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

MS. Laud Lat. 97

Summary Catalogue no.: 1307

Contents

Old Testament (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Job, Tobit, Judith, Esther, I-II Maccabees)
(fols. 1r-24v)

Proverbs

(fols. 25r-30v)

Ecclesiastes

(fols. 30v-33r)

Song of Songs

(fols. 33r-44v)

Wisdom

Fol. 44v partly blank.

(fols. 45r-84r)

Ecclesiasticus

(fol. 45r)
Rubric: Incipit prologvs libri Ecclesiasticum
Incipit: Multis et magnis nobis per legem prophetas alios\que/ qui secundum eas secum sunt doctis
Explicit: ad legitime uiuendum

As pr. Vetus Latina 11/2 (Sirach/Ecclesiasticus) (1987), 18–19, from Gotha, Forschungsbibliothek Memb. I 13 (prov. Mainz).

(fol. 45r-v)
Rubric: Incipit prologus libri iesu filii syrach
Incipit: Multorum nobis (et) magnorum per legem et prophetas
(fols. 45v-84r)
Rubric: Incipit liber ecclesiasticus
Incipit: Omnis sapientia a Domino Deo est
(fol. 83r)
Rubric: Oratio salomonis. C. x. vij.

Followed (fol. 84r) by the responsory ‘Mons Gelboe nec ros nec pluvia’ (cantus003807), with neums.

Fols. 84v-85r blank.

(fols. 85v-105r)

Job

(fols. 105r-113v)

Tobit

(fol. 105r)
Rubric: Incipit prefatio beati Ieronimi presbiteri in librum Thobie

Stegmüller, Bibl. 332

(fols. 105r-113v)
Rubric: Incipit liber Thobie
(fols. 113v-123v)

Judith

(fols. 113v-114r)
Rubric: Incipit prefacio sancti Jeronimi in libro Judhit

Stegmüller, Bibl. 335

(fols. 114r-123v)
Rubric: Incipit liber ivdith
(fols. 123v-132v)

Esther

(fols. 123v-124v)
Rubric: Incipit prefacio beati Ieronimi prespiteri in libro hester

Stegmüller, Bibl. 341

(fol. 124r-132v)
Rubric: Incipit liber hester
(fols. 132v-167v)

I-II Maccabees

(fol. 132v)
Rubric: Incipit prologus in libros machabeorum

Stegmüller, Bibl. 551

Rest of fol. 132v blank.

(fol. 133r)
Rubric: Incipit liber machabeorum primus
(fol. 158r)
Rubric: Incipit liber machabeorum secundus
Language(s): Latin

Occasional German glosses, ed. Steinmeyer/Sievers, no. 236b.

Language(s): Old High German (Rhine Franconian dialect)

Corrections to the text, late twelfth century.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: ii + 167 + ii fols., foliated i-ii, 1–169 (87 omitted, 88 doubled)
Dimensions (leaf): 296 × 240 mm.
Dimensions (written): 220 × 163 mm.

Hand(s)

Five hands: (1) fols. 1r-24v; (2) fols. 25r-44v, 85v-117r; (3) fols. 45r-84r; (4) fols. 117r-132v; (5) fols. 133r-167v.

Cistercian punctuation, added 12th century, last quarter

Musical Notation:

Neums (fol. 84).

Decoration

Decorated initials, that on fol. 1 repainted (Pächt and Alexander i. 61). Foliate initials. ‘Silhouette’ initials added, late twelfth century. Fol. 1, ‘silhouette’ initial in red and yellow with penwork decoration, in a yellow border.

Coloured initials in red.

History

Origin: 11th century, second half; additions (decoration, punctuation) and corrections, late 12th century ; German

Provenance and Acquisition

Eberbach, Cistercian abbey, perhaps by the late twelfth century, when Cistercian punctuation and initials in Cistercian style were added.

Eberbach ex libris, late 15th century.

Identifiable as a 11 in the Eberbach library catalogue of 1502.

William Laud, 1573–1645, 1637.

Part of his third donation to the Bodleian, 1639.

Record Sources

Description adapted (April 2019) by Matthew Holford, with additional description of content, from the following sources:
Nigel F. Palmer, Zisterzienser und ihre Bücher: die mittelalterliche Bibliotheksgeschichte von Kloster Eberbach im Rheingau (Regensburg, 1998), pp. 59–61, 284–5 [contents, date, physical description, provenance]
Otto Pächt and J. J. G. Alexander, Illuminated Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford , I (1966), no. 61 [decoration, origin]
H. O. Coxe, Laudian Manuscripts, Quarto Catalogues II, repr. with corrections, 1969, from the original ed. of 1858–1885 [contents, acquisition]

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)
Digital Bodleian (4 images from 35mm slides)

Bibliography

Last Substantive Revision

2019-04-02: Description revised for Polonsky to incorporate all information in Palmer, Pächt and Alexander and Quarto catalogues, with additional description of content from observation of MS.