Durham University Library Archives & Special Collections Catalogue
Rabanus Maurus, In Mattheum copied in Normandy in the late 11th century and given to Durham Priory by William of St Calais (died 1096) as part of a large gift of books at the foundation of the monastery.
Parchment
Modern pencil foliation.
I4, II-XVII8, XVIII8 (leaves 3 and 6 are singletons), XIX8; XX4 (originally a bifolium, but another bifolium from a different book was subsequently inserted within it). The original book comprised f.2-158 and 161. The blank leaf that originally concluded (c) and the book as a whole is now f.161 - owing to the intrusion of f.159-160
Two columns, 40 lines
Written by four scribes:
f.1r-3v, 6r, col. i, line 10-158v: Protogothic
f.6r, col. i, lines 1-9 (i.e. the start of (c)). ProtoGothic (also appears in DCL MS B.III.1 and DCL MS B.III.10).
Corrections by the contemporary hand that also corrected DCL MS. A.II.4 and DCL MS. B.III.1.
Augustine fragment written in Protogothic in one or two hands.
The fragment of Augustine is the remnants of one of the two copies of Augustine, De verbis domini recorded on the12th century book-list, DCD Misc Ch. 7143 (printed Mynors, p. 10-11, no. 22 or 23 - the other copy being DCL MS. B.II.18). When the book was dismembered and joined to the main parts of B.III.10 and B.III.16 is unclear.
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)
Written in France, Normandy, before 1096.
Given to Durham Priory by William of St Calais.
Inscription: “liber sancti Cuthbertj de Dunelmo”, late 12th century, f.2r, upper margin, right. Pressmark: “.A.”, later 14th century, f.2r, upper margin, centre. “A“ plus title, almost entirely cropped away, arly 15th century, f.2r, upper margin, left. In the Cloister catalogue, marked “In libraria”.
37 lines of verse, sometimes (but not explicitly here) attributed to Rabanus Maurus. f.4v-5v blank
Sermon 55 and fragment of Sermon 61. Part of the same book as DCL MS B.III.10, f.239 & 242.
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]).
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)