Shelfmark
MS 169
Author
Uniform title
[Aurora]
Title
Petrus Riga, Aurora. manuscript
Varying form of title
Title in M. R. James catalogue: Petri de Riga Aurora
Publication, distribution, etc.
France?, between ca. 1200 and ca. 1225.
Physical description
1 volume (iii, 179, ii leaves) : parchment, initials ; 22.7 x 14 cm.
Note
The Aurora of Petrus Riga (ff. 1-177), a paraphrase or commentary of several books of the Bible in Latin verse.
Note
The third edition of the text according to P. E. Beichner, but the last two of the three texts (Acts, Job, Song of Songs) whose presence distinguishes the third from the second edition are here in another hand. See P. E. Beichner, Aurora: Petri Rigae Biblia versificata (Publications in Mediaeval Studies, University of Notre Dame, XIX, 1965).
Note
In the usual order except that the Recapitulationes (here without a heading, f. 106v) come after the Old Testament, not the Gospels.
Note
No break at f. 166v between Job and Song of Songs; in the latter, the headings often differ from the printed edition, many beginning "Sequitur".
Note
A corrector put in some Aeg. 1 additions in the margins, as well as apparently directions to the rubricator, and notes drawing attention to four lines (Exodus lines 1291-2, 1301-2), which in this copy are written after line 1300 but separated from it by a space of three lines, and have been copied again in their proper places. For details see Ker as cited in the references below.
Note
Brief pieces on the flyleaves and at the end include Latin verses (f. 177) and a note beginning "Isti sunt xii dies ueneris De quibus clemens papa inuenit in canonibus ..." in a 13th-century hand, probably French (f. 177v); and 4 lines beginning "Conditor en rerum statuit sine semine clerum ..." (f. iii) in a 15th-century English hand.
Note
Ff. ii, iii are medieval flyleaves.
Note
Written space: 149 mm high; the prose prologue on ff. 1,2 is 50 mm wide.
Note
Wide margins; first line of writing above the top ruled line.
Note
Collation: 1-22⁸ 23⁴ wanting 4, blank.
Note
Quires 1-14 nunbered at the end.
Note
The first scribe sometimes wrote a whole line of verse as the catchword.
Note
Mainly in one small and distinctive hand; a second scribe begins Job (f. 159) and a third begins at f. 169.
Note
Initials in blue or red with ornament of the other colour; as far as f. 33 the scribe indented for 2-line initials but throughout, the initials are 1-line and placed in the same way as the capital letters beginning each line of verse: a space of 4 mm separates the capital letter beginning a line from the following letter, except in the line after one with beginning with a coloured initial on ff. 1-33, where the scribe was forced by the 2-line indent to write the capital for that line with the rest of the verse.
Note
Secundo folio: uoluminis.
Note
Rebound at Eton by Slatter around 1720.
Note
Probably written in France.
Note
14th-century inscription on f. 178v: "Iste liber est Ioanni de [...] clerico".
Note
In England by the turn of the 14th/15th century, when "Willelmus permissione diuina Cantuar' Episcopus Ang' et apostolice sedis legatus Walterus" and "Theos ymon nostri pie Eleyson", three times repeated, were scribbled on f. ii verso.
Note
Former Eton shelfmark: Bl.6.24.
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. 767-8
Citation/references note
James, M. R. A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Eton College (1895), 169
Citation/references note
Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae, 1697, 32
Cite as
Eton College Library, MS 169
Provenance
Belonged to a cleric named Jean or John in the 14th century, and in England by the turn of the 14th/15th century and the basis of the inscription transcribed above, possibly referring to William Courtenay, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1381 to 1396.
Binding
18th century English calf binding by John Slatter.
Subject
Peter Riga, ca. 1140 - 1209 Aurora
Subject
Bible. Paraphrases, Latin Manuscripts.
Added entry--name
Slatter, John, active 1693 - 1721 bookbinder.
Added entry--name
Courtenay, William, ca. 1342 - 1396 associated name.
Added entry--place
France.
Language code
lat
Identifier
B50130