Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 7
Biblical commentaries
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Unprinted.
Opening rubric added by a later hand (15th-/16th-century). Unprinted.
Unprinted.
Unprinted.
Ends imperfectly in Hag. 1:14; part of explicit taken from catchwords. Two half-columns and one full column blank on ff. 213v-214r; uncertain whether text is missing. Unprinted.
Ends imperfectly in 15:36. Unprinted.
Physical Description
19th-, 20th- and 21st-century foliation
[a-c] + i-ii + 1-132 ; 133-172 ; 173-204 ; 205-227 ; 228-267 + 268-269 + [d-f]
Foliation largely by an early 21st-century hand, completing a previously intermittent sequence of foliation (numbering at the beginning of quires and texts). Written in pencil in the top right-hand corner of the recto side of each leaf.
Collation
The manuscript is formed of five codicological units: Unit 1 = Quires 1-17; Unit 2 = Quires 18-22; Unit 3 = Quires 23-26; Unit 4 = Quires 27-29; and Unit 5 = Quires 30-34. The scribes who produced these were evidently working contemporaneously and in close collaboration with one another. New texts begin on the first recto side of a new quire in two instances (see ff. 133r, 228r). However, in two instances elsewhere, a scribe's work crossed the quire boundary and overlapped with the preceding or following scribe: ending on the recto side of the first leaf of the next quire (see f. 173r) or starting on the verso side of the last leaf of the preceding quire (see f. 204v). The layouts of each unit vary, as does the approach for keeping the quires in order: quire numbering is used in Units 1, 2 and 5, starting afresh in Units 2 and 5, while Units 3 and 4 do not have quire numbers; catchwords are used in Units 3 and 4, but also appear elsewhere, though in some instances were applied by later, medieval hands. The catchwords on ff. 172v and 227v do not match the opening words of ff. 173r and 228r respectively, indicating the loss of one or more quires at these junctures. One or more quires are also missing at the end of the manuscript.
- Quires 1-168 (ff. 1-128)
- Quire 174 (ff. 129-132) ;
- Quires 18-228 (ff. 133-172) ;
- Quires 23-268 (ff. 173-204) ;
- Quire 278 (ff. 205-212)
- Quire 288-1 (ff. 213-219: 2nd leaf excised)
- Quire 298 (ff. 220-227) ;
- Quires 30-348 (ff. 228-267)
1-168 174 ; 18-228 ; 23-268 ; 278 288-1 (2nd excised) 298 ; 30-348
Quire signatures in Units 1, 2 and 5, starting afresh in Units 2 and 5.
Catchwords in Units 3 and 4, and present elsewhere (sometimes added by later, medieval hands).Layout
245-250 × 140-145 mm. Unit 1 (ff. 1-132): ruled in leadpoint, frame and line. Two columns. 55-56 lines to the page, written above top line.
260 × 170-175 mm. Unit 2 (ff. 133-172): ruled in leadpoint, frame and line. Two columns. 54 lines to the page, written above top line.
250 × 145 mm. Unit 3 (ff. 173-204): ruled in leadpoint, frame and line. Two columns. 55 lines to the page, written above top line.
250 × 145 mm. Unit 4 (ff. 205-227): ruled in leadpoint, frame and line. Two columns. 54-55 lines to the page, written above top line.
260-270 × 175-190 mm. Unit 5 (ff. 228-267): ruled in leadpoint, frame and line. Two columns. 55 lines to the page, written above top line.
Hand(s)
Written in gothic bookhand by several hands, 'probably French' (according to Thomson (2022)).
Decoration
A single three-line initial in blue, with infill and marginal flourishing in red (f. 228r).
A single four-line plain initial in red (f. 1r).
Spaces left for initials of two to five lines, and for rubricated headings.
Additions
Note on the contents of the manuscript, written by an early 13th-century hand: 'Notule super psalterium et Glose super ysaiam . Jeremiam . Danielem . et . xii . pro[phetas] (f. i recto.
Sporadic annotations by
Robert Grosseteste
(1175-1223)
(see
Provenance). The notes at the foot of f. 1r may also be by Grosseteste: 'κυατερνι
. 29 . i . 120 | Quarterni 29 in
uniuerso | Glose Hildewini et sacris introitu Tabernaculis | Stephanus Incipit liber
ympnorum et soliquus'.
Notes in ink and leadpoint, written by 13th-century hands (f. 132r-132v).
Note on the contents of the manuscript, written in the fore-edge margin by an 18th-century hand (f. 1r).
Quire numbers written in pencil in the bottom right-hand corner of the recto side of the first leaf of each quire, added by an unidentified 19th-century hand.
Binding
19th-century binding, half covers of grey polished calf over pasteboards, classmark and title tooled in gold on the spine. Same style as Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 54 . This instance not stamped, but certainly also by Stoakley and Son.
Mark of a chain-staple in the centre of the lower edge of f. ii verso, from a former medieval binding (see Thomson (2022), pp. xxix-xxx for further discussion). M.R. James (1905), p. xl, noted that four leaves of a 12th-century Italian manuscript, containing the end of the Digest were removed from the binding; these are now Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 313, no. 10. However, according to Thomson (2022), these 'seem to have come from a Pembroke Hall book, not this one'.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Owned by Robert Grosseteste (1175-1253) . An inscription by Grosseteste's hand on f. ii verso - 'Memoriale Magistri Roberti grossetest' pro exameron basilii' - indicates his loan of this manuscript to the monks of Bury in exchange for a copy of the Hexaemeron of Basil of Caesarea (c. 329-379) . This transaction took place shortly after 1240-1242. Given the continued Bury provenance for the manuscript (see below), this exchange was presumably never reversed.
An ownership inscription (with table of contents) and pressmark (B.231) for the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds , written by Henry Kirkstede (c. 1314-c. 1378 .
Given to
Pembroke College, Cambridge
in 1599 by
William Smart (d. 1599)
.
Additional Information
Record Sources
Availability
Researchers should note that Pembroke College's western European medieval manuscripts are housed at Cambridge University Library. Scholars who wish to consult Pembroke College manuscripts should contact the Special Collections Reading Room to arrange their visit; all University Library admissions procedures will apply. For information on eligibility and admissions procedures, see Joining the Library. For further enquiries, and to confirm the availability of the manuscript, please contact the Special Collections Reading Room.
Bibliography
-
A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Pembroke College, Cambridge, James, M.R. (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1905)
A Collection of Paris Lectures of the Later Twelfth Century in the MS. Pembroke College,
Cambridge 7 Cambridge Historical Journal, Smalley, Beryl (6, 1, 103-113, 1938, https://www.jstor.org/stable/3020850)
The writings of Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln 1235-1253, Harrison Thomson, Samuel (London, Cambridge University Press, 1940)
The library and archives of Bury St Edmunds abbey, Thomson, Rodney M. (1974, unpublished PhD dissertation)
Some Manuscripts in Cambridge from Bury St Edmunds Abbey: Exhibition Catalogue Bury
St Edmunds: Medieval Art, Architecture, Archaeology and Economy British Archaeological
Association conference Transactions, Gransden, Antonia ([S.l.], 228-285, British Archaeological Association, 1998)
Funding of Cataloguing
Anstruther Trust (digitisation)
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
