Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries: Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 258

Miscellany

Introduction: Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 258 is a composite manuscript comprised of several originally separate parts created in England between the 12th and 15th centuries. Among the many and various texts in the manuscript are stories about Christian saints, texts on theology, confession and penance, Alexander the Great, natural history, Christian apocrypha, moral fables, penance, short poems, and brief medical recipes. Among the many interesting features of Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 258 is its medieval binding: the volume does not have a typical medieval binding where the quires have been laced into hard boards covered with leather, limp-parchment or tawed skin, but instead has a home-made binding of an envelope of limp-parchment and linen stuffed with documents. The binding was constructed by taking a piece of semi-limp parchment a little more than twice the width of a leaf in the volume, laying it flat, placing several mid-15th century documents pasted together on top of the semi-limp parchment, then placing a piece of linen on top of the documents and sewing all three layers together with a linen thread. The three-layered cover was then folded in half (with the linen on the inside), and the quires were attached to the binding by stab-sewing through the full-thickness of the binding. The sewing to close the fore edge of the rear cover came apart after the cover was finished and the various layers of the cover are now loose at the rear of the manuscript. Some of the documents that were pasted together to line the cover have become separate in the intervening centuries and contain dating clauses for the reign of King Edward IV (reg. 1461-1470 and 1471-1483). The unusual format of the cover suggests that it may have been assembled by a former owner of the manuscript. A likely candidate for the former owner and binder is an otherwise unknown 'Goodwyn' who wrote his name on the outside of the front cover, and the inside of the rear cover and may have also written his name on the inside of the front cover where it is rendered as 'Goodwin 1496' in what may actually be a slightly later hand. Little is known about the provenance of the manuscript, since it does not appear in any records of the holdings of Pembroke College library before 1898. It may have arrived a little earlier than that, since an 1879 Pembroke College bookplate is found on the inside of the front cover, but as bookplates were often used for several years after they were printed, the bookplate alone is not sufficient to establish an earlier date of acquisition. Dr Sarah Gilbert| Project Cataloguer|Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries|

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2r: Quidam rex

Form: codex

Support: The text-block comprises medieval parchment leaves from seven originally separate sources. The outer surface of the cover is semi-limp parchment. The inner surface of the cover is woven linen cloth stitched onto the semi-limp parchment and forming a pocket or envelope structure. The space between the semi-limp parchment outer cover and the cloth inner cover has been lined with documents made of medieval paper and parchment.

Extent: Codex: 20 | 23 | 8 | 6 | 34 | 31 | 19 | 3 leaves. 230-245 × 150-195 mm.

Foliation:

20th-century foliation

1-20 | 21-43 | 44-51 | 52-57 | 58-91 | 92-122 | 123-141 | [binding document i] - [binding document iii]

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

Collation

Composite manuscript comprising several parchment booklets of separate origin now bound together. Leaves in Quires 14 and 15 are misbound. Quire 14, a quire of four leaves (ff. 123-126), consists of two sequential rather than nested bifolia, and the second bifolium, the present ff. 125r-126v has been bound inside out; the leaves in Quire 14 should be read ff. 123, 124, 126, 125. Quire 15 is a quire of 7 leaves (ff. 127-133), three nested bifolia and a singleton (f. 133) after the 6th leaf; the singleton is misbound and should be the first leaf in the quire; the leaves in Quire 15 should be read ff. 133, 127-132.

Quire 1²⁰ (ff. 1-20) |
Quire 2¹⁰ (ff. 21-30)
Quire 3^10-2 (ff. 31-38: 9th and 10th leaves cancelled)
Quire 4^8-3 (ff. 39-43: 6th, 7th, and 8th leaves cancelled) |
Quire 5⁸ (ff. 44-51) |
Quire 6^six(ff. 52-57: gap between the 3rd and 4th leaf) |
Quires 7-8¹⁰ (ff. 58-77)
Quire 9¹⁴ (ff. 78-91) |
Quire 10⁸ (ff. 92-99)
Quire 11^8-2 (ff. 100-105: 6th and 7th leaves cancelled)
Quire 12⁸ (ff. 106-113)
Quire 13⁸⁺¹ (ff. 114-122: 1 leaf added after the 8th leaf) |
Quire 14⁴ (ff. 123-126)
Quire 15⁶⁺¹ (ff. 127-133: 1 leaf added after the 6th leaf)
Quire 16⁸ (ff. 134-141)

1²⁰ | 2¹⁰ 3^10-2 (9th and 10th cancelled) 4^8-3 (6th, 7th, and 8th cancelled) | 5⁸ | 6^six (gap between the 3rd and 4th leaf) | 7-8¹⁰ 9¹⁴ | 10⁸ 11^8-2 (6th and 7th cancelled) 12⁸ 13⁸⁺¹(1 leaf added after the 8th) | 14⁴ 15⁶⁺¹ (1 leaf added after the 6th) 16⁸

Additions

Quires numbered 1-16 in the lower outer corner of the first recto of each quire in pencil in Hindu-Arabic numerals; this quire designation sequence probably added in the 19th century.

