Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

A catalogue of Western manuscripts and papyri at Cambridge University Library, the Fitzwilliam Museum and selected Cambridge colleges

Cambridge, Jesus College, MS Q.B.10

Works by Ambrose and Jerome

Contents

Introduction: The majority of Cambridge, Jesus Collge MS Q.B.10 (hereafter MS Q.B.10) comprises works by two early Christian theological writers: Ambrose of Milan and Jerome. The main texts were probably copied in England or perhaps in France, and are written and decorated in the typical early 12th-century Anglo-Norman style: in single columns, in protogothic minuscule script, and with so-called 'Arabesque' major and minor initials that are either mono-coloured or in combinations of (mostly) red, yellow, and green. Jesus MS Q.B.10 has one particularly detailed major initial on f. 117v, a foliate interlace initial in white, yellow, red, green, and purple and with a dragon forming the sloping ascender of a stylised form of uncial 'd'. Whether or not Jesus MS Q.B.10 was made in England, it was certainly there by the 15th century: it has a list of plant names and a long recipe in Middle English in a hand of that period on ff. 2v-3r, and also an ownership inscription by Andrew Doket (d. 1484) , former Master of Queens' College, Cambridge: 'Lib. Magistri Andree Doket rectoris Sancti Botulfi Cantabr.' (f. 4v: 'The book of Magister Andrew Doket rector of Saint Botolph's, Cambridge). Andrew Doket made a catalogue of the manuscripts belonging to Queens' College in 1482, but no book matching Jesus MS Q.B.10 appears on that list. Assuming Doket owned the manuscript at that point, he apparently considered it a personal rather than an institutional possession. It is not known what happened to Jesus MS Q.B.10 after Doket's death and before its acquisition by Jesus College. It certainly belonged to the College by c. 1700 at the latest, since as the front pastedown bears several former Jesus College shelfmarks of which the approximate periods of their use are known, i.e., a pre-1700 shelfmark ('M.Z.11'), a temporary- or aborted-reorganisation shelfmark 'H.18' in use c. 1700-1705, and another pre-1705 shelfmark 'N.B.10' with the 'N' struck out and changed to 'Q' to reflect the move of the manuscripts from the 'N' to the 'Q' press c. 1705. Dr Sarah Gilbert| Project Cataloguer | Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries References
R. Hanna, 'The Thomas Mans, Their Books, and Jesus College Librarianship', The Library, 21.1 (2020), pp. 46–73 doi.org/10.1093/library/21.1.46

Language(s): Latin and Middle English

1. front pastedown - 1r
Two openings for dedicatory epistles
Language(s): Latin

The first begins: ‘Diu me reluctantem pater serenissime’, and the second begins: ‘Multum diuque me reluctantem pater syncerissime’.

2. 1v
Extract from the Homilies on Ezechiel Gregory the Great
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 1v Sicut autem ignis amoris
Explicit: 1v ad inferiora semper incuruat

Extracts from Book 1, Homily 2.

Added by a 15th century hand.

CPL 1710
3. 1v
In prouerbia Salomonis (extract) Bede
Language(s): Latin

Book 2, ch. 19. Full transcription: ‘Secundum salamonem: sicut fremitus leonis ita et ...(?) ira regis’.

Added by a 15th-century hand.

CPL 1351
4. 1v
Vita S. Thomae Becket (extract) John of Salisbury
Language(s): Latin

Full transcription: ‘Reuerentissime diuina sacramenta tractabat . ut intuencium fidem et mores ipsa contrectacio infirmaret . Manus suas excuciebat ab omni munere et a domo sua sordes auaricie prorsus eliminabat . Erat quoque prouidus in consiliis et inuentilacione causarum diligens et modestus auditor . in interogacionibus subtilis . in responsionibus promptus iustus in iudiciis et personarum prprsus accepcione deducta iuris per omnia rectissimus executor’.

Added in a 15th-century hand.

Edited (not from this MS) in J. A. Giles, Joannis Saresberiensis postea episcopi carnotensis opera omnia, vol. 5 (Oxford, 1848) pp. 358-380
5. 2r
List of capitula for Ambrose, De officiis ministrorum

The capitula run from 'De taciturnitate' to 'De amicitia'.

Written by a 12th-century hand.

6. 2v
List of herbs in Middle English
Language(s): Middle English

Arranged in four columns or cedule (i.e. 'schedula'), the leftmost column headed Prima cedula and then left-to-right the remaining three columns headed Secunda sedula, Tercia sedula, and Quarta sedula. The first plant listed is Elena campana and the last is uerueyn.

