Petrus Ruffensis (attrib.) — 14th century, first half; England

Title

Petrus Ruffensis (attrib.) — 14th century, first half; England

Shelfmark

MS. Lyell 16

Associated place

Oxford

Place of origin

England

Date

14th century, first half

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment

Physical extent

i+140 leaves (fol. i, 139-40 are flyleaves)Edges cropped.

Hands

Anglicana

Decoration

Initial on fol. 1 in red and blue joined to frame border of penwork with alternating bands of red and blue and projecting red water-lily-shaped flower heads.

Binding

Oxfordbinding of c. 1475 in wooden boards covered with dark-brown calf with concentric frames of stamps and a central panel with Strickland Gibson's stamp no. 80 ( Early Oxford Bindings , Oxford, 1903, pl. XVII and see G. D. Hobson, Engl. Binding before 1500 , Cambridge, 1929, pl. 35). The inner frame consists of Strickland Gibson's stamp 6 (op. cit., pl. 1, III). The outer frame (and the frame to the central panel on the lower cover) consists of a semicircular stamp with 6 dots, arranged to form arches and alternating with ring punches. The same stamp arranged differently is used on MS. Lat. th. e. 33, notebook of Thomas Gascoigne, and on a 15th-cent. MS. collection of prayers belonging to Lord Middleton and deposited in Nottingham University Library

Acquisition

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

Provenance

Durham, Benedictine cathedral priory of St Cuthbert. On the front pastedown in a large flourished hand is the note: 'Petrus Ruffensis in summula viciorum Iesu miserere. / Liber domini Iohannis Manbe monachi Dunelm. etc.', and at the top of fol. 139 (flyleaf), in a minute hand, is: 'Iohannes Manbe maneat in eternum'. This owner marked noteworthy passages throughout the MS., often with hands, arms, or even figures of a monk (?) (fol. 13v, 14v, 15v, 63v, 123v), all with immensely long pointing fingers and sometimes adding his name (e.g. 'nota Manbe': see fol. 14v, 121, 124v, 125). For similar notes in MSS. Durham Cathedral B. II. 18, fol. 52 and Cambridge U.L. Gg. IV. 33, fol. 6v see R. A. B. Mynors, Durham Cathedral MSS., 1939, nos. 56 and 119. For other MSS. owned by Manby see Ker, Med. Lib.2, p. 256. For Manby's career see Emden, B.R.U.O., pp. 1212-13. He was monk scholar at Durham College, Oxford, in 1471/2-1477 and later held various offices in the Priory. including that of feretrarius.

On fol. i are two notes (16th-17th cent.): (a) 'Per me Johannem Bracke bere it well in minde that I John Bracke bothe curteis and kinde who so ever dothe sai anie other he ys not to me a frendli brother.' Cf. J. Taylor, The Universal Chronicle of Ranulf Higden, Oxford, 1966, p. 93; (b) 'John Bracke owe this booke yf I it loose and you it finde I prai you take so muche paine as to bringe me my booke againe.' Cf. Brown-Robbins, Index, no. 302.

Also, in pencil: J. H. Bransby', i.e. the Rev. J. H. Bransby (1783-1847), and 'J. G. Bourne (?)'.

Sold at Christie's, 22 Feb. 1946, lot 177, to E. P. Goldschmidt. (MLGB3)

James P. R. Lyell, 1871–1948. Bought by Lyell in April 1946 from E. P. Goldschmidt. See his Cat. 100 (1953), no. 73.