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 14

Augustinus De civitate dei

Contents

Introduction: Written in Latin by Augustine of Hippo (modern-day Annaba, Algeria) in the fifth century, De Civitate Dei contra Paganos (The City of God Against the Pagans) is a book of Christian philosophy that sought to contest the then widely held belief that the sack of Rome by the Visigoths in 410 was due to the rise of Christianity and abandonment of the disgruntled Roman gods. As a work of one of the most influential Church Fathers, De Civitate Dei became a cornerstone of Western Christian thought, addressing some key theological issues such as the existence of evil, the conflict between free will and divine omniscience, and the doctrine of original sin. The manuscript has a table of contents and marginal signs throughout marking chapters and important passages. The importance and familiarity of this text to its intended readers is indicated by the fact that this copy is both a huge and heavy volume with large script, but also uses a high number of abbreviations. Evidently originating from the same monastic source as the Psalm Commentaries of Gilbert of Poitier (Queens’ College MS 18), this too is bound in seal skin of the twelfth century, and was given to Queens’ by Francis Tyndall in the 1630s. On the final flyleaf a scribbled 16th century note says: John come kyss me now my mother is to London gon the / in mi the Wyef of Sth pleaseth it youe to vnderstond that peter / yf I could wright I wold not be ydle as hitherto I haue bynne.
1r-289v
De civitate dei Augustine, of Hippo, Saint, 354-430
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 3r: Interea cum
Incipit: 3r: roma Gothorum irruptione agentium
Explicit: 289v: Similiter et omnes patres vel matres faciant.

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 4r: tamen etiam
Form: codex
Support: Parchment (HFHF)
Extent: 2 + 288 + 1 leaves. 400 × 280 mm.
Foliation:

Late 19th/early 20th-century foliation:

2-290

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

Collation

  • 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 (ff. 65-72)
  • Quire 108 (ff. 73-80)
  • Quire 118 (ff. 81-88)
  • Quire 128 (ff. 89-96)
  • Quire 138 (ff. 97-104)
  • Quire 148 (ff. 105-112)
  • Quire 154 (ff. 113-116)
  • Quire 168 (ff. 117-125)
  • Quire 178 (ff. 125-132)
  • Quire 188 (ff. 133-140)
  • Quire 198 (ff. 141-148)
  • Quire 208 (ff. 149-156)
  • Quire 218 (ff. 157-164)
  • Quire 228 (ff. 165-172)
  • Quire 238 (ff. 173-180)
  • Quire 248 (ff. 181-188)
  • Quire 258 (ff. 189-196)
  • Quire 268 (ff. 197-204)
  • Quire 278 (ff. 205-212)
  • Quire 288 (ff. 213-220)
  • Quire 298 (ff. 221-228)
  • Quire 308 (ff. 229-236)
  • Quire 318 (ff. 237-244)
  • Quire 328 (ff. 245-252)
  • Quire 338 (ff. 253-260)
  • Quire 348 (ff. 261-268)
  • Quire 358 (ff. 269-276)
  • Quire 368 (ff. 277-284)
  • Quire 378-1 (ff. 285-292; wanting f. 291)

18 (1 used as pastedown, 2 blank) 2-148 154 16-368 378 (wants 7 blank, 8 used as pastedown) Each quire (except for quire 1) is signed in pencil at bottom-right corner of the first leaf recto.

Layout

298 × 190 mm. Two columns, 40 lines, ruled in leadpoint and brown crayon, written above top line.

