey of St Michael: part A was written at the Mainz Charterhouse as index (item 1) to B) item 2. See also foliation, chapter numbers, etc. in part B, supplied by the rubricator of part 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).
Quarto Catalogue, col. 375
Quarto Catalogue, p. 568
Summary Catalogue, vol. 2, part 1, p. 55

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. 1369–1380

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2023-11-10: Description revised for Mainz digitization project to include additional information from Mairhofer catalogue.