Durham University Library Archives & Special Collections Catalogue
Glossed Gospels, written in France or England in the early 13th century, consisting of four broadly matching parts - one for each gospel - plus contemporary endleaves. An additional preliminary quire (f.1-4) was prefixed to the volume, presumably after the note of donation by Henry of Melsonby had been added to the original front-leaf, in the 13th century, but probably not long thereafter given that the principal scribes of the extra leaves, whose hands look to be early/mid 13th century, contributed copious supplementary glosses to the original pages; the preliminary quire had certainly been added by mid 14th century when a title for the content of the original core was written on its first page.
Parchment
Modern pencil foliation
I (added quire)4 (structure unclear, but seemingly a bifolium, followed by two singletons (a pair of leaf stubs between f.2 and 3, and of another pair after f.4 suggest that the singletons might have been a quaternion from which the first two and the last four leaves have been lost or cancelled), II-IX8, X9 (= 10 with leaf 10 cancelled), XI-XVI8, XVII3 (= 4 with leaf 4 cancelled), XVIII-XIX8, XX6, XXI-XXXII8, endleaves = singleton within a bifolium. The irregular quires X and XVII are the end of Matthew and Mark respectively.
Written area (of main gospel text plus gloss): 255 x 142 mm. Generally written below top line. In the added first quire, the written area varies: items (a)-(d) f.1r-2v, 265 x 212 mm (2 columns, width 98 mm); items (e)–(f), f. 3r, 288 x 188 mm (3 columns, width, 62 mm); item (g), f.3v-4r, 286 x 220 mm (4 columns of 28, 74, 14, and 82 mm wide respectively). Lines. Gospel text: varies from 18-28, most commonly 26. Gloss in main written area: up to 50. In the added first quire, f.1r-2v (items (a)-(d)) have 53 lines (space, 5 mm; height of minims, 1.5 mm), f. 3r-4r (items (e)-(g)) have 55.
Pricking: knife in Mark, Luke and John; awl in Matthew and in the added first quire. Throughout, the pricking for the horizontal rulings was done in both side margins. Prickings regularly survive in all four margins.
Ruling. Ink. The main text area was laid out according to ‘third phase’ or ‘complex’ glossed book principles, in which the line length of the gospel text (which is written every other line) and the gloss (written every line) changes from page to page and line to line. Wide margins on all sides were used for further strata of glosses, a single column being defined in the inner side margin, two columns in the outer margin. In Mark, Luke and John the basic ruling grid comprises five pairs of verticals, plus single outer ones (all running the length of the page), thereby defining: a main text block of three zones, flanked by an inner margin of one zone, and an outer one of two zones. The horizontals run right across the main text area and sometimes continue into the side margins; all four margins may have extra horizontals added in lead. A further horizontal at the very top and another at the very bottom of the page (surviving on e.g. f.158r) delimit the zones for additional glosses in the upper and lower margins. In Matthew’s Gospel only the single verticals at the outer edges of the margins and the double verticals flanking the main text area extend the full length of the page (the others, much fainted, are confined within the main text area). In the added preliminary quire, the medium and pattern vary from text to text. f.1r-2v, ruled in ink, have double verticals flanking both columns (three in total in the intercolumnar space); no horizontals extended. f.3r (lead) has four pairs of verticals defining three columns, plus an additional single vertical bisecting the outer margin; the first two, middle two and last two horizontals are extended. f.3v-4r (ink) have five pair of verticals defining four columns; otherwise as f.3r.
1. f.1r-2v (items (a), (b), (d)) plus many supplementary glosses in (h) and (j)-(l). Textualis libraria, compact.
2. f. 1r (item (c)). Informal semi-cursive
3. f.3r-4r (items (e)-(g)) plus many supplementary glosses in (h) and (j)-(l). Textualis libraria
4. f.5r-77r ((h): Matthew). The gospel text is written in Textualis quadrata, 4 mm high, the primary gloss in Textualis semi-quadrata, 2 mm high. The minims of the gospel text are suspended from the head-line; those of the gloss sit midway between the rulings; sentence capitals in the gospel text are 2 lines high (the quires by this scribe are also distinguished from those of Scribe 5 by the implement used for the pricking).
5. f.78r-127v, 129r-206v, 208r-246v ((j)-(l): Mark, Luke, John). Textualis semi-quadrata for both gospel text and primary gloss. The minims of the former (3-4 mm high) tend to be placed midway between the rulings. Sentence capitals in the gospel text are 1 line high.
Further glossing hands of differing degrees of formality, 13th century onwards.
