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MS. Laud Misc. 677

Summary Catalogue no.: 783

Henricus Suso; Peter of Limoges; Alexander of Roes. A) (fols 1–5; 242–243) Mainz Charterhouse, s. xvin; B) (fols 6–241) Germany, s. xivmed.

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. 1482–1491. For purposes of scholarly citation, reference to the printed catalogue is requested.
Composite: A) (fols 1–5; 242–243) || B) (fols 6–241)
Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: 243 leaves
Foliation: 1–243, in modern (19th-cent.) pencil.

Collation

A) i 6-1 | ... xxvii 2 ; B) ii–x 10 | xi 8 | xii–xv 10 | xvi 4 | xvii–xxiii 10 | xxiv–xxvi 8.

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. 677 has existed in its current form since the early 15th century, when, at the Mainz Charterhouse, part A was written and added to part B (see the notes on fols 5v & 242v).

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

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

MS. Laud Misc. 677 – Part A) (fols 1–5; 242–243)

Contents

(fols 1v–5v)
Henricus Suso, Hundert Betrachtungen

With prologue. (ed. K. Bihlmeyer, Heinrich Seuse. Deutsche Schriften (Stuttgart, 1907, repr. 1961) 314–321, l. 12; Kaeppeli 1851). The text breaks off at the end of fol. 5v, that is the end of the first part of fascicle A, and continues on fol. 242v (= item 8, see below). A note at the lower margin of fol. 5v, in the text hand, reads ‘Require residuum in fine libri’.

Language(s): Middle High German
8. (fols 242v–243r)
Henricus Suso, Hundert Betrachtungen

Continuation of item 1, in the same hand (ed.: K. Bihlmeyer, loc. cit., 321, l. 12–322). A note in the hand of the scribe at the top left corner of fol. 242v reads ‘hic incipit residuum’.

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: Eya ewige (fol. 2r)
Form: codex
Support: parchment; (fols 242r–243v) Rust marks from three corner bosses of a previous binding.
Dimensions (leaf): c.161–62 × 115–17 mm.

Collation

i 6-1 | ... xxvii 2.

Layout

Ruling in lead-point, only faint traces visible; one column of 25–29 lines. Ruled space c.122–24 × 80 mm.

Hand(s)

bastarda, very likely Mainz Charterhouse, s. xvin, by a single hand.

Decoration

Two initials (fols. 1v and 2r).

History

Origin: Early 15th century ; Germany, Mainz Charterhouse

Provenance

Mainz, Carthusian abbey of St Michael: Part A was very likely written at the Mainz Charterhouse, and added to the beginning and end of part B (see the note in the lower margin of fol. 5v, quoted above).

MS. Laud Misc. 677 – Part B) (fols 6–241)

Contents

2. (fols 6ra–144rb)
Henricus Suso, Horologium sapientiae

With prologue and chapter lists (ed. P. Künzle, Heinrich Seuses Horologium Sapientiae, Spicilegium Friburgense 23 (Freiburg, 1977) 363–605; this copy siglum ‘O3’, see pp. 166f., no. 142; 217, 282 & 320f.; Little 228; Kaeppeli 1852; Bloomfield 3032; 5416, and suppl.).

Language(s): Latin
3. (fols 144rb–147vb)
Henricus Suso, Cursus de aeterna sapientia (pr. L. Surius, Henrici Susonis Opera (Cologne, 1615) 659–72; ed. P. Künzle, loc. cit., 606–18).
Language(s): Latin
4. (fols 148ra–231va)
Peter of Limoges, Oculus moralis

With prologue (pr.: Little 223 & 234; H. Spettmann, ‘Das Schriftchen “De oculo morali” und sein Verfasser’, AFH 16 (1923) 309–22, citing the present MS. at p. 315 (no. 43); Glorieux, Rép., 178a, citing the present MS.; Thomson, Grosseteste, 256f., this copy at p. 256; Stegmüller, RB, 6624, 1, and suppl.; Thorndike & Kibre 1446; D. C. Lindberg, A catalogue of medieval and Renaissance optical manuscripts, Subsidia mediaevalia 4 (Toronto, 1975) 72f. (no. 99); Mohan 411*; Bloomfield 5532, and suppl.).

Language(s): Latin
5. (fols 231va–240va)
Alexander de Roes, Memoriale

Cap. 4–33 (ed. H. Grundmann & H. Heimpel, (eds), Alexander von Roes. Schriften, MGH Staatsschriften des späteren Mittelalters I, 1 (Stuttgart, 1958) 94–142; this copy siglum ‘H 1’, see pp. 42 & 76f.).

Language(s): Latin
6. (fols 240va–241rb)
Saints' Life

Passio ss. decem milium martyrum in monte Ararath (ed.: Graesse 858: Legenda aurea, app. 183 (178), without introductory part; BHL suppl. 24b or, respectively, BHL nov. suppl. 24f & 24g; Hauréau, Initia, 4. 256va).

Language(s): Latin
7. (fol. 241va)
Prayer: De decem milibus martyribus
Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: -stidium uertuntur (fol. 7ra)
Form: codex
Support: parchment; occasional remnants of medieval repair (stitching holes). (fol. 241v) Rust stains in the lower margin from a previous binding. Bookmarks to items 2 (bk 2; materia 6), 4 & 5: a natural-coloured thread, sewn into outer or upper margins.
Dimensions (leaf): c.161–64 × 116–24 mm.
Foliation: (fols 10v ff.) a more or less contemporary hand added folio numbers throughout item 2, restarting with 1 on fol. 93v (= bk 2 of the Horologium) and running to 51 (fol. 143v), and again (items 4 & 5) on fol. 148v, running to fol. 239v (1–92).

Collation

ii–x 10 | xi 8 | xii–xv 10 | xvi 4 | xvii–xxiii 10 | xxiv–xxvi 8.

Layout

Ruling in ink, two columns of 25 lines. Ruled space c.118–23 × 87–91 mm.

Hand(s)

German textualis, s. xivmed, by a single hand. Marginalia in the text hand, in contemporary and 15th-cent. hands, some of which are clearly Carthusian, from Mainz. Items 6 & 7 added in a different, but contemporary hand.

Decoration

Pächt and Alexander i. list, p. 72:

Fleuronnée initials in red, blue and brown.

Rubrication.

(fols 6ra, 13va, 27vb, 35va, 47rb, 49vb, etc.) human head, mostly in profile; (fol. 51rb) portrait of a blushing lady; (fols 99ra, 101rb, 103rb, etc.) court of arms/shield, (fols 96rb & 121va) knight in armour; (fols 99ra, 114ra, etc.) animal, (fol. 98va) unicorn; (fol. 137ra & rb) hand and foot; (fol. 148vb) face added to initial.

History

Origin: Mid 14th century ; Germany

Provenance

Mainz, Carthusian abbey of St Michael: the late 14th-cent ex-libris inscriptions at the head of fols 6r & 241v: ‘Iste liber est fratrum Cartusiensium prope mogunciam’, in the same hand. Identical with D XXIIII S of cat. ii.

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). Decoration, localization and date follow Pächt and Alexander (1966).
Quarto Catalogue, cols. 489–90
Quarto Catalogue, p. 578
Summary Catalogue, vol. 2, part 1, p. 34

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. 1482–1491

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2023-11-17: Description revised for Mainz digitization project to include additional information from Mairhofer catalogue.