Gregory the Great, Moralia in Job, volume 1

Title

Gregory the Great, Moralia in Job, volume 1

Shelfmark

St John's College MS 153

Place of origin

England

Date

s. xii3/4

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Vellum (HSOS/HFFH).

Physical extent

Fols. v (numbered fols. i–iv, 1) + 305(numbered fols. 2–306) + iii (numbered fols. v–vii).

Hands

Written in protogothic bookhand (perhaps more than one hand). Punctuation by point, punctus elevatus , and punctus interrogativus.

Decoration

Headings in red.

Six-line red and blue lombards with infill in both colours to head books. After book 11 (fol. 239) , these are smaller (2-line) and less elaborate.

Book 11 uniquely has an unflourished 2-line red lombard.

Running titles (many later) to indicate books.

In the contents section, alternate red and blue or red and green 1-line lombards at the heads of entries.

Instructions for rubrics frequently survive at the foot of pages; marks of correction at the foot of every page through fol. 214v (‘t’ with a line or hook above it).

Binding

A modern replacement. Three thongs show on the spine (now loose) but not on the backs of quires. At the front, a marbled paper leaf, two modern paper flyleaves, and two medieval vellum flyleaves ( fol. 1 is pasted to the stub of the conjoint of fol. iv, which has a few line-ends on the verso); at the rear, two modern paper flyleaves and another marbled paper leaf (v–vii).

Acquisition

‘Iohannes white de Suthvyke in Comitatu Sutht Armiger dedit hunc librum Thome whitede london militi ad vsum Colegij per ipsum de nouo erecti in Oxon Anno 1555’ ( fol. 2, upper margin).

Provenance

‘Hic liber est Ecclesie Sancte Marie de Suwica Quem qui ei abstulerit uel titulum istum dolo deleuerit uel per aliam quamcumque fraudem ab ea alienauerit sit anathema Maranatha fiat fiat amen’ ( fol. 41v, lower margin) ( Ker, MLGB 181; unnoted at Registrum R 2.5).

A description of contents (fol. 1v; anglicana, s. xv1, with partial copies in two later secretaryhands, s. xv).