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MS. Laud Misc. 527

Summary Catalogue no.: 814

Physical Description

Composite: eleven parts as catalogued by Coxe, several themselves composite.
Extent: 1 + 286 + 1 leaves
Dimensions (leaf): c. 220 × c. 150 mm.
Variation between codicological units.
Foliation: 1-288 ('388' in error)

Binding

Calf over pasteboard, c. 1640, a standard binding of the Laudian collection.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

William Laud, 1640

Part of his fourth donation to the Bodleian, 6 Nov. 1640.

MS. Laud Misc. 527 - endleaves (fols. 2-3)

Contents

Language(s): Latin

Breviary

Parts of two leaves, with the lesson for St Malachy, so probably Cistercian

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: parts of two leaves

Decoration

Penwork initials.

History

Origin: 15th century ; England

MS. Laud Misc. 527 – Part 1

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. (fol. 4)
Epitome Exactis regibus
Incipit: Exactis a Romana civitate regibus constituti sunt duo consules, ideo sic dicti quia plurimum reipublicae consulerent
Explicit: Habundans cautela ||
ed. M. Conrat, Die Epitome exactis regibus (1884)
E. Seckel, Beiträge zur Geschichte beider Rechte im Mittelalter (1898), 376-84, listing the present manuscript.
2. (fol. 14)
Gratian, Decretum (extract, imperfect)
Incipit: ||deficit in probatione vel cum desiit ab accusatione
3. (fol. 21)
Canon law ('casus nonnulli ad res ecclesiasticas spectantes'), fragmentary
Incipit: ||vel possessiones hoc enim non solum delegatis
4-5. (fols. 24r-45v)
Papal decretals ('Collectio Fontanensis')
Incipit: Super eo quod a nobis tua sollicitudo requisivit, utrum suam per appellationem
Fully inventoried in W. Holtzmann, Studies in the collections of twelfth-century decretals, ed. C. R. Cheney and Mary G. Cheney (Vatican, 1979), pp. 100-115. Fols. 40r-45v were treated as a separate item (5) in Coxe's catalogue.
Peter Landau, 'Collectio Fontanensis', in Law as profession and practice in medieval Europe: Essays in honor of James A. Brundage, ed. K. Pennington and M. H. Eichbauer (Farnham,2011), 187-204

Mostly of Alexander III, one decretal of Lucius III, some by Innocent II, Eugenius III, and Adrian IV, with other material.

The contents of the collection indicate that it was compiled at Fountains Abbey. Whether the present manuscript was at Fountains is less certain. This section of the manuscript is listed in G. R. C. Davis, Medieval Cartularies of Great Britain and Ireland, rev. Claire Breay, Julian Harrison, and David M. Smith (London: The British Library, 2010), #423.2, as a cartulary of Fountains Abbey; but Hunt argued in the Quarto Catalogue that the manuscripts shows no evidence of having been at Fountains. The documents copied on fol. 54v may however suggest a Cistercian Abbey in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

6. (fol. 46)
On simony
Incipit: Quoniam simonia decendit ab acusatione videndum est quid sit accusatio
7. (fol. 47)
Treatise on dictamen
Incipit: His visis, que premissa sunt, de salutacionibus in generali

Many Cistercian examples.

Followed by five verses on measures:

Incipit: Ordea grana tria dant pollicium tibi largum

On fol. 54v are copies of late 14th-century documents partly relating to the abbot and convent of St Mary 'de K.(?)' and referring to the West Riding of Yorkshire.

8. (fol. 55)
Richard of Wetheringsett, Summa qui bene presunt
Incipit: Qui bene presunt presbiteri dupplici honore digni habeantur
Incipit: Hec sunt precipue sermonibus insinuanda
Incipit: Ad manifestationem singulorum prenominatorum per ordinem possunt induci autoritates scripturarum et sententie magistrorum et specialiter dicta memorie bone M. W. de montibus quondam cancellarii Lincolniensis
Explicit: faciendi quidem libros nullus est finis ; hic ergo erit consummatus
Final rubric: Explicit summa magistri Ricardi de Leicestria cancellarii de Cantebrigge [added, 15th century]
9. (fol. 96)
Alexander de Villa Dei, Carmen de algorismo
Explicit: Principium sumas operandi parte sinistra||
10. (fol. 100)
Donatus, Ars minor (iii)
Incipit: Barbarismus est una pars oracionis viciosa in commune sermone
Explicit: Lodeamque Helenam Trojanos vexit ad urbes

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

Decoration

Coloured initials (fols. 14r-54v)

Penwork (fols. 55r-95v)

History

Origin: 12th century, end - 14th century ; England

Provenance

Composite: fols. 1-13 || fols. 14-23 || fols. 24-46 || fols. 47-54 || fols. 55-95 || fols. 96-102b. Fols. 1-46, late 12th/early 13th century; fols. 47-54, 14th century, middle; fols. 55-95, 13th century, second half; fols. 96-102, 13th century, middle.

