DCL MS. A.III.7Peter Lombard, Commentarium in Psalmos
Held by: Durham Cathedral Library: Durham Cathedral Manuscripts

Peter Lombard's Commentarium in Psalmos, written in Northern France (probably Paris) in the early-mid 12th century, presented to Durham Priory as part of a larger gift of books by Hugh de Puiset, bishop of Durham and as the inscriptions show still being used by named Durham monks in the 14th century.

Digitised: https://n2t.durham.ac.uk/ark:/32150/t2m8623hx72s.html

Physical description of manuscript
Support

Parchment

Extent: i+248+i f
Size: 355 mm x 255 mm

Foliation

Modern pencil foliation 1-247 (misnumbering led to 167 and 167*)


Secundo folio: -nem ab omni malo
Collation

flyleaf, I-XXX8, XXXI7 (=8 with leaf 8 [probably blank] lost or cancelled)

Catchwords: Contemporary catchwords (often lost or trimmed, they are reasonably well preserved on quires I, VI, VIII, X, XVI, and XXII).
Signatures: Contemporary signatures (Roman numerals “I”-“XVIIIJ” between dots, final verso, lower margin, centre) on quires I-XIX.
Layout

50 lines in 2 columns

Script

Written in Protogothic by a single scribe

Decoration

Decorated initials mark the major divisions of the Psalter, other psalms have 4-line high initials.

Authorities are named in red in the side margins (ag'’, amb', ca , ier'), linked to the relevant word by red sigla (Augustine, a single red dot; Cassiodorus, a dot under a dash; Ambrose, two dots side by side; Jerome, two dots one above the other), and occasionally with red lines extending down the margin. The psalms were numbered in the 14th century in Arabic numerals beside their incipits; the same hand supplied the numbers as a running heading on the rectos.

Binding

Standard Tuckett binding, mid 19th century full brown calf over thick wooden boards, with the original blind-stamped leather covers laid in (Charles Tuckett, binder to the British Museum, rebound most of the Cosin Manuscripts in the 19th century)

Manuscript history
Creation

Written in Northern France, Paris (?), second quarter of 12th century.

Provenance

Inscriptions: Liber Hugonis Episcopi, Psalterium glosatum, 12th/13th century, f.1v, top, identifying this as one of the books given to the Priory by Bishop Hugh de Puiset.
Liber sancti Cuthbertj., 12th/13th century, f.2r, upper margin, right.
Pressmark .K., late 14th century, and title Psalterium glo de communi libraria monachorum dunelm, early 15th century, f.2r, upper margin, left.
Inscription liber Roberti de brakenbiri ex dono Emerici de lumlei, mid 15th century, f.2r.

Manuscript contents
SECTION: (a)     f.2r-246v
Modern title: Commentary on the Psalms
Original title: Commentarium in Psalmos
Author: Peter Lombard, Bishop of Paris,‏ ‎approximately 1100-1160
Date: [second quarter of 12th century]
Incipit: Cum omnes prophetas spritus sancti reuelatione constet esse locutos
Explicit: Vite eterne vox est. Omnis spiritus laudet dominum; amen
Language: Latin
Edited: Peter Lombard, Commentarium in Psalmos

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. A.III.7 - Peter Lombard, Commentarium in Psalmos
Digitised October 2013 as part of the Durham Priory Recreated Project
https://n2t.durham.ac.uk/ark:/32150/t2m8623hx72s.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]).

Peter Lombard, Bishop of Paris, approximately 1100-1160, Commentarium in Psalmos   OCLC citation, Library of Latin Texts A (Turnhout: Brepols, 2010)

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