Binding

Late-15th or early-16th century binding. The binding of Pembroke College MS 258 consists of three layers, each slightly larger than the largest bifolium in the volume, so that when the layers were stacked, sewn together, and folded in half, they formed a simple cover for the book-block. From outside to inside the cover, the three layers consist of: 1) a layer of semi-limp parchment; 2) a 'lining' layer made from layers of parchment documents from the reign of Edward IV pasted together; 3) a layer of linen cloth. The three layers are arranged a little like a quilted blanket, with the limp-parchment layer serving as the outer cover, the document layer functioning as the 'padding' or 'wadding' in the quilt, and the linen cloth layer serving as the 'backing', and forming the layer in contact with the text leaves. The three layers were originally sewn together all the way around the border of the cover with a linen thread; the sewing at the rear of the volume has since broken, and the various layers of the cover-structure are now exposed.

The quires of Pembroke College MS 258 are stab-sewn to the composite cover with vertical tacking stitches through the full thickness of the spine. Two paper labels fixed to the spine with an adhesive: a paper label with the Pembroke shelfmark '258' handwritten in ink, and a paper label with a handwritten list of some of the texts the spine.

The inside of the front cover contains:

The name 'Goodwin' and the date '1496' in dark ink (this name also appears faintly on the front cover, and on the linen cover layer at the rear of the volume
A note in ink 'bonum est Missam celebrare pro defunctis'
The number '120' struck out and the number '258' written in bright pink ink
A note in ink 'Evang: Iohannis Lat: cum Comm: Bedae et Augustini'
A Pembroke College bookplate, mounted horizontally, dated 1879
Residue of a small oval wax seal or dark book label

The documents used as the inner padding for the binding date from the reign of Edward IV (reg. 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470 and 11 April 1471 to 9 April 1483). The documents mention the building of a chamber in Pety Alley (now Petty Wales), and also Blakmanstrete, Suthwerk, and Kenstrete. Blakmanstrete, Suthwerk, and Kenstrete are all places in London on the south bank of the river Thames. These documents are described in more detail in Part 8 in this record.

This binding is similar in construction to Cambridge, University Library, Add. MS 6866, although Add. MS 6866 has an inner layer of parchment rather than linen around a pad of documents.

For further reading on this binding see N. Hadgraft, 'English Fifteenth Century Book Structures', unpubl. PhD thesis (University College London, 1998), esp. p. 250 and n. 162.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

In the upper margin of f. 85r there is a note in a ?mid-15th century hand: 'Alexander presbiter constat istum librum'.

The name 'Goodwyn' appears 3 times: as 'Goodwyn' on the front cover; as 'Goodwin' on the inside of the left cover with the date '1496'; and 'Goodwyn' on the cloth cover layer at the rear of the volume, probably a former owner, or perhaps the original compiler of the volume.

It is not known when or from whom Pembroke College obtained MS 258. The manuscript appears in H. Schenkl's Bibliotheca Patrum Latinorum Britannica (1898), no. 2490, but does not appear in any of the earlier inventories of Pembroke's library holdings.

Part 1: Theological texts [Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 258, ff. 1-20]

Language(s): Latin

1. 1r-6v

Extracts from lives or legends of saints

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: || 1r .n. celcitudinis unum beati . q . h . i . d . t . d .

Explicit: 6v est in laudibus saluatoris

Hugh of Lincoln, Anian, Bertin, Giles, John of Beverley, Wilfrid, Bridget of Ireland, Germanus, Swithun, Machutus, Gregory, John, Euphemia, Lucy, Clement, Simon and Iuda, Raphael.

2. 7r-8v

De confessione

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 7r Sacerdos debet humiliter se habere in confessione

Explicit: 8v et fortassis peiora feci quam tu

Bloomfield, Incipits, no. 5229

3. 8v

Unidentified text

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 8v Sequitur videre qualiter dissoluuntur sponsalia

Explicit: 8v de fide uel permissione ?mentitura

3. 9r-12v

De articulis fidei et ecclesiae sacramentis [simplified extracts]

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 9r Primus articulus fidei est quod unus Deus est in essencia

Explicit: 12v opus prauum dicit Paulus

See P. Glorieux, Répertoire des maitres en théologie de Paris au XIIIe siècle (1933-1934), no. 14h

4. 13r-20v

Extracts from lives or legends of saints

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 13r Mulier quedam peccata multa

Explicit: 20v loqui de illo

Germanus, on confession, of Judas, Edmund of East Anglia, Vitas patrum, Clement, Martin, Simon and Jude, Cornelius, Etheldreda, Crispin, Felix and Adauctus, Elisabeth, Gregory, Euphemia, Benedict, Apollinaris, Thomas, Agatha, Invention of the Cross, Apollinaris, Hugh of Lincoln, Ignatius.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2r Quid rex habuit .iii. filios

Form: codex

Support: Parchment (HFFH).

Extent: Codex: 20 leaves. 210 × 160 mm.

Collation

1 quire of 20 leaves:

Quire 1²⁰ (ff. 1-20)

Condition

Some minor staining to parchment, but no text lost to liquid damage.

