Shelfmark
MS 15
Author
Radulphus Flaviacensis
Title
Commentary on the Book of Leviticus [manuscript]
Varying form of title
Title in M.R. James catalogue: Radulphus Flaviacensis in Leviticum : libri xx
Varying form of title
Title in Ker, MMBL: Radulphus Flaviacensis, In Leviticum
Publication, distribution, etc.
England, 1190-1200.
Physical description
1 v.: ill. ; 352 x 242 mm.
Language
Written in Latin.
Note
Secundo folio: etur & fame.
Note
Material: membrane; Gregory's rule (FHHF).
Note
Format: codex.
Note
Written space: 250 x 160 mm.
Note
Number of leaves: ii + 253 + ii.
Note
Collation: 1¹⁰ 2⁸ 3¹⁰ 4-13⁸ 14-17¹⁰ 18-19⁸ 20-27¹⁰ 28¹⁰ (wants 10).
Note
Quire and leaf signatures and catchwords: quire signatures in Roman numerals (1-6 only) and catchwords that are often trimmed out.
Note
Page preparation: ruled in plummet; pricking visible on both margins.
Note
Mise-en-page: double columns (37 lines) written in a set script above the first ruled line. The script sits just above each ruled line. Rubrics. Running headers. Marginal lines indicate in-text biblical references.
Note
Decoration: decorated initials (3-31 lines) in red, blue, and green with infills and zoomorphic motifs. Missing one such initial on f.1r: it was painted "on a special piece of parchment pasted on and later peeled off and lost: one edge, with blue ground and green frame remains" (Ker). Red, green, or blue capitals.
Note
Handwriting: littera praegothica; one scribal hand.
Note
Punctuation includes punctus flexus.
Note
Correction: few mistakes crossed out in red.
Note
Marginalia, later additions: some nota ligatures in the same hand of the main text. A 14th-century Anglicana hand added nota signs and brief signposts in plummet (e.g. f.66v). Possibly a different hand faintly added biblical references in ink in quire 13.
Formatted contents note
f.1r-3r: prologue of Ralph of Flavigny; f.3r-v: table of contents; f.3v: prologue of the commentary; f.3v-253r: commentary on the Book of Leviticus.
Citation/references note
N.R. Ker, Medieval manuscripts in British libraries, v. 2 (1977), p. 643
Citation/references note
M.R. James, A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Eton College (1895), p. 7
Citation/references note
M.R. James, 'Chapel inventories', Etoniana, series I, no. 28 (1921), p. 444
Citation/references note
Maxima bibliotheca Patrum, xvii (1677), 48-246
Citation/references note
F. Stegmüller, Repertorium Biblicum Medii Aevi, 7093
Summary, etc.
Summary: This commentary on the Book of Leviticus was written by Ralph of Flavigny, a Benedictine monk at Flaix Abbey, around 1150. This was the standard commentary on Leviticus until the middle of the 13th century, and gives instructions on ritual, legal and moral practices which are God's covenant with the Jews. (from Biblissima record of Cambridge, Trinity Hall Library, MS 2).
Cite as
Eton College Library, MS 15
Provenance
Origin: England.
Provenance
Provenance: the volume is listed in Eton's book inventory of 1465 (no. 6 in edited version by M.R. James); f.253v shows what Ker suggests to be a ?14th-century pressmark: "1a partis 2o gradu; et in sinistro". The College armorial bookplate has been glued where the first initial would have been on f.1r.
Binding
Early 17th-century calfskin over wood boards by Williamson of Eton, repaired by R.L. Day in the 1970s. Covers decorated with two sets of triple blind fillets to form a border; clasps missing. Spine with five raised bands, decorated with blind fillets and gilt titling over red label ("Rad. Monach in Leviticum"); modern labels with number 15 and previous shelfmark Bk.2.2. Textblock sprinkled red and ?purple. Endpapers of undecorated paper; two flyleaves at both ends of the textblock; original membrane pastedowns. Ker adds that f.1r shows damage from the chain attachment of an earlier binding.
Subject
Bible. Leviticus Commentaries Manuscripts.
Added entry--name
Williamson, Vincent binder.
Added entry--name
Day, R. L. binder.
Added entry--place
England.
Language code
lat
Identifier
B49826