Shelfmark
MS 46
Author
Ambrose Saint, Bishop of Milan
Title
Ambrosius ; Faustus Reiensis. manuscript
Varying form of title
Title in M. R. James catalogue: S. Ambrosii quaedam
Publication, distribution, etc.
Italy, ca. 1400-1500.
Physical description
1 volume (ii, 305 leaves) : parchment, ill. (initials) ; 27.8 x 19.5 cm.
Note
A collection of pieces by or attributed to St Ambrose.
Note
Includes [1] the collection of letters in ten books (ff. 1-146v, 178v-215 with other works lying between the 77th and 78th letters); [2] 'De obitu Theodosii' (ff. 146v-156v); [3-4] two works of Pseudo-Ambrose (ff. 156v-161 and 161-162v); [5] Pseudo-Ambrose on SS. Vitalis and Agricola (ff. 162v-164); [6-7] two further works of Pseudo-Ambrose (ff. 164-176v and176v-178v); [8] ''Epistola ambrosii de consolatione Valentitiani imperatoris' (ff. 215v-227v); [9] 'liber beati ambrosii de morte fratris sui sancti satiri' (ff. 227v-263v); [10] Pseudo-Ambrose, Oratio (ff. 264-268v); [11] De incarnatione verbi (ff. 269-283); [12] De spiritu sancto (Faustus Reiensis) (ff. 283v-306). For fuller details of component parts including references to E. Dekker, Clavis patrum Latinorum, Patrologia Latina, and early printed editions, see Ker p. 684.
Note
Medieval foliation: (i, ii), 1-306, (307-8), skipping numbers after ff. 153, 221 and 302; f. i is a contemporary fly-leaf.
Note
Items [1], [9-12] are listed by the main hand in red ink on f. ii under the heading 'Hi libri in pr[a]esenti conscribitur uolumine' and giving leaf numbers, treating the double opening as the unit e.g. f. "2" to signify ff. 1v and 2r.
Note
In the collected letters, spaces for Greek were left blank and filled later only on ff. 21v-22.
Note
Written space: ca. 185 x 120 mm.
Note
30 long lines.
Note
Ruling with a hard point.
Note
Collation: 1-22¹⁰ 23⁶ (ff. 223-8) 24-30¹⁰ 31¹⁰ wants 10, blank: 10 is pasted to the binding.
Note
Upright humanistic script by a named scribe (see below) who wrote 'ihesus' (not 'iesus') and often misused æ; the addition of a passage on the margin of f. 215 is perhaps in his non-humanistic hand.
Note
8- and 3-line initials in gold on blue, red and green grounds, decorated with white vine interlace and dots in groups of three, in the Florentine style of ca. 1435-1440; similar to those in Magdalen College, Oxford, MS 76.
Note
A gay bird in the margin on f. 1.
Note
Secundo folio: ergo mensura.
Note
Rebound at Eton in the early 17th century.
Note
Written in Italy (possibly Rome) by the same scribe as Magdalen College, Oxford, MS 59 (Ambrose, De fide) and MS 76 (which has the same dimensions of written space). Signed on f. 268v: 'Si vis scire lector: quis astitit litteræ scriptor. Alamanum signa. Iohannem de Rodenberga'; presumably the 'Ioannes Lamperti de Rodenberg' who signed Vat Lat. 1801 with the date Rome, 1452 and signed Vat. Lat. 1812 'Iohannes Rodenbergh'.
Note
At Eton by 1601 on the evidence of the binding.
Note
Former Eton shelfmark: Bk.4.10
Note
This catalogue record is based on the work of Neil Ker and M.R. James, as cited in the references below.
Citation/references note
Ker, N. R.. Medieval manuscripts in British libraries, v. 2 (1977), p. 684-685
Citation/references note
James, M. R. A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Eton College (1895), 46
Cite as
Eton College Library, MS 46
Provenance
Possibly given by Sir Henry Wotton (1568-1639), provost of Eton 1624-1639, whose collection of manuscripts, many acquired in Venice, was left to the college.
Binding
Early 17th century English calf; bound by Williamson.
Subject
Theology Manuscripts.
Added entry--name
Faustus, of Riez
Added entry--name
Wotton, Henry (), 1568 - 1639 Sir former owner.
Added entry--name
Williamson, Vincent bookbinder.
Added entry--place
Italy Rome?
Language code
lat
Identifier
B49996