Origen, Sermons on Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus, translated into Latin by Rufinus
of Aquileia
Introduction:
Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 5368 (hereafter MS Add. 5368) contains sermons
on the first three
books of the Old Testament (Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus) by the early Christian
writer and theologian
Origen of Alexandria
(b. ?185, d. ?253). Origen was a prolific author and was one of the first significant
editors of the Old
Testament; he achieved fame in Late Antiquity for a comparative study of the Old Testament
known as the Hexpla, which presented six popular editions of the Old Testament in Hebrew and Greek in
parallel columns and noted their significant similarities and differences. The Hexpla became
one of the foundation texts of the Great Library at Caesarea, and was used by later
biblical scholars Eusebius (b.
?260, d. ?340) and Jerome (b. ?342-347, d. 420) in their own important works on refining,
editing, and translating the
text of the Bible.
Origen wrote hundreds of homilies in Greek covering almost every book of the Bible,
and these homilies
quickly became popular among early Christians. When Latin emerged as the shared language
of formal education,
politics, and trade in western Europe, it also became an important language for the
administration and practices of
the Christian Church in those regions, and many of the most important early Christian
texts in Greek were quickly
translated into Latin. The translations of many of Origen's homilies from Greek into
Latin were undertaken by
Rufinus of Aquilea
(b. ?345, d. 411), a monk and theologian who lived
in Aquilea in what is now Italy. Rufinus's translations of Origen's
homilies were extremely popular throughout Latin Christendom and hundreds of fragmentary
and complete copies of his
translation of Origen's homilies have survived.
MS Add. 5368 was made in the second half of the 12th century at the Cistercian Abbey
of Waverley in
Surrey, within the first century of the Abbey's foundation. Waverley was the first
Cistercian house in England and was
founded in 1128 by William Giffard, bishop of Winchester (1100–1129). William invited thirteen monks
from
the Cistercian abbey of L'Aumône in France to fill his new foundation and to live
in community as one abbot and twelve
monks (modelled after Jesus and the twelve apostles); as such, Waverley was a daughter
house of L'Aumône, and by
extension a granddaughter house of Cîteaux, the spiritual home of the Cistercian Order.
Despite its status as the
first Cistercian foundation in England, Waverley was not a rich abbey and was embroiled
in various ecclesiastical and
secular power struggles, and also suffered several natural disasters. Waverley met
its end during the Dissolution of
the Monasteries; it was identified as a candidate for dissolution in the first phase
in 1536 due to its low income and
small number of inhabitants. The Waverley Abbey site was given to
William Fitzwilliam
(b. ?1490, d.1542), and was quickly dismantled, with the stones finding their way
into several local building
projects including Loseley Park, a grand home a few kilometers east of the Abbey site.
Very few books from Waverley
Abbey have survived, but the following items have been identified, all of which were
probably produced within the
first century of the Abbey's existence:
John Leland (b. ?1503, d. 1552) visited Waverley on his tour of all of the libraries
in religious houses in
England and Wales (c. 1533-1536) and recorded five books from what may have been a
larger library collection, but none
of the books noticed by Leland have been identified among extant collections of medieval
manuscripts (see the Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, vol. 3, for further details).
The physical appearance of MS Add. 5368 is a reflection of the considerable damage
the book sustained in
the centuries since it was made. The entire volume has signs of water damage, and
most of the extant leaves exhibit
some staining and cockling; this cockling received conservation treatment at Cambridge
University Library in 2023-24
and is now much less apparent. The extant binding of MS Add. 5368 is medieval, and
probably original, and has
sustained significant damage since the 12th century. The front board, probably made of English oak (as was typical for English bindings in the 12th century)
has
survived, but has evident worm damage visible as the tiny holes and 'honeycomb' texture
particularly along the fore
edge of the board. The rear board has been lost entirely, together with one or more
of the final quires. Only a
fragment of the original tawed skin cover survives from part of the spine, and this is now stored separately with the
manuscript. Due to the loss of the original cover, the medieval sewing structures
are entirely exposed along the full
length of the spine, affording researchers an opportunity to study an example
of medieval English bookbinding techniques.
Dr Sarah Gilbert| Project Cataloguer for Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries| Cambridge
University Library
1. 1r
Extracts from the Book of Proverbs
Language(s): Latin
Incipit:
1r Qui dat pauperi, non indigebit
Explicit:
1r sustinebit penuriam
Added in the 16th century.
2.
Administrative note
Language(s): Latin
Incipit:
1v de abbati illud requiras volo
Explicit:
1v quod null [...]
Added in the 16th century.
3. 2r
Extracts from Proverbs 27:5, 27:7, 27:18, 24:1-2, 28:1
Language(s): Latin
Incipit:
2r Melior est manifesta correptio
Explicit:
2r labia eorum loquuntur
4. 2v
Medical recipes
Language(s): Middle English
Added in the 16th century. Recipes partially erased by washing.
5. 4r
List of contents of the volume
Language(s): Latin
Incipit:
4r Super genesim omelia prima, quis usus ciborum hominibus a deo datus
Explicit:
4r Evangelitas remissiones quere omelia 2? leuiticii fo 4o
Added in the 16th century.
6. 5r-62r
Homilies on Genesis
6.1. 5r-56v
Homilies on Genesis (tr. Rufinus) [Latin]
Origen of Alexandria
Language(s): Latin
Rubric:
5r Incipit omelia in Origenis super vetus testamentum
Incipit:
5r In principio fecit deus celuos et terram . Quid est principium nisi dominus
noster et saluator omnium Iesus Christus
Explicit:
56v quae dei sunt querere . et deus erit semper nobiscum . per iesum christum
dominum nostrum cui est gloria in secula seculorum . amen
Stegmüller 6170 (Origines Gen. Hom. 1-16)
6.2. 57r-62r
Homily on Genesis
Ps-Origen of Alexandria
Language(s): Latin
Incipit:
57r Sciendum est primo .quod in singulis quibusque locis
Explicit:
62r uelut dei iam in se participium habens ; etiam adorari dicitur a filiis
patris sui filios patris sui quasi immorali loco posuimus||
Stegmüller 6171 - a medieval composition spuriously attributed to Origen.
