Durham University Library Archives & Special Collections Catalogue
Composite manuscript made up of two separate items. (A) f.2-79 (B) f.80-90 (plus medieval flyleaf, f.1). If (B) is the “Exceptiones Isidori” on the late 12th century book-list then they were still separate then; they had certainly been brought together by 1395, recorded in the Cloister Catalogue of that year “Sex libri Ambrosii in Exameron cum Tractu de conjugio ii fo do mundum possset”.
Modern pencil foliation; an intermittent older ink foliation one in advance of the actual number.
A parchment tab inscribed “II” is attached to f.46/47
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). Stains from 4 channels in the boards (corresponding to the position of the bands) visible on both the 19th century and medieval front and end leaves.
Pressmark “.C.”, later 14th century, f.2r, top centre. Title: “C Exameron' Ambrosij de communi libraria monachorum dunelm'”, start of 15th century, f.2r, top. “15” and extended list of contents f.2r, top, in the hand of Thomas Swalwell.
(A) appears on the late 12th century Durham book-list as “Exameron Ambrosii”; (B) is possibly the “Exceptiones Isidori” there listed. Both are recorded as a single volume in the 1395 Cloister catalogue.
Parchment: stout, cream to yellow in tone with minimal distinction between H/F sides. Occasional holes and flaws. Arranged HF, FH.
flyleaf, singleton, I-II8, III6, IV-V10, VI12, VII-VIII10, IX4 (= 6 with leaves 5 and 6, blank, cancelled)
Lines: 36 in quires III-IV; 36 and 37 in quire I; 37 in quire II and V-IX (space, 5+ mm; height of minims, 2+ mm). Pricking: awl; prickings survive only in the upper, and (sometimes wholly, other times partially) in the outer margin. Ruling: hard point; direct impressions on every H side. Double verticals flank the text-block. The horizontals extended vary: in quires I-IV, the first, third, last and antepenultimate; in quire V-VI the first two, the last and the antepenultimate (or the last two); in quire VII-VIII the first two and the last two (except the innermost sheet of VIII, f.70 & 71, where it is the first, third, last and antepenultimate); in quire IX the first, last and antepenultimate.
Written in Protogothic by 4 scribes.
(b) is headed by a decorated initial “T”, 19 lines high: the upright of the letter is formed from a panel around which grows foliage; the upper and lower terminals are of interlace; the arms are defined by foliate curls inhabited (on the left) by a quadruped and a hybrid, and (on the right) by a quadruped. The details are rendered in red, green and brown, set against red, green and yellow grounds, all within a purple panel. Books II-VI are headed by red initials 5-11 lines high, embellished or arabesque, those for II and VI the largest and most elaborate (the green has penetrated the parchment.) A multi-coloured arabesque, 6 lines high, marks the citation of Genesis 1.1 in Book I. (c) is headed by a plain red “L”, 6 lines high. Areas of the red of the initial and the accompanying rubric have discoloured to a metallic grey-silver.
Written in England, first quarter of 12th century.
A contemporary reject leaf reused as a flyleaf? Written by two hands.
Text is presented as a continuous block with subdivisions marked only by a marginal rubric and the application of red to their sentence capital. Running headings give the book number. Some citations are written in Rustic Capitals. Light but persistent annotation in lead and ink by several hands, 12th-13th and 14th-15th century.
Extracts on the Heavens and the Sun. Three pieces, presented as a single block of text. f.78v-79v, blank.
Parchment: modest quality; stout and even-toned (yellow), difficult to distinguish H/F sides
I11 (irregular: 80+89, 81+88, and 82+87 are bifolia; 83 and 86 probably formed a bifolium, now split into singletons; 84 and 85 (the leaves with diagrams) were always singletons.
Written area: 209 x 134 mm. Lines: 29 (space, 6+ mm; height of minims, 2 mm). Pricking: none survive. Ruling: mainly hard point, with some direct impressions; transferred impressions on f.82r and 87r (presumably from the ruling on f.81r+88r). f.84r was ruled in lead; the ruling on f.84v is extremely faint but was probably also done in lead. Double verticals flank the text block, the first and last horizontals are extended.
Written by at least two scribes in Late Caroline Minuscule of northern French type and Protogothic of French or Low Countries type.
Each entry is headed by an initial, 1 to 2 lines lines high, generally plain occasionally slightly embellished, 2 blue, 4 green, the remainder red. Sentence capitals stroked in red throughout. Affinity diagram on f.84v is set out in columns separated by vertical red lines. The consanguinity diagram on f.85r is presented within a series of red boxes arranged in an arrow-shape.
Written in France, Flanders or England, early 12th century.
A collection of about 25 extracts of varied length on theological, pastoral and moral subjects. Lower half of f.90r and all of 90v, blank.
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)