Shelfmark
MS 97
Main entry--uniform title
Pseudo-Isidorian decretals.
Title
Decreta Romanorum pontificum, etc. manuscript
Publication, distribution, etc.
Exeter?, between ca. 1100 and ca. 1125.
Physical description
1 volume (iii, 358 leaves) : parchment, ill. (initials) ; 43 x 32.5 cm.
Note
The decretals of Pseudo-Isidore, a compilation of forged and genuine decretals, councils, &c., closely related to St. Omer, MS 289 and to the much later 15th-century copy of English provenance now at the British Library, Royal MS 11 D IV which contains the 11 items in the Eton MS in a different order, and tables of chapters not present in the Eton MS.
Note
Constituent items are identified and described more fully in Ker as cited in the references below, and with references to the British Library copy (henceforth "BL Royal") and to P. Hinschius (ed.), Decretales Pseudo-Isidorianae et Capitula Angilramni, 1863.
Note
[1] f. iii: 'Ordo epistolarum uel decretorum', a table of contents of item 6, with the same heading and in the same 14th-century hand as Exeter Cathedral, MS 3512 item 4; verso blank. Corresponds to item 11 in BL Royal.
Note
[2] f. iv verso: 'Incipiunt nomina xi regionum', f. iv recto is blank.. Corresponds to item 12 in BL Royal.
Note
[3] ff. 1-4 The preface of Pseudo-Isidore followed by the letters of Aurelius and Damasus and 'ordo de celebrando Concilio'. Corresponds to item 4 in BL Royal; Hinschius, pp. 17-24.
Note
[4] ff. 4-5: Breviarium or table of contents, following the heading in two numbered series, I-LXXX and I-L. The latter is also repeated as item 6. Corresponds to item 1 in BL Royal; Hinschius, pp. 25- 27.
Note
[5] f. 5: Note and letter of S. Jerome ('Gloriam sanctitatis') concerning the Canones Apostolorum. Corresponds to BL Royal, item 5; Hinsch. p. 27.
Note
[6] ff. 5-86v: Decretals from parts I, II of the original text, from the first of Clement to the end of the (first) preface to the Council of Nicaea. Corresponds to BL Royal, item 6; Hinsch. pp. 27, 30-257. Eight leaves are missing after f. 54.
Note
[7] ff. 86v-87v: 'Item. incipiunt capitula decretalium venerabilium apostolicorum sancte romane sedis ecclesie': table of 138 (altered to 139) chapters, much added to and emended in the 15th century, giving contents of item 8a-c, with leaf references added. Corresponds to BL Royal, item 2; Hinschius, pp. 445-8 lists only chapters 116 (117).
Note
[8] (a) ff. 88-232: Papal decrees, Silvester I-Gregory I ; (b) ff. 232-235: Capitula Angilramni ; (c) f. 235rv: Council of Rome, AD 1059 ; (d) ff. 235v-236: Council of Rome, AD 1059 and Berengarius' retractions ; (e) f. 236rv: Berengarius' retraction at the Council of Rome, AD 1079. Corresponds to BL Royal, items 7-8. Single leaves missing after ff. 201 and 204. Marginalia described in Ker.
Note
[9] (a-c) ff. 237-239v: Lists of 47 synods and councils, of provinces, and of 115 cities in 15 provinces ; (d) ff. 239v-241: repeats the 'ordo de celebrando Concilio' in item 3 ; (e) f. 241rv: the preface to the Collectio Hispana as printed in Patrologia Latina, vol. 84:91, with an interpolated reference to Gratian's Decretum ; (f) ff. 241v-242: gives the contents of item 11 and at the end, three pieces not in item 11 and therefore here marked "va cat"; with 15th-century additions and emendations ; (g) f. 242rv: list of 101 papal letters, nearly the same list as in item 7 ; (h) f. 242v: 'Decreta Romane sedis de recipiendis et non recipiendis'. Corresponds to BL Royal, item 9.
