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

MS. Lyell 60

Monastic rules, etc.

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. (fol. 1r)
Ps.-Jerome, Regula monachorum ad Eustochium
Rubric: Incipit prologus in regulam vivendi in monasteriis editam a sancto Ieronimo et missam ad Eustochium ceterasque eius virgines
Incipit: Tepescens in membris
Explicit: (fol. 20r) iuvate orationibus.
Final rubric: Explicit.

PL 30 col. 391–426. MS. Vienna Schottenstift 237, mid–15th cent., fol. 146, has the same heading.

2. (fol. 20v)
Hrabanus Maurus, De receptione infantum
Rubric: Incipit opusculum Rabani Mauri contra eos qui repugnant institutis beatissimi Benedicti abbatis
Incipit: Si quis scripturam sacram
Explicit: (fol. 33v) non discrepare videbit.
Final rubric: Explicit Rabanus de receptione infantum.

PL 107 col. 419–40.

3. (fol. 37r)
Henricus de Frimaria senior, Liber de perfectione spirituali interioris hominis
Rubric: Incipit liber de spirituali perfectione interioris hominis ex collatione et institucione sanctorum patrum a magistro Heinrico de Frimaria editus

Introduction

Incipit: Istum librum pro honore dei et edificacione audiendum studiose concepit magister Heinricus de Frimaria
Explicit: Qui quidem liber continet xxiiii libros parciales iuxta tytulos infrascriptos.
Rubric: Enumeracio librorum
(fol. 37v)
Rubric: Prologus
Incipit: Quia multa predicabilia pulchra et utilia
(fol. 38r)
Rubric: Capitulum primum
Incipit: Quia menti rationali virtutes
Explicit: (fol. 154r) (Lib. 24, cap. 32): gloriam eterne beatitudinis recepturi. Cui est honor et gloria in secula seculorum. Amen.
Final rubric: Explicit liber de perfectione interioris hominis studiose conceptus per magistrum Heinricum de Frimaria sacre théologie professorem ex libris collationum et institucionum sanctorum patrum.

Other MSS. listed under no. 323 by A. Zumkeller, ‘Manuskripte … des Augustiner-Eremiten Ordens …’, Augustiniana 11 (1961), 323–4; 15 (1965), 552. He lists our MS. as MS. Melk 194 (D. 32).

4. (fol. 155r)
Bonaventure, Vitis mystica seu tractatus de passione domini
Rubric: ⟨I⟩ncipit tractatus vel sermo devotus et utilis de passione dominica editus a cardinali Bonaventura super illo verbo Iohannis. Ego sum vitis vera et cetera
Incipit: Ego sum vitis vera etc. O Ihesu benigne vitis vera lignum vite
Explicit: (fol. 169v) tue ymaginem reformemur procurante domino nostro. Amen.
Final rubric: Explicit.

Pr. S. Bonaventurae Opera Omnia, Quaracchi, viii, 1898, pp. 159–89. It is the simple version of the text, without the spurious additions. Our MS. (as Melk D. 32) was listed in the Prolegomena (p. lxv, no. 11), but not used for the edition. Munich clm. 18648, 15th cent., from Tegernsee (no. 5 and MS. D in the edition), has an identical heading.

5. (fol. 169v)
Thomas Ebendorfer of Haselbach, Tractatus de quinque sensibus
Incipit: Postquam Dei dono taliter qualiter pauca pro intellectu rudium et simplicium … Cogitavi aliqua de quinque sensibus premissis annectere
Explicit: (fol. 195v, 1. 11) ista organa comparata sunt despidunt. Hec ille.

No headings, but in the upper margin of fol. 176, above a new section beg.: Mors ascendit per fenestras vestras … Sicut per visum mors ascendit, another hand has written: ‘tractatus de custodia 5 sensuum’.

Pr. in Nycholai Dünckelspühel, Tractatus, ed. Wimpfeling, Strassbourg, 1516, no. viii, fol. 153. A few MSS., e.g., Klosterneuburg 394, dated 1446, fol. 375, attribute the work to Nicholas of Dinkelsbühl (c. 1360–1433) but many more attribute it to Ebendorfer (1388–1464); see especially Vienna, Schottenstift, MSS. 235, dated 1441, fol. 233; 268, dated 1442, fol. 219. Ours is a shorter version, found in the MSS. cited and a few others.

Most MSS. of the work, including MS. Melk 213 (E. 3), fol. 623, have a preface, beg.: ‘Quanta mala incurrant’, and end: ‘Expostulo preces pro mercede’. Some of these are listed by A. Lhotsky, Thomas Ebendorfer (M.G.H. Schriften, 15), 1957, p. 81. The treatise, with our incipit, is attributed to Ebendorfer by Joh. Trithemius, De Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis, 1494, fol. 99v. In the description of our MS., in the fragment of the earlier Melk catalogue (Gottlieb, Mittelalt. Bibl.kat. Österreichs 1, 1915, p. 150), the title is given as: ‘Tractatus de 5 sensibus Thome de Haselpach’. In Munich clm. 18648, fol. 17, the treatise, attributed to Ebendorfer, follows the Bonaventura treatise as in our MS.