Added by a 15th-century hand.

Mentioned, but not printed in IMEP XXII.

IMEP XXII, p. 126
7. 2v-3r
Medical recipe
Language(s): Middle English
Incipit: 2v Fyrst sede þe herbis as þey be wrytyne in lyk porcion
Explicit: 3r do be yt as þu wold do be ale

For an unspecified purpose. Added by a 15th-century hand.

IMEP XXII, p. 33
8. 5r-50v
De officiis ministrorum Ambrose of Milan
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 5r Libellus ualde utilium preceptorum atque consiliorum de libris officiorum Beatissimi pape Ambrosii mediolanensis collectus
Incipit: 5r Non arrogans uideri arbitror si inter filios
Explicit: 50v aliquid profectus habeant ; uos probabitis ;
Final rubric: 50v Explicit defloratio librorum beati Ambrosii de officiis
CPL 144
9. 50v-117v
Contra Jovinianum Jerome
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 52r Incipit Liber S. Ieronimi presbiteri contra Iouinianum
Incipit: 52r Pauci admodum dies sunt ; quod sancti ex urbe roma
Explicit: 117v epycuri luxuriam susceperunt
Final rubric: 117v explicit

In two Books, the second begins on f. 87v. List of capitula for Books 1 and 2 on ff. 50v-51v.

CPL 610
PL 23, pp. 211-338
10. 117v-125r
De mysteriis Ambrose of Milan
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 117v Incipit liber beati ambrosii mediolanensis episcopi de misteriis siue iniciandis
Incipit: 117v De moralibus cotidianum sermonem habuimus
Explicit: 125r ueritatem regenerationis operetur
Final rubric: 125r explicit tractatus de misteriis
CPL 155
11. 125r-144v
De sacramentis Ambrose of Milan
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 125r Incipit sermo primus de sacramentis ambrosii
Incipit: 125r De sacramentis que accepistis sermonem adorior
Explicit: 144v qui uiuit et regnat in secula seculorum amen
Final rubric: 144v Explicit sermo septimus beati ambrosii mediolanensis archiepiscopi de sacramentis

Arranged in 7 books.

The text on f. 143v-144v is much smaller and in a different and perhaps slightly later hand.

CPL 154

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 6r: uistus solus est
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH)
Extent: Codex: 4 + 140 leaves. 255 × 165 mm.
Foliation:

20th century foliation

1-4 + 5-144

Foliated in pencil in Hindu-Arabic numerals in the upper outer corner of each recto.

Collation

Quires of mostly 8 leaves arranged as follows:

  • Four parchment flyleaves (ff. 1-4) +
  • Quire 18-1 (ff. 5-11: 1st leaf cancelled)
  • Quires 2-68 (ff. 12-51)
  • Quire 78-1 (ff. 52-58: 5th leaf missing)
  • Quires 8-98 (ff. 59-74)
  • Quire 108-1 (ff. 75-81: 1st leaf missing)
  • Quires 11-148 (ff. 82-113)
  • Quire 1510 (ff. 114-123)
  • Quire 168 (ff. 124-131)
  • Quire 176 (ff. 132-137)
  • Quire 188-1 (ff. 138-144: 7th leaf cancelled)

Four parchment flyleaves + 18-1 (1st leaf cancelled) 2-68 78-1 (5th leaf missing) 8-98 108-1 (1st leaf missing) 11-148 1510 168 176 188-1 (7th leaf cancelled)

No leaf signatures.

Some quires are numbered in ink in medieval Roman numerals, e.g., 'ii' at the end of Quire 2 on f. 19v.

Catchwords present in the lower margin of the last verso of some quires, e.g., f. 89v.

Condition

In fair condition. All of the sewing supports and head and tail bands have snapped at the left hinge and are no longer connected to the left board, but the supports are still laced firmly into the right board and the cover material over the left joint is in good condition. Leaves have been trimmed with losses to marginal annotations throughout the volume.

Layout

190 × 105 mm. Folios 5r-143v ruled in crayon, frame and lines. Ruled in single-column format, typically 33 lines to the page and written above top line. Folios 1r-4v and 144rv are more informally arranged and have no visible ruling.

Hand(s)

Folios 5r-51v written in protogothic libraria minuscule by 'Scribe 1'

Folios 52r-143v written in protogothic libraria minuscule by 'Scribe 2'

Folios 143v-144v written in a small protogothic current minuscule.

