HUGH OF ST CHER; S. XV (before 1466)

Title

HUGH OF ST CHER; S. XV (before 1466)

Shelfmark

Merton College MS. 153

Place of origin

England (?)

Date

S. XV (before 1466)

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Parchment

Physical extent

186 leaves (iii + 183) fol. 182 is of thick, stiff parchment.

Hands

Fols. 1–121v by the scribe of MS 150 (bookhand of the professional scribe Henry Mere), whose work gradually deteriorates; fols. 122–81v in the formal bookhand, using anglicana and secretary forms, of Colyngbourne. Perhaps the professional scribe Thomas Colyngbourne, for whom see M. B. Parkes, English Cursive Book Hands (2nd edn., London, 1979), pl. 24(i), HUO 2. 415 n. 39. He wrote Bodl. Libr., Digby 172, fols. 25–52v, at Oxford between 1427 and 1451, Magdalen Coll., lat. 154, in 1448, and lat. 156. At first he writes the lemmata in slightly larger script, but gradually abandons this. His work is not as good as the Continental scribes of this set.

Decoration

In the style of MS 150 (large initials, typical English professional work of the period): on fol. 1 an 8-line I with 3-sided border, otherwise champe initials on fols. 20v, 36v, 53v, 67v, 72, 85, 94v, 101v, 110, 115, 120, 123, 124. Blue initials flourished in red; small plain red or blue initials as far as fol. 107; red underlining as far as fol. 130; red running heads between ruled lines, with blue paraphs, as far as fol. 122. Near the foot of fol. iiv, in a rough anglicana hand, is a decorator’s count of work, apparently not in this book: ‘half a venyt 200 & halfe and vi champys x spryngetis 400 and half and xi parafys’. Separately, ‘iiij golde letteris’.

Binding

Late medieval, repaired, tawed skin (once pink) over flush, slightly chamfered oak boards; sewn on seven bands raised on the spine and outlined with string; plain endbands. Formerly chained from a brass staple at the foredge of the front board near the foot, from near the head of the foredge at the back, and from the large iron staple near the foot of the rear board. Two straps from recesses in the front board to catches at the rear, all gone. fols. i, 183 are modern paper blanks.

Provenance

At the head of fol. iiiv is Sever’s ex dono, as in MS 150. Also ‘O. 5. 4. Art:’, s. xvii, canc. and replaced with ‘M. 3. 4 (CLIII)’ in red.

On fol. iivis the College bookplate. ‘4’ is inked on the foredge.