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MS. Lyell 46

Rule of St. Benedict in French, etc.; France, mid-15th century

Contents

1. (fols. 1r-42v)
Regula S. Benedicti (French translation)
Rubric: Incipit regula sancti Benedicti abbatis in galico
Incipit: Ausculta o fili precepta magistri etc. Ici parle nostre sire saint Benoist son sermon a moynez et dit. Escoute filx les commandemens de ton mestre
Explicit: dessus de la doctrine des vertuz. Qui fera cestes choses il ara vie durable. Amen.
Final rubric: Explicit regula sancti Beneditti [sic] in galico.

Chap. XIIII-XVIII of the Latin rule are omitted. For the relationship of our MS. to other French translations of the Rule see The Rule of St. Benedict. A Norman Prose Version, ed. R. J. Dean and M. D. Legge, Oxford, 1964, p. 102.

Language(s): Middle French
2. (fol. 42v-48r)
An extract in French from a treatise on virtues
Incipit: Le septime estat ou len doit garder chastee est lestat de religion. Car ceux qui sont en tel estat
Rubric: (fol. 43) Exemple pour ceux de religion
Incipit: Len list en la vie des peres que ung saint home contoit comment il estoit devenu moine et disoit que il estoit dun paien qui estoit prestre des ydoles
Explicit: Cest la beneurete que cil atendent qui se gardent nectement de cuer et de cors.
Language(s): Middle French
3. (fol. 48)
Two extracts in Latin on the monastic state from the Vitae Patrum
Incipit: Dixit abbas Ypericius. Quia sicut leo terribilis est onagris
Explicit: Ecce in hiis es monachus
Explicit: Vitae Patrum v, Lib. IV, § 45–8; Lib. 1, § 22 (pr. P.L. 73 col. 870, 857).
Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: cestes choses
Form: codex
Support: parchment
48 leaves.
Dimensions (leaf): c. 185 × 135 mm.
Foliation: Contemporary foliation in roman numerals in top left corner of recto (from fol. 1-6 also in bottom left corner of verso) ends at fol. 42

Collation

1(8)-6(8), horizontal catchwords at end of quires, and often on other leaves as well.

Layout

Frame ruling in ink, c. 20-3 long lines. Written space c. 130 × 90 mm.

Hand(s)

Cursive hand.

Latin headings and incipits for each chapter of the Rule in two different textura hands

Decoration

The ink initial ‘I’ on fol. 1r is in the form of a fish.

Binding

Contemporary parchment wrapper with title on lower cover: 'Regula beati Benedicti in ga.co' [en franceis added in a different hand].

History

Origin: 15th century, middle ; France

Provenance and Acquisition

On fol. 48v (15th cent.): 'Iste liber vere Theobardo dicitur esse hoc nomen raptim Chenillon(?) vult esse vocatum'; and below, in the same hand, a rhyming book curse in French and Latin: 'Qui ce livre ycy emblera, propter suam malliciam, Au gibet pendu sera, repugnando superbiam, Au gibet pendu sera, sive(?) suis parentibus, Car ce sera(?) bien raison, exemplum dabit omnibus'. Inside the back binding among various pen trials are written (15th cent.): 'Iehan le maindre(?) des franzoys', and 'Perdiyan (?)'. A later erased note on fol. 1: 'dr.(?) Au [? . . .] bello (?)'.

Inside the front binding is: 'No. 37' (19th cent.).

James P. R. Lyell, 1871–1948: Bought by Lyell in July 1936 from Goldschmidt: see his Cat. 36 (1935), no. 13; Cat. 41 (1936), no. 34.

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

Record Sources

Description adapted (August 2025) from A. de la Mare, Catalogue of the Medieval Manuscripts Bequeathed to the Bodleian Library Oxford by James P. R. Lyell (1971)
Catalogue, p. 125
Catalogue, p. 126

Bibliography

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2025-08: Matthew Holford: encode all information in printed catalogue.

Data

The TEI-XML file for this record can be viewed in a GitHub repository.

Tabular data derived from the TEI-XML files is available in a GitHub repository.