A Bernardinum etc., Germany, 14th century, early; B Johannes Damascenus, France, 13th century, second half

Title

A Bernardinum etc., Germany, 14th century, early; B Johannes Damascenus, France, 13th century, second half

Shelfmark

MS. Lyell 85

Place of origin

St. Peter’s, Erfurt (?)

German

French

Date

12th century

14th century, early

13th century, second half

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment

Physical extent

139 leaves

Binding

Well preserved 15th-century Erfurt binding of wooden boards covered with goatskin originally dyed in pink, with blindstamped decoration in panels. The stamps include nos. 5, 20, 23, 26, 27 of those illustrated by P. Schwenke in plates to Die Buchbinderei des Petersklosters, Beitrag to Theele, Die Handscriften des Benedicktinerklosters S. Petri zu Erfurt (1920), pp. 38–45, and some other small stamps not illustrated by him, notably a free four-petalled flower, and a fleur-de-lis. Two clasps on leather straps, fastening on the upper cover. There were originally four bosses on the upper cover and five on the lower, of which one remains; marks of a chain fixed to the inside of the back cover. On the spine is written: flores b. bern: (15th century). MSS. Hamilton 17 and 36 have similar titles on their spines.

Parchment tags in part 1.

Acquisition

Chosen as one of the hundred manuscripts bequeathed to the Bodleian by Lyell in 1948.

Provenance

St. Peter’s, Erfurt: see binding, and note on fol. 2; 15th(?)-century pressmarks M XLV, N XXX (fol. 1r), and on fol. 2 (18th century): Liber regalis monasterii S. Petri Erfodiae [erased]; another inscription, completely erased, on the front pastedown, and on the end pastedown: v. lib. c. xvj . Identifiable as Hs. in quarto 4 in the St. Peter’s catalogue of 1786 (ed. Theele, Die Hss. des Benediktinerklosters S. Petri zu Erfurt (Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen, Beiheft XLVIII), 1920, p. 67).

Gräfische Stolbergische Bibliothek, Wernigerode: MS. Za. 9, see Ruland in Serapeum XVI (1855), II, no. 52 and E. Förstemann, Die Gräflich Stolbergische Bibliothek zu Wernigerode, 1866, pp. 75–76.

A. Rosenthal, bookseller: bought from him by James P. R. Lyell.

James P. R. Lyell, 1871–1948