Note
[10] f. 242v-244: Canones apostolorum, with table of capitula, the capitula and metrical preface to the first Nicene Council. Corresponds to BL Royal, item 10 (a); Hinschius, pp. 27-30.
Note
[11] ff. 244v-364: Canons of Councils from Nicene I to Seville II. Corresponds to BL Royal, item 10; Hinschius, pp. 257-444. Laves 364v-366v are blank.
Note
Folios i (formerly pasted down) and ii (a bifolium) are leaves from letter C ("Carcer-Carnes" and "Cibus-Circumdatus") of the Concordantiae maiores (Stiegmüller, no. 3605), written in England in the second half of the 14th century; other fragments used in the binding are from letters B and C. 24 more or less complete leaves and 4 strips survive in this form as used by the Eton bookbinder Williamson in 1600-1601 and other years in binding 9 manuscripts and 2 printed books. These may correspond to the 'concordaunce of ii partes' listed in the Eton inventory of 1465. See Ker, p. 635 and Etoniana, ser. 1, no. 28 (1921), p. 443.
Note
Folio iii is a medieval flyleaf.
Note
Foliated i-iv, 1-21, 21, 22-54, 63-98, 100-201, 203-4, 206-325, 325, 326-66: the foliation from 1 to 366 follows the medieval foliation in its three errors and takes into account the quire missing after f. 54 and the two leaves missing from quite 23.
Note
The foliation excludes paper endleaves added in 1973.
Note
Written space: 322 x 217 mm.
Note
Two columns of 43-45 lines.
Note
Ruling with a hard point.
Note
Collation of ff. i-iv, 1-366: 1-24⁸ 25⁸ wants 3 after f. 201 and 6 after f. 206 26-30⁸ 31⁶ (ff. 248-53) 32-37⁸ 38⁶ 39-45⁸ 46⁴ (4 was pasted down).
Note
Quires 1-45 numbered at the end I-[VII], [VIIII]-XLVI.
Note
The title, in capitals, is magnificent, and the initials, in red and green, are very bold; the largest are 7-12 line initials on ff. 5rv and 88.
Note
Headings in red and green; incipits often in alternate lines of red and green capitals.
Note
Secundo folio (f. 1): tes viii.
Note
Rebound at Eton in the early 17th century on the evidence of the medieval endleaves noted above.
Note
Marks on ff. iv, 1-4 show that a former binding had bosses.
Note
Written in a hand of Norman type, probably at Exeter but possibly in France.
Note
Identifiable with the Breviarium canonum apostolorum beginning 'In Ytalia" listed in the 1327 catalogue of Exeter Cathedral library; see Ker as cited below for details.
Note
Annotations by Bishop John Grandisson e.g. on f. 137r.
Note
At Eton in the 15th century when "Liber Decret' Romanorum Pontificum at incipit in 2º fo tes viii" was written on f. iv recto in the same hand as a similar entry in MS 22 (? not recorded in Ker's description of MS 22).
Note
Former Eton shelfmark: Bl.1.6.
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. 708-711
Citation/references note
James, M. R. A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Eton College (1895), 97
Cite as
Eton College Library, MS 97
Additional physical form available
Reproduction available; Bodleian Library; Eton College Library should be contacted for permission to reproduce; SFW 2160
Provenance
In Exeter Cathedral library in the early 14th century and used by Bishop John Grandisson.
Binding
Early 17th century English calf binding, no doubt by Vincent Williamson; repaired by R. L. Day in 1973, revealing strips of the Concordance as described above and a small piece of a 14th-century law-book in Italian rotunda.
Subject
Pseudo-Isidorian decretals Manuscripts.
Added entry--name
Grandison, John, 1292? - 1369 annotator.
Added entry--name
Williamson, Vincent bookbinder.
Added entry--name
Day, R. L. bookbinder.
Added entry--name
Exeter Cathedral former owner.
Added entry--place
England Exeter.
Language code
lat
Identifier
B50021