Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 56
Kings, glossed
Contents
Marginal and interlinear glosses from the Glossa ordinaria (Stegmüller 11789-11792).
Physical Description
21st-century foliation:
[i-ii] + 1-132 + [iii-iv]
Numbering in pencil.Collation
The manuscript comprises sixteen quires of eight leaves, plus a final, imperfect quire.
- Quires 1-168 (ff. 1-128)
- Quire 178-4 (ff. 129-132: 5th-8th leaves, after f. 132, missing)
No leaf signatures.
Quires numbered at the end.
Sporadic catchwords.Layout
210-230 × up to 165 mm. Text: Ruled with leadpoint, 28 lines. Written above top line in long lines, on alternate lines and in larger script than the gloss, almost always occupying the full length of the text block (occasionally lines of gloss extend underneath the final line of text), but varying in width, even on the same page. Pricking marks for the outer bounding lines only.
Gloss: Ruled with leadpoint for 39-55 lines of gloss, not all occupied, written in smaller script. Written above top line in 1, 2 or sometimes 3 columns, of varying width, even on the same page, and which sometimes overlap with one another.
Paratext: Chapter numbers added a little later, in the margins.
Hand(s)
Written by a single scribe in English protogothic bookhand.
Decoration
Bury style.
The text of each book opens with a large arabesque initial in blue, green or red and a title in red and green capitals. The capitula open with a large blue initial with arabesque ornament in green, red and blue. Jerome's prologue opens with a red, blue and green arabesque initial.
Small initials, plain or arabesqued in red, green and yellow (or combinations thereof).
Sections of text and gloss are divided by red, green or occasionally blue initials, plain or ornamented in the other colour. There are also many small red or green initials.
Red or green paraphs.
Binding
Original, repaired by Douglas Cockerell and Son in 1971, the spine replaced under the old skin and two paper endleaves supplied at the front and the rear. Tawed skin over flush, square-edged oak boards; resewn on four bands slightly raised on the flat spine. Tabs with the remains of blue perimeter sewing. Modern blue and white endbands. Mark of a chain-staple at the head of the front cover, two at the foot. Originally an overcover. Formerly two narrow straps of thick tawed skin from recesses in the front board, from under the cover skin to pins at the rear; replaced by a wider central strap and pin fastening.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Perhaps recorded in a 12th-century book-list of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds (CBMLC 4, B13.223).
Ex libris, title and pressmark (B.58), written by the hand of Henry Kirkestede (c. 1314-c. 1379) (f. 1r).
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)
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)
Some 12th-century bindings from the library of Bury St Edmunds abbey:
preliminary findings Bury St Edmunds: medieval art, architecture, archaeology and
economy British Archaeological Association conference transactions, Sheppard, Jennifer M. ([S.l.], 194-203, British Archaeological Association, 1998)
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