Layout

c. 170 × c. 135 mm. Written in single-column format, typically 31 lines to the page. Most leaves are unruled, or ruling is frame only, but ff. 7r-8v are ruled frame and lines in leadpoint. Writing is mixed above and below top line.

Hand(s)

Written in the anglicana form of cursiva antiquior.

Decoration

Inhabited initial with faces amid floral and foliate motifs on f. 7r. Puzzle initial, red and brown on f. 9r.

Occasional rubrication throughout ff. 1r-20v, typically mminor initials touched with red, and the use of red to underline particular sections of text.

Additions

In the upper margin of f. 1r in ink: 'Jesus Maria + 1528'

History

Origin: Mid-14th century. ; England (?London).

Part 2: Works about Alexander the Great [Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 258, ff. 21-43]

1. 21r-32v

Epitome of the Historia Alexandri Magni with Epitaphium Julius Valerius (trans.)

Language(s): Latin

1.1. 21r-32v

Text

Incipit: 21r Egypti sapientes fati genere diuino

Explicit: 32v ueneno superatus atque extinctus occubuit

1.2. 32v

Epitaphum

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 32v Epitaphium

Incipit: 32v Primus Alexander Pillea natus in urbe

Explicit: 32v Succubuit leto sumpto cum melle ueneno

WIC 15990

Edited (not from this MS) in J. Zacher, Iulii Valerii Epitome (Halle, 1867)

2. 33r-38v

Epistola Alexandri ad Aristotelem de situ Indiae

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 33r Incipit epistola Alexandri regis magni Macedonum ad magistrum suum Aristotilem

Incipit: 33r Semper memor tui etiam inter dubia bellorum

Explicit: 38v et ut presto essem ad ||

Edited (not from this MS) by W. W. Boer, Beitrage zur klassischen Philologie (1973)

3. 39r-43v

Collatio Alexandri et Dindimi

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 39r Sepius ad aures meas fando peruenit

Explicit: 43v aut invidiae quod a meliore prestantuR

Edited (not from this MS) in B. G. A. Kuebler, Iulii Valerii Alexandri Polemi Res Gestae Alexandri Macedonis Translate Ex Aesopo Graeco (Leipzig, 1888), pp. 169-189

4. 43v

Five short poems

Language(s): Latin

4.1. 43v

Verses on how Aristotle prevented a war that Alexander declared in Athens Hildebert of Lavardin

Incipit: 43v Magnus Alexander bellum mandarat athenis

Explicit: 43v Dat pacem . lusus calliditate viri

Also in Cambridge, University Library, MS Gg.6.42, f. 167r .

WIC 10603

4.2. 43v

Poem

Incipit: 43v Cum sis petre breuis

Explicit: 43v magna breui

WIC 3788

4.3. 43v

Poem

Full transcription | Fama repleta malis leuibus circumuolat alis | Fama boni lente ^uolat inuida retinente

WIC 6260

4.4. 43v

Poem

Full transcription:| Nescio si scis quo pacto mereatur episco | Pus . norwicensis . ut fiat Wintoniensis

WIC 11747

4.5. 43v

Poem

Full transcription: | Mittitur in disco mihi piscis ab archiepisco| Po . non inclino . quia missio fit sine uino

WIC 11136

It is possible that poems 4 and 5 should be read as a single poem, i.e.,| Nescio si scis quo pacto mereatur episco | Pus . norwicensis . ut fiat Wintoniensis| Mittitur in disco mihi piscis ab archiepisco| Po . non inclino . quia missio fit sine uino| Both the fourth and fifth poem have the word for archbishop in Latin (archiepiscopus -i) as the final word in the first line of a couplet, and add an unusual break in the word so that the final syllable begins the second line of the couplet.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 22r nam sedenti super ueniet

Form: codex

Support: Parchment (HFFH).

Extent: Codex: 23 leaves. 240 × 170 mm.

Collation

Three quires (Quires 2-4), the second and third quires with cancelled leaves.

Quire 2¹⁰ (ff. 21-30)
Quire 3^10-2 (ff. 31-38: 9th and 10th leaves cancelled)
Quire 4^8-3 (ff. 39-43: 6th, 7th, and 8th leaves cancelled)

Catchwords on f. 30v at the end of Quire 2

Condition

Some minor staining to parchment, but no text lost to liquid damage.

Layout

165 × 95 mm. Ruled in single-column format, in crayon, frame and lines, with pricking still visible in outer and inner margins. Typically 39 lines to the page, written above top line.

Hand(s)

Written in a northern textualis rotunda.

Decoration

Red initials with blue pen flourishing or green initials with red flourishing at the major and minor divisions of the text.

History

Origin: 13th century. ; England.

Part 3: Hugh of Fouilloy, Auicularius [Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 258, ff. 44-51]

Language(s): Latin

1. 44r

Prologue to the Auicularius (De natura auium et animalium) Hugh of Fouilloy

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 44r [D]esiderii tui karissime peticionibus satisfacere

Ends imperfectly.

