DCL MS. B.III.14Theological miscellany
Held by: Durham Cathedral Library: Durham Cathedral Manuscripts

Composite volume made up of four parts: (A) Isidore, De summo bono, written in England (?Durham), start of 12th century (f.1-58); (B) Peter Damian, Liber dominus uobiscum, written in France or England, early 12th century (f.59-64). (C) Anon., In apocalypsin, written in France, early 12th century (f.65-122). (D) John Chrysostom, De muliere Chananaea; etc. written in France, early 12th century (f.124-160). The parts had clearly been brought together by 1395, when they are recorded in the Cloister catalogue.


Digitised: https://n2t.durham.ac.uk/ark:/32150/t2mjh343s67w.html


Physical description of manuscript
Extent: iii+163+iii f
Size: 285 mm x 180 mm

Foliation

Early modern ink foliation of main book runs: 1, [1*], 2-43, 45-130, 130*-144, 144*-154, [155a], 155-[161] (the 1*, 155a, 161 plus the *s on the original duplicate numbers being supplied subsequently in pencil). A parchment tab inscribed 16, attached to f.89.


Secundo folio: digne dicatur
Binding

Standard Tuckett binding, mid 19th century full brown calf over thick wooden boards (Charles Tuckett, binder to the British Museum, rebound many Durham manuscripts in the 19th century)


Manuscript history
ProvenanceInscription: “libri isedori de summo bono” 14th century, f.1r, upper margin; soon changed to read “primus liber isedori de summo bono capitulum primum”, and then imperfectly erased. Pressmark “E”, 14th/15th century, f.1r, upper margin, left. “Ysidorus de Summo bono De communi libraria monachorum Dunelm”, start of 15th century, f.1r, upper margin. Jotting on 11v, outer margin: “Appelby Abbelby” - possibly a reference to William of Appleby, monk of Durham c.1373-1409 (DLV, C.1001).
Part (A) is recorded in the mid 12th century catalogue, 77-78 or 406; the whole book in the 1395 Cloister catalogue 245. E.
Crude Nota marks, jottings and scribbles in the same hand(s) throughout, 15th/16th century, including: human faces (33r, 45*r, 52r, 152v), heraldic shields (51r and 85r, empty; 70v and 71r with armorials), scribbled phrases (64r, 107v), copy of initial on 65r (64v), grotesque human figures (77r, 162r), leaf (78r), ?fountain (98r), finger pointing to a scroll inscribed “Maria” (106r), IHS (110r), a church (161v).

SECTION: (flyleaves)
Physical description of section of manuscript
Support

Parchment. A reused sheet, cut down, one edge turned in, and the remainder folded down the middle to make a bifolium; bound in upside down; modern paper attached to the damaged f.iir as a strengthener.


Manuscript contents
(flyleaves)     f.iiv-iiir; 162-163
Original title: Exemplificatio de absolutio monachorum Dunelmensium AD 1310
Language: Latin

Written in documentary cursive.

(flyleaves)     f.iiiv
Modern title: List of Contents for the main volume
Date: early 18th century
Language: Latin

In the hand of Thomas Rud.

(flyleaves)     f.164
Language: Latin

A liberated paste-down of smaller dimensions (262 x 172 mmm) than the rest of the book, the verso covered in glue stains. Contents of recto. Pen trials, 14th/15th century. Icare fati memores estote parati / Iussa paterna pati medium tenuere beati / Icare nati bibis sed sine patre peribus / Iam dixi tibi bis medio tutissimus ibis [written twice]; partial alphabet.


SECTION: (A)
Physical description of section of manuscript
Support

Parchment: low quality, heavily follicle marked, noticeable H/F contrast; slight differences in size from sheet to sheet. Arranged HF, FH. Generally weathered; a thin strip cut from the bottom of f.24 and f.49. f.57 and 58 torn and repaired (the former on at least two occasions – first by sewing, then by the application of a transparent tape).

Extent: 58 f
Collation

I-II10, III12, IV10, V16

Signatures: Contemporary signatures on final verso, lower margin centres of quires II-IV (‘.ii.’, ‘.iii.’, ‘.iiii.’).
Layout

Written area: 220 x 122 mm. Lines: 39 (space, 6 mm; height of minims, 2 mm). Pricking: awl (often preserved in all three outer margins). Ruling: hard point applied directly to all or most hair sides. Double vertical bounding lines to both sides; first, third, last and antepenultimate horizontal extended.

