Durham University Library Archives & Special Collections Catalogue
Manuscript codex containing the “Old” translations of Aristotle into Latin, no doubt produced as a university text book in England towards the end of the 13th century.
Parchment: modest to low quality; variable thickness, with slits, flaws, edgecuts, and prominent follicle marks; noticeable H/F contrast. Arranged FH, HF. Mildly cockled throughout.
Modern pencil foliation.
medieval flyleaf (f.ii), a singleton, I-XX12, XXI10, XXII-XXVI12, XXVII-XXVIII10, XXIX-XXXI12, XXXII8, XXXIII12, XXXIV1
Main text-block: 157 x 90 mm. Written below top line. Lines: 27 (space, 6 mm; height of minims, 2.5+ mm). Pricking: awl. Ruling: ink. Planned for all-round glossing. The main text-block has a pair of verticals to either side. Two further narrowly-space pairs of verticals divide the outer margin into three zones; a single vertical in inner margin divides it into two zones (one very narrow, one wider). The first two and the last two horizontals are extended. A further narrowly-space pair of horizontals divides the upper margin into two zones; two narrowly-space pairs of horizontals, plus a further single horizontal divide the lower margin into four zones.
Written in Textualis semi-quadrata, neat, several different manners; heavily abbreviated. Main gloss (marginal and interlinear): cursive, compressed and very heavily abbreviated, several different manners; contemporary with the main text, much of it probably written by the main scribe(s). It is debatable which changes in manner are due to a scribe reformulating his hand and which might reflect a change in hand: consequently, the number of scribes is uncertain. The most obvious contrasts in manner within the main text script are as follows.
The explicits for items (a), (b), and (e) are placed on the bottom lines of their pages, even though the text itself ended several lines higher. Those for (d) and (f) are also on the bottom line but this is only one or two lines after the text itself ended. Those for (c) and (g), (h) and (i) are placed immediately after the end of the text, followed by blank lines to the bottom of the page. Items (j) and (k) have no formal explicit.
Further strata of glossing added, 14th century, by other cursive hands, above all in the lower margin.
Item (a) is headed by a decorated initial, 8 lines high: the letter-shape is ornamented with simple geometrical and foliate forms, set against a ground of dusky pink, blue, and gold leaf; a decorative tendril extends into the upper margin. It was clearly added after the original gloss since an area was left bare in the background panel where a gloss had been supplied.
Item (b) is headed by a red and blue initial, its main body 8+ lines high, its tail extending the entire height of the text-block, flourished busily in both colours, and dotted with little balls of gold leaf.
Items (c)-(f) and (h)-(l), as also Book divisions within the texts, are headed by red and blue initials, 5+ lines high, flourished in both colours (that for (h) Book III, f.355v, was never supplied).
Item (g) is headed by a blue initial, 5 lines high, flourished in red.
Subsections within texts are marked by single colour initials, red or blue, 2+ lines high, flourished in the other colour.
Paraphs throughout main text and primary gloss; in general, alternately red then blue, however in items (f)-(g) only the blue ones were supplied. Running headings throughout (generally giving the Book number on versos, the title of the work on rectos) in bold red and blue capitals (except on fols. 367r-374r, where only the blue components were supplied).
The apparatus to (c) includes diagrams, e.g. f.173r-176v, 178v-179v, 184v (unfinished); also 119r in (b). The gloss throughout regularly includes faces and pointing hands, spirited but of very modest artistic quality. Notable examples include the one-legged man (or contortionist) on f.169r and 192v (in both cases his hood has been articulated in blue), the red and blue hand on f.110r that was demonstrably the work of the rubricator, the head on f.110v that appears to wear a mitre, and the bold heads on f.342v and 359r.
Bound in Durham by Waghorn, 18th century; pasteboard boards (ornamented with a rolled panel adorned with corner fleurons), 5 narrow bands; 1 reused earlier metal clasp. Stain on f.iiv from the turn-in or chemise of an earlier binding
Written in England, end of 13th century.
Inscription: “Liber f-?- -?-”, 14th century, f.iir, top. Ex libris, the name erased and then covered by
“[Liber f]ratris Iohannis de Wessyngton' Monachi dunelm'”, 14th/15th century, f.iir, top. John Wessington (Washington) monk of Durham 1390-1451, prior 1416-46. The “r's Iohan'is d” was written in rasura over the personal details of an earlier ex libris inscription.