The rest of fol. 195v is left blank.

6. (fol. 196r)
Regula Pauli et Stephani
Rubric: Incipit regula Pauli et Stephani
Incipit: In primis hortamur ut timorem Dei
Explicit: (fol. 200r) condonans in etemum, cum sua pace recipiat. Amen.

Pr. J. E. M. Vilanova, Regula Pauli et Stephani (Scripta et Documenta 11), Montserrat, 1959, pp. 109–25. The text belongs to Vilanova’s Austrian group VhKJW; see op. cit., pp. 37–8.

7. (fol. 200r)
Columbanus, Regula monachorum
Rubric: Incipit regula sancti Columbam abbatis
Incipit: Primum omnium docemur Deum diligere
Explicit: (fol. 203r) qui misit me pater.
Final rubric: Explicit.

Ed. G. S. M. Walker, Sancti Columbarii Opera (Scriptores Latini Hiberniae, 11), 1957, pp. 122–40. Our MS. contains the shorter version which omits ch. vii and of the other version, see Walker, op. cit., pp. xlv-vi, but it does not have the extra headings for ch. 11, iii, xi, and xiii of this ‘14-chapter’ version.

8. (fol. 203r)
Ps.-Macarius, Regula
Rubric: Incipiunt alique sententie de regula sancti Macharii abbatis qui habuit sub se v milia monachorum
Incipit: Milites Christi sic taliter suos debent componere
Explicit: (fol. 204r) siquit[sic] potuerit facere.
Final rubric: Explicit.

PL 103 col. 447–52; P.G. 34 col. 967–70. Several Austrian MSS. with the same title as ours described by Vilanova, op. cit., pp. 23, 24, 26.

9. (fol. 204r)
Regula IV Patrum
Rubric: Incipit regula sanctorum patrum Serapionis, Macharii, Pafnucii et alterius Macharii
Incipit: (fol. 204v) Sedentibus nobis in unum
Explicit: (fol. 206v) Hec nobis tenenda sufficiant, custodienda conveniunt et irreprehensibilis sitis.
Final rubric: Explicit.

Cap. i–xiv only. Our MS. is closer to the version in the earlier edition by Cuyckius at the end of Ioh. Cassiani Opera, Antwerp (Plantin), 1578, which also ends at ch. xiv, than to the better-known version (Holstenius) in PL 103 col. 435–40; see Corbett and Masai, ‘L’édition Plantin de Cassien, de la Règle des Pères, et des Capitulaires d’Aix …’, Scriptorium 5 (1951), 60–74; A. Mundó, ‘Les anciens synodes abbatiaux et les ‘Regulae SS. Patrum>’’, Studia Anselmiana 44 (1959), 115–16.

Soon after the book was written the following items were added on leaves left blank:

a. (fol. 34r)
Porcarius, Abbot of Lérins, Monita
Rubric: Incipiunt monita Parcarii abbatis
Incipit: ⟨I⟩n mente habe quia hospes es in hoc corpore

Ed. A. Wiknart, ‘Les Monita de l’Abbé Porcaire’, Rev. Bén. 27 (1909), 477–80. Further MSS. listed by Vilanova, op. cit., pp. 20–31, see table following p. 34.

b. (fol. 34v)
Columbanus, Instructio V
Rubric: Epistola sancti Columbani
Incipit: ⟨O⟩ tu vita quantos decepisti

Ed. Walker, S. Columbani Opera, pp. 84–6, and see pp. xxxix-xlii, lxxv-lxxvi, for MSS. Our MS. is closest to his Z: Salzburg, St. Peterstift b. ix. 20, 15th cent.

c. (fol. 35r)
Faustus of Riez (?), Sermo
Rubric: Sermo ad monachos
Incipit: ⟨I⟩nstruit nos atque hortatur

PL 50 col. 836–41, etc. See Clavis. Pat. Lat., 2nd ed., 1961, no. 966, serm. 37.

d. (fol. 30v, continued on fol. 154r)
Ps.-Macarius, Ep. IIIa
Rubric: Epistula sancti Macharii data monachis
Incipit: ⟨L⟩ignorum copia ingentem

PL 103 col. 451–2. Ed. Wilmart, ‘La fausse lettre latine de Macaire’, Revue d’ascétique et de mystique 3 (1922), 415–19. Our MS., like all but one of those used by Wilmart, has a lacuna in §18. The ‘letter’ is a compound of texts from St. Nilus and St. Ephrem.

e. (fol. 154–154v, continued on fol. 206v–207v)
Evagrius Pontikos, Sententiae ad monachos
Rubric: Incipiunt proverbia sancti Evagrii
Incipit: ⟨H⟩eredes Dei audite sermones Dei
Explicit: (fol. 207v 1. 17) et non obliviscaris animam eius in tempore orationis. Amen.

