Durham University Library Archives & Special Collections Catalogue
Composite manuscript made up of two main parts: (A) Peter of Poitiers, Quaestiones super sententias. (B) Anonymous, In libros Sententiarum plus fly and endleaves composed of medieval documents (Durham Priory accounts). Brought together by 15th century (addition of “cum multis aliis” to list of content on f.3r); the flyleaves (f.1-2 had been prefixed to them by 1484x94 (witnessed by the John of Auckland inscription on f.2v).
Modern pencil foliation.
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). Parchment tab, labelled 12, stuck to f.83. Pair of green-stained holes near fore-edge of f.1 possibly from fixtures for clasp on an earlier binding.
Shelfmark: “.N.” - altered, later 14th century, f.3r, top right. “.V.”, 14th/15th century, f.3r, top right.
“Questiones super sentencias 2o fo propositio categorica”, early 15th century, f.3r, top; to which “cum multis aliis” was added mid 15th century. Amplified 15th/16th century by Thomas Swalwell, monk of Durham: “questiones summarie de diuinis nominibus et super 4or libros senteciarum”.
“Iste liber Assignatur Nouo Armoriolo In Claustro Dunelm′ Ecclesie Per Venerabilem Patrem Magistrum Iohannem Auklande, Priorem [Ecclesie - deleted] Eiusdem Ecclesie;”, end 15th century, f.2v. John Auckland, prior 1484-1494; to which “T” was appended, 15th/16th century.
Recorded in the 1392 and 1416 Spendement catalogues.
Parchment
Written in Anglicana of different degrees of formality.
Written in Durham, 1348-1350.
The stub, f.2*, unidentified account fragment.
Parchment: modest quality with noticeable H/F contrast, occasional edgecuts, flaws, follicle marks on H sides. Arranged HF, FH.
I-V8, VI9 (8 + a singleton [f.47] after leaf four, sewn in via a counterstub which is also glued at the joint to f.48), VII-IX8, X5 (=6 with leaf 6, blank, cancelled).
Written area: 250 x 155-7 mm. Two columns (width, 73 mm). Lines: 53 (space, 4 mm; height of minims, 1.5). Pricking: awl. Pricked in both side margins for the horizontal rulings. Prickings invariably survive in the inner margin, sometimes in the outer, occasionally in the upper, never in the lower. Ruling: lead. Double verticals flank both column (three in total in the intercolumnar space). First two and last two horizontals extended.
Written in Textualis semi-quadrata, functional, variable; intermittent extension into the abutting margin of the ascenders or descenders of letters in the top or bottom line or at the start of a line. One scribe; also responsible for the chapter headings, done in red in the same script. Subsections marked by paraphs in ordinary ink.
Spaces reserved for chapter initials, 2 lines high, remained unfilled (those at the general incipit, f.1r and Book IV, f.57r, were crudely added by much later hands); guide-letters survive in some margins.
f.46r, late medieval annotation; also ‘Nota’s (e.g. f.52r, f.73v)
Written in England, early 13th century.
Book (Distinctio) II starts on f.26r, III on f.42r, IV on f.57r, and V on f.71r. A gap of 11 lines left blank between ‘... ut dicit hilarius hereticum facit.’ and ‘Postremo queritur an uiri sancti possunt dare spiritum sanctum ...’ in I.37, though nothing is missing. Generally similar to DCL MS B.IV.25, section 1. Occasional annotation (principally Nota marks) from f.46r onwards, 15th century?. f.80v, blank.
Parchment: modest quality with pronounced H/F distinction; flaws, pronounced follicle marks. Arranged FH, HF.
I-V12, VI16. First leaves: 81, 93, 105, 117, 129, 141. x
Text-block: 235 x 170 mm. Two columns (75 mm). Lines: 70 (space, 3+ mm; height of minims, 1+ mm). Pricking: knife. Prickings preserved in all three outer margins. Ruling: ink. Single verticals at outer edges of columns; three in total in the intercolumnar space; first two and last two horizontals extended.
Written in Textualis libraria, cursive, compact, akin to a documentary hand. Probably a single scribe. Substantial parts of the text on f.85r, f.86v, and f.89r were retraced by the original scribe.
In quires I, IV-V incipits were marked merely by 1-line-high initials in ordinary ink. In quires II-III and VI spaces were reserved for modestly enhanced initials (4 lines high at start of Book II, 2-3 lines high for distinctions) but they remained unfilled. Red paraphs were supplied on f.105r + f.116v and f.141r + f.156v (the outer faces of the outer sheet of quires III and VI respectively). Two sketches resembling Gothic windows on f.142v, lower margin.
Written in England, early 14th century.
Does not obviously match any item in Stegmüller. Book I breaks off imperfect within Distinctio 24 (f.92v, the end of quire I, its unanswered catchword attesting to one or more lost quire(s) thereafter). Book II starts on f.93r and finishes on f.104v (i.e. corresponding to quire II). Book III begins on f.105r (the start of quire III - its unanswered catchword attesting to one or more lost quire(s) thereafter). f.117r-122v (the start of quire IV) have an extended diagrammatic listing of key themes and their subdivisions, the various elements linked by lines. Discussion of Book III recommences on f.123r (Iam nunc his intelligendis. Determinauit ...), Book IV begins on f.132v. Occasional Nota marks (including hands and faces) probably contemporary with the text, e.g., f.82v, f.98v, f.113v, f.123r inner margin; some of later date (e.g. f.123r outer margin).
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]).
Stegmüller, F., Repertorium Commentarium in Sententias Petri Lombardi (Würzburg: Schöningh, 1947)