MS. Lyell 49
Boethius with commentaries; Peter Abelard
Physical Description
Binding
Early 14th-cent. binding of thick wooden boards with sharp bevelled edges covered with rough white leather, fastened by single clasp (now missing, but the catch survives), on leather strap; parchment label on upper cover: ‘Boecius Glosatus de S. Trinitate’.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
From the library of the Benedictine monastery of Admont in Austria; see note on fol. 80v. Listed in the catalogue of c. 1376, pr. G. Möser-Mersky, Mittelalt. Bibl. kat. Österreichs iii (1961), p. 30 l. 25–6: ‘Boecius glosatus de sancta Trinitate incipit ‘Investigatam’: in eodem Conmentum super Boecium et Magister Helyas super Boecium’, and similarly in the 1380 catalogue (loc. cit., p. 56, 1. 6–7). Later no. 382 in the library: number on spine.
James P. R. Lyell, 1871–1948: Bought by Lyell in November 1936 from E. P. Goldschmidt and Co.; see his Cat. 47, no. 3.
Chosen as one of the hundred manuscripts bequeathed to the Bodleian by Lyell in 1948.
MS. Lyell 49, Part A, fols. 1–57
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Boethius, Opuscula Sacra, with a commentary on I, II, III, and V written in the form of interlinear and marginal glosses.
Pr. R. Peiper, Boetii Phil. Consol., Leipzig (Teubner), 1871, pp. 149–218
Tr. 1 beg. fol. 1; Tr. 11, fol. 11v; Tr. III, fol. 14v; Tr. IV, fol. 20v; Tr. V, fol. 30.
The text of i–iii appears to belong to Rand’s D (St. Denis) class of MSS. but iv–v have characteristics found only in his C (Corbie) class; see E. K. Rand, ‘Der dem Boethius zugeschriebene Traktat ‘De Fide Catholica’’, Jahrbuch fur klassische Philol., Supplementband xxvi (1901), 448–56.
This appears to be an incomplete copy of the second, shorter version of the commentary now generally attributed to Remigius; see D. M. Cappuyns, ‘Le plus ancien commentaire des ‘Opuscula Sacra’ et son origine’, R.T.A.M. 3 (1931), 243. Further glosses were added in the 14th cent. (?).
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
20–3 long lines, with extra ruling in the first quire for glosses; fol. 1–16v ruled in pencil, fol. 17–57 ruled with a hard point; text 157–65 × 65–75 mm.
Hand(s)
Text written in a large minuscule, varying considerably in size, with spaces left between the lines and wide margins for glosses.
Decoration
(flyleaf, fol. i verso) Drawing in hard point of an archway.
Spaces left for headings, not filled in; elaborate vinescroll type initials drawn in red and brown ink on fol. 11v (with monster) and fol. 30; compare an initial, done at Admont, from MS. Admont 83 in P. Buberl, Die Mum. Hss. in Steiermark, I. Admont und Vorau (Beschr. Verzeichnis der ilium. Hss. in Oesterreich iv), Leipzig, 1911, p. 83, fig. 85. Decorated red initials on fol. 1, iv, 14v.
History
MS. Lyell 49, part B, fols. 58–80
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Longer version of the commentary on Boethius, Opuscula Sacra, i, ii, iii, and v, attributed to Remigius of Auxerre, written in continuous form. Pr. E. K. Rand, ‘Johannes Scotus’, Quellen und Untersuchungen zur lat. Philol. des M.A. I, 2 (1906), 30–80.
The commentary belongs to the second group of MSS. containing the fuller version; see Cappuyns, op. cit., pp. 245–50. The marginal notes in Tr. v which Haring, Two Commentaries (see below), p. 71, regarded as additional, are all found in Rand’s edition. There are two later notes (fol. 62v, 70) in the same hand as those in A.
Originally left blank. On fol. 80v is a pen drawing (see below). Below it is the contemporary note: ‘Hic claustri sancti Blasii liber est Ademunti\Ademonti/’.
A reject leaf for the beginning of the Commentary. It had several lines of text, a red incipit, and an initial, which have been erased.
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
32 long lines, text ruled with a hard point, text 173–8 × 105–15 mm.
Decoration
Vinescroll initial (with monster) in brown and red ink on fol. 59; decorated initials in brown ink on fol. 67, 68, and 70v.
History
MS. Lyell 49, part C, fols. 81–100
Contents
The commentary on Boethius’ Opuscula Sacra known as Librum hunc and now attributed to Thierry of Chartres, omitting the Prologue. Pr. N. Haring, ‘Two Commentaries on Boethius by Thierry of Chartres’, Archives 27 (1960), 85–134. He used this MS.
Fragment of a commentary on Boethius, De Hebdomadibus, attributed to Thierry of Chartres, pr., from this MS., by Haring, op. cit., pp. 134–6. The rest of fol. 100v is left blank.
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
32 long lines ruled with a hard point, text 178 × 100 mm.
Decoration
Headings in red.
Decorated red initials on fol. 81, 99v.
History
MS. Lyell 49, part D, fols. 101–28
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Pr. H. Ostlender, ‘Peter Abaelards Theologia ‘Summi Boni’’, Beiträge 25, 2–3 (1939), 2–83 1. 31. The variants of this MS. are discussed and listed by Haring, ‘A third MS. of Peter Abelard’s Theologia ‘Summi Boni’’, Mediaeval Studies 18 (1956), 215–24. He shows that it is closely related to MS. Erlangen Univ. 182 from Heilsbronn, which also contains Boethius’ Opuscula Sacra and the Commentary Librum hunc. It ends at the same place and has the same lacunae, including a large one (Ostlender, p. 81. 24–19 1. 21) found in our MS. at the bottom of fol. 102v where the scribe has left a gap of 3¼ lines, not a mere quarter of a line as stated by Haring, op. cit., p. 217.
In the blank space on fol. 128v a later (14th-cent.?) hand added two notes on the Trinity, ‘Nota. Cum pater sit deus, filius deus, spiritus sanctus sit deus et pater sit alius quam filius.’
The end flyleaf (fol. 129r) contains a fragment on the Immaculate Conception in a hand similar to fol. 128v. The front flyleaf (fol. i), bound upside down, has a note (12th cent.) ‘Exponat nobis lector quid sit ydioma Boetii’ and below it another note in the hand of fol. 128v.
There are drawings with a point on the front flyleaf (fol. 1v), archway, and fol. 80, soldier with shield in left hand and sword resting on right shoulder and there is a pen drawing on fol. 80v of a figure in a short tunic, but booted and spurred, offering a flower to a veiled woman with hands raised in front of her it has been queried whether the spurs are original. (Haloes have been added later, drawn with a hard point.) For the style of the drawing on fol. 80v cf. a figure from MS. Admont 36, written at Admont c. 1180, in Buberl, op. cit., p. 64 fig. 69. Pächt-Alexander 1, no. 92, pl. viii (fol. 80v).
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
32 long lines ruled with a hard point, ruling 180 × 100 mm.
Decoration
Decorated red initials on fol. 101, 105v, 121.
History
Additional Information
Record Sources
Digital Images
Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)
Bibliography
Online resources:
Printed descriptions:
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2020-12-16: Andrew Dunning Revised from description by Albinia de la Mare.