ORIGEN, HOMILIES ON O. T. BOOKS; S. XIII in.

Title

ORIGEN, HOMILIES ON O. T. BOOKS; S. XIII in.

Shelfmark

Merton College MS. 9

Place of origin

France (?)

Date

S. XIII in.

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Parchment

Physical extent

155 leaves (ii + 153)the edges heavily retrimmed and spattered with red.

Hands

A single early gothic bookhand of middling quality, probably French. Marginal annotation in several hands of s. xv-xvi in.: a neat anglicana of s. xv, the secretary hand of Fitzjames (see below), and at least one other of similar date.

Decoration

On fol. 1 is a large (31-line) and handsome initial P in ‘Channel style’, pink, orange and blue with knotwork and interlace, on a gold ground, with red and blue display script. Elsewhere red or blue initials flourished in the other colour. Rubrication by the scribe of the text.

Binding

As for MS 8, presumably replacing one of s. xvii, resewn on five bands. fols. i-ii, 152–3 are paper binding leaves.

Provenance

On fol. iiv, presumably autograph, ‘Liber magistri Ricardi Fytz James sacre theologie professoris, quem emit 12 die Nouembris anno Christi 1482 precii x s.’; ‘Li 5us’, showing that the book was in a College electio, and a list of contents, c. 1500; in the untidy secretary hand of c. 1500, ‘Origenes super Iosue ex dono domini Ricardi Fitz James nuper Cicestrensis episcopi et custodis istius collegii, cuius anime propicietur Deus Amen’; below this is mounted the former parchment label from the back cover with Fitzjames’ armorial and ‘Origenes super Iosue ex dono domini Ricardi fitz James nuper Cicestrensis episcopi et custodis istius collegii’. Richard Fitzjames (BRUO 691–2) was fellow from c. 1468, warden 1483–1507, bishop of Chichester 1503–6, of London 1506–22. Below again is the College bookplate.

At the head of fol. 1 is the James no. ‘253’ (recte 255), s. xvii. ‘6’ is inked on the foredge. Inside the front board is ‘N. 1. 9.’, canc and replaced by ‘A. 2. 9 (IX)’ in red on the College bookplate.