Durham University Library Archives & Special Collections Catalogue
Augustine, Confessiones, De Haeresibus; Augustine, Retractationes; Ps.-Augustine, De Decem Categoriis / Categoriae X ex Aristotele decerptae, all written in England in the early 12th century. A composite volume of three contemporary parts: (A) f.ii, 1-98; (B) f.99-141; (C) f.142-169, iii; plus endleaves (f.i, 169*). Discoloration on the first and last leaves of the individual parts attests to their independent existence, and Parts A and B are probably listed separately on the late 12th century book-list (‘Duo paria de Confessionibus S. Augustini ... Retractationes augustini’), but they had all been brought together by the second half of the 12th century at the latest (contents list of that date, added to f.iiv, registers the main items of each part). With fragment from Maccabees, written in Italy in the 6th century reused as flyleaf.
Parchment
Early modern ink foliation of the main body of the book (which overlooks five leaves and jumps from 95 to 97), supplemented by modern pencil numeration of medieval endleaves and of the overlooked leaves.
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)
Contents list, later 12th century, f.iiv, registering main items of all three parts: “In hoc uolumine continentur hec. Confessiones sancti Augustini .i. Augustinus de diuersis heresibus. Retractationes sancti Augustini. Dialectica sancti Augustini. Dilectica alchwini ad karolum.”
Inscription:
“Liber Sancti Cuthberti dunelmi.”, later 12th century, f.1r, top. Probably by the hand that wrote the contents list.
Pressmark: Erased letter ? P, later 14th century, f.iiv, top left. “Q”, 14th/15th century, f.1r, top right.
(A) is too late in date to be the copy of Augustine Confessiones on St Calais’ book-list. (A) and (B) are probably listed separately on the late 12th century book list (“Duo paria de Confessionibus S. Augustini ... Retractationes augustini”. Listed as one volume in 1395 cloister catalogue.
Parchment, stout, slightly suede-like, relatively even-toned; large hole in f.66*, smaller holes in f.88. Arranged: HF, FH.
I-VII12, VIII14, IX5 (= 6 with leaf 5 [blank], after f.97, cancelled)
Written area: 166 x 86 mm. Lines: 39 (space, 4 mm; height of minims, 1.5 mm). Pricking: awl; pricking survive in all three margins. Ruling: lead. Single verticals flank the text; the first horizontal is often but not invariably extended; the others irregularly overlap the verticals.
Written in Protogothic. Dark black ink.
All three items, the books within (b) and the many chapters within (c) are headed by red, green, or red and green embellished initials, 2-4 lines high. Rubrics in red and green. Sentence capitals are often stroked in red or green.
Written in England, start of 12th century.
f.ir- iiv are blank, bar 13th century jottings on f.ir (the first illegible, the second “Dispone domui tue quia morieris” (Isaiah 38.2)), and the list of content added to f.iiv
Running heading, giving Book number in Arabic numerals, added to rectos,14th century. Many Nota marks of different periods, some very early; passages also flagged by lines topped or interrupted by a triangle of dots; also by pointing hands. 14th century annotations, e.g. f.35r, 36v, 51v, 52v, 53r, 59r, 60r, 61r.
Added Nota marks on f.94r only. Symeon of Durham, De erroribus Origenis, quoted from this copy. Most of f.94v and all of f.95r-98v, blank
Parchment, variable thickness, distinct H/F contrast. Arranged HF, FH. Horizontal strip trimmed from the bottom of f.138.
I-III12, IV8
Written area: 156 x 86 mm. Lines: 37 (space, 4 mm; height of minims, 2 mm). Pricking: knife; the prickings are generally preserved in all three margins. Ruling: Hard point; direct impression on each Hs. Single verticals flank the text-block; the first and last horizontals are extended. Pattern continues on the unused f.139-141.
Written in Protogothic; brown ink. Contemporary corrections in black ink.
Chapters are headed by plain red initials, 3-4 lines high; that at the start of the text is 7 lines high. Many sentence capitals are drawn or stroked in red
Written in England, start of 12th century.
Capitula list, f99r-v. Originally unnumbered; numbers were added and corrections effected by a contemporary hand. Contemporary chapter numbering as part of rubrication. ‘Nota’ copied as part of original transcription on f.124v beside chapter xxix. Text corrected by one or more contemporary hands. f.138r-141v, blank
Parchment, modest quality, quite stiff, noticeable H/F contrast, follicle marks, some rough surfaces, edgecuts.
I10, II12, III8 (= 12 with leaves 8 and 9 after f.169, and leaves 11 and 12 after f.iii [blank] all cancelled; f.163, 164 are glued to the bifolium 165+iii at the joint; the flyleaf f.169* and its support leaf are also glued to this joint)
Written area: 156 x 90 mm. Lines: 37 (space, 4-5 mm; height of minims, 1+ mm). Pricking: awl; prickings survive in all three outer margins. Ruling: hard point; applied directly to each Hs. Single verticals flank text-block. The horizontals extended vary.
Written in Protogothic; one scribe. A 13th/14th century correction and note on f.142r.
3-line-high initials in green embellished with red (then vice versa). 2- to 3-line high initials in red or green, some embellished with the other colour. Sentence capitals are stroked alternately in red then green throughout
Written in England, start of 12th century.
At least some of the text corresponds to marginal glosses in CCCC 206, f.24r-39v, a 10th century copy of Ps.-Augustine, De Decem Categoriis
10 hexameters
Divided into 13 sections.f.157v, blank
Six lines of prefatory verse; rubricated title, followed by main text
8 lines. Preface to Alcuin, Disputatio de rhetorica et de virtutibus. The rest of f.169v and all of f.iii, blank
Parchment
Written area: width, 180-185 mm. Two columns (width, 80 mm). Lines: 15 survive (the top of the first lost in the gutter, the bottom of the last cropped). The equivalent of a further 15 lines are missing between the bottom of col. 1 and the top of col. 2. Pricking: knife. Prickings survive in the outer (now upper) margin. Ruling: hard point. Double verticals appear to flank each column.
Written in Uncial of Italian type, regular. Brown ink. The text is set out per cola et commata in scriptura continua.
The ink initial heading chapter 7 (‘xix’) incorporates the body of a fish as its first stroke.
Written in Italy, 6th century.
The readings ‘Elucii’ for ‘Seleucii’ and ‘marimam’ for ‘maritimam’ are paralleled in Codex Amiatinus, for which, therefore, the MS from which this fragment comes was almost certainly an exemplar. ‘Elucii’ was corrected to ‘Seleucii’ in darker ink, evidently in England after the production of Amiatinus (completed no later than 716)
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)
Sharpe, R., "Symeon, Hildebert and the Errors of Origen", Symeon of Durham: historian of Durham and the North (Stamford: Shaun Tyas, 1998), ed. Rollason, 282-300