Folio 44v originally blank and subsequently filled with annotations in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Text edited (not from this MS) in PL 177, pp. 13-164, esp. pp. 13-30

2. 44v

Note on the humoral qualities of the planets

Language(s): Latin

Full transciption: Saturnus est frigidus et siccus . Iubiter[sic] calidus et humidus | Mars calidus et siccus et combureus(?) . Sol calidus et siccus et luceus | Venus frigida et humida . Mercurius mobilis et cum calido calidus | et cum frigido frigidus luna frigida et humida etc

Written in an early 16th century hand.

3. 44v

Note on purgatives

Written in the same hand as the note on the humoral qualities of the planets on the same leaf.

4. 44v

Medical recipe

Language(s): Latin

For the stomach and tootache. Full transcription: ℞. V.cum.S. Et iterum cum A. et pet. cum Borum. Et fac nucis . cum . tar. M. et ou . Pro stomaco et dolore dentium . etcetera . Allumya

Written in a mid-15th century hand.

5. 45r-51v

Main text of the Auicularius (De natura auium et animalium) Hugh of Fouilloy

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 45r Incipit libellus cuiusdam ad raineRum conuersum cognomine corde benignum . Incipit de tribus columbis

Incipit: 45r [S]i dormiatis inter medios cleros penne columbe

Explicit: 51v mistice nicticorax Christum significat||

Ends imperfectly.

Text edited (not from this MS) in PL 177, pp. 13-164, esp. pp. 13-30

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 45r Incipit libellus cuiusdam ad Rainerum

Form: codex

Support: Parchment (HFFH).

Extent: Codex: 8 leaves. 240 × 185 mm.

Collation

One quire of 8 leaves:

Quire 5⁸ (ff. 44-51)

Condition

Lower margin of f. 44 trimmed away - text lost. Marginal annotations in pencil and crayon washed (or rubbed) off.

Layout

170 × 120 mm. Ruled mostly in double-column format, in crayon, frame and lines, pricking visible in margins. Typically 38 lines to the column, written above top line.

Hand(s)

Written in a northern textualis rotunda.

Medical recipes on f. 44v added in a 16th century secretary hand.

Decoration

Frames left for decoration throughout.

Rubricated headings (red only) and titles for (unfinished) illustrations throughout.

Additions

Annotations in a large hand in pencil or crayon in most margins. Annotations have been washed or rubbed off and are now very faint.

History

Origin: 13th century. ; England.

Part 4: Visio Pauli, exemplary stories, treatise on penance [Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 258, ff. 52-57 ]

Language(s): Latin

1. 52r-53r

Visio Pauli

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 52r Dies dominicus dies letus in quo gaudent angeli

Explicit: 53r ut uiuamus cum ipso in sua gloria in secula seculorum amen

Edited (not from this MS) in L. Jiroušková (2006), pp. 651, 654-857

2. 53r-55r

Legendary stories

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 53r Legimus de beata uirgine quod postquam ad celum ascendit pro nobis peccatoribus

Explicit: 55r Et sicut possit viam deum pervenire

Final rubric: 55r Explicit tractatus penitentie

Thomson draws attention to similarities between this text and Caesarius of Heisterbach, Miracula 3. 20; ed. A. Hilka (Bonn, 1937), pp. 187-888. See Thomson, Pembroke, no. 258 for further information.

3. 55r-57v

Treatise on Penance

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 55r Scire debent sacerdotes qui non habent potestatem absoluendi

Explicit: 57v et uiuamus memoria sanctorum

M. W. Bloomfield, et al., Incipits of Latin Works on the Virtues and the Vices, 1100-1500 (MA: Cambridge, 1979), no. 5336

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 53r -dium est gaudia

Form: codex

Support: Parchment (HFFH).

Extent: Codex: 6 leaves. 240 × 165 mm.

Collation

One quire with 6 extant leaves, at least 2 leaves probably lost.

Quire 6^six (ff. 52-57: gap after 3rd leaf)

Condition

Good condition, text on f. 57v a little rubbed.

Layout

225 × 130 mm. Written in double-column format, typically 50 lines to the column. Ruled in leadpoint, usually frame only, occasional line ruling.

Hand(s)

Written in Anglicana.

Decoration

Plain red initials on f. 52r, dark brown enlarged initial on f. 54r

Red paraphs on f. 52r.

History

Origin: Late 13th century. ; England.

Part 5: Richard Wetheringsett, Summa qui bene presunt; sermon on the host [Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 258, ff. 58-91 ]

Language(s): Latin and Old French

1. 58r-90v

Summa qui bene presunt Richardus de Wetheringsett

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 58r Hic incipit Liber pastoralis Gregorii

Incipit: 58r Qui bene presunt presbiteri

Explicit: 90v Explicit summa magistri Ricardi de Weressete de hiis que pertinent ad eos qui bene presunt Deo gracias . Ex quo omnia per quem omnia in quo omnia ipsi gloria in secula amen

Final rubric: 90v Amen

Notes in the margins in the main hand and other hands in ink and in crayon.

Unprinted, but see Thomson, Pembroke for further bibliography.

