Bartholomew of Exeter; France (?), early 13th century

Title

Bartholomew of Exeter; France (?), early 13th century

Shelfmark

MS. Lyell 3

Place of origin

French (?)

Date

13th century, early

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment

Physical extent

74 leaves (foliation skips from 49 to 51)

Decoration

Red headings.

Initials in blue and/or red, flourished in red and/or blue.

Binding

Medieval binding of wooden boards (the lower board broken) covered in puce dyed sheep-skin (repaired), had strap fastening to pin on lower cover (the pin survives). Title in ink on upper cover, mostly illegible, and later coat of arms in ink: quartered, 1 and 4 a lion(?) rampant, 2 and 3 an 8-pointed star, between letters 'C. A.' Traces of an ink title or pressmark along the spine.

Acquisition

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

Provenance

There are a number of later notes: aon front pastedown (some partly erased) (i) ‘I. XLI' (15th cent.?); (ii) ‘[...] franc.(?) 2 ll. 4 s. I [...]' (16th cent.); (iii) possibly same hand as (ii), ‘Si vis ad vitam ingredi serva mandata. F. Urtica'; (iv) 'Sigoyer' (16th cent.); (v) an owner's mark?: 'L(?)' over 'Cd.'; (vi) 19. [or 12?] N[...]on' (18th cent.?); b (fol. 42)Jan batisto [sic] dortic dapt baygar [......]' (16th cent.); c (fol. 64)same hand as a(iii)?: 'Lan mil cinq J. (or F.) Arnaud'; d (fol. 67)same hand again, (i) 'Urtice' (twice); (ii) 'monsieur le graete (?)'; e(fol. 75°) same hand, (i) ‘Claude Urtic (?)'; (ii) 'Urtice' (twice). Urtica is the Latin form of d'Ortigue, a Provençal family prominent at Apt in the 15th and 16th cent.: see Artefeuil, Hist. . . . de la noblesse de Provence 11, 1776, pp. 191–2; C. F. H. Barjavel, Dict. hist. biog. bibliog. du dép. de Vaucluse II, pp. 221-2. A late 16th-cent. Claude d'Ortigue is mentioned by Artefeuil. The Arnaud were another prominent Provençal family and Bernardy de Sigoyer and Roux de Sigoyer (originally from Dauphiné) are further families from Provence. A note in French about the MS. (18th cent.) is fixed to the front pastedown with the impression of a seal on which is C. E. and a coronet with five pearls. There is a similar bookstamp on fol. 75. On fol. 1 there is another armorial bookstamp, possibly a demi-lion rampant, with two stags as supporters, a coronet with three crests: a pair of wings, a boar, and three ostrich feathers, and below a motto―illegible.

James P. R. Lyell, 1871–1948 : bought by Lyell in November 1937, possibly from Goldschmidt.