MS 17
Hugh,, approximately 1200 - 1263 of Saint-Cher, Cardinal
On the Books of Wisdom, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs [manuscript]
Title in M.R. James catalogue: Hugo cardinalis de Vyenna super libros Salomonis
Title in Ker, MMBL: Hugo de sancto Caro, In libros Salomonis
England?, 1250-1300.
1 v. ; 316 x 215 mm.
Written in Latin.
Secundo folio: e[st] sic[ut] equus.
Material: membrane; arranged irregularly (not always FHHF).
Format: codex.
Written space: irregular; 237-242 x 142-153 mm.
Number of leaves: vi + 322 + v.
Accompanying material: the manuscript waste in this volume belongs to a codex written in England in the second half of the 14th century. Its leaves were used by Eton's binder, Williamson, in the early 17th century in this and other volumes, prompting N.R. Ker to hypothesise that they may represent the remnants of the listed item "concordaunce of ii partes" in Eton's 1465 inventory (transcribed by James, 1921, p. 443).
Collation: 1-4⁸ 5⁶ 6-9⁸ 10⁶ 11⁸ 12⁸ (wants 7, 8, blank) 13-35⁸ 36¹⁰ 37⁴ 38-40⁸ 41¹⁰.
Quire and leaf signatures and catchwords: some ad hoc pencil signatures only.
Page preparation: ruled in ink and plummet; pricking visible.
Mise-en-page: double columns (48-63 lines) in a set script written below the first ruled line. Rubrics. In-text and marginal chapter numbers in Roman numerals. Running headers. Frequent red underlinings. Some rubricated signposts. Some marginalia boxed in red rectangles. Maniculae. Medieval foliation in Arabic numerals, with frequent errors.
Decoration: red and blue pen-flourished initials. Running headers in alternating red and blue capitals.
Handwriting: northern littera textualis. Five scribes writing at the same time: (1) ff.1r-76v, 115r-153r (2) ff.77r-90v (3) ff.91r-114v; (4) ff.155r-288v; (5) ff.289r-321r.
Correction: frequent amendments, including spelling mistakes and missing sections of the text.
Marginalia, later additions: the manuscript presents many marginal notes in different contemporary and later medieval hands. Some are in the forms of schemas, others are in discursive form following a nota sign. Some words glossed in English in the hand of Robert Elyot, Vice Provost of Eton (d. January 1499), for example on ff. 307v and 314v; his final annotation on f. 321v is dated "deo gracias legi totum anno 1493. 18 die iunii claudo".
Contents: ff.v-vi, i: letter E of the Concordantiae maiores; ff.1-76v: Commentary on the Parable of Solomon; ff.77r-114v: Commentary on Book of Ecclesiastes; f.115r-153r: Commentary on Book of Wisdom; ff.153v-154v: blank; ff.155r-288v: Commentary on Book of Ecclesiastes; ff.289r-321r: Commentary on the Song of Songs; ff.321v-322v: blank.
N.R. Ker, Medieval manuscripts in British libraries, v. 2 (1977), pp. 643-644
M.R. James, A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Eton College (1895), p. 8
F. Stegmüller, Repertorium Biblicum Medii Aevi, nos. 3677, 3679, 3684, 3686, 3682
M.R. James, 'Chapel inventories', Etoniana, series I, no. 28 (1921), p. 444
Eton College Library, MS 17
Origin: probably England.
Provenance: inscription on f.322v in a late 14th/15th-century hand: "Iste est Iohannes Sydeberne et sic dixit Tomas Sugete". An erasure on f. 322v. Elyot's marginalia locates the book at Eton in the late 15th century. Former shelfmarks: Bk.2.4; Bk.5.2.
Early 17th-century calfskin over woodboards, bound for the College by Williamson of Eton (1600-1601). Covers decorated with a "frame of three bands of Herculis-Vena roll. The narrow panel is decorated with a criss-cross of diagonal fillets. The roll has been applied along the inside of the bevel. Clasps on upper cover. Chain mark on lower right edge of upper cover" (from Robert Birley's personal notes, II, n. 181). Spine rebacked by R.L. Day, decorated with blind fillets and gilt titling over red label ("H. Cardin in lib: Salomonis"); modern shelf labels ("17"; "Bk.2.4") Textblock sprinkled red. Endpapers of modern paper in addition to medieval leaves of manuscript waste (see description above). Both inner woodboards present text from the Concordaunces, impressed when the leaves were used as pastedowns.
Bible. Proverbs Commentaries Manuscripts
Bible. Ecclesiastes Commentaries Manuscripts.
Bible. Song of Songs Commentaries Manuscripts.
Bible. Wisdom of Solomon Commentaries Manuscripts.
Elyot, Robert, ? - 1499 former owner.
lat
B49966