HUGH OF ST VICTOR; England, S. XII med.

Title

HUGH OF ST VICTOR; England, S. XII med.

Shelfmark

Merton College E. 3. 30

Place of origin

Made in England, perhaps in the west midlands.

Date

s. xii med.

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Parchment

Physical extent

97 leaves. More than 345 × 245 mm.

Hands

An expert large round English protogothic bookhand.

Decoration

New Coll. f. 4 13-line blue and brown L on a patterned gold and red ground, followed by IBRVM in gold and the heading in red, blue and green. Lambeth, gold and blue I, followed by N PRINCIPIO in red, green and blue, ornamented in the colours; Merton E. 3. 30, f. 41 M prepared for colours. Red, green and blue arabesque initials; plain red, green or blue initials; display script in the colours.

Provenance

Not identifiable in any of the Merton booklists and not necessarily a Merton book. Dismembered by an Oxford binder in the 1590s (the latest host book was bought by the College on 23 Aug. 1594).

At the foot of New Coll. 363 f. 4 is ‘Iste liber pertenet ad me iohannem ttan fratris ’, s. xvi. Other notes show that the book was still intact and being used at that date.

Extracted from College bindings in 1919 and 1933, kept in a guard-book; plus Merton College, Stack 111. b. 5 (pastedowns), All Souls College, MS 401 (flyleaves and pastedowns, two bifolia), London, Lambeth Palace Library, **H 1936 (41. c. 3) (flyleaves and pastedowns, two bifolia), Oxford, New College 363, fols. 4–5, and a single leaf sold by Quaritch in 1984 (Cat. 1036, no. 93), now owned by Michael Gullick. 110 leaves in total. The original order is New Coll., f. 4, Lambeth, New Coll., f. 5, E. 3. 30, fols. 1–51 (with gaps), All Souls, rear bifolium, E. 3. 30, fols. 94–5, All Souls, front bifolium, E. 3. 30, fols. 52–77, 96, 78–83, 97, 84–93 (with gaps), Merton Coll., Stack 111. b. 5.