DCL MS. A.II.12Commentary on Psalms 51-100
Held by: Durham Cathedral Library: Durham Cathedral Manuscripts

Commentary on Psalms 51-100 in French, volume II of III, companion to DCL MS A.II.11 and 13, the only complete copy of this work, a French Psalter commentary compiled for Laurette d’Alsace (died 1170). In format and presentation it matches A.II.11 but not A.II.13.

Digitised: https://n2t.durham.ac.uk/ark:/32150/t2m4f16c2893.html

Physical description of manuscript
Support

Parchment

Extent: i+213+i f
Size: 335 mm x 234 mm

Foliation

Modern pencil foliation.


Secundo folio: les pains
Collation

flyleaf, I7 (=8 lacks leaf 1 before fol. 2) II-XXVI8, XXVII6 ((=8 with leaves 7-8 [doubtless blank], cancelled)

Catchwords: Contemporary catchwords on final versos, lower margin, left (in quireVII the catchword was repeated by a later, possibly 14th century, hand).
Signatures: Contemporary signatures (Roman numeral flanked by dots) on final versos, lower margin, centre. Leaf numbering on versos in the first half of quires I-VIII, XII, and XVIII; leaf numbering on rectos in the first half of quires XIV-XIX and XXVII; leaf lettering on versos in the first half of quire XVII.
Layout

Written area: 278-284 x 190 mm. 38 lines in 2 columns (width, 88 mm).

Script

Written in Textualis semi-quadrata, grander for the Latin lemmata than for the French commentary; varies both in size and regularity. The writing is generally placed above, rather than on the rulings. Number of hands uncertain, perhaps two changing between f.64r and f.64v, the script of the first slightly more compact than that of the second; the second is broadly similar, though not identical, to DCL MS A.II.11, scribe 1.

Decoration

The initial for Psalm 51 is lost. A 4- or 5- line-high initial in blue or red and blue, adorned with foliate curls in yellow and green against a brown ground, marks Psalms 52 (f.5v), 68 (f.101v), 80 (f.153v). All other Psalms (including 97, f.203v) are headed by a 2+ line high initial, blue flourished in red or vice versa. Each Latin verse is headed by a 1- to 2-line high initial, alternately red flourished in blue, then vice versa (exceptionally on f.151v, red flourished in blue alternates with pink flourished in red). On f.204r, Psalm 97.5, “Iubilate deo omnis terra ...” is marked by a 6-line high blue I flourished in red and green. Sentence capitals are stroked in dull yellow.

Corrections and annotation

Some Nota marks copied as part of the original transcription, e.g. f.25r, f.39v, f.47v. Light but regular added marginalia, probably 13th century, principally crosses (common in the first half of the book, rarer thereafter), but occasionally Nota marks or words and phrases, sometimes repeating parts of the main text, one (f.67v) accompanied by a crude drawing of a bird.

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). A pair of rust-ringed holes in the centre of f.213 from the metal fixtures for a clasp on an earlier binding.

Manuscript history
Creation

Written in England or France, early 13th century.

Provenance

The claim that the set as a whole “was made and held at Durham Cathedral during the episcopacy of Hugh de Puiset” and “was in all likelihood made for De Puiset himself” (Rector 2010, p.20) ignores the fact volumes I and II almost certainly, and volume III indubitably, postdate du Puiset (d. 1195), and that no such work appears on the list of his books that came to Durham Cathedral Priory.

Inscriptions: “Iste liber \constat/ Priori et Conuentui Dunelm' ecclesie, et liberatur domino Rob[erto – concealed in the gutter] de Hilton' in custodia, quicumque istum librum, a dicta ecclesia alienauerit indignacionem dei omnipotentis et beati Cuthberti se nouerit incursurum”, mid 14th century, f.1v, top.
“psalterium in gallico a psalmo quid gloriaris usque psalmum domine exaudi le primer”, later 14th century, f.1r, top.

Doubtless 1392 and 1416 Spendement catalogues “O. Secunda pars Psalterii glo, in gallico, ii fo les paynes”, despite different spelling in secundo folio reference.

Manuscript contents
(a)     f.2-218r
Modern title: Commentary on Psalms 51-100
Incipit: les pains as proueires e recent lespere golie signefie kil fud reis et sacerdos
Explicit: qui cum deo patre et spiritu sancto uiuit et regnat deus per omnia secula seculorum, amen
Language: French
Language: Latin

The start of the commentary on Psalm 51.1 is lacking, owing to the loss of a leaf before f.2.

Edited: Dean 1999, no. 452

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 A.II.12 - French psalter commentary part 2 Psalms 51-100
Digitised July 2018 as part of the Durham Priory Recreated project
https://n2t.durham.ac.uk/ark:/32150/t2m4f16c2893.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]).

Dean, Ruth J., Anglo-Norman Literature: a guide to texts and manuscripts   OCLC citation (London: Anglo-Norman Text Society, 1999)

Liebman, C. J., The Old French psalter commentary: contribution to a critical study of the text attributed to Simon of Tournai   OCLC citation ([USA]: W. F. Humphreys, 1982).

Rector, G., "The Romanz Psalter in England and Northern France in the Twelfth century: production, mise-en-page and circulation", Journal of the Early Book Society 13 (2010), 1-38

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