Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

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

Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 15

Gregory the Great, Moralia in Iob

Contents

Introduction:
1r-100v
Gregory the Great (CPL 1708), Moralia in Iob
Incipit: || 1r: uerba per syllabas percipit uisus autem noster in eo quo se dirigit
Explicit: 100v: lacrimas reddat Deo et Domino nostro Ihesu Christo cui||
Language(s): Latin

Begins imperfectly, in xviii.2.

CPL 1708
CCSL 143B. 1397-1811

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: f. 1r: uerba per
Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: Codex: 2 + 101 leaves. 355 × 250 mm.
Foliation:

21st-century foliation:

i-ii + 1-101

Numbering in pencil.

Collation

The manuscript comprises fourteen quires, mostly of eight leaves. There are quires missing after Quire 3 and Quire 9, and single leaves before ff. 1, 58, 69, 80 and 91 (doubtless removed for their initials).

  • Two medieval leaves (ff. i-ii)
  • Quire 18-1 (ff. 1-7: 1st leaf, before f. 1, missing)
  • Quire 28-2 (ff. 8-13: 4th and 5th leaves, after f. 10, missing)
  • Quires 3-78 (ff. 14-53)
  • Quire 88-1 (ff. 54-60: 5th leaf, after f. 57, missing)
  • Quires 9-108 (ff. 61-76)
  • Quire 118-1 (ff. 77-83: 4th leaf, after f. 79, missing)
  • Quire 128-1 (ff. 84-90: 8th leaf, after f. 90, missing)
  • Quire 138 (ff. 91-98)
  • Quire 144-1 (ff. 99-101: 3rd leaf, after f. 100, missing)
18-1 (1 missing) 28-2 (4, 5 missing) 3-78 88-1 (5 missing) 9-108 118-1 (4 missing) 128-1 (8 missing) 134-1 (3 missing)

No leaf signatures.

No quire signatures.

 No catchwords.

Condition

Folio 69 has suffered liquid damage. All but one of the major initials in the text have been excised.

Layout

245 × 155 mm. Ruled in leadpoint. Two columns. 39-40 lines to the page. Written above top line.

Paratext: running heads written on a specially ruled line. Chapter numbers added in the margins by a much later hand.

Hand(s)

Protogothic. Parker McLachlan's Scribe A, the first scribe of Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 12.

Decoration

Zoomorphic initial I in the form of a dragon, in red, green, violet and gold, with heading in capitals in the same colours (f. 36r).

Two-line initials in red, green, violet and blue, sometimes with a little foliage ornament.

Binding

Original, repaired and rebacked under the old spine by Douglas Cockerell and Son in 1972: tawed skin over flush, square-edged oak boards; sewn on three bands, not raised on the flat spine; tabs at each end, heavily repaired; lined with textile of uncertain colour. Marks of chain-staples at head and foot of the front cover. Formerly two straps from recesses in the front board to pins at the rear. Formerly a rectangular label near the top of the rear cover: six iron nails remain.

Folios i-ii and 101 are former pastedowns. Folios i-ii were originally pasted together and to the front board. Folio i recto has a few lines of faint writing, including one in Hebrew. On f. ii verso, titles of s. xii (Tertia Pars) and later, and a circular diagram in ink (partially obscured by the College bookplate).

History

Origin: 2nd quarter of the 12th century. ; England, Bury St Edmunds.

The manuscript was made and kept at the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds .

CBMLC 4, B13.168

Provenance and Acquisition

Given to Pembroke College, Cambridge in 1599 by William Smart (d. 1599) . The College bookplate is pasted onto f. ii verso.

James, Ecloga, 23 or 207

Additional Information

Record Sources

This catalogue entry draws on the description provided by Rodney M. Thomson, A descriptive catalogue of the medieval manuscripts at Pembroke College, Cambridge (2022) (used here by kind permission of the author).

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) Notes on Cambridge manuscripts Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, Bishop, T.A.M. (1, 432-441, 1953) The English Manuscripts of the Moralia of Gregory the Great Kunsthistorische Forschungen: Otto Pächt zu Seinem 70. Geburtstag, Ker, N. R. ([Salzburg], 77-89, Residenz Verlag, 1972) The library and archives of Bury St Edmunds abbey, Thomson, Rodney M. (1974, unpublished PhD dissertation) The Scriptorium of Bury St. Edmunds in the twelfth century Outstanding theses from the Courtauld Institute of Art, McLachlan, Elizabeth Parker (New York, Garland, 1984) 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) Bibliotheca Gregorii Magni manuscripta: censimento dei manoscritti di Gregorio Magno e della sua fortuna (epitomi, florilegi, agiografie, liturgia) = census of manuscripts of Gregory the Great and his fortune (epitomes, anthologies, hagiographies, liturgy) Bibliotheca Gregorii Magni manuscripta Biblioteche e archivi, (Firenze, SISMEL - Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2015)

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