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MS. Tanner 15

Summary Catalogue no.: 9835

Contents

Language(s): Latin

1. (pp. v–viii)
List of contents
Incipit: Adrianus abbas greca pingua peritus floruit.
Explicit: Wulstanus baculum in marmore fixit. qui a nullo alio anelli potuit.
2. (pp. 1–581)
John of Tynemouth, Sanctilogium Angliae Walliae Scotiae et Hiberniae
Incipit: Adrianus nacione affricanus comes et cooperator
Explicit: sed ab epantu diectus plane dixit.
Colophon: Perfectum est hoc opus wlgariter intitulatum De sanctis Anglie. Ad laudem et honorem omnipotentis dei. ac sancte Cantuar’ ecclesie. ex Impensis Reuerendi in cristo patris domini Thome Goleston eiusdem ecclesie Prioris. Ac sacrarum litterarum professoris egregii. Per me Jacobum Neell’ Normannum ac Rothomagi natum. Anno verbi incarnati .1.4.9.9. Deo gracias.
Carl Horstmann, ed., Nova legenda Anglie (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1901).
3. (pp. 582–588)

Additions by Sir John Prise on leaves originally ruled for two columns but otherwise blank, copied from London, British Library, Cotton MS. Vespasian A. xiv.

Language(s): Latin and Middle Welsh
1.
Rubric: De primo statu Landanensis ecclesie | Excerpta de pervetusto Libro de vitis sanctorum Britanie
Incipit: Anno ab incarnatione domini c l vi ᵗº Lucius britannorum Rex ad eleutherium apostolica sedis papam legatos suos scilicet eluanum et meduuinum misit, implorantes vt iuxta eius ammonitionem cristianus fieret quod ab eo impetrauit.
Explicit: Finis territorii ecclesie Aquilensium. Maliduc||

The text ends abruptly, leaving a blank space for the Welsh conclusion (ed. Evans, p. 78).

Ed. J. Gwenogvryn Evans and John Rhys, The Text of the Book of Llan Dâv, Series of Welsh Texts 4 (Oxford, 1893), 68–78.
Ed. W. J. Rees, The Liber Landavensis, Llyfr Teilo, or, The Ancient Register of the Cathedral Church of Llandaff, Society for the Publication of Ancient Welsh Manuscripts 1 (Llandovery: Rees, 1840), 65–75.
2. (pp. 589–593)
Vita sancti Dubricii BHL 2339
Rubric: Incipit Vita sancti Durbricij Archiepiscopi vrbis Legionum xviij Kl Decembris
Incipit: Quidam Rex Ercychi regionis Pepiau nomine clavorauc uocatus britannice Latine vero spumosus qui super inimicos suos iuit in expeditionem
Explicit: cum data benedictione et cum donatione omnibus auxiliantibus ad inceptum opus.
Ed. J. Gwenogvryn Evans and John Rhys, The Text of the Book of Llan Dâv, Series of Welsh Texts 4 (Oxford, 1893), 78–96.
Ed. W. J. Rees, The Liber Landavensis, Llyfr Teilo, or, The Ancient Register of the Cathedral Church of Llandaff, Society for the Publication of Ancient Welsh Manuscripts 1 (Llandovery: Rees, 1840), 75–83.
3. (pp. 593–596)
Vita sancti Bernaci BHL 1186
Rubric: Incipit Vita sancti bernachi
Incipit: Elegit sibi dominus virum de filiis israel iuxta cor suum bernacium nomine venustis ornatum moribus titulisque virtutum insignibus excellentem.
Explicit: quando infundebatur frigida permanebat. Nec magis igne||

The following leaf has been excised, ending before the conclusion (ed. Rees, p. 11).

Ed. W. J. Rees, Lives of the Cambro British Saints, of the Fifth and Immediate Succeeding Centuries, Society for the Publication of Ancient Welsh Manuscripts 4 (Llandsvery: Rees, 1853), 1–12.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
i (modern paper endleaf) + 4 (medieval endleaves and contents list, pp. i–viii) + 298 (pp. 1–596) + 4 (pp. 597-604, medieval and early modern endleaves), i (modern paper endleaf)
Dimensions (leaf): 365 × 270 mm.
Foliation: Early modern pagination. A nineteenth-century hand has annotated pp. 581–596 with further numbers, pp. 585–600, but the original pagination is accurate.

Collation

14 (pp. i–viii), 2–378 (pp. 1–576), 384 (pp. 577–584), 398–2 (pp. 585–596; 2nd and 8th excised), 304 (pp. 597–604; 3rd and 4th partially cut away). Contemporary catchwords, written vertically.

Layout

Ruled in red for 2 columns of 46 lines, ruled space 240 × 150 mm.

Hand(s)

Gothic cursiva antiquior.

Decoration

Floriated border in gold leaf and colours on the opening page (p. 1). (Pächt and Alexander i. 796)

Text opens with a nine-line initial in gold leaf on a red and blue background (p. 1).

New lives open with three-line initials in blue with red pen flourishing.

New sections open with coloured initials, alternating between blue and red.

Rubricated headings and running heads.

Binding

Brown tanned calf over laminated pulpboard, 19th century.

History

Origin: 1499 ; (?) France

The colophon (p. 581) records that the book was written by Jacobus Neell, a Norman from Rouen.

Provenance and Acquisition

Canterbury, Kent, Benedictine cathedral priory of Holy Trinity or Christ Church: the colophon (p. 581) indicates that the book was commissioned and paid for by Thomas Goldston, prior of Canterbury from 1495–1517 (MLGB3).

According to a pencil note in the official copy of the catalogue this manuscript contained the inscription Olim possedit Jac. Ofcote (?) miles, but this appears to have been lost when the volume was rebound.

Thomas Tanner, 1674–1735

Bequeathed by him to the Bodleian in 1735.

Record Sources

Description by Andrew Dunning (November 2023). Previously described in the Quarto Catalogue (A. Hackman, Catalogi codicum manuscriptorum Bibliothecæ Bodleianæ pars quarta codices viri admodum reverendi Thomæ Tanneri, S.T.P., episcopi Asaphensis, complectens, Quarto Catalogues IV, repr. 1966, with corrections, from the ed. of 1860). Decoration, localization and date follow Pächt and Alexander (1966).
Summary Catalogue, Vol. 3, p. 82
Quarto Catalogue, Col. 18

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (2 images from 35mm slides)

Bibliography

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2023-11-03: Andrew Dunning Revised with consultation of original.