Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

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

Cambridge, Queens' College, MS 15

Ambrosius Mediolanensis de officiis

Contents

1. 1r-54v
De officiis Ambrose
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 1r: Incipit liber de officiis Ambrosij mediolanensis episcopi
Incipit: 1r: Non arrogans videri arbitror, si inter filios suscipiam affectum docendi.
Explicit: 54v: plurimum instructionis conferat.
2. 54v-67v
De vita Josephi Ambrose
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 54v: Sanctorum vita ceteris norma vivendi est.
Explicit: 67r: & audite Israel patrem vestrum.
3. 67r-74v
De Benedictionibus patriarcharum Ambrose
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 67r: Primum omnium quantam dicimus parentibus referre reuerentiam.
Explicit: 74v: Ego plantaui &, Apollo rigauit.
4. 75r-125r
Tractatus decem super Epistolam sancti Johannis Augustine
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 75r: Incipit tractatus primus de die lucit. id est dominica. quod est prima feria pasche. De principio epistole Johannis apostoli.
Explicit: 125r: quam tu credas christo perdicatus. Explicit.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2r: magis inditium
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFHF)
Extent: 126 leaves. 304 × 213 mm.
Foliation:

Late 19th/early 20th-century foliation:

1-126

Numbering in pencil in the upper right-hand corner of the first leaf recto of each quire, possibly by M.R. James. Full foliation added after digitisation.

Collation

The manuscript comprises sixteen quires composed of eight leaves. There are leaves missing in quires 9 and 11.

  • Quire 18 (ff. 1-8)
  • Quire 28 (ff. 9-16)
  • Quire 38 (ff. 17-24)
  • Quire 48 (ff. 25-32)
  • Quire 58 (ff. 33-40)
  • Quire 68 (ff. 41-48)
  • Quire 78 (ff. 49-56)
  • Quire 88 (ff. 57-64)
  • Quire 98-1 (ff. 65-71: seventh leaf missing)
  • Quire 108 (ff. 72-79)
  • Quire 118-1 (ff. 80-86: fifth leaf missing)
  • Quire 128 (ff. 87-94)
  • Quire 138 (ff. 95-102)
  • Quire 148 (ff. 103-110)
  • Quire 158 (ff. 111-118)
  • Quire 168 (ff. 119-125: f. 126 used as rear pastedown)

1-88 98-1 (7 missing) 108 118-1 (5 missing) 12-168

Quires 1-9 signed on last verso with a bold roman numeral; quire 14 signed 'IIII'.

Catchwords at the end of quires 1-2 and 5-8; all except quire 8 mostly trimmed.

Layout

240 × 160 mm. Two columns, 36 lines, frame and lines ruled in leadpoint. Pricked in both margins. Written above top line.

Hand(s)

Protogothic bookhand (textualis)

Decoration

Red and green arabesque initial on plain parchment ground (N, 12 ll., f. 1r); red and plain parchment abstract-patterned initial (I, 15 ll., f. 95r).

Green initial (M, 2 ll., f. 75v) and red initial (Q, 3 ll., f. 76r) with minimal flourishing of dots and wavy lines in red.

Plain initials in red, green or blue (e.g. S, 8 ll., f. 25v; D, 8 ll., f. 54v; S, 4 ll., f. 100r).

1-line initials in ink of text set into the left margin, some with arabesque decoration (e.g. f. 103r).

Extensions of letters into the bottom margin, with two turning into a bow and arrow (ff. 10r, 31v) and one accompanied by a dog (f. 18r).

Additions

Some passages appear to have been erased and corrected (e.g. ff. 13r, 30r, 76r).

Marginalia in a contemporary hand throughout (e.g. ff. 4v, 12r, 30r, 35v, 36r, 81v, 91r, 115v).

Notes in a 15th-century cursive hand throughout (e.g. 5r, 29v, 78r, 86r, 101r).

Brackets and nota marks throughout; pencil marks throughout, including majuscule R, and manicules in pencil from f. 87r onward.

Titles written on front pastedown in a 14th-century hand hand for De officiis and in a 17th-century hand for the others. Titles are also inscribed in the same 17th-century hand at the beginning of each work.

Binding

Original alum-tawed skin over wooden boards, sewn on two bands slightly raised on the flat spine. Mark of a clasp on front cover and of a pin in the centre of the back cover. At the foot of the back cover is a circular hole surrounded by four bronze nails, possibly from a chain-staple, but unusual if so.

History

Origin: 12th century ; England

Provenance and Acquisition

Given to Queens' College Library in the early 1630s by Francis Tyndall with a 17th-century inscription recording the gift on front pastedown: 'Donum Francisci Tyndall armigeri'.

Additional Information

Record Sources

This catalogue entry draws on the description in M.R. James, A descriptive catalogue of the western manuscripts in the library of Queens' College, Cambridge (Cambridge, 1905), and R.M. Thomson's catalogue of the medieval manuscripts of Queens' College (forthcoming).

Availability

For further information on the availability of the manuscript, please contact Queens' Old Library and Special Collections.

Bibliography

    A catalogue of the library of the college of St. Margaret and St. Bernard, commonly called Queen's College in the University of Cambridge, Horne, Thomas Hartwell (London, Society of Queen's College, 1827) A descriptive catalogue of the western manuscripts in the library of Queens' College, Cambridge, James, M.R. (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1905) Cambridge under Queen Anne: illustrated by memoir of Ambroise Bonwicke and diaries of Francis Burman and Zacharias Conrad von Uffenbach Cambridge under Queen Anne, Mayor, John E.B. (Cambridge, Cambridge Antiquarian Society, 1911)

Funding of Cataloguing

Dr Virge James in memory of the late Dr Nigel James (Queens' matric. 1960)

Digital Images

Cambridge Digital Library

Abbreviations

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