BERNARD ON THE SONG OF SONGS; S. XII 3/4

Title

BERNARD ON THE SONG OF SONGS; S. XII 3/4

Shelfmark

Merton College MS. 46

Place of origin

England

Date

S. XII 3/4

Language

Middle English (1100-1500)

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Parchment

Physical extent

190 leaves (iii + 187)The edges retrimmed with loss of marginalia as late as s. xv, and stained yellow.

Hands

Good English protogothic bookhands: fols. 4–161v; 162–72; 172–84; flex punctuation. The capitula appear to be in a different hand, though similar to the first.

Decoration

Plain red or green initials. On fol. 43 is a profile monk’s face as nota.

Binding

s. xii, reworked c. 1500, recently repaired and rebacked: tawed skin over flush, chamfered oak boards, the edges presumably reshaped when the edges were retrimmed. Resewn on four bands; ff. i-ii and 186–7 are modern blank paper binding leaves. A strap of pink leather with clasp from a recess in the front board to a pin, replaced with a catch, at the rear. On the front board are marks from two brass chain-staples, one at the foredge near the foot, the other in the middle of the foot. On the outside of the rear board is written ‘Bernardus super cantica’, s. xv, and a four-line note (scriptural passages) by Robert Elliot near the foot, repeating one at the foot of fol. 185. The outermost parchment leaves were formerly pastedowns.

Provenance

Probably made in a Cistercian house in south-west England and used by its abbot. At the head of fol. 4 a strip of parchment has been excised. Over the gap another piece of parchment has been pasted, with the James no. ‘232’, s. xvii in.

On fol. iii, much effaced by glue, ‘Collegio Merton tradatur ad incathenandum in libraria eiusdem ex dono M. Roberti Elyott cuius anima propicietur Deus amen’. Robert Elyot (BRUO 638) was fellow of All Souls 1450, still in 1461, d. Jan. 1499. This was one of three MSS (the others are 193 and 214) bequeathed by him and received in the library on 5 Sept. 1499 (Registrum, p. 235). Also, s. xv, ‘Iste liber est [fratris ... ] prec’ xx s.’

On fol. iiiv‘Bernardus super Cantica’ and ‘N. 4. 7. Art:’, s. xvii, the second canc. and replaced with ‘C. 1. 7 (XLVI)’, in red. ‘7’ is inked on the foredge. The College bookplate is inside the front board.