2. 90v

Note

Incipit: 90v Ier⟨emias⟩ de excelso misit dominus ignem

Explicit: 90v timor et dilecto uerbum ||

3. 91rv

Sermon in verse on the Host

Language(s): Old French and Latin

Incipit: 90r En lubble dunt le corps est fest

Explicit: 91v peche qe laye gent

See Dean and Boulton, Anglo-Norman Literature (1999), no. 591.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 59r efficientia ut baptismum

Form: codex

Support: Parchment (HFFH).

Extent: Codex: 34 leaves. 240 × 180 mm.

Collation

Three quires, the first two of 10 leaves, the third of 14 leaves.

Quires 7-8¹⁰ (ff. 58-77)
Quire 9¹⁴ (ff. 78-91)

Catchwords on ff. 67v and 77v.

Condition

archment trimmed for binding with minor losses to marginalia and decoration.

Layout

190 × 140 mm. Arranged in double-column format, typically 55 lines to the column. Ruled in leadpoint, frame only, and written below top line.

Hand(s)

Written in Anglicana.

Decoration

Sketches of mythical beasts (e.g. mermaid on f. 66v, centaur on f. 67v), grotesques, animals, human figures and other drolleries, in crayon, in the lower and outer margins of ff. 58r-90v. Many overwritten by subsequent marginal notes.

Puzzle initial with a face in the counterspace and pen-flourishing on f. 58r.

Flourished initials in red at the major and minor divisions of the text ff. 58r-90v.

Rubrication (red only) specifying headings and topics in the margins of ff. 58r-90v.

Guide letters for decorative initials in the margins of ff. 58r-90v.

Paraph marks in red ff. 58r-90v.

Additions

Marginal notes in several hands, including the main scribe ff. 58r-90v.

History

Origin: 14th century, probably second half. ; England.

Part 6: Gospel of John with gloss [Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 258, ff. 92-122 ]

Language(s): Latin

1. 92r-122r

Gospel of John (with gloss)

Language(s): Latin

1.1. 92r

Prologue to the Gospel

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 92r [H]ic Iohannes est ewangelista unus ex discipulis domini

Explicit: 92r et quarentibus fructum laboris et deo magisterii doctrina seruetur

1.2. 92v-122r

Gospel of John

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 92v In principio erat uerbum et uerbum erat apud deum

Explicit: 122r nec ipsum arbritror[sic] mundum capere eos qui scribendi sunt, libRoS

Final rubric: 122r In hoc libro beda et agustinus sunt expositores

1.3. 92r-122r

Gloss to the Gospel of John

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 92r Omnibus diuine scripture paganis

Explicit: 122r neque nubentur

Theological notes in the empty space below the end of the gospel-text on f. 122r, some in the same hand as the gloss.

Stegmüller, Bibl. 11830

2. 122v

Responsory for the Commemoration of Thomas Becket with musical notation

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: || 122v encium illuderet aspectus hinc uiuens heremitam illinc inc(?) episcopum

Explicit: 122v totus mundus miser orbis hebeb(?) ||

4-line stave.

Begins and ends abruptly.

J. Toy, 'The Liturgical Commemmoration of Thomas of Canterbury in Scandinavia: The First Thirty Years, 1173-1203' in Of Chronicles and Kings: National Saints and the Emergence of Nation States in the High Middle Ages, ed. by J. Bergsagel, D. Hiley and T. Riis (Copenhagen, 2015), pp. 223-250, esp. p. 233

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 93r factus est quia prior me erat . et

Form: codex

Support: Parchment (HFFH).

Extent: Codex: 31 leaves. 185 × 175 mm.

Collation

4 quires of 8 leaves - 6th and 7th leaves cancelled from Quire 11, a leaf added after the 8th leaf of Quire 13:

Quire 10⁸ (ff. 92-99)
Quire 11^8-2 (ff. 100-105; 6th and 7th leaves cancelled)
Quire 12⁸ (ff. 106-113)
Quire 13⁸⁺¹ (ff. 114-122; 1 leaf added after the 8th leaf) |

Condition

Leaves trimmed; minor losses to text and music on f. 122v

Layout

180-185 × 65-110 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame and lines. Text is glossed and each page is divided into three unequal columns. Main text is written in a single central column on alternate lines, typically 25-26 lines to the column. Written above top line.

185-190 × 30-70 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame and lines. Text is glossed and each page is divided into three unequal columns. Gloss is written in two columns, one either side of the central column of main text. Ruling, and particularly column width varies per leaf, and gloss occasionally extends into non-ruled spaces and interlinearly into the main text.

Hand(s)

Main text is written in an English protogothic bookhand, gloss is written in both a libraria and a more current form of the script by at least two scribes.

Decoration

Unfilled space for a decorative initial on f. 92r.

History

Origin: Second half of the 12th century, almost certainly after 1173. ; England

Likely terminus ante quem non provided by the music on f. 122v, a responsory for the commemmoration of Thomas Becket. As the responsory chant is the final item in this section, it could have been added after the other texts, but all texts were probably added within a quarter-century of one another.