Decoration

A foliate interlace initial in white, yellow, red, green, and purple on f. 117v topped with a dragon. Major initials in red and green in the 'Arabesque' style on ff. 5r, 52r, and 125r at the other major divisisions of the texts.

Plain initials in red or green at the minor divisions of the texts.

Rubricated headings at the minor divisions of the texts on ff. 5r-51v.

Additions

A note, perhaps in the hand of former owner Andrew Doket (d. 1484) on f. 4v: '...(?) pro maiore parte ea que non subiacent uisui non cognoscebant 987'.

There is a note in ink on f. 144v by a 15th-century hand: 'Walterus at the noke R. non habuit Iohannem'. A 'Walter atte Noke' witnessed a Grant by Isabella Harry in 1402 of a yearly rent of 6d 'issuing out of a tenement in Birchynton in the vill of Bexle'. See East Sussex and Brighton and Hove Record Office, ASH/4501/41

Former shelfmarks added to the front pastedown:
  • Former shelfmark (pre-1705) 'N.B.10' in ink .
  • Former shelfmark 'H.18' in ink .
  • Former shelfmark 'M.Z.11' twice in ink and struck out.

Binding

Fully bound in undecorated tawed skin over wood boards cut flush with the text block. Spine is flat with sewing slips laid in channels across the back. Head and tail bands visible; thick cream yarn around a core of ?tawed skin and mounted on tabs of ?tawed skin extending down the back of the quires almost to the nearest sewing slip. Traces of a former strap-and-pin fastening present on the current binding: a channel for the strap present under the cover material in the centre of the fore-edge of the left board, and a puncture in the centre of the right board, through the cover material and with damage caused by a now-lost pin plate to the endleaves at the rear of the volume. The arrangement of the elements of a strap-and-pin fastening with the strap anchored in the fore edge of the left board and the pin plate fixed to the right board is typical of bindings prepared in England rather than mainland Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries.

The spine has a black leather label with a blind triple-fillet frame at its perimeter and a title 'MISCELLANEA THEOLOGICA MSS.' tooled in gold. Three small printed paper labels fixed to the spine with an adhesive, 'Q' 'B' and '10' for the current shelfmark.

Parts of a former shelfmark are written in ink on the cover material over the fore edges of the board. The fore edge of the left board has a character that resembles the Hindu-Arabic numeral '3', but which probably represents the minuscule form of the Greek letter zeta (ζ), and the fore edge of the right board has '11' written on a small label pasted around the fore edge. The manuscript once had the Jesus College shelfmark M.Z.11 and, presumably, when that shelfmark system was in use, the manuscript was stored fore-edge out.

Parchment pastedowns pasted over the turn ins. The front pastedown contains a Jesus College armorial bookplate with escutcheon, helmet, crown, mantling, and crest and bearing the label 'Collegium Iesu Cantabrigiens i \e/ 1700'

Accompanying Material

Three small parchment bookmark tabs numbered '2' '3' and '4' in ink in Hindu-Arabic numerals and attached to ff. 52r, 117v, and 125r. The Hindu-Arabic numeral forms have the standard 'modern' appearance, so the numbers were presumably added post-1600. There is no obvious sign of the loss of a tab '1'.

History

Origin: 12th century. ; Probably England, or perhaps France.

Date and location of production based on palaeographical features.

Provenance and Acquisition

Owned by Andrew Doket (d. 1484) , former Master of Queens' College, Cambridge: 'Lib. Magistri Andree Doket rectoris Sancti Botulfi Cantabr.' (f. 4v: The book of Magister Andrew Doket rector of Saint Botolph's, Cambridge). Doket was presented to the vicarage of St Botolph's Church in Cambridge in probably 1435 or 1436, and was officially confirmed as Vicar of St Botolph's in 1444 after some legal complexities, and resigned the role on 2nd July 1470. The date of Doket's inscription on f. 4v then may be assigned to c. 1444-1470 (or perhaps 1435-1470), but his ownership of the volume may pre-date the inscription. It is not known when or how the volume left Doket's possession. Doket, in his role as Master of Queens' College, made a catalogue of the Queens' College manuscripts in 1472 (first edited by W. G. Searle and printed in Antiquarian Communications (London, 1864; more recently edited in CBMLC10, UC50), but he does not appear to have presented the volume to the Library of the College of which he was now Master since the manuscript is not among the items that Doket catalogued.

