HUGH OF FLEURY, BEDE; S. XII 3/4

Title

HUGH OF FLEURY, BEDE; S. XII 3/4

Shelfmark

Merton College MS. 88

Place of origin

England

Date

S. XII 3/4

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Parchment

Physical extent

126 leaves (i + 125)The edges heavily retrimmed and spattered with red.

Hands

Written throughout in a single practised protogothic bookhand of English appearance; flex punctuation.

Fols. 121v-3 in an English hand little later than the main text.

Decoration

On fol. 1 is a red initial, arabesqued in green, blue and buff. The other books of art. 1 open with handsome decorated initials outlined in ink of text, washed in blue and green (sometimes yellow), associated with red and green display script. Art. 2 opens with an initial of this type, with red and blue display script; otherwise initials in blue, red, or green, sometimes ornamented in a second colour. Scarcely any green is used after fol. 101.

Fols. 123v-5v are blank but for a crude unfinished pencil sketch of a man on fol. 124, perhaps of s. xiii.

Binding

Standard Merton s. xvii; sewn on four bands; formerly chained from the usual position. Fols. i and 125 were pastedowns in an earlier binding. At the foot of the foredge of fol. i, cropped by the binder, is the mark of a brass chain-staple. On fol. 125 are marks of a brass strap-pin and of the large iron chain-staple.

Provenance

Made in England, perhaps at a Cistercian house.

On fol. 124 is an erased inscription.

At the head of fol. 1 is ‘liber domus scolarium de Mertone in Oxonia ex legat’ M. Ioh’ Raynham sacre pagine professoris et quondam socii eiusdem domus cuius anime propicietur Deus amen.’ For Reynham, d. 1376, see MS 18.

Inside the front board are ‘N. 7. 8. Art:’ (canc. in red), and a brief table of contents, both s. xvii; on a slip of paper, ‘B. 1. 11’ (in red), and ‘Merton Coll. MS. 88’ in purple; the College bookplate.

At the head of fol. 1 is the James no. ‘51’ (recte 52), s. xvii in. ‘8’ (perhaps changed from ‘4’) is inked on the foredge.