MAURICE OF IRELAND, GIACOMO DE FUSIGNANO; S. XIV

Title

MAURICE OF IRELAND, GIACOMO DE FUSIGNANO; S. XIV

Shelfmark

Merton College MS. 102

Place of origin

Italy

Date

S. XIV

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Parchment

Physical extent

295 leaves of parchment prepared in the Italian manner (v + 290) The edges retrimmed and spattered with red. Fols. iv-v and 287 are of thick, stiff parchment.

Hands

Art. 1 is written in an elegant, professional Italian gothic rotunda bookhand.

Arts 2–3 are in a similar hand but of lower grade.

Decoration

Art. 1: handsome red and blue flourished initials with 1-sided borders; numerous red or blue paraphs; red marginal titles and running heads; highlighting in yellow.

Art. 2: red initials, paraphs and underlining.

Binding

Standard Merton s. xvii, resewn on four bands and rebacked. Fols. i-ii, 289–90 are paper binding leaves, the outermost from the same printed book as in MS 68. Fols. iii and 288 are paper blanks inserted when the binding was repaired. fol. iv was a pastedown in an earlier binding; it has the mark of an iron chain-staple near the foot of the foredge. Near the foot of fol. 287v is the mark of the large iron chain-staple.

Provenance

Written and at first owned in Italy.

Near the foot of fol. 287v, upside down, is an early name ‘Ramondo ciualier’.

On fol. vvis ‘Distincciones Mauritii .A. x. libr’ Turon’ paruorum’, in an Italian hand, and ‘Liber magistri Thome de Farnylawe ex empto precii quinque marcarum qui onerat possessorem ut habeat animam magistri Alani de Corbryk’ in suis orationibus specialiter recommendatam de quo habuit istum librum’; ‘Istum librum fecit reparari magister Ioh’ Burbage sacre pagine professor’; ‘Liber collegii ex dono Magistri Thome Bloxham’, in the same formal hand as the inscription in MS 60. Thomas Farnelow (BRUO 668) was fellow in 1340, still in 1353, d. 1379; in his will, proved 13 Dec., he bequeathed this book to the College. Alan de Corbrigge (BRUO 483–4) was MA by 1343, probably at Oxford, but is not known to have been a fellow of Merton; still alive in 1354. For Burbage, fellow 1411–35, see MS 3; for Bloxham, fellow c. 1449–61, see MS 41.

At the head of fol. 2 is the James no. ‘174’, s. xvii in.

Inside the front board is a paper slip with ‘D. 8, 8’ (canc.) and titles, s. xvii, and ‘N. 8. 7 Art:’, canc. and replaced with ‘I. 3. 7 (CII)’ in red; below is the College bookplate. ‘7’ is inked on the foredge.