Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 120
New Testament, prefaced by illustrated cycle of the Life of Christ
Contents
Physical Description
21st-century foliation:
1-6 | 7-182
Numbering in pencil.Collation
14-1 (2nd missing) 24 | 3-228 238-1 (8th missing) 242
First and least leaves are pastedowns.Condition
Additions
On the front pastedown, in a rough anglicana hand of the 15th century, are eighteen lines from Stans puer ad mensam, ascribed to John Lydgate (DIMEV 3888; IMEV 2233).
On the front pastedown, the names only for a T-O map of the world, s. xiv, probably a pen-trial.
Binding
Stoakley and Son, 1946. Repaired by Sydney Morris ('Sandy') Cockerell, 1906-1987 , 1973 (report adhered to rear pastedown).
The medieval binding of the manuscript once had an overcover.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Given to the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds by Reginald of Denham , who is recorded as sacrist c. 1312: 'Reginaldus de Denham sacrista Sancti Eadmundi dedit hunc librum Sancto Eadmundo qui eum alienauerit anathema sit', written within a green framework with grotesque heads (f. 1r).
Probably given to Pembroke College, Cambridge by Edmund Boldero (1608-1679) , Master of Jesus College 1663-79 (James, Pembroke, p. xxix).
Part 1 [Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 120, ff. 1r-6v]
Contents
Language(s): No linguistic content
Physical Description
Collation
- Quire 14-1 (front pastedown-folio 2: 2nd leaf, after front pastedown, missing)
- Quire 24 (ff. 3-6)
Layout
325 × 215 mm.
Decoration
Twelve full-page framed miniatures, usually divided into three or occasionally two registers, illustrating episodes from the life of Christ. Outlined in ink (same as used for the text) by a single hand, in the style of the 'Alexis Master' of the St Albans Psalter (Hildesheim, Dombibl. St Gotthard MS 1) and New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.736).
1r:
- 1. The Wicked Husbandman
- 2. Cleansing of the Temple
- 3. Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes
1v:
- 4. Healing of the man born blind
- 5. The Woman taken in adultery
- 6. Raising of Lazarus
2r:
- 7. Parable of the Good Samaritan: a traveller attacked by robbers, a priest and a Levite pass by
- 8. The Good Samartian tends the traveller's wounds, sets him on his mount and brings him to an inn
- 9. Zachaeus in the fig tree
2v:
- 10. Christ disputing with the Jews, who stone him
- 11. Parable of the guest without a wedding garment
- 12. Entry into Jerusalem
3r:
- 13. The Last Supper
- 14. Christ washes the disciples' feet
- 15. The Betrayal
3v:
- 16. The Flagellation; Christ crowned with thorns
- 17. Procession to Calvary; Simon bearing the Cross
- 18. The Crucifixion
4r:
- 19. The Deposition
- 20. The Entombment; the Jews ask Pilate for a guard
- 21. The soldiers asleep; Angel addressing the Women at the Sepulchre
4v:
- 22. The Harrowing of Hell; Noli me tangere
- 23. The Journey to Emmaus: Cleopas and Peter meet Christ, all dressed as pilgrims; Supper at Emmaus
- 24. Cleopas and Peter returning from Emmaus; Inredulity of Thomas, who touches Christ's wound
5r:
- 25. Christ seated at a table, four disciples bringing food (fish and honeycomb) (Luke 24:42); Lake Tiberias: Peter walking on the water towards Christ, Christ on the shore, directing the disciples
- 26. Miraculous draught of fishes, Peter carrying the net ashore; Fish and bread laid on the fire
- 27. Christ on the mountain, disciples touching his feet (Matthew 28:16-19); Christ appears to the Eleven disciples at table (Mark 16:14)
5v:
- 28. The Ascension
- 29. The dance of Salome, the beheading of John the Baptist, his head presented on a platter at the banqueting table
6r:
- 30. God and Christ as identical persons, enthroned, in a mandorla between cherubim
- 31. Pentecost
6v:
- 32. Last Judgement
Each page containing miniatures was prepared for a border, of which only on those on ff. 1r-3r were filled with paint. The miniatures on 1r-3r were tinted, by a later hand, in blue, green, buff and grey; the rest are sparsely tinted, but those on 5v and 6v left untinted.
History
Part 2 [Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 120, ff. 7r-182v]
Contents
Physical Description
Collation
- Quires 3-238 (ff. 7-174)
- Quire 248-1 (ff. 175-181: 8th leaf, after f. 181, missing)
- Quire 242 (ff. 182-rear pastedown)
Quire signatures written at the end.