MS. Laud Misc. 527 – Part 2

Contents

11. (fol. 103)
Distinctiones
Incipit: Est currus -- qui Deum portat, unde Ps. Currus Dei decem milibus multiplex -- connexio virtutum, ut curro aureo elevatus est
Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

Decoration

None.

History

Origin: 13th century, late, or 14th century, early ; England

MS. Laud Misc. 527 – Part 3

Contents

12. (fol. 105)
Text on vices and virtues
Incipit: Puerorum corda sunt quasi tabula nuda in qua nichil depingitur
Bloomfield 4322
Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

Decoration

None.

History

Origin: 13th century, late, or 14th century, early ; England

MS. Laud Misc. 527 – Part 4

Contents

13. (fol. 109)
Commentary on Ps.-Aristotle, Physiognomia
Incipit: Natura occulte operatur in hiis. Hoc verbum intitulatur ab auctore
Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

Decoration

Plain red initials.

History

Origin: 14th century ; England

MS. Laud Misc. 527 – Part 5

Contents

14. (fol. 115)
R. de Stanington, Compilatio quaedam librorum naturalium
Incipit: Postquam precessit rememoracio nostra de elementis, dicendum est de impressionibus
Explicit: et hec de impressionibus sufficiant
Final rubric: Expliciunt notabilia super quartum librum Metheororum

Followed by tables of vices and virtues, metrical feet, etc., and a note of a solar eclipse in 1330 written "per manus fratris Simonis de Burton, canonicum de Bridelingtona".

Language(s): Latin
15. (fol. 127r-158r)
Defensor, Liber scintillarum
Rubric: Liber Sententiarum de diversis voluminibus
Rubric: Cassiodorus de karitate
Incipit: Dominus dicit in Evangelio Majorem karicatatem[sic] nemo habet
Explicit: Deo hostia ipsi fuerimus
Final rubric: Hic explicit liber
Language(s): Latin

Fols. 158r-159v: theological notes, 13th century

Language(s): Latin
16. (fol. 160)
Bernard of Clairvaux, De diligendo deo

With preface; preceded by chapter on temptations.

Language(s): Latin
17. (fol. 164v)
Anselm, extracts
Incipit: Si animas descendere extra duce credere auderemus
Language(s): Latin
18. (fol. 165v)
Bestiary (extracts)
Incipit: Est animal nominis acerrimi
Explicit: [perdix] dat ecclesie nutriendos
Language(s): Latin
19. (fol. 166v)
Sermon for Lent
Incipit: Legimus in Sacris Scripturis
Language(s): Latin
20. (fol. 167)
De Antichristo
Incipit: Legitur quod Antichristus nasciturus sit de Dan
Language(s): Latin
21. (fol. 167r-168r)
Ivo of Chartres, Sermo 2, de sacrorum ordinum excellentia
Incipit: Quia Christianam militiam in baptismate
Explicit: de die in diem proficiat
Language(s): Latin
22. (fol. 170)
Eight sermons; the first:
Rubric: Sermo in die Pentecostes
Incipit: Spiritus Domini replevit orbem terrarum
Language(s): Latin
23. (fols. 178r-188v)
Exempla
Incipit: Navis per se descendit flumen

Includes:

(fol. 182)

Story of a fisher called Simon, of Lincoln, and his widow Alfreda Costar

(fol. 186v)

Roger Niger bishop of London: his story of a person going into woods on Sundays

(fol. 186v)

Story of a good knight of King Stephen

(fol. 187v)

Story of a dice-player burnt at Paris in 1254

Begins as MS. Digby 16, fols. 165r-207r, a collection there attributed to Jacques de Vitry (d. 1240).

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

Decoration

Coloured initials.