Part 7: Miscellaneous texts including notes on the sacraments [Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 258, ff. 123-141 ]

Language(s): Old French, Latin and Middle English

1. 123r-124v 126r

Excerpts from the 'Si scienter' variant of a treatise on confession Robert Grosseteste

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 123r Iste circumstancie circa confessionem sunt inquirenda De quibus penitencie sunt arbitrarie etc etc

Incipit: 123r Item si scienter(?) fuisti superbus transgrediendo mandata Dei

Explicit: 126r Item si maledixeris patri compatri seu commatri

Quire 14 (ff. 123-126) comprises two folded bifolia that have been sewn together sequentially rather than in a typical 'nested bifolia' arrangement. The second bifolium, comprising the present ff. 125-126, has been sewn to the first bifolium (ff. 123-124) 'inside out', reversing the original copying sequence of the leaves in the bifolium; the correct arrangement for the leaves in Quire 14 should be ff. 123, 124, 126, 125.

See Goering and Mantello 'Early Penitential Writings of Robert Grosseteste' for discussion of this text and its complex transmission. In the article, Goering and Mantello state that the text in MS 258 has been 'heavily interpolated with extraneous materials' in comparison to the standard form of the text.

J. Goering and F. A. C. Mantello, 'The Early Penitential Writings of Robert Grosseteste', Recherches de Théologie Ancienne et Médiévale, vol. 54, 1987, pp. 52–112

2. 126r

Notes on the seven deadly sins

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 126r Primum

Incipit: 126r Superbia | Est non habere pudorem de malo aperto

Explicit: 126r corpore et corde et de uerbis et tales vocabuntur filii dei

Final rubric: 126r septimus

Superbia, inuidia, ira, accidia, auaricia, gulositas (for gula), luxuria

3. 126v

Excerpts from a sermon on the decalogue attributed to Robert Grosseteste

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 126v Non habebis deos alienos quia homo debet adorare solam maiestatem diuinam

Explicit: 126v proximi violare cum non solum sit prohibitum mecari sed et illius concupis...(?) ||

Text ends abruptly.

See McEvoy, 'Edition of a Sermon' for discussion of this text (not this MS) and its complex transmission.

James McEvoy, 'The Edition of a Sermon on the Decalogue Attributed to Robert Grosseteste, Recherches de Théologie et Philosophie Médiévales, vol. 68, no. 2, 2001, pp. 228–44

4. 125r-125v

Text on vices

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: || 125r Exultatio in adversis proximi| afflictio in prosperis proximi | periurium super librium | blasphefare[sic] proximium

Explicit: 125v si volentes seruicium dei audire impeduisti

Begins abruptly, perhaps incomplete at the beginning.

Mise-en-page typical for verse; two columns on f. 125r, one column on f. 125v.

5. 125v

Excerpt from chapter 4 of the Similitudines Anselmi pseudo-Anselm of Canterbury

Language(s): Latin

Rubric: 125v Sensus humani generis

Incipit: 125v Uisus ad recta[sic] uidenda

Explicit: 125v Pedes ad ambulanda quo debent

Longer version in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 502, ff. 5r-51r, esp. f. 5rb

6. 133rv, 127r-129r, 131rv

Extracts from the Mirour de seinte eglise Edmund Riche (Edmund of Abingdon)

Language(s): Old French with occasional Latin and Middle English

Incipit: || 133r Les vii morteus peches sount iceus . Orgoyl . Enuye . Ire . Accide . Auarice . Glotonye . e . Lecherie

Explicit: 131v e tes leures en le sauter . e tonn quer en marche chaitiuement es diuise etc ||

Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 258 is 'MS C5' in Wilshere's discussion of the text, and contains extracts from the so-called 'lay version' of the text. Note that MS 258 was not used in Wilshere's edition of this text.

Extracts from chapters 8, 11, 13, 14, 21-27, 17.

This text contains a verse fragment in Middle English (IMEV 2320 / DIMEV 3742), present in this manuscript on f. 129r:| Nou goht sunne wnder wode | ond me rewez marie þi bricte rude | Nou goz sunne vnder tre | ond me rewez marie þi sone ant þe etc

Quire 15 is misbound. The present f. 133, a singleton, is now bound as the last leaf in the quire, but was originally the first leaf in the quire.

Text edited in A.D. Wilshere, Mirour de seinte eglyse (St Edmund of Abingdon's Speculum Eclesie), Anglo-Norman Texts 40 (London, 1982)

Dean and Boulton, Anglo-Norman Literature, no. 629

IMEV 2320

DIMEV 3742

7. 129v-130v

Theological notes

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 129v Primum ordinat ad patrem sed non habebis deos alienos

Explicit: 130v Postea queritur quid sit affinitas Respondet non affinitas est personarium proximitas ex carnali copula proueniens omni carens parentela

Notes on the ten commandments, on the eucharist, on penance, on excommunication, extreme unction, and consanguinity. Seemingly not excerpts from the Speculum ecclesiae (the base text for the Mirour de saint eglise).

