Vulgate Bible. England, s. xiiiex.

Title

Vulgate Bible. England, s. xiiiex.

Shelfmark

Christ Church MS. 110

Place of origin

England

Date

s. xiiiex

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Parchment (HSOS)

Physical extent

Fols: ii + 420 (numbered fols 1–419, but an unnumbered leaf after fol. 297) + iv (numbered fols 420–23). All flyleaves medieval parchment, the front two a bifolium (the first perhaps a former pastedown).

Hands

Written in gothic textura quadrata, showing some anglicana influence in the decorative top-line ascenders.

A collaboration between probably three scribes, with a change of hand at fol. 160 and most of the New Testament in the third hand.

All three scribes punctuate by point, the first also by punctus versus; many of these have been altered, especially in the first and third stints, to punctus versus, virgula, punctus elevatus, and comma.

Decoration

Headings have been adjusted, some supplied in a hand of s. xivin. At the openings of the books, eight-line magenta champes with blue and red dragons, vine swirls, and geometric shapes, all early examples until I Chronicles cut away. Some spaces were apparently originally unfilled and now have red and blue lombards with flourishing of the same (eg fol. 274va). At the openings of the chapters, two-line lombards, alternate blue with modest red flourishing and similar red with blue. Chapter numbers in the text column, usually alternate red and blue lombards. Running titles identify the book in alternate red and blue lombards.

Not in AT.

Binding

White leather over pasteboards, double fillets forming a rectangle at edge of boards, and extra vertical double fillets (25mm from spine), all fillets in blind, s. xvii. Sewn on four thongs. No ChCh bookplate.

Provenance

There is a s. xiv inscription, ‘Prec iij Marc ii[?] di’’ (fol. ii).

Various scattered pentrials occur: (a) ‘Be you al commaunded George Rarenam is vo of his’ (fol. 420, s. xv ex.); (b) ‘William Scampton’ (fol. i, s. xvi; perhaps the rector of Stoney Stanton, Leicestershire, 1592–1614: CCed); (c) ‘Robarde Morre’ (fol. 32v, upside down, s. xvi); (d) ‘Happye is he that refrayncthe evell bookes companye’ (fol. 249v, written vertically, s. xvi). There are also two distichs on scripture, the second signed ‘R Misericos’ (fol. ii; the first anglicana, s. xv; the second, italic, s. xvi/xvii; further additions in this latter hand, upside down on fols 229v, 230, and correcting text at fol. 300v).

Although there is no indication in the manuscript itself, this must be the Bible donated by Archbishop Wake. His autograph schedule (MS 352/8, fol. 1v, on which see the Introduction) lists as the fourth quarto volume ‘Bibl. Lat. MS.’, and this is the only Bible in the library to which this entry might refer, since all others now in the library either reveal their donor to Christ Church or have evidence of being in the collection by the 1660s. Moreover, this manuscript is absent from the various catalogues of the Archives and shows no sign, like so many others, of having been inscribed by Edward Smallwell. It was, then, kept in Wake collection which was separate until Kitchin’s cataloguing work.