Hand(s)

Protogothic bookhand (textualis)

Decoration

  • Pinkish beige abstract-patterned initial (I, 32 ll., f. 3r) with abstract patterning around the initial in orange and green, the initial terminating in stylized leaf forms in the same colours, for the opening to the Retractions.
  • Pinkish beige and plain parchment initial (S, 12 ll., f. 15v), with no infill, for the opening to Book Two.
  • Green and plain parchment abstract-patterned initials (e.g. G, 11 ll., f. 3v, Q, 9 ll., f. 62r, E, 8 ll., f. 92r, E, 8 ll., f. 137v etc.), with no infill, for the opening of the main text and for the opening to Books Six, Nine, Thirteen and Fifteen, for one of the paragraph openings (N, 2 ll., f. 124r; N, 5 ll., f. 119r, with a termination of stylized leaf form) in Book Eleven, and for one of the paragraph openings (M, 3 ll., f. 273r) in Book Twenty-Two; yellow and plain parchment abstract-patterned initialsfor some of the paragraph openings to Book Nineteen (e.g. Q, 7 ll., f. 223r).
  • Orange and plain parchment abstract-patterned initials (I, 25 ll., f. 26v; Q, 7 ll., f. 49r; D, 9 ll., f. 69v), with no infill, for the beginning of Books Three and Seven.
  • Pinkish beige and plain parchment abstract-patterned initials (D, 8 ll., f. 38v, O, 8 ll., f. 99r), on plain parchment inner grounds, with no infill, the ascender terminating in stylized leaf forms, for the opening to Books Four, Five and Seven.
  • Red, green and plain parchment, abstract-patterned initials (N, 7 ll., f. 80v) on plain parchment inner grounds, with infill of stylized leaf forms in same colours, arranged symmetrically, and with decoration of same extending from the initial into the margin, for the opening to Books Eight and Ten.
  • Light blue, green, red and plain parchment initials (e.g. D, 3 ll., f. 113r; D, 3 ll. f. 114r; A, 3 ll., f. 114v), the stave(s) of the initial terminating in stylized leaf forms (D, 3 ll., f. 116r, flourished in red), on a plain parchment inner ground, with no infill, for the opening to some of the Capitula for Books Eleven to Twenty-Two.
  • Yellow and plain parchment abstract-patterned initial (D, 8 ll., f. 147r), with an extension of a stylized berry form in green, on a plain parchment inner ground, with no infill, for the opening to Book Fourteen; yellow, green and plain parchment initial of same (D, 9 ll., f. 203r) with green and red berry forms, for the opening to Book Eighteen.

Unfinished pen-drawn initial (C, 12 ll., f. 117r) with terminations of stylized leaf forms, on a plain parchment inner ground, with infill of stylized leaf and abstract forms, arranged symmetrically, for the opening to Book Eleven.

Line-fillers: abstract forms in green and orange (e.g f. 3r).

Simple scrolls (e.g. f. 18r etc.) and pointing hands (e.g. f. 140r); edge-of-text profile heads (e.g. ff. 86v, 248v). The initials to Books Eleven, Twelve and Twenty-Two are unfinished. Animal with the head of a bearded man with a long nose on f. 82v.

Additions

16th-century scribbled note in English on f. 290v: John come kyss me now my mother is to London gon the in mi the Wyef of Sth pleaseth it youe to vnderstond that peter yf I could wright I wold not be ydle as hitherto I haue bynne.

Erased inscription on flyleaf.

Occasional marginal notes in different hands, some framed in pen-work (e.g. f. 101v); nota marks and framed chapter numbers in margins.

Binding

Contemporary sealskin over wooden boards on five sewing stations, with metal decoration in the area of the fastenings, engraved, and at the corners on the front and back. Indentations on the back and front covers in the area of former bosses, where unusually the fur of the animal is still visible.

History

Origin: First half of 12th century ; England

Provenance and Acquisition

According to James, this manuscript is from the same monastic library as Queens' College MS 18 and 18*.

Given to Queens' College Library in the early 1630s by Francis Tyndall with a 17th-century inscription recording the gift on f. 2v: 'Donum Francisci Tyndall armigeri'.

Additional Information

Record Sources

This catalogue entry derives predominantly from data assembled for the Fitzwilliam Museum’s Cambridge Illuminations project (publication forthcoming) and draws 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) 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

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Study at Cambridge

About the University

Research at Cambridge