MS218

GREGORII LIB. PASTORALIS. JOH. CASSIANUS. ALCUINI EPP.

Patristics

List of contents by Sancroft. I. 1. Table of chapters on ff. 1-3a in a slightly later hand. Inc. liber pastoralis cure Gregorii pape urbis Rome scriptus ad Iohannem Ep. Ravenne urbis (in red and green capitals) . . . . . f. 3b Pastoralis cure me pondera fugere (lxxvii. 13) Rubric and incipit written in black in the margin. A fine large initial P in outline, faintly tinted with colours. The hand is like that of Christchurch, Canterbury. It decreases in size and perhaps changes towards the end. Ends: manus leuet. 88b. II. 2. f. 89 blank. On f. 90a in a xvth-cent. hand is a notice of Johannes Cassianus. Vir illustris et facundus Ioh. Cass. multa scripsit - opitulante perducit. Hec vincencius in spec. hist. lib. xx°. ca°. xiiij. Et beatus pater Benedictus collaciones patrum cum institutis eorum monachis recomendat ad collacionem in capitulo legendas ut habetur in regula sua ca° xlij° et ca° lxxiij°. Vide originaliter xxiiij collaciones patrum in registro librorum in J. 35. (This MS., J. 35, is now at Pembroke College, Cambridge, no. 92. It has similar notices.) On 90b in a larger hand of the same time: . . . . . . . I. 23. Liber S. Edmundi Regis in quo cont. Joh. Cassianus de septem collacionibus patrum. [Annotation in the Librarian's copy of M.R. James: Abbot cat. LR/F/3 f. 61r - or is this a printed item?] . . . . . . . G. 43 Epistole Albyni siue Alcuyni monachi ad karolum et alios. Also at top of f. 91a in the hand as I think of John Boston Inc. lib. Joh. Cassiani de vij collac. patrum J. xxiii. (Capitula.) Descriptio theneseos oppidi etc. Expl. capitula . . . . . 91 Inc. pref. super septem collaciones (xlix. 477). D rum virtutem profeccionis vestre The order of the quires is wrong: quire 17 (ff. 123-130) should follow f. 106: then quire 16 (115-112): then 15 (107-114). Collatio II begins 95b; III. 127; IV. 116; V. 119; VI. 107, ending imperfectly 114b: siquidem aliquos iusticie caperet III. 3. The first page of text is marked out and a title (xiv, xv in Boston's hand ?) written on it: Epistole Albini siue Alcuyni monachi ad Karolum et alios. The MS. was consulted by Jaffé and Pertz for their edition (Monumenta Alcuiniana, 1873). On p. 135 it is described as L. 'manu Anglosaxonica saeculi XI scriptus continet f. 131v-208v epistolas 20 Alcuini sed nullam ineditam.' Duemmler, MGH. Epp. Karol. II. p. 8, gives the same date. Some supplementary collation was done for him by O. Sommer and R. Priebsch. In reality I cannot conceive that it is later than cent. ix, and it can hardly be late in that century. The manuscript is a very stately production, and has not received the attention which I think it merits. The text of f. 131a is just legible. It begins in Ep. 103 (Mon. Alc. p. 434, l. 11). cursu(s) redigere [conati sunt] Ne. From 131b to 133b a scholar of cent. xvii, puzzled by the script, has interlined the words in ordinary hand, and continues to do so at intervals afterwards. Each of the Epistles whose beginning remains has a heading of two lines (or one line) of capitals, which are filled in with red, yellow, or a darker red which has gone brown. The initial is usually rather elaborate, with convoluted lines, broken at intersections, and birds' or dragons' heads. f. 170 is sewn in with an original lace of skin. The following Epistles remain. I give references to MGH. and Mon. Alc. (with pages). 1 Ep. 155 (103, 434, 11 cursus redigere, as above) . . . . . 131 f. 133 should follow 131. 2 Ep. 136 (239, p. 756) f. 134 should follow immediately on 132 . . . . . 132b 3 Ep. 110 (67, p. 307) . . . . . 144b 4 Ep. 148 (99, p. 414). The last part of this: Nuper mihi venit libellus (p. 420, l. 1), has a separate heading in two lines of ornamented capitals . . . . . 148b 5 Ep. 145 (98, p. 407). After calamo corrigendum (p. 411, l. 22) a passage occurs (found nowhere else): qua propter et aliud opus - scriptorum uero uitia illis deputentur tamen emendentur. Has uero lunarias, etc. (MGH. l.c., p. 233, l. 27 to p. 234, l. 10) . . . . . 157 6 Ep. 179 [annotation: 170] (110, p. 448) omitting the distich at the beginning and the quatrain at the end . . . . . 163b 7 Ep. 174 (114, p. 463) . . . . . 167 8 Ep. 177 (118, p. 481) . . . . . 170b 9 Ep. 178 (119, p. 484) . . . . . 174 10 Ep. 171 (111, p. 452) . . . . . 177b 11 Ep. 172 (112, p. 457). At the end is 'finit' in a notable insular hand . . . . . 182 12 Ep. 163 (254, p. 808) . . . . . 185 13 Ep. 240 (198, p. 684). The opening distich added to the closing one . . . . . 190 14 Ep. 231 (172, p. 618) . . . . . 191b 15 Ep. 238 (193, p. 676). The verses at the end have curious ornament . . . . . 193 16 Ep. 261 (205, p. 697) . . . . . 195 17 Ep. [annotation: 197] (138, p. 533) . . . . . 196b 18 Ep. 198 (124, p. 501) ends imperf. scimus caros nostros (503, l. 12) . . . . . 199 19 Ep. 131 (154, p. 574) begins imperf. iustificeris ecce (576, l. 15) . . . . . 201 20 Ep. 188 (245, p. 789) . . . . . 207 21 Ep. 307 (240, p. 765). The heading only remains . . . . . 208b There are a few corrections by an xith-cent. hand. The text, though exquisitely written, has many blunders.

9th century-14th century

Illuminated Manuscripts

Vellum

LPL [images created by the British Library]