Script

Written in Protogothic. Mainly written by three protean scribes (1, 3, and 7), with shorter contributions by two others (4 and 8) and very brief interventions by three further hands (2, 5, 6) which write a few lines within the stints of 1, and 4; the changes in hand occur mid page and do not correspond with quire or textual divisions.
1. f.1r-1v/line 26; 1v/line 30-24r/line 25.
2. f.1v/lines 27-29.
3. f.24r/line 26-34v/line 21, word 2. ?Plus corrections throughout.
4. f.34v/line 21, word 3- 35r/line 9, word 6; 35r/lines 17-34, word 5; 35v-37r/line 23, word 8.
5. f.35r/line 9, word 7-line 16.
6. f.35r/line 34, word 6-line 39.
7. f.37r/line 23, word 9-53v/line 31, word 4; 54r/lines 1-11, word 4; 54r/line 22-55v/line 24; 57r/line 5, word 8-58v.
8. f.53v/line 31, word 5-line 39; 54r/line 11, word 5-line 21; 55v/line 25-57r/line 5, word 5.

Decoration

Book I is headed by a red initial, 14 lines high, embellished with simple foliate curls; Books II and III by plain red initials, 5+ lines high; chapters by plain red initials, 3+ lines high; entries on the capitula lists by plain red initials, 1 line high.

History of section of manuscript
Creation

Written in England, Durham?, start of 12th century.


Manuscript contents
(a)     f.1r-58v
Original title: Sententiae de summo bono
Author: Isidore, of Seville, Saint, -636
Incipit: Summum bonum deus est quia incommutabilis est, et corrumpi omnino non potest
Explicit: non quos celestis aula letificandos includit
Rubric: Quod deus summus et incommutabilis sit
Language: Latin

Books I and II (f.14r) are preceded by Capitula lists (the first with numbering, the second without); Book III (f.32r) is not. The name, “Robertus” added to f.3r, margin, 15th-16th century.


SECTION: (B)
Physical description of section of manuscript
Support

Parchment: low quality; H and F sides both yellow.

Extent: 6 f
Collation

I6

Layout

Written area: 243 x 143 mm. Lines: 44 (space, 6 mm; height of minims, 2 mm). Pricking: awl (survives in outer and upper margins). Ruling: lead. Double vertical bounding lines; first two and bottom one horizontals extended.

Script

Written in Transitional late Caroline Minuscule to Protogothic; erratic and variable; probably one hand, also responsible for rubrics and corrections.

Decoration

Plain or slightly embellished red initials, 2+ lines high, head each chapter.

History of section of manuscript
Creation

Written in France or England, early 12th century.


Manuscript contents
(b)     f.59r-64r
Original title: Liber Dominus vobiscum
Author: Peter Damian, Saint, 1007?-1072
Incipit: Non ignorat sanctitatis uestre prudentia pater dilectissime, quia te non qualemcunque complicem uel amicum
Explicit: presto sunt per unitatis ecclesiastice sacramentum. Explicit Liber qui dicitur Dominus vobiscum
Rubric: Petri damiani humilis monachi liber incipit qui appellatur Dominus uobiscum. Domino leoni amore superne libertatis incluse, Petrus peccator monachus quicquid seruus et filius
Language: Latin

This copy is subdivided and numbered as follows: Prefatory letter; Patrologia Latina’s ch. 1 (unnumbered); ‘Age igitur pater nodum’ (within PL’s ch. 1: col. 233B; here numbered ‘iii’); then PL’s ch. 2 (numbered ‘iiii’); PL’s chs. 3-5 (all unnumbered); PL’s 6 (numbered ‘vi’), 7 (unnumbered, the text here beginning, ‘Faveo illis qui dicunt lapidibus aut celle tabulis ...), PL’s 8 (numbered ‘viii’), 9 (‘ix’),10 (unnumbered), 11 (numbered ‘viiii’), 12 (‘xi’), 13 (unnumbered), 14 (‘xiii’) (15 (‘xiii’), 16 (unnumbered), 17 (unnumbered), and 18 (unnumbered but entitled ‘epilogus opusculi’). f. 64v, blank.

