MS. Lyell 3

Bartholomew of Exeter; France (?), early 13th century

(fols. 1r-75v)

Bartholomew of Exeter, Liber poenitentialis

Rubric: (fol. 1) Incipit liber ⟨penitentialis magistri Bartholomei Exoniensis episcopi ⟩ omnibus sacerdotibus et maxime prelatis pernecessarius

Incipit: (preface) Nunquam nimis docetur aut scitur

Explicit: (fol. 75v) pro peccato debita miti-||

Ends imperfect (p. 290 l. 36 of the edition by A. Morey, Bartholomew of Exeter, Cambridge, 1937, pp. 175-300). The MS. was not known to Morey. The text appears to be carelessly written. It is divided into shorter chapters than in the edition. The last, chapter 398, corresponds to 131 in Morey.

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: dei, et

Form: codex

Support: parchment

Extent: 74 leaves (foliation skips from 49 to 51)

Dimensions (leaf): 203 × 135 mm.

Dimensions (written): 147 × 90 mm.

Collation

1(8)-2(8), 3(10)-7(10), 8(8), [last quire missing]

Condition

The upper part of many leaves has suffered from a damp stain.

Layout

26 long lines ruled in crayon, writing above top line.

Decoration

Red headings.

Initials in blue and/or red, flourished in red and/or blue.

Binding

Medieval binding of wooden boards (the lower board broken) covered in puce dyed sheep-skin (repaired), had strap fastening to pin on lower cover (the pin survives). Title in ink on upper cover, mostly illegible, and later coat of arms in ink: quartered, 1 and 4 a lion(?) rampant, 2 and 3 an 8-pointed star, between letters 'C. A.' Traces of an ink title or pressmark along the spine.

History

Origin: 13th century, early ; French (?)

Provenance and Acquisition

There are a number of later notes:

a on front pastedown (some partly erased) (i) ‘I. XLI' (15th cent.?); (ii) ‘[...] franc.(?) 2 ll. 4 s. I [...]' (16th cent.); (iii) possibly same hand as (ii), ‘Si vis ad vitam ingredi serva mandata. F. Urtica'; (iv) 'Sigoyer' (16th cent.); (v) an owner's mark?: 'L(?)' over 'Cd.'; (vi) 19. [or 12?] N[...]on' (18th cent.?);
b (fol. 42) Jan batisto [sic] dortic dapt baygar [......]' (16th cent.);
c (fol. 64) same hand as a(iii)?: 'Lan mil cinq J. (or F.) Arnaud';
d (fol. 67) same hand again, (i) 'Urtice' (twice); (ii) 'monsieur le graete (?)';
e (fol. 75°) same hand, (i) ‘Claude Urtic (?)'; (ii) 'Urtice' (twice).

Urtica is the Latin form of d'Ortigue, a Provençal family prominent at Apt in the 15th and 16th cent.: see Artefeuil, Hist. . . . de la noblesse de Provence 11, 1776, pp. 191–2; C. F. H. Barjavel, Dict. hist. biog. bibliog. du dép. de Vaucluse II, pp. 221-2. A late 16th-cent. Claude d'Ortigue is mentioned by Artefeuil. The Arnaud were another prominent Provençal family and Bernardy de Sigoyer and Roux de Sigoyer (originally from Dauphiné) are further families from Provence. A note in French about the MS. (18th cent.) is fixed to the front pastedown with the impression of a seal on which is C. E. and a coronet with five pearls. There is a similar bookstamp on fol. 75. On fol. 1 there is another armorial bookstamp, possibly a demi-lion rampant, with two stags as supporters, a coronet with three crests: a pair of wings, a boar, and three ostrich feathers, and below a motto―illegible.

James P. R. Lyell, 1871–1948: bought by Lyell in November 1937, possibly from Goldschmidt.

Chosen as one of the hundred manuscripts bequeathed to the Bodleian by Lyell in 1948.

Record Sources

Description adapted (July 2024) from A. de la Mare, Catalogue of the Medieval Manuscripts Bequeathed to the Bodleian Library Oxford by James P. R. Lyell (1971)

Catalogue, p. 4

Catalogue, p. 5

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2024-06: Encode full description from printed catalogue.

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