Primasius — 7th century, late, or 8th century, early (before 719); England, south-west (?)

Title

Primasius — 7th century, late, or 8th century, early (before 719); England, south-west (?)

Shelfmark

MS. Douce 140

Place of origin

England, south-west (?)

Date

7th century, late, or 8th century, early (before 719)

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment

Physical extent

150 fols.

Hands

Produced by a group of insular scribes in an imitation of French half-uncial script

Decoration

Penwork.

Coloured initials, some in minium.

Binding

Red leather with gold tooling (early 18th cent.?).

Acquisition

Bequeathed by Douce to the Bodleian in 1834.

Provenance

Perhaps at Glastonbury Abbey in the 10th century when annotated by St Dunstan.

'Thys ys m. george mason ys bokke', early 16th cent., fol. 4, probably George Mason (d. by Oct. 1562), dean of Crediton, canon and prebendary of Exeter (etc.).

'Sum Johannis Blaxton liber', mid 16th cent., fol. 4, probably John Blaxton, fl. 1532–60, canon and prebendary of Exeter

Owned by Robert Burscough, rector of Totnes, Devon, in the late seventeenth century (Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae (1697), no. 7626).

Walter Clavell, F.R.S., of the Inner Temple.

Clavell sale, March 1742, lot 27, sold for £27 17s. 6d. to Joseph Ames.

Ames sale, May 1760, lot 1350, sold to Mark Cephas Tutet for £10 10s.

Tutet sale, Feb. 1786, lot 511, sold to Samuel Tyssen for £8.

Tyssen sale, Dec. 1801, sold to Douce for £2 9s.

Title

The commentary of Primasius on the Apocalypse in five books

Shelfmark

MS. Douce 140

Summary

Preceded by the 'Prologus Primasii episcopi ad Castorem religiosum inlustrem.'. The writing is Hiberno-Saxon with a mixture of continental forms: there are also later Latin glosses and notes in an Irish hand. The last leaf is supplied in a later hand, and fol. 3 is mutilated. A facsimile of the writing is in the 1840 catalogue. [I venture to append to the present volume the results of a special investigation of this MS. E.W.B.N.].

Date

written in the 8th cent. by a Hiberno-Saxon scribe in half uncial

Language

Latin

Physical facet

On parchment, binding: red leather with gold tooling (early 18th cent.?)

Physical extent

153 Leaves

Custodial history

'Thys ys mr. George Mason ys bokke' (early 16th cent.): 'Sum Johannis Blaxtoni liber' (16th cent.): pp. 7 - 8 of a 17th cent. catalogue of books (at fol. ii) contains the volume priced £26 17s, : at fol. iii is a certificate relating to Walter Clavell June 13, 1700: 'Ioseph Ames' is stamped on the binding, and the armorial bookplate of 'Ames of Norfolke' is in the volume. At the Ames sale M. C. Tutet bought it for £10 10s., and at Tutet's sale (1786) Sam. Tyssen for: at his sale (1802) Douce bought it for £2 9s.