ODNB: Dokett [Doket], Andrew (doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/7772)
Venn:ACAD Andrew Dokett (no Venn:ACAD number)
W. G. Searle, 'Catalogue of the Library of Queens' College', Antiquarian Communications: Being Papers Presented at the Meetings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society , Vol 2 (London, 1864), pp. 165-193
CBMLC 10, UC50

Owned by a Thomas Cave , who added his name 'Liber Thomae Caue', a quotation from Aeneid V.704, '‘Quicquid erit superanda omnis fortuna ferando est’', a quotation from Aeneid VI.616, '‘Discite iustitiam moniti nec temnere diuos’', and a quotation from an epistle of Horace (Epistle I.4, the epistle to Albium Tibullum) 'Dii tibi divitias' to f. 4v.

Cave also added a brief table of contents to the volume on f. 4v with the heading 'In hoc uolumine continentur' (numbering Cave's):

  • 1. Libellus ualde utilium praeceptorum &c de libris officiorum B. Ambrosii collectus
  • 2. Liber S. Hieronymi contra Iouinianum
  • 3. Liber B. Ambrosii de ...(?) mysteriis initiantur
  • 4. de sacramentis Ecclisiastii

Acquired by Jesus College before c. 1700, but the precise date and the circumstances of the acquisition are unknown. Jesus College MS Q.B.10 is not one of the seven books at Jesus College described in the Ecloga of Thomas James (1600), nor is it included in Bernard's Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ (c. 1697), although the lack of inclusion in Bernard does not preclude its arrival at Jesus College before 1697. Bernard's Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ reprinted James's Ecloga and occasionally updated the information therein, but unfortunately it is not a reliable guide to the 17th-century manuscript acquisitions of Jesus College, since it does not, for example, record the substantial donation of manuscripts to Jesus College by Thomas Man that is known to have taken place in 1685. Thomas Man donated a substantial portion of the medieval manuscripts that now belong to Jesus College as a gift to the Library in 1685, but MS Q.B.10 is almost certainly not a Man donation as MS Q.B.10 once had the Jesus College shelfmark 'M.Z.11'; and the Man donations were in all cases (apart from two that lack shelfmarks in that system entirely) assigned 'M.H.xx' numbers rather than 'M.Z.xx' numbers. The combination of former shelfmarks written in the volume, i.e., 'M.Z.11', 'H.18' 'N.B.10' and latterly 'Q.B.10' indicates that MS Q.B.10 was certainly present at Jesus College c. 1700, as c. 1700-1705 the manuscripts in the library were assigned new shelfmarks and MS Q.B.10 bears an 'M.Z.11' shelfmark which was in use before the reorganisation of the library c. 1700-1705.

There is a Jesus College ownership inscription 'Liber Collegii Jesu' in ink on f. 2r in a late ?17th century or early ?18th century hand.

See R. Hanna for a discussion of the reorganisation of the Jesus College Library c. 1700-1705 and the former shelfmark systems in use there: R. Hanna, ‘The Thomas Mans, Their Books, and Jesus College Librarianship’, The Library, 21.1 (2020), 46–73, doi.org/10.1093/library/21.1.46

Additional Information

Record Sources

This catalogue entry draws on M. R. James, A descriptive catalogue of manuscripts in the library of Jesus College, Cambridge (London, 1895), no. 27.

Availability

Visitors to Jesus College who wish to consult Special Collections material are required to apply to the Old Library in advance of their visit. For information on eligibility and admission procedures see: Jesus College: Old Library.

Bibliography

    Catalogue of the Library of Queens' College Antiquarian Communications: Being Papers Presented at the Meetings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, Searle, W. G. (II, 165-193, 1864) A descriptive catalogue of manuscripts in the library of Jesus College, Cambridge, James, M. R. (London, Clay, 1895) Doket [Doket], Andrew (c. 1410–1484), college head, Underwood, Malcolm G. (1, Oxford University Press, 2004, http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-7772) Manuscripts in Christ's, Emmanuel, Jesus, Selwyn and Sidney Sussex Colleges, Peterhouse and Trinity Hall, Cambridge Index of Middle English prose, Lucas, Angela M. (Cambridge, D.S. Brewer, 2016) The Thomas Mans, their Books, and Jesus College Librarianship The Library, Hanna, Ralph (21, 1, 46-73, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1093/library/21.1.46) The first 40 presidents of Queens' College Cambridge : their lives and times, Dowson, Jonathan (Tolworth, Grosvenor House Publishing, 2022)

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Wellcome

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