Edited: Patrologia Latina 145, 231A-246C

SECTION: (C)
Physical description of section of manuscript
Support

Parchment: low quality; sheets of variable thickness, with pronounced H/F contrast, and prominent flaws, including a large hole within the text-block of f.68.

Extent: 58 f
Collation

I-II12, III-IV10, V8, VI6 (8 with leaves 7-8, blank, cancelled)

Catchwords: No signatures or catchwords
Layout

Written area: 226 x 124 mm. Lines: 49 (space, 5 mm; height of minims, 2 mm). Pricking: awl (survives in all three outer margins). The sheets in quire II bear two sets of prickings to guide horizontals ruling at quite different spacings, implying that these sheets were first prepared for use in a different context. Ruling: hard point, directly applied to each hair side. Double verticals flank text on both sides; first, third, last and antepenultimate horizontals extended.

Script

Written in Protogothic; two hands, the first neater than the second. 1. f.65r-76v (quire I). 2. f.77r-122r, becoming steadily less formal and untidier.

Decoration

Text headed (f.65r) by decorated initial ‘A’ , 8 lines high, the uprights formed from dragons and foliate tubes, the cross-stroke from a beast mask, a human head filling the space at the bottom; rendered in ordinary ink, it is qualitatively crude. Both eyes of the human head and one of those of the beast mask have been scratched out. The stint of scribe 2 includes sketches faced in the margins of 87r, 90v and 101v, an incomplete sketched beast in the upper margin of 105r, and beast or human heads isolating overruns on 93v, 106r, 107v, 109v, 110v, 114v, all of crude quality.

History of section of manuscript
Creation

Written in France, early 12th century.


Manuscript contents
(c)     f.65r-122r
Original title: In Apocalypsin
Incipit: Apocalypsis. Beatus iohannis apostolus a domiciano seuissimo imperatore apud pathmos insulam in exilio religatus, cum deputatus esset cum dampnatis ad secandum Marmora, habuit hanc uisionem in soncolacione
Explicit: id est remissio peccatoris data a Christo; sit cum omnibus uobis, et hoc sit cum amen, id est cum affirmatio. Expliciunt glose apocalypsis
Language: Latin

Anonymous. The Proem alone is akin to Stegmüller 1363 (Anselm of Laon). In quire I (the stint of scribe 1), subdivisions are defined are by paraphs in ordinary ink, plus ‘Cont[inuatio]’ or ‘Al[iter]’ in the margin, all by the original scribe. Also flagged similarly is ‘Ephesi’ (f.71r). Red initials, 1+ line high, then mark ‘Smirne id est smirnensium’ (f.72r), ‘Pergami id est cornnum diuisionis’ (f.73r), ‘Tyatire id est illuminacionis’ (f.74r), ‘Sardis id est pulchritudinis’ (f.75v), ‘Piladelphie id est dilectionis’ (f.76v). Immediately after the end of the text was added by an informal ?12th century hand a note on the etymology of the title: ‘Apocalipsis dicitur ab apos quod Re et Calypsos quod est Reuelo id est apocalypsis qui liber reuelationis’.


SECTION: (D)
Physical description of section of manuscript
Support

Parchment. Low quality, variable. The sheets of quire I thinner and with a more pronounced H/F contrast than the rest; those of quire III include leaves of a smaller size (258 x 178 mm). Arranged HF, FH throughout.

Extent: 41 f
Layout

Written area. quire I: 208 x 126 mm. quire II: 210 x 136 mm. quires III-IV: 218 x 156 mm. Lines. quire I: 34 (space, 6 mm; height of minims, 2 mm). quire II: 39 (space, 5 mm; height of minims, 1.5 mm). quires III-IV: 40 (space, 5-6 mm; height of minims, 2 mm). Pricking: awl. Only preserved in upper and lower margins except on the smaller sheets of quire III (which display multiple sets of prickings for horizontal rulings, implying initial preparation for a different context). Ruling. quire I: lead and ink. Double verticals flank text-block; first, third, last and antepenultimate horizontal extended. quire II: hard point, applied directly to each H side; pattern as quire I. quires III-IV: hard point, lead and ink. Single verticals flank text-block; first and last horizontals extended.