History

Origin: 12th century, end - 14th century ; England (at least in part)

Provenance

Composite: fols. 115-126 (14th century) || fols. 127-159 (late 12th or early 13th century) || fols. 160-169 (13th century) || fols. 170-177 (13th century) || fols. 178-188 (13th century)

MS. Laud Misc. 527 – Part 6

Contents

24. (fol. 189)
Theological notes (loci communes)
Incipit: Crimen -- originale, si non est baptizatus non debet ordinari
Language(s): Latin
25. (fol. 191v)
Visio Pauli
Incipit: Interrogandum est, quis primus rogavit ut anime requiem
Stegmüller 276,3
Language(s): Latin
26. (fol. 192v)
Commentary on the Mass (imperfect)
Incipit: Dominus vobiscum ; Salutat sacerdos populum et orat ut Dominus
Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

Decoration

Rubrication.

History

Origin: 14th century, first half ; England

Provenance

Fol. 189r, 'William Elslay, teler of Epsam', 15th (?) or 16th century

MS. Laud Misc. 527 – Part 7

Contents

27. (fol. 202v)
Commentary on the Lord's Prayer
Incipit: Pater noster […] Hec oratio Dominica vocatur quia eam Dominus docuit
Language(s): Latin
28. (fol. 203v)
Geoffrey Babion, Sermon on 'Exite populus meus de Babilonia'
Incipit: Fratres, duo regna in hoc mundo sunt constituta
Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

Decoration

Blue initial flourished in red.

Plain red initials.

History

Origin: 13th century ; England (?)

MS. Laud Misc. 527 – Part 8

Contents

29. (fol. 210)
Sententiae
Incipit: Sic disce quasi semper victurus, sic vive quasi statim moriturus
Language(s): Latin
(fols. 212v-215r)
Sermon on 'Luceat lux vestra'
Language(s): Latin
30. (fol. 215v)
Treatise on the sacraments
Incipit: Septem autem sacramenta sunt hec, Baptismus, Confirmacio
Language(s): Latin
31. (fol. 220)
Pierre de Limoges, De oculo morali
Incipit: (prol.) Si diligenter voluerimus in lege Domini meditari
Incipit: (text) Sciendum igitur, quod sicut potest elici ex sententia Constantini

Followed by a note on John de Garton, York diocese, A.D. 1359.

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

Decoration

(fols. 220-256) Penwork initials: blue flourished in red, red flourished in purple/mauve.

History

Origin: 14th century ; England

MS. Laud Misc. 527 – Part 9

Contents

32. (fol. 257)
Robert Grosseteste (?), Speculum confessionis
Incipit: Perambulavit Judas quinque civitates et perdidit impios ex eis
Language(s): Latin
33. (fol. 263)
Visio Pauli
Incipit: Dies Dominicus est in quo angeli gaudent
Stegmüller 276,3
Language(s): Latin
34. (fol. 264v)
De gradibus ecclesiae
Incipit: Quot sunt gradus ecclesie
Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

Decoration

Coloured initials.

History

Origin: 13th century ; England

MS. Laud Misc. 527 – Part 10

Contents

35. (fol. 265)
Innocent III, De miseria humanae conditionis
Rubric: De miserabili statu condicionis humanae
Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

Decoration

Plain red initials.

History

Origin: 13th century ; England (?)

MS. Laud Misc. 527 – Part 11

Contents

36. (fol. 281)
Directorium simplicium sacerdotum siue Quinque uerba
Incipit: Volentes simplicium sacerdotum ignoranciis subvenire pauca collegimus
Explicit: Raptor presbitero nequeunt[sic] a simplice solvi
Bloomfield 4469, 6535
Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment

Decoration

Plain red initials.

Sketch of a dragon in red, fol. 281r.

History

Origin: 13th century, late, or 14th century, early ; England

Additional Information

Record Sources

Adapted with limited additional description by Matthew Holford (Jan. 2024) from the Quarto Catalogue (H. O. Coxe, Laudian Manuscripts, Quarto Catalogues II, repr. with corrections, 1969, from the original ed. of 1858–1885).
Quarto Catalogue, cols. 381–2
Quarto Catalogue, cols. 383–4
Quarto Catalogue, col. 385
Quarto Catalogue, p. 568
Quarto Catalogue, p. 569
Summary Catalogue, vol. 2, part 1, p. 35

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2024-01: Revised to incorporate all information in Quarto Catalogue with minor updates (ms. seen)