8. 131v

Theological note

Language(s): Latin

Full transcription:| Propter hoc ergo dicendum est quod orationes atque suffragia etiam(?) non prosunt dampnatis et ad illud quod ...(?) quod cantamus ut liberentur a penis infernis[sic] . dicendum quod pene inferni ibi non supp...(?) pro penis inferni dampnatoris . set accipitur ibi infernus pro purgatorio igne . qui dicitur(?) tartarus uel infernus propter conformitatem cuiusdam acerbitatis pene quod est in purgatorio quae maior est quam maxima quae possit excogitari in hoc mundo bonum est cum semper ut pro omnibus fiant orationes atque suffragia quia et si non valent eis pro quibus fiunt in valent cum eius qui faciunt amen

9. 131v

Diagrammatic note on the meaning of various lines of the Pater noster

Language(s): Latin

10. 131v-132v

Theological notes in Latin

Language(s): Latin

Notes on baptism.

11. 134r-134v

Manuel des péchés William de Wadington

Language(s): Anglo-Norman

Incipit: || 134r Seynte Gregorii pape de Rome

Explicit: 134v Ceo dist le prestre tauerner etc ||

The poem was edited (not from this MS) for the Roxburghe Club by F. J. Furnivall (London, 1862); the lines of the poem in Pembroke College MS 258 correspond with ll. 4446-4475, 5106-5143, 5264-5293, 5336-5361 in the edition.

The text on f. 134r is badly damaged due to rubbing.

Furnivall (1862)

Dean and Boulton, Anglo-Norman Literature (1999), no. 635.

12. 134v-141v

Miscellaneous notes and extracts, mostly on confession

Language(s): Middle English and Latin

12.1. 134v

The Three Sorrowful Things [Middle English verse]

Language(s): Middle English

Incipit: 134v Heuerei day me comeȝ tiþinge þre

Explicit: 134v þe þridde is mi moste kare | þat I . ne woot woder I scal fare

DIMEV 1157

12.2. 135r-136r

Notes on the virtues, vices and sacraments

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 135r Superbia . bona naturalia

Explicit: 136r fit mortale peccarum

12.3. 135v

Three things it been that I hold price [Middle English verse]

Language(s): Middle English

Incipit: 135v þre þingges it ben þat I holde pris

Explicit: 135v þe þridde to love þe lawe þat in þe lond is

DIMEV 5903 (misidentified as belonging to Oxford, Pembroke College, MS 258)

12.4. 136r

This world him plaineth of mickle untrue [Middle English verse]

Language(s): Middle English and Latin

DIMEV 5787

12.5. 136v-141v

Exemplary stories including the story of Egyptius and Baldath

Language(s): Latin

Incipit: 136v Relatum est mihi de duobus negotiatoribus

Explicit: 141v solebant coronari etc

This text appears to derive from Petrus Alfonsi

12.6. 141v

Merry a time I tell in May [Middle English verse]

Language(s): middle English and Latin

DIMEV 3486

It is not easy to distinguish the boundaries between some of the texts on ff. 134v-141v - a selection of the identifiable texts are listed here.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 124r

Form: codex

Support: Parchment (HFFH)

Extent: Codex: 19 leaves. 235 × 185 mm.

Collation

Three quires of differing size. Leaves in Quires 14 and 15 are misbound. Quire 14, a quire of four leaves (ff. 123-126), consists of two sequential rather than nested bifolia, and the second bifolium, the present ff. 125r-126v has been bound inside out; the leaves in Quire 14 should be read ff. 123, 124, 126, 125. Quire 15 is a quire of 7 leaves (ff. 127-133), comprising three nested bifolia and a singleton (f. 133) after the 6th leaf; the singleton is misbound and should be the first leaf in the quire; the leaves in Quire 15 should be read ff. 133, 127-132.

Quire 14⁴ (ff. 123-126)
Quire 15⁶⁺¹ (ff. 127-133; 1 leaf added after the 6th)
Quire 16⁸ (ff. 134-141)

Condition

Leaves are lightly stained and torn and some text is faded due to rubbing and liquid damage.

Layout

200 × 160 mm. Typically arranged in single-column format, although ff. 125r and 134r-136r are in double-columns. Ruling, where present, is in leadpoint, and is usually frame and lines. Script size and page use is informal: 35-50 lines to the column or page on most leaves. Written below top line.

Hand(s)

Written in several anglicana hands.

Decoration

Head of a dog sketched on f. 140v.

Rubrication (red only) by underlining to highlight particular letters or passages.

Additions

At the bottom of f. 129r a note in Latin about why people must be baptised in water rather than wine, milk, or any other fluid.

History

Origin: 14th century. ; England.

Part 8 [Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 258 - binding and binding lining]

Language(s): Latin

1. binding leaf i verso - paper - binding leaf iii recto - paper

Notes of miscellaneous fees and fines

Language(s): Latin

These leaves were once used as a lining to strengthen and supply structure to the binding of Pembroke College, MS 258. The leaves were originally pasted together, but have become partially separated and some of the leaves are now free. Some of the text on the leaves is legible, but much is either badly damaged or obscured by overlapping fragments of other text.