P.G. 40 col. 1277–82; PL 20 col. 1181–6. This is a complete copy of the later version of the Latin translation; see J. Leclercq, ‘L’ancienne version latine des sentences d’Evagre pour les moines’, Scriptorium 5 (1951), 196–202.

MS. Zürich Rh. hist. 28 (566), 9th cent., from Reichenau, fol. 107v–124v, contains our items a–e, in the same order and with very similar headings. The front pastedown, 13th cent., 2 cols., contains the beginning (?) of a sermon on the Nativity beg.: ‘Parvulus natus est nobis, filius datus est nobis. Salomon in parjabolis[sic] desiderans huius parvuli nativitatem.’

(on the flyleaf)
A 15th-cent. table of contents of the original part of the MS., with folio numbers
Incipit: Subscripta hec continentur in isto volumine / Regula Sancti Ieronimi ad Eustochium ceterasque eius virgines

Below, the scribe who wrote the later additions added a list of them, also with folio numbers. Another 15th-cent. hand has written, in red: ‘Mellicum omnia bona sunt laudanda’.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: i+208 leaves (fol. 103 is double, fol. i is a flyleaf),
Dimensions (leaf): 258 × 175 mm.
Foliation: contemporary foliation in arabic numerals

Collation

1 original flyleaf, 1¹²–12¹², 13¹² (12 canc.), 14¹²–16¹², 17⁶ (6 canc.), 18¹⁰, 2 leaves; some catchwords, and a quire is numbered 1 on fol. 166v;
Secundo Folio: auxiliantur

Layout

198 × 125 mm. : 31 long lines (45–8 in the additions) ruled in ink, except for quires 14–15 which are ruled in crayon.

Hand(s)

Written in Austria, probably at Melk, in the mid–15th cent, by five different hands:

fol. 1–20, 196–206v a rather variable hybrid hand occasionally using loops, especially on ‘d’:

fol. 20v–33v, a current hybrid hand;

fol. 37–154, a set cursive hand (PL XXXIa);

fol. 155–169v, a hybrid hand similar to a; e fol. 109v–195v, a hybrid hand.

A sixth hand added further items in a hybrid script on leaves originally left blank, fol. 34–36v, 154r–v, 206v–207v.

Decoration

Some blue or red initials flourished in contrasting colours, including figures on fols. 124v (a shepherd?), 140r (a king); other initials plain red or blue. (Pächt and Alexander i. 166)

Binding

Original binding of wooden boards covered with two pieces of white pigskin sewn together with the seam down the spine, decorated with tooled panels and stamps; five metal bosses on each cover; two metal clasps on leather straps, the upper one embossed with a Paschal Lamb, fastening to edge of upper cover; two 15th–16th-cent. parchment labels on front cover with short list of contents and shelfmark; inside, attached to the top of the spine by a piece of string, a 15th-cent. sliding parchment book-marker, with numbers and sliding square. This is quite different from the 13th–14th-cent. book-markers described by Destrez in Beiträge, Supplement-band iii (1935), 19–35.

History

Origin: 15th century, middle ; Austrian, probably Melk, Benedictine abbey

Provenance and Acquisition

Belonged to the abbey of Melk in Austria and was almost certainly copied there. Entered in the fragment of the mid–15th-cent. Melk catalogue (Gottlieb, Mittelalt. Bibl.kat. Österreichs 1, p. 150, 1. 4–14), without the later additions (items a-e above). These are described in the 1483 catalogue, where our MS. was no. C. 76 (Gottlieb, op. cit., p. 182). The label on the front cover with the shelfmark ‘C. 54’ possibly derives from Stephan Burchard’s catalogue, begun in 1507 and finished in 1517; see Gottlieb, p. 139. On fol. 1 is the 17th cent.(?) note: ‘Monasterii Mellicensis ht. C. 54.’ No. 194 (D. 32) in Cat. Codd. MSS. Mellic. 1, 1889, pp. 270–1.

Bought by Lyell in 1938 from E. P. Goldschmidt and Co.: see his Cat. 100, no. 69.

James P. R. Lyell, 1871–1948

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

Record Sources

Description adapted from A. de la Mare, Catalogue of the Medieval Manuscripts Bequeathed to the Bodleian Library Oxford by James P. R. Lyell (1971); with additions by Andrew Dunning.

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)

Bibliography

Last Substantive Revision

2020-12-16: Andrew Dunning Revised from description by Albinia de la Mare.