Script

Written in Protogothic hands of disparate aspect.
1.f.124r-125v.
2. f.126r.
3. f.126v-130v; marginal rubric on 137v.
4. f.130*r-131v/line 26, word 7.
5. f.131v/line 26, word 8 – 135v.
6. f.136r-160v (subsequently interrupted by 7).
7. f.155a r-v (inserted slip).

Decoration

Red initial ‘P’, slightly embellished, 10 lines high, its bowl coloured yellow heads (d)1. Embellished red initials, 3+ lines high, head (d)2, (e), (f), and (g). The incipit of (f) alone is prefaced by rubric in Rustic Capitals, crudely stroked in green.

History of section of manuscript
Creation

Written in France, early 12th century.


Manuscript contents
(d)     f.124r-136v
Original title: Sermones super Psalmum 50
Author: John Chrysostom, Saint, -407
Incipit: Pictores imitantur arte naturam et colores coloribus per miscentes uisibiles corporum depingunt imagines
Explicit: quo possumus inuenire requiem sempiternam cum sanctis eius, per christum dominum nostrum cum quo est deo patri una cum sancto spiritu honor et Gloria et imperium et potestas per immortalia secula seculorum amen
Language: Latin

Translator unknown. No rubrics. Two sermons

Citation: Stegmüller RBMA 4337.5
(e)     f.136v-141r
Original title: Sermo de muliere Chananaea
Author: John Chrysostom, Saint, -407
Incipit: Multe tempestates iniquitudo aeris sed desiderium concursus uestri non potuit
Explicit: secula seculorum amen
Language: Latin

Translator unknown. Latin version I (according to the classification of Persiani 1998). A 12th century hand has flagged the quotation ‘Et egressus inde iesus, uenit in partes tyri et sydonis, et ecce mulier …’ [Mt 15.21] on f.137v, added in the margin beside it: ‘Incipit de muliere cananea’.

(f)     f.141r-155r + 155ar-v
Original title: De reparatione lapsi
Author: John Chrysostom, Saint, -407
Anianus, Celedensis, active 415-419
Incipit: Quis dabit capiti meo aquam et oculis meis fontem lacrimarum
Explicit: quod si hec libenter relegas, alia ultra meditamenta non queras
Rubric: Incipit liber iohannis crisostom, de reparation lapsi
Language: Latin

As originally copied, the text omitted the final lines (from ‘Peribit enim si persistas in peccatis, exacerbas …’); these were supplied by a different contemporary hand on the inserted slip f.155a.

Citation: CPG 4305
(g)     f.155r-160v
Original title: Sermo de muliere forti
Author: Augustine, of Hippo, Saint, 354-430
Incipit: Prestabit nobis dominus qui istud commendauit in sanctis suis, ut infirmitas uocis nostre sufficiat intentioni uestre
Explicit: Beati qui habitant in domo tua, domine, in secula seculorum laudabant te. Amen.
Language: Latin

Microfilm
Microfilmed in 1985/86 by the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library, St John's Abbey and University, Collegeville, Minnesota. Copies held by them and Durham Cathedral Library.

Digitised material for Durham Cathedral Library MS. B.III.14 - Theological miscellany
https://n2t.durham.ac.uk/ark:/32150/t2mjh343s67w.html

Bibliography

Catalogi veteres librorum Ecclesiae cathedralis dunelm. Catalogues of the library of Durham cathedral, at various periods, from the conquest to the dissolution, including catalogues of the library of the abbey of Hulne, and of the mss.   OCLC citation, Surtees Society 7, (London: J.B. Nichols and Son, [1838]).

Geerard, M., et al., ed., Clavis Patrum Graecorum   OCLC citation (Turnhout: Brepols, 1980-)

Mynors, R.A.B., Durham Cathedral manuscripts to the end of the twelfth century. Ten plates in colour and forty-seven in monochrome. With an introduction [including a list of all known Durham manuscripts before 1200]   OCLC citation, (Durham: 1939)

Persiani, G., "Notes sur les deux antiques versions latines de l’homélie chrysostomienne de Chananaea", Classica et Mediaevalia 40 (1998), 69-93

Stegmüller, Friedrich, Repertorium biblicum medii aevi   OCLC citation (Madrid: 1950-1980)

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