The leaves contain dating clauses for various regnal years in the reign of Edward IV, King of England, (b. 1442, d. 1483) (r. 4 March 1461 - 3 October 1470, then again 11 April 1471 - 9 April 1483)

Several names are visible on the leaves including:

John Gilberd
Agnes Quable
Doctor Uske
John Ffostar
John Wotton
Jacobus Gossope
Rogerus Pemberton
Thomas Marsshall
\Ric/ Garreys sadelor
Georgius Saverey
R. Stile
John Child
Henricus Drawewett
Willelmus Wrothe
John Crowche smyth
John Undebynton
William Rede
Simon peyntor
John Curteys
Edmundus Kyrcheley
Johannes Barbor
Willelmus Carpenter

Several places in London on the south bank of the Thames are mentioned including Blakmanstrete, Kenstrete (Kent Street), Pety Aley (?Pepper Alley), Piper Aley (Pepper Alley), Suthwerk (Southwark).

Physical Description

Form: other

Support: A mix of paper, parchment and linen. All text-leaves in this Part are paper. No watermarks visible.

Extent: Fragments.

Collation

No leaf signatures particular to this Part.

No quire signatures particular to this Part.

No catchwords particular to this Part.

Condition

Stable, but in poor condition. The leaves in this Part were originally pasted together and used to line the binding of Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 258. Some of the leaves used for lining the binding of Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 258 have been partially separated and it is possible to read portions of the text on those leaves, but the leaves are oriented in several directions, are coated in adhesive and paper residue, and are often partially obscured by scraps of smaller paper fragments. The volume was conserved in 2024 and significant work was done to stabilise the binding and the binding lining leaves. The layers of the section of the binding over the rear of the volume, i.e., linen, lining fragments, limp-parchment are held in place with an acetate band when the volume is not in use.

Hand(s)

Written in a a chancery Anglicana by several scribes.

Decoration

No significant decoration in this Part.

History

Origin: Probably 1461×1483. ; England, probably London.

Date of production based on the presence of several regnal dating clauses in the text that refer to the reign of Edward IV.

Additional Information

Record Sources

This catalogue entry draws on M.R. James, A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Pembroke College, Cambridge (1905), and R.M. Thomson, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Medieval Manuscripts of Pembroke College Cambridge (2022) by kind permission of the author. Readers of this record are encouraged to consult Thomson's Catalogue for further information about this manuscript.

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 check-list of manuscripts of three Alexander texts: The Julius Valerius Epitome, the Epistola ad Aristotelem and the Collatio cum Dindimo Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relatives aux manuscrits / International Review of Manuscript Studies, Ross, D.J.A. (10, 127-132, 1956)

Epistola Alexandri ad Aristotelem ad codicum fidem edidit et commentario critico instruxit Beiträge zur klassischen Philologie, (Meisenheim am Glan, A. Hain, 1973)

A Linguistic Atlas of Late Mediaeval English, McIntosh, AngusSamuels, M.L.Benskin, Michael (Aberdeen, Aberdeen University Press, 1986)

English Fifteenth Century Book Structures, Hadgraft, Nicholas (London, 1997)

Anglo-Norman literature: a guide to texts and manuscripts Anglo-Norman Text Society occasional publications series, Dean, Ruth J.Boulton, Maureen Barry McCann (London, Anglo-Norman Text Society, 1999)

A descriptive catalogue of the medieval manuscripts of Pembroke College, Cambridge, Thomson, Rodney M. (Cambridge, D.S. Brewer, 2022)

Funding of Cataloguing

Wellcome

Digital Images

Cambridge Digital Library

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 258

Contents

Physical Description

Collation

Additions

Binding

History

Provenance and Acquisition

Part 1: Theological texts [Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 258, ff. 1-20]

Contents

Physical Description

Collation

Condition

Layout

Hand(s)

Decoration

Additions

History

Part 2: Works about Alexander the Great [Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 258, ff. 21-43]

Contents

Physical Description

Collation

Condition

Layout

Hand(s)

Decoration

History

Part 3: Hugh of Fouilloy, Auicularius [Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 258, ff. 44-51]

Contents

Physical Description

Collation

Condition

Layout

Hand(s)

Decoration

Additions

History

Part 4: Visio Pauli, exemplary stories, treatise on penance [Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 258, ff. 52-57 ]

Contents

Physical Description

Collation

Condition

Layout

Hand(s)

Decoration

History

Part 5: Richard Wetheringsett, Summa qui bene presunt; sermon on the host [Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 258, ff. 58-91 ]

Contents

Physical Description

Collation

Condition

Layout

Hand(s)

Decoration

Additions

History

Part 6: Gospel of John with gloss [Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 258, ff. 92-122 ]

Contents

Physical Description

Collation

Condition

Layout

Hand(s)

Decoration

History

Part 7: Miscellaneous texts including notes on the sacraments [Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 258, ff. 123-141 ]

Contents

Physical Description

Collation

Condition

Layout

Hand(s)

Decoration

Additions

History

Part 8 [Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 258 - binding and binding lining]

Contents

Physical Description

Collation