WILLIAM DE LUXEUIL ON THE PROPHETS; c. 1400

Title

WILLIAM DE LUXEUIL ON THE PROPHETS; c. 1400

Shelfmark

Merton College MS. 184

Place of origin

script of English appearance.

Date

c. 1400

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Parchment

Physical extent

270 leaves (i + 269)

Hands

A single expert anglicana hand. Annotated throughout in a hand of s. xv ex.

Decoration

Red or blue initials; red paraphs and at first underlining of lemmata.

Binding

Medieval, apart from a modern overcover: tawed skin over thick, wide-bevelled boards with slightly projecting foredges; sewn on six bands, blue and plain head- and tail-bands. Two straps of pink skin, one still with a brass clasp, from the front board to catches in the rear. The front pastedown has the mark of a central strap from an earlier binding. Traces of a brass chain-mark near the foot of the foredge of the front board.

Provenance

One of a number of books lent by Warden Henry Abyndon (1421–37) to John Hanham ‘et sunt libri proprii non de domo’ (UO52. 113).

Near the foot of fol. i is an erased single-line inscription.

On fol. iv is ‘Li 9us’ (s. xv, showing that it was part of a College electio), and the contents. Near the foot of the rear board is the mark of the large chain-staple, probably originally iron, replaced in brass.

On the rear pastedowns are cancelled cautiones: ‘Caucio Magistri Walteri Hert exposita in cista antiqua anno Domini millesimo CCCC xlvi et mense Ianuar’ die uicesimo sexto et iacet pro xxxiis. iiij d.’, renewed five more times, the last time 19 Nov. 1455, valued at 25s. Recorded in Appendix B, no. 103 (1452). ‘Et per renouacionem caucionis Hert iacentis in antiqua cista uniuersitatis’. Hart (BRUO 881–2) was fellow c. 1439–55, d. by May 1484. He owned a copy in 2 vols of Simon Bredon’s Trifolium, given to the College after his death by his brother (Powicke, p. 218).

On fol. 269v is the monogram of the Oxford stationer John Godsond (1438–56) and his valuation ‘xxxii s. iiij d’. At the foot of the rear pastedown is ‘ualet v. m’.’ At the head of the front pastedown is ‘Hoc uolumen continet postillas super Ieremiam et duodecim minores prophetas et appreciatur in quinque marcis. Habet autem unum folium nudum in principio et tria in medio in tractatum qui incipit Ossa xii. prophetarum et unum in fine’, s. xv. The valuation is absurdly high.

The book was seen at Merton by John Bale (Appendix C, no. 12). At the head of fol. 1 is the James no. ‘139’, s. xvii in. On the front pastedown is a title, s. xvii, and ‘O. 7. 12. Art:’, canc. and replaced with ‘No. CLXXXIV.’ and ‘O. 3. 7’, in red ink.