Patristic homilies, esp. Bede

Title

Patristic homilies, esp. Bede

Shelfmark

St John's College MS 11

Place of origin

England (Reading)

Date

s. xii2/4

s. xiv ex.

s. xii med. or xii 3/4

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Vellum (HSOS/HFFH).

Physical extent

Fols. v (numbered fols. i, 1–4) + 264(numbered fols. 5–268) + i (numbered fol. ii).

Hands

Written in caroline. Punctuation by medial pointand punctus elevatus.

Decoration

Red headings in rustic capitals, introduced by a red, blue, or green arabesque initial, to set off Gospel readings and the heads of the homilies.

The Gospels are introduced by 4- and 5-line arabesque capitals (many larger I’s) in gold leaf with green, blue, and red, with abstract geometrical decorative designs; the homilies proper have 3-line arabesque capitals in green, blue, pink, or red, usually with some attenuated repetition of the same design.

Several drawings have been added in the margins: heads at fols. 90v–1; many faces (fols. 109, 130, 132v–3, 144v–5, 153, etc.); geometric designs in stylus (fols. 191–3v); the crucifixion (fol. 236 foot, in brown crayon); angels with pots (fol. 238); women (fol. 258).

See AT no. 44(8).

Binding

Slightly bevelled wooden boards, probably the remains of the medieval binding, re-covered with plain brown leather, s. xvi (?). Sewn on five thongs. Gold ‘11’ at head of spine; ‘11 Lib homil” in black and brown ink on the leading edges. Pastedowns marbled paper front and rear (the front with a College bookplate, inscribed ‘Cod. MS. XI’). At the front, a modern paper flyleaf and four medieval vellum ones; at the rear, a medieval vellum flyleaf, a raised pastedown from an earlier binding (ii).

Acquisition

‘Liber Collegii Sancti Ioannis Baptistae Oxon’ ex dono Magistri Ioannis Stonorde Northstoke in Comitatu Oxon’ Generosi’ (fol. 2, at the top).

Provenance

On the basis of the flyleaf texts, assigned to Reading abbey by Ker, MLGB 158.This volume in fact appears in the book-list here (fol. 3) as item 15: ‘Alius liber omeliarum a dominica xxiiii ma. post octauum Pentecostes usque in uigiliam Pasche ij o folio uerbum postmodum ’. The editors of CBMLC associate it with one of two volumes of homilies entered together in the Reading book-list of c.1192 as item 143 (see CBMLC 4:443).

Pen-trials: ‘Robertus ?Grace’(fol. 179, in faded drypoint); ‘samuel’ (twice, fol. 258, s. xv?).