Johannes de Rupella, Summae; England, s. xv med

Title

Johannes de Rupella, Summae; England, s. xv med

Shelfmark

Exeter College MS. 9

Place of origin

England

Date

s. xvmed

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment FHHF

Physical extent

269 leaves, preceded by one 18th-century paper flyleaf and four medieval membrane flyleaves and followed by two 18th-century paper flyleaves.

Hands

1, in a neat secretary script, with occasional use of anglicana low r, probably in one hand throughout despite much variation in the slope of the writing;

2, in a bastard secretary script in a different hand;

3, in a rather rough secretary script. Punctuation throughout is by low point and occasional ornamental grouping of points and strokes at the ends of major sections.

Decoration

1 and 2, blue lombards with red flourishing and marginal extensions, 4/5-line on fol. 4, 4-line on fol. 202 and otherwise 2/3-line.

3, no decoration. On a cartouche in the initial on fol. 4r is ‘t: ihs: b;’ which is probably to be read as ‘Thomas Ihesus Barker’ and interpreted as evidence that he commissioned the book: for him see History, below.

Binding

Sewn on five bands. Standard Exeter binding; sprinkled edges, simple and quite elegant, calf over millboards, the calf bearing blind decoration of a floral type, early 19th century. Fol. i is the remains of a binding leaf with a pink stain on the verso, showing that an earlier binding was probably of wooden boards covered with pink whittawed leather.

Provenance

On fol. viv is ‘Hunc librum Venerabilis Vir Magister Thomas Barker Sacre theologie proffessor Contulit Collegio Exenie In Oxon. Johannes de Rupella’. For Barker see BRUO. He rented a school from the College in 1441; among other offices he later held that of fellow and vice-provost of Eton (to which he was a major benefactor) and died in 1489. For evidence that he may have commissioned this book see Decoration, above.

Recorded at Exeter c. 1600 as Ecloga, no. 9, then in CMA, no. 51.

On fol. ivv are notes in the hand of Thomas James, Sir Thomas Bodley’s first Librarian, d. 1629.

Exeter library identifications, on the front pastedown, are ‘D2–20’, ‘D—8—4 Gall’, ‘Q6–9 Gall’ (all deleted), ‘174–K–9’ deleted and replaced by ‘170–I–9’, ‘Coxe IX’ (pencil), and the book stamp. On fol. ivv is bookplate 1 and on fol. vr ‘Liber Collegij Exoniensis’ in an italic hand of s. xvi/xvii. ‘9’ is on a round paper label at the top of the spine.