Layout
300 × 185 mm. Two columns, 35 lines, ruled in leadpoint, written above top line.
Hand(s)
A fine, probably professional, English protogothic bookhand. On f. 182v, a colophon, written by a different hand, names the scribe: 'Nomen Guillelmi cuius manus hoc scripsit uolumen in libro uitae asscribatur.
Decoration
Prefaces and each Gospel open with skilfully executed initials painted in shades of blue, green, red, gold, etc. Those to the Gospels contain the Evangelist symbols (ff. 11r, 31v, 70r, 113r).
The initial opening I Peter has St Peter with book and keys (f. 113r).
The others are inhabited, principally by dragons and biting beasts (ff. 1r-1v, 8v, 32v, 45v (x2), 47v, 69r, 86v, 88r, 110r-110v, 112v, 115v, 117r-117v, 119v, 120r-120v, 121v-122r, 123r-123v, 124v, 132r-132v, 133v, 141r-141v, 146v, 147r, 150r, 153r, 155v, 157v, 158v, 161r, 163v, 165r, 166r, 167r, 174r).
The other books open with inhabited or foliated initials, very like those in New York, Pierpont Morgan Library. MS M.736 .
The capitula have plain coloured initials and red numbers which are repeated in the margins against each chapter.
Small initials in red, blue and green, mostly plain, some with foliage ornament.
Small initials in the same ink as the text, highlighted in yellow.
History
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)
English illuminated manuscripts: from the Xth to the XIIIth century English illuminated
manuscripts, Millar, Eric George (Paris; Bruxelles, G. van Oest, 1926)
Painting in Britain: the Middle Ages Painting in Britain Pelican history of art, Rickert, Margaret (Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1965)
A twelfth-century cycle of New Testament drawings from Bury St Edmunds Abbey Proceedings
of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology, McLachlan, Elizabeth Parker (31, 262-302, 1969)
English illuminated manuscripts 700-1500, Alexander, J.J.G.Kauffmann, C.M. (Bruxelles, Bibliotheque Royale Albert Ier, 1973)
The library and archives of Bury St Edmunds abbey, Thomson, Rodney M. (1974, unpublished PhD dissertation)
Romanesque manuscripts, 1066-1190 A Survey of manuscripts illuminated in the British
Isles, Kauffmann, C. M. (London, H. Miller, 1975)
Narrative illustration and theological exposition in medieval art Studies in Church
History, Henderson, George D. S. (17, 19-35, 1981, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0424208400010238)
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)
Early Gothic manuscripts [II]: 1250-1285 Early Gothic manuscripts [II] A survey of
manuscripts illuminated in the British Isles, Morgan, N.J. (London, Harvey Miller, 1988)
A devotional diptych of the Resurrection: Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 2* English
Manuscript Studies: 1100-1700, Sheppard, Jennifer M. (2, 231-255, 1990)
The Romanesque artist of the Harley 603 Psalter English Manuscript Studies: 1100-1700, Gameson, Richard (4, 24-61, 1993)
Romanesque manuscripts: the twelfth century Romanesque manuscripts A survey of manuscripts
illuminated in France, Cahn, Walter (London, Harvey Miller, 1996)
The production and artisty of the Bury Bible Bury St. Edmunds. Medieval Art, Architecture,
Archeology and Economy, Heslop, T. A. (Leeds, 172-185, 1998)
The Cambridge Illuminations: ten centuries of book production in the medieval west, (London, Harvey Miller, 2005)
Cambridge, Pembroke College MS 120: overlooked and new observations Pembroke College
MS 120 Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, Kidd, Peter (13, 3, 289-299, 2006, https://www.jstor.org/stable/41154954)
Manuscripts in the library of Pembroke College, Cambridge and the Fitzwilliam Museum
Index of Middle English prose, Rand, Kari Anne (Woodbridge, Brewer, 2006)
Introduction: on making medieval illuminated manuscripts accessible The Cambridge
illuminations: the conference papers, Henderson, George (London, 13-19, Harvey Miller, 2007)
The liturgy in medieval England: a history The liturgy in medieval England, Pfaff, Richard William (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2009)
The Pembroke Map: A Medieval Sketch Imago Mundi, Kowal, Kimberley C. (64, 2, 216-226, 2012)
Funding of Cataloguing
Anstruther Trust (digitisation)
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
