MS. Lyell 69

(fols. 1r-172v)

Honorius Augustodunensis, Commentary on the Song of Songs

Rubric: (fol. 1) Incipit cantica canticorum ab Onorio enucleasius exposita. Incipit sigillum sancte Marie

Incipit: Donum sapientie cum Salomone poscenti a vero pacifico postulatum [corrected in a contemporary hand from postulata] datur [written over erasure]. Quia precedessori [sic, apparently corrected from predecessori] tuo beate memorie venerando C. abbati librum David

This is the dedicatory preface to the Expositio and not the Sigillum

Incipit: (fol. 1) [first prologue (no heading)] In principio librorum tria requiruntur

Rubric: (fol. 1v) Quis sit auctor

Incipit: Auctor huius libri est spiritus sanctus

Incipit: (fol. 7) [second prologue (no heading)] Imperator supernus publice cupiens

Incipit: (fol. 12) 'Accessus ad litteram' Filius regis Ierusalem desponsavit

Incipit: (fol. 13v) 'Incipit liber'. Osculetur me osculo oris sui Ac si dicat internuntiis. Qui tociens.

This is not the usual beginning of Bk. I, which is found on fol. 12, but the beginning of the Commentary itself. The next rubric, Osculetur me, given by Stegmüller, is omitted, the text continuing (Sacra scriptura) without a break. Bk. II beg. fol. 57; Bk. III, fol. 121; Bk. IV, fol. 144.

Explicit: (fol. 170v) Lapsum deduxit ante conspectum Dei. Amen.

Stegmüller, Rep. Bibl., no. 3573.

Pr. P.L. 172 col. 347-496.

There follows an Epilogue:

Incipit: (fol. 170v) Ut labor noster omnibus fructuosus brevi epilogo omnia repetamus

Explicit: (fol. 172va) operis gratias agamus. Amen.

The rest of fol. 172v was later filled with theological (?) notes, now erased.

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: diversum in significatione

Form: codex

Support: parchment

iv + 174 leaves (i-iv, 173-4 are flyleaves)

Dimensions (leaf): 210 × 150 mm.

Collation

1(8)-14(8), 15(8) (7 canc.), 16(8)–22(8), 23(4) (4 canc.), quires numbered at the end in roman numerals (one missed after XVII), short horizontal catchwords

Condition

The MS. has at some time been damaged by damp or water.

Layout

2 cols., 22-4 lines, ruled with a hard point up to fol. 145 and the rest ruled in pencil. Written space 135-40 × 100 mm.

Hand(s)

Firm rounded minuscule, writing above top line

Decoration

Pächt and Alexander ii. 66, pl. VI

Decorated initials.

Pen drawings: fol. 1r, King Solomon; fol. 13v, Christ preaching (?); fol. 121v, head of Christ, and a monster; fol. 144r, a bishop, in the border are a monster and a bird. On fols. 56v-57r similar drawings have been coloured, chiefly in deep blue, with pale blue, orange, green, and violet: fol. 56v, miniature of King Solomon on his throne.

fol. 57r, initial with a bishop.

Border of curling foliage.

Smaller initials in red.

Binding

Modern darkbrown morocco binding by Sangorski and Sutcliffe.

History

Origin: 13th century, early ; Italian

Provenance and Acquisition

At the top of fol. 172 is an erased 13th cent. ex-libris: 'Ista cantica est monasterii S[?. . .] F[? . . . . .] de P(ar)m [? . . .]' and above this a later (14th-cent.?) hand has written 'S. Sita' (?).

A later erased note on fol. 1 (17th-18th cent.) apparently described the contents of the MS.

James P. R. Lyell, 1871–1948: bought n February 1942 from E. P. Goldschmidt and Co.: see his Cat. 44, no. II.

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

Record Sources

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

Catalogue, p. 207

Catalogue, p. 208

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2025-09: Add all information from printed catalogue.

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