Pressmark:
“2a 10i .K.”, 15th century, f.1r, upper margin.
Contents list, end of 14th century, f.iiv, inventories all items. Three entries amplified, 15th/16th century, by Thomas Swalwell (e.g. adding “et plantis” to the original “liber de uegetalibus”), who also appended “2a 10i K” below it. Thomas Swalwell, monk of Durham c.1483-1539.
Extensive all-round and interlinear glossing to f.66v; lighter from f.67r-73r (the end of Book IX and the start of Book X); heavier again thereafter, above all from f.78v (Book XI). Much of the gloss, marginal and interlinear, was evidently copied as an integral part of the production of the manuscript, being apparently rubricated at the same time as the main text. The main apparatus in the manuscript as a whole is a reduced version of the so-called ‘Oxford’ gloss, found in ten English MSS in different forms and degrees of elaboration. Some additional glossing by at least two subsequent hands, principally in the lower margins of f.1r-3r, 66v, 74v-75r, 76v, 79r, 80v, and 84v. ‘Original’ glosses on f.39r and 39v have been erased; the additional glossing on f.79r is so faint as to suggest the same. Section and subsection numbering was added up to 58r (within Book VII), some of the numbers used on 1r-24r being very bold.
Extensive all-round and interlinear glossing throughout, done as part of the original production. Additional glossing on many pages, often in the lower margin, by the hands that annotated (a). Section and subsection numbering, some very bold, added throughout.
Extensive all-round glossing from f.169r-217r; nothing on f.217v-219r (within Book III); extensive again on f.219v-230v (later sections of Book III); almost nothing for Book IV. Additional glossing: that on early pages, often in the lower margin, is by two hands - one being one of those that annotated (a) and (b), the other a new annotator working exclusively in lead. Subsequent light annotation by different hands, including the other one active in (a) and (b) (e.g. f.232r, 235r). Added section numbering: 139 in Bk I, 112 in Bk II, 77 in Bk III, 45 in Bk IV.
The Old Translation. Heavy all-round glossing to f.246r (I.5), lighter thereafter; regular interlinear glossing throughout, much of it seemingly part of the original phase of production. Occasional light additional glossing, e.g. f.243v, 245r, 246r, 251v-252r, 255v, by hands active in (a), (b) and (c). Section numbering added throughout: 34 sections in Bk I, 24 in Bk II.
Extensive marginal and interlinear glossing throughout, copied as part of the original phase of production. No added glosses. Added section numbering: 11 in Bk I, 13 in Bk II, 5 in Bk III.
Extensive all-round and interlinear glossing to f.328r; nothing thereafter. Very faint but considerable added glossing on f.318v; short glosses added to f.320r-v, 322r-v, and 327v, Added section numbering: 21 in Bk I, 18 in Bk II.
Combines elements of old and new translations. Extensive all-round and interlinear glossing, copied as part of the original production on all pages except f.355r-v (the first leaf of quire XXXI). Occasional additional light annotation, e.g. f.341v, 342r, 347r, 348v, 350v-351v. Added section numbering: 94 in Bk I, 160 in Bk II, 68 in Bk III. Beside the unfilled space for an initial at the incipit of Bk III was added, ‘Liber 3 secundum vsum nostrum’.
Occasional gaps left within the text on f.371v, 373r, and 374r. Extensive all-round and interlinear glossing as part of the original phase of prodiction from f.363r-365v, and from 367r-371v. Added glossing on 364v-371v, 374r and 374v. Added section numbering: 23.
Extensive all-round and interlinear glossing to f.377v as part of the original production. Supplementary glossing added to f.375r, 376v, and above all 378r. Added section numbering: 9.
Extensive all-round and interlinear glossing throughout as part of the original production. Additional note of f.380r, lower margin. Added section numbering: 9.
Most of the final sentence was re-written in rasura by the original scribe. Extensive all-round and interlinear glossing throughout as part of the original production. Additional glossing on f.381r, 382v, 384v, 385r and 387r. No added numbering. f.387v, blank.
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]).
C. Burnett, "The Introduction of Aristotle’s Natural Philosophy into Great Britain: a preliminary survey of the manuscript evidence", Aristotle in Britain during the Middle Ages, ed. J. Marenbon (Turnhout, 1996), 21-50
G. Lacombe, Aristoteles Latinus Codices (Leiden: Brill, 1957)