Shelfmark
MS 16
Author
Title
Commentary on the Old Testament. Volume 2 [manuscript]
Varying form of title
Title in M.R. James catalogue: Rabanus in Numeros [etc.]
Varying form of title
Title in Ker, MMBL: Petrus Cantor ; Gilbertus Autissiodorensis
Publication, distribution, etc.
England, 1175-1225.
Physical description
1 v. : ill. ; 373 x 263 mm.
Language
Written in Latin.
Note
Secundo folio: illegible, due to damage to the ink.
Note
Material: membrane; Gregory's rule (FHHF).
Note
Format: codex.
Note
Written space: 270 x 175 mm.
Note
Number of leaves: ii + 214 + i.
Note
Collation: [1]? 2-9⁸ 10¹⁰ (1 is cancelled – stub remaining) 11-18⁸ 19-21¹⁰ 22¹² 23⁸ 24-25¹⁰ 26⁸ (wants 7).
Note
Quire and leaf signatures and catchwords: quire signatures in roman numerals throughout (quires 17-19, 25 present it on both recto of first leaf and verso of last). Leaf signatures seemingly trimmed out. Catchwords.
Note
Page preparation: ruled in ink and plummet; pricking visible on the long margin, sometimes also on the short ones.
Note
Mise-en-page: double columns (42 lines) in a set script written above the first ruled line. Rubrics. Paragraph marks both in-text and the margins. Running headers. Capitulum numbers. Red underlinings throughout. In few instances, notas have been integrated in the layout of the column, with the text surrounding it like a gloss (e.g. f.28v).
Note
Decoration: decorated initials (3-23 lines) at the beginning of new sections; usually red or green with pen flourishes which sometimes present stylised foliage. Pen flourishes in black ink on some marginal paraphs. Smaller initials also in red or green. Red pen-strokes added to capitals in-text.
Note
Handwriting: littera praegothica; multiple scribal hands.
Note
Abbreviation and punctuation: use of Tironian nota; ÷ for "esse". Puncti and puncti elevati.
Note
Correction: frequent emendations, normally added in the margin and signalled in-text by different symbols.
Note
Marginalia, later additions: some explanatory notes in the margins and signposts, often signalled by paraph signs, throughout. Table of contents on ff.i recto and verso (an original pastedown) in two different 15th-century hands; the former attributes the commentaries to Rabanus Maurus with the exception of that of Ezra and Nehemiah, rightly associated with Peter Cantor.
Formatted contents note
Contents: Volume 2 of a set of 3 (ECL MSS 14, 19). ff.1-38r: (begins imperfectly, first quire missing) on Numbers; ff.38r-73v: on Deuteronomy; ff.74r-84r: on Joshua; ff.84r-94r: on Judges; ff. 94r-96r: on Ruth; ff.96r-141v: on Kings; ff.142r-147v: on Tobias; ff.148r-152v: on Judith; ff.152v-156v: on Esther; ff.157r-166r: on Ezra; ff.166r-172v: on Nehemiah; ff.172v-195v: on Paralipomenon; ff.196r-197v: blank (except for quire signature); ff.198r-213v: on Maccabees (ends imperfectly); f.214: blank (except for quire signature).
Citation/references note
N.R. Ker, Medieval manuscripts in British libraries, v. 2 (1977), pp. 639-643
Citation/references note
M.R. James, A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Eton College (1895), p. 7
Citation/references note
F. Stegmüller, Repertorium Biblicum Medii Aevi, nos. 6458-62, 6466-6473, 6502-6503
Citation/references note
M.R. James, 'Chapel inventories', Etoniana, series I, p. 444
Provenance
Origin: England. From volume 1: ex libris on front pastedown, reading "Este de Quadraria liber iste [...]* Maria. Sit reus anno domini qui tibi tollat eum". It refers to the Cistercian Abbey of Quarr, Isle of Wight. [*] Both Ker's and James' suggestions for this word do not match what the UV light shows; the word remains illegible.
Provenance
Provenance: The manuscript is entered as number 22 "Item an exposicion uppon Numeri and other ii fo set accidere" in Eton's 1465 book inventory (see James, 1921) and has been in the library ever since. Eton College crest on f. i verso. Former ECL shelfmarks: Bk.2.3, Bl.1.13.
Binding
16th-century calfskin over wood boards, likely bound for Eton College by Andrew Lisley in 1520-21. Covers decorated with blind tools; "[f]rame composed of three fillets. The panel crossed by diagonal fillets. Clasps on upper cover. Chain-mark low on the edge of upper cover. Nail-marks ... which covered the label on the lower cover" (from Robert Birley's personal notes, II, n. 197). Spine rebacked with four raised bands, decorated with blind fillets and gilt titling ("Rabanus in Num: Deut: &c."; "Cantor in Esdram Nehemiam Paralip:"); modern shelfmark labels ("16"; "Bl.1"; "Bk.2.3"). Endpapers of membrane and undecorated modern paper; one flyleaf at both ends of the textblock.
Subject
Bible Old Testament Commentaries Manuscripts.
Added entry--name
Added entry--name
Quarr Abbey former owner.
Added entry--place
England.
Language code
lat
Identifier
B51382