Historical and legal texts, collected by William of Malmesbury — 1129; English, Malmesbury

Title

Historical and legal texts, collected by William of Malmesbury — 1129; English, Malmesbury

Shelfmark

MS. Arch. Selden. B. 16

Place of origin

English, Malmesbury

Date

1129

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment

Decoration

DecorationInitials. Fols. 1r-73r col. I line 14 and 135r-222v written by William of Malmesbury in 1129. (Pächt and Alexander iii. 93)

Acquisition

Acquired by the Bodleian in 1659

Provenance

Malmesbury, Wiltshire, Benedictine Abbey of St Mary the Virgin and St Aldhelm: Partly in a hand which occurs in Malmesbury MSS. and has been identified as that of Wm. of Malmesbury: Cambridge, U.L., Ii.3.20, Cambridge, CCC, 330, Trinity Coll. 1301, Lambeth Palace 224, Bodleian, Arch. Seld. B.16, Auct. F.3.14, Lincoln Coll., lat. 100, Magdalen Coll., lat. 172, Merton Coll. 181, fol. 230 (binding leaf); Oriel Coll. 42 contain writing in a hand identified as that of William of Malmesbury; for nos. 3–7 cf. N.R. Ker in E.H.R. 59 (1944), pp. 371–76. Cf. Stubbs, Gesta Regum, RS 1, pp. cxxxi ff. (MLGB3: evidence from the style of script or illumination).

Hand of fols. 73ra/15–134v occurs in Merton 181 q. v.; arrow g's, fols. 109v, 110v, 134r. (MLGB3)

John Selden, 1584–1654

Title

Historical and (fol. 140v) legal treatises

Shelfmark

MS. Arch. Selden. B. 16

Summary

Historical and (fol. 140v) legal treatises, apparently in the hand of William of Malmesbury:

Fol. 1. 'Historia Daretis Frigii De excidio Troie', with the prologue of Cornelius Nepos.

Fol. 7. 'Excerptum ex libro Catonis de Originibus': beg. 'Dardanus ex Ioue & Electra', with similar excerpts from Justinus 'De Gestis Romanorum' (fol. 7v): beg. 'Italię inquit cultores primi'.

Fol. 11. 'Liber ... Pauli Orosii presbiteri ... contra Paganos', seven books.

Fol. 73. A triple history, as explained in a prologue which a rather later hand has named 'Vox Willelmi', to distinguish it from the text:

Fol. 73, Eutropius de gestis Romanorum, with prologues and the (carefully distinguished) additions and supplement of Paulus Diaconus

Fol. 113v 'lordanis episcopi Ravennatis natione Gothi De gestis Romanorum ... adbreviationis liber', with prologue, as faras Justinian

Fol. 135 'Adbreuiatio Willelmi [de Malmesburia] de gestis sequentium Imperatorum', digested from Haimo Floriacensis and continued to 1127

Fol. 140v. Breviarium Alarici, an incomplete text of unusual type with prologues:

Fol. 140v. Leges antiquae a Theodosio ii minore collectae, A.D. 438

Books ii-xvi of the Theodosian code, with prologue and explanations fol. 180

The Novellae of Theodosius II fol. 180

Valentinianus III fol. 191

Martianus fol. 203v

Majorianus fol. 205v

Severus fol. 206v

Anthemius fol. 207

A text of the third sylloge--vide Mommsen's Theodosiani Libri xvi, vol. ii, p. xlviii: at end 'Expliciunt Leges Romanorum'; (fol. 208) 'Institutiones Gaij' in two books, epitomized

Fol. 211, 'Pauli Institutiones', the five books of Sententiae of Julius Paulus, but excerpts only.

Date

Written about A.D. 1130 by William of Malmesbury at Malmesbury

Language

Latin

Physical facet

On parchment, in double columns, with one illuminated and many coloured capitals, etc.

Physical extent

226 Leaves

Custodial history

Owned by Selden in 1646 (see his Uxor Ebraica, p. 388, and Ad Fletam, p. 506), and specially bequeathed by him.

Manuscript 3376 acquired by the Bodleian Library