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

MS. Laud Misc. 725

Summary Catalogue no.: 1356

Contents

1. (fols. 1r–90r)
John Cassian, Collationes
Language(s): Latin
2. (fols. 90v–184v)
Robert of Cricklade, De connubio Iacob
Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: i (contemporary flyleaf) + 184 + i (modern parchment) leaves
Dimensions (leaf): 320 × 235 mm.

Collation

a1 (fol. i), 1–238 (fols 1–184), b1 (fol. 185, early-modern flyleaf)

Layout

2 columns, c. 33 lines

Hand(s)

Protogothic minuscule; at least two scribes.

Decoration

Books begin with seven-line arabesque initials in colours.

Coloured blue, red, and green initials.

Some initials with fleuronnée decoration in a contrasting colour.

Marginal sketches added c. 1500, mostly manicules, but also including a detailed Christ bearing a cross, beside the text abneget semetipsum et tollat crucem suam (fol. 93v), cathedram honoris (fol. 155v), and hominibus superbia (fol. 187r) in pencil.

Tituli in red.

Binding

Laudian binding.

History

Origin: 12th century, end ; English, Reading Inscribed, Hic est liber sancte Marie de Rading’. Quem qui celauerit. uel fraudem de eo fecerit⹎ anathema sit. (fol. ir)

Provenance and Acquisition

Reading, Berkshire, Benedictine abbey of Saint Mary the Virgin: 'Hic est liber Sancte Marie de Radingis quem qui celauerit uel fraudem de eo fecerit anathema sit.' (MLGB3: evidence from an ex-libris inscription or note of gift to an institution).

William Laud, 1573–1645, 1638.

Part of his third donation to the Bodleian, 1639.

Record Sources

Summary description abbreviated from 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 (1973).

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (1 image from 35mm slides)

Bibliography

Last Substantive Revision

2021-12-14: Add provenance information from MLGB3.