DCL MS. B.II.10St Jerome, Epistolae
Held by: Durham Cathedral Library: Durham Cathedral Manuscripts

St Jerome's Epistolae (letters to and from Jerome and related works) that was one of the group of books donated by William of St Calais, bishop of Durham (died 1096). It was written in Christ Church Priory, Canterbury towards the end of the 11th century.

Digitised: https://n2t.durham.ac.uk/ark:/32150/t2m70795764j.html

Physical description of manuscript
Support

Parchment

Extent: i+187+i f.
Size: 333 mm x 232 mm

Foliation

Modern pencil foliation 1-186 (f.7 is followed by f.7*)


Secundo folio: differamus quod loqui
Collation

I-XXIII8, XIV3 (bifolium and singleton)

Layout

44 lines in 2 columns

Script

Table of contents and letters written in Protogothic by a Canterbury scribe, the biography of Jerome in Protogothic by a Durham scribe.

Decoration

Main work introduced by a characteristic Canterbury initial, biography by a Durham initial.

Corrections and annotation

Binding

Standard Tuckett binding, mid 19th century full brown calf over thick wooden boards (Charles Tuckett, binder to the British Museum, rebound most of the Cosin Manuscripts in the 19th century)

Manuscript history
Creation

Written in Christ Church, Canterbury, end of 11th century.

Provenance

The tenth item on the list of books donated to the Priory by William of St Calais (in DCL MS A.II.4). Recorded in the Cloister library catalogue 1395, DCL MS B.IV.46, f.22v under Libri Jeronimi C. Inscriptions f.1r: Liber Sancti Cuthberti de Dunelm (late 12th century) and C Epistole Jeronimi et vita eius (15th century). Press marks C and Pi X.

Manuscript contents
(a)     f.1r-1v
Modern title: List of contents
Original title: Capitula
Date: [before 1096]
Incipit: Epistola damasi pape ad ieronimum presbiterum
Explicit: Ad pammachium de morte Pauline
Rubric: Hec sunt capitula libri huius
Language: Latin
(b)     f.1v-183r
Modern title: Letters
Original title: Epistolae
Author: Jerome, Saint (-419 or 420)
Date: [before 1096]
Incipit: Dormientem te et multo iam tempore
Explicit: primum sequeris patriarcham Loth
Rubric: Epistola Damasi Papae ad Beatum Ieronimum
Language: Latin

A collection of letters to, by or associated with St Jerome. Mynors notes a 9/10th century version in the Vatican Library, MS Vatican lat. 355 and 356 with the same contents which may be the source, and other British copies British Library Royal 6 C. xi, Royal 6 D. ii, Royal 6 D. iii; Oxford Bodley 365 and New College 129; Cambridge University Library Dd.2.7 and Kk.2.14; Pembroke College 232; Lincoln Cathedral MS 47; Aberdeen University 11.

Edited: St Jerome, Epistulae
(b)     f.183v-186v
Modern title: Life of St Jerome
Original title: Vita Sancti Ieronimi
Author: Pseudo-Sebastian of Monte Cassino
Date: [12th century]
Incipit: Plerosque nimirum illustrium uirorum non ambigo nosse
Explicit: cuius anni nec inchoantur neque finientur in secula seculorum. Amen
Rubric: Incipit uita beati Ieronimi
Language: Latin

Biographical account of St Jerome, attributed to Sebastian of Monte Cassino, added in a different hand at Durham in the early 12th century


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 University Library.

Digitised material for Durham Cathedral Library MS. B.II.10 St Jerome, Epistolae
Digitised April 2015 as part of the Durham Priory Recreated Project
https://n2t.durham.ac.uk/ark:/32150/t2m70795764j.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]).

S. Eusebii Hieronymi opera, 1 Epistulae   OCLC citation Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, 54-56 (Vienna: Verlag der Osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1996)

Mynors, R., 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)

Index terms