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 22

Fulgentius etc. [Miscellanies]

Contents

1. 1r-27v
John Ridewall, Fulgentius metaphoralis
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 1r: Inc. metologie fulgencii. Intencio uenerabilis fulgencii in sua metologia
Explicit: 27v: Explicit commentum super metologias fulgencii. Amen.
Sharpe 856
2. 27v-28v
Walter Map, Dissuasio Valerii
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: || 27v: [L]oqui prohibeor et tacere non possum.
Explicit: 28v: Arbor illa suspendit et tercio amice||
Sharpe 1929
3. 29r-55r
Alberic of London, Scintillarium poetarum
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 29r: Fuit in egipto vir
Explicit: 55r: et in figura transit
Sharpe 82
4. 55v-56r
Secundus philosophus Secundus Taciturnus, 2nd century
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 55v: Inc. liber Secundi philosophi
Explicit: 56r: Expl. liber Secundi philosophi.
5. 57r-62r
John Ridewall, Commentary on Walter Map, Dissuasio Valerii
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 57r: Loqui prohibeor et tacere non possum
Explicit: 62r: Expl. cementum epistole ad Rufinum de uxore non ducenda.
Sharpe 856
6. 62v-68r
Malachias Hibernicus, De septem venenis
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 62v: De Superbia. Natura ueneni potissime conuenit peccato
Explicit: 68r: Expl. summa de ueneno.
Sharpe 1028
7. 68v-70v
Frontinus, Stratagemata
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 68v: Sextus Julius Frontinus Strategemathon liber j
Explicit: 70v: [?]
8. 71r-82v
Pierre Bersuire, Ouidius moralizatus
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 71r: Maria Thomas Katerina
Explicit: 82v: regina et coniuge sua solio sulphureo
9. 83r-96v
Arnulf of Orleans, Commentary on the Fasti of Ovid
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 83r: In noua fert animus mutatas dicere formas
Explicit: 96v: Expl. comentum Ouidii methamorphosios.
10. 97r-107v
Fulgentius Mythographus, Mitologiae
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 97r: Calliope prouinciam loquacitatis ingressa iste
Explicit: 107v: eius prandia stercoribus.||
11. 108r-119v
Seneca the Elder, Declamationes
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 108r: Inc. prologus in libros declamacionum senece.
Explicit: 118v: intra fortunam meam uidi.
12. 120r-131v
John Waleys, Breuiloquium de uirtutibus antiquorum principum et philosophorum
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: 120r: Inc. tractatus quidam de quatuor virtutibus cardinalibus
Explicit: 131v: cognouit ille idibitam.||

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2r: siue cupiditas
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFFH)
Extent: i + 130 + iii + i leaves. 170 × 110 mm.
Foliation:

Later medieval foliation:

1-138, with some omissions.

Numbering in ink at top centre of recto of each leaf.
Foliation:

Late 19th/early 20th-century foliation:

1-129, with some omissions.

Numbering in pencil in the upper right-hand corner of the first leaf of each quire by M.R. James. James divides the book into three parts: 1-56v (actually two booklets) and the remainder. James mistook the shape of quire 9 and misfoliated some later portions of the manuscript, which may have hindered his recognition procedures; his third part consists of the binding materials at the end, separate from the final text quire. The foliation provided on CUDL has been added in pencil since the digitisation.

Collation

The manuscript is composed of varying formats.

  • Quire 18-4 (ff. 1-4: leaves 3-6 missing)
  • Quire 28 (ff. 5-12)
  • Quire 38 (ff. 13-20)
  • Quire 48 (ff. 21-28)
  • Quire 58 (ff. 29-36)
  • Quire 68 (ff. 37-44)
  • Quire 712 (ff. 45-56)
  • Quire 86 (ff. 57-62)
  • Quire 98 (ff. 63-70)
  • Quire 1012 (ff. 71-82)
  • Quire 1114 (ff. 83-94b)
  • Quire 1212-1 (ff. 95-105: leaf 12 missing)
  • Quire 1312 (ff. 106-117)
  • Quire 1412 (ff. 118-129)

18-4 (3-6 missing) 2-68 712 86 | 98 1012 1012 1114 1212-1 (12 missing) 1312 1412

Medieval signatures on first recto of each quire. Modern signatures probably by M.R. James.

Layout

130-140 × 36-47 mm. Single columns only, ruled in leadpoint, frame only, 36-47 lines to the page.

Hand(s)

Anglicana, probably three hands, quires 1-4 and probably 12-14, 5-9, and 10-11, plus a lost quire; the filler-items are in similar hands but not assignable.

Decoration

Plain red initials.

Paragraph marks and underlining in red.

Additions

The front flyleaf and the last at the rear (raised pastedown) from a theological (?) discussion, anglicana (13th century). The rear flyleaf is preceded by three leaves (ff. 132r-134v) with notes (15th century). At the head of the rear flyleaf, in contemporary Middle English, 'Schak ye tayl and mak hit wele quod hending in may', certainly proverbial and octosyllabic verse, but not from the collection customarily ascribed to Hending (conceivably with reference to the owner 'Thomas Wele'?).

Binding

Medieval, brown calfskin over wooden boards, a scar from a strap-seating at the centre of the upper board.

History

Origin: Mid-14th century (not before 1354, probably 1360s) ; England

Certainly a communal production by associated hands, and certainly members of the same religious group. Cf. the invocations at the openings of individual stints: f. 29 (scribe 2), 'Assit principio sancta Maria mea'; f. 71 (scribe 3), 'Maria thomas katerina'; f. 95 (i.e. real 97, scribe 1) 'Assit principio sancta Maria mea katerina'.

Provenance and Acquisition

A not especially legible inscription, 15th century (fol. 37, in the outer margin), ? 'Ihon de Ihorn'; no plausible candidate appears in either BRUO or BRUC.

'Thomas Wele', mid-15th century, (f. 19v and 20r, in the upper margins): probably to be associated with a man of the name, who was vicar of St Cyriac's, Swaffham Prior (Cambs.), 1458x1468 (Emden, BRUC 625).

'Edward Phelyps 1552' (variously, ff. 40v, 61v, 89v, 102v and 103).

Hanna suggests that the manuscript is very likely from a Dominican house, and although there are a number of East Midland candidates, the most proximate at Thetford and Northampton, most probably from that in Cambridge.

James suggests that the volume was probably donated in the early 1630s by Francis Tyndall (c. 1613-c. 1634) , who gave several manuscripts to the library (see Venn TNDL631F).

Additional Information

Record Sources

This description draws predominantly on data assembled by Ralph Hanna for his forthcoming publication on medieval manuscripts (reproduced by kind permission) and on the description in M.R. James, A descriptive catalogue of the western manuscripts in the library of Queens’ College, Cambridge (Cambridge, 1905).

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)

Funding of Cataloguing

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

Digital Images

Cambridge Digital Library

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