A flourished initial, 9+ lines high, heads the first Matthew preface (f.5r), Matthew’s gospel incipit (f.7v), Mark’s preface (f.78r), the first Luke preface (f.129r), John’s preface (f.207r - with incorrect letter), and John’s gospel incipit (f.208r). Most are either red or blue, flourished in the other colour; however, that for John’s preface is red and blue flourished in both colours, while those for the Matthew and Mark prefaces are set against mauve panels. A 9-line-high space reserved for the initial ‘Q’ for Luke’s gospel remained unfilled; ‘uoniam’ was written in 3-line-high red capitals. Mark’s gospel incipit and the second Luke Preface are written in red capitals, 2+ lines high. The other Matthew prefaces are headed by 2-line-high initials, alternately red then blue, flourished in the other colour. Within Matthew, subdivisions in the gospel text are marked by 2-line-high initials, alternately red then blue (Christi autem at 1.18 merely has an ordinary ink sentence capital). Within Mark, subdivisions in the gospel text and all major blocks of marginal gloss are headed by a 2-line-high initial, alternately red then blue. Within Luke, subdivisions in the gospel text are marked by red or blue initials, 4 lines high, flourished in the other colour; between f.141v-206v each main block of marginal gloss is headed by a 2-line-high initial, alternately red then blue. Within John, chapters in the gospel text are headed by a flourished initial or a coloured capital, as are certain other divisions within the gospel text plus a few sections of gloss.
18th century full brown calf over boards, 2 metal clasps. A rust stain at the centre fore-edge of f.1-5 indicates a clasp fixture on an earlier binding.
Written in England or France, early 13th century.
Inscriptions: “Liber sancti cuthberti de dunelm ex dono magistri Henrici de Melsaneby”, earlier 13th century, f.5r, upper margin. Henry of Melsonby, brother of Master Alan (see DCL MS B.I.33); between c. 1200 and 1237 he was presented to churches in Yorkshire and elsewhere by Durham Cathedral Priory.
“.A. iiijor Ewangelia Glosata. [Cymbolum – deleted]”, mid 14th century, amplified 15th/16th century by Thomas Swalwell with “Cimbolum apostolorum glo”, f.1r, upper margin (Piper 1978, plate 62).
“.A.”, later 14th century
“Quatuor euangelia glosata. de communi libraria monachorum dunelm”, early 15th century, f.5r, upper margin.
“13”, 15th/16th century(?), f.1r top right.
In Cloister catalogue.
With four alternatives arranged on separate lines.
A 15th/16th century hand (?Thomas Swalwell) added “beati pauperes spiritu et cetera” beside the seventh verse, and supplied a series of braces grouping the lines into seven separate entries.
Some original underlining of lemmata. Much subsequent underlining and annotation 15th/16th century ?by Thomas Swalwell
106 lines (the first 14 lines also appear in DCL MS A.IV.10)
These items run on directly from (e), probably written by the same scribe.
1: (2 lines) is the entry on ‘Cur deus flagellat’ from William de Montibus’s Versarius (Goering 1992, p. 414)
2: (6 lines) are the distichs that appear as a gloss on Gratian’s Decretum concerning impediments to matrimony (causa xxvii, q. 1); the concluding rubric was supplied by the same scribe but writing to a smaller gauge.
Each comprises: occasion (in red), incipit (the initial letters alternately red then green), and chapter reference; any spaces between the different elements are filled with wavy red lines. Otherwise largely confined to apostles etc., the proper of the sanctorale includes Cuthbert (the prescribed reading being, ‘Sint lumbi uestri’: Lk 12.35), Benedict (‘Dixit simon petrus ad iesum. Mt cxcvi’: presumably Mt 19.27), Oswald (‘Si quis uenit’: Lk 14.26), and the translation of Cuthbert ‘Vigilate quia nesciens’: Mt 25.13), pointing to production in Durham. f.4v is blank.
Extensive marginal glossing added throughout by several hands,13th century onwards, mainly in ink, occasionally in lead. f.77v is blank.
Added to the outer margin beside the bottom of column ii in Textualis semi-quadrata, compact. Eighteen lines, the last two separated slightly from the rest on account of having to be written below a pre-existing gloss on the main text.
Extensive marginal glossing added throughout by several hands, 13th century onwards. f.128r-v is blank.
Extensive marginal glossing added throughout by several hands, 13th century onwards. The bottom of f.206v is blank.
Extensive marginal glossing added throughout by several hands, 13th century onwards.
Bloomfield, Morton W., Guyot, Bertrand-Georges, Howard, Donald R. and Kabealo, Thyra B., Incipits of Latin works on the virtues and vices, 1100-1500 A.D. Including a section of incipits of works on the Pater noster 
(Cambridge, Mass.: Mediaeval Academy of America, 1979)
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.
,
Surtees Society 7, (London: J.B. Nichols and Son, [1838]).
de Hamel, Christopher, Glossed books of the Bible and the origins of the Paris book
trade , (Woodbridge, Suffolk, England: Boydell Press,
1984)
The Durham Liber Vitae. London, British Library, MS Cotton Domitian A.VII. Edition and digital facsimile with introduction, codicological, prosopographical and linguistic commentary, and indexes; including the Biographical register of Durham Cathedral Priory (1083-1539) edited by David and Lynda Rollason (London: British Library, 2007)
Goering, J., William de Montibus (c. 1140-1213) The schools and the literature of pastoral care , (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1992)
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] ,
(Durham: 1939)
Piper, A.J., "The libraries of the monks of Durham " in Parkes, Malcolm B. and Watson, Andrew G., Medieval scribes, manuscripts & libraries: essays presented to N.R. Ker (London: Scolar Press, 1978), 213-249
Stegmüller, Friedrich, Repertorium biblicum medii aevi , (Madrid: 1950-1980)