7. 62r-112v
Homilies on Exodus (tr. Rufinus) [Latin]
Origen of Alexandria
Language(s): Latin
Incipit:
62 Videtur michi unusquisque sermo Scripturae diuinae similis esse
Explicit:
112v componere atqueex his adornare tabernaculum deo iacob . per christum dominum
nostrum cui est honor et imperium per omnia secula seculorum amen
Final rubric:
112v Finit in exodo liber xiiii
Stegmüller 6174 (Origenes, Exod. hom. 1-13)
8. 112v-180v
Homilies on Leviticus (tr. Rufinus) [Latin]
Origen of Alexandria
Language(s): Latin
Rubric:
Incipit expositio origenis in leuiticum . omelia .i. de eo quod scriptum est si homo
munus offerat deo
Incipit:
112v Sicut in nouissimis diebus uerbum dei ex maria carne uestitum
processit
Explicit:
180v et cum seculis extendentur . Contra igitur si uelint iustis et innocentibus
in presenti||
Text ends imperfectly in Homily 14 on Leviticus due to loss of final quire(s).
Stegmüller 6176 (Origenes, Levit. hom. 1-16)
Secundo Folio:
6r buntur ; in hunc
Form: codex
Support:
Parchment (HFFH), identified as calfskin through protein analysis (see
Custodial History).
Extent:
Codex:
3 + 176 leaves.
330 × 205 mm.
Foliation:
20th-century foliation
1-2, 4 + 5-180
Foliated in the upper outer corner of each recto in pencil in Hindu-Arabic numerals.
Endleaves made from two nested bifolia at the beginning of the manuscript, the 3rd
leaf missing, the
remaining endleaves foliated as ff. 1-2, 4 (as per historic foliation practice at
Cambridge University
Library).
Collation
1-258
Catchwords in ink in the lower inner corner of the last verso of each
quire.
Condition
Covering material gone. Rear board gone. Pastedowns gone. Front board wormed and attached
to the bookblock
only by the tailband sewing support. Three sewing supports all broken at the hinge
with the left board. Headband
broken at the joint with the left board. Outermost leaves wormed. Damage from previous
humid storage conditions
has caused the board and many of the outermost leaves to become warped and stained.
Binding tight and does not
permit a wide angle of opening. Significant conservation work undertaken in 2023-2024
to stabilise the volume.
Layout
245 × 140 mm.
Pricked and ruled as bifolia. Pricking in outermost margins, ruled in leadpoint across
fold.
Single-column format, typically 34 lines to the page. Written above top line.
Hand(s)
Folios 5-190 written in protogothic minuscule by at least two scribes.
Notes in an italic humanist minuscule on ff. 2r.
Notes on the contents of the volume in a rounded humanist minuscule on f. 4r.
List of the contents of the volume on f. 4v in a northern textualis formata of the 13th century.
Ownership inscription in a precise anglicana hand of perhaps the 13th
century on f. 4v.
Decoration
Single-colour initial with minor penwork flourishing in the 'Arabesque' style at the
opening of the text on f.
5r.
Large plain initials in red or green at the start of each homily, and smaller initials,
typically red, at the head
of minor sections of text within the homily.
Running headings in the centre of the upper margin of each recto and verso in red.
Rubricated titles (in red) at the start of most homilies.
Rubrication instruction text written on relevant leaves along the foreedge of the
leaf, facing the gutter.
Additions
Quire signatures in the lower outer corner of the first recto of each quire in pencil
designated a-z. A small '+'
added in pencil to the lower outer corner of the first recto in the second half of
each quire.
The present shelfmark 'Add. 5368' in ink on 1r added after 15 May 1913.
Binding
?12th-century binding. Binding is damaged. Cover material gone. Rear board gone. Front
board extant; oak with
bevelled edges. Head and tail bands extant and sewn over a core of animal derived
cord in herringbone stitch in a
neutal cream yarn. Board only attached to quires by tailband slip, all other sewing
slips broken at joint with
left board, but still present in channels on left board. Semicircular head and tail
tabs of tawed skin anchored
under and by means of the head and tail bands in long stitch. Three split-strap sewing
supports of tawed skin
oversewn in herringbone stitch in a cream yarn and anchored into the left board in
horizontal channels and secured
with wooden pegs. Notch for metal fastening attachment in centre of fore-edge of left
board with remains metal
tacks in notch - probably used for the strap end of a strap-and-pin fastening. Small
circular punctures in centre
of left board and inset from each corner by c. 30mm. No pastedown. Scrap of former
tawed skin cover, brittle (and
?damaged by fire).
Origin:
12th century.
; England.
Provenance and Acquisition
Belonged to the Cistercian community of
Waverley Abbey
from the late
12th century, and may have been made there. Ownership inscription on 4v: ‘Waverlea, liber tuus est hic, crimine liber | Non erit ante deum qui tibi tollit
eum’ in a hand
of the 13th century.
Owned by the Cope family of Bramshill House, in Bramshill, England not far from Waverley Abbey. It is not known when the Cope family came into
possession of the volume. Sold by
Sir Anthony Cope (1842-1932)
of Bramshill House in the Cope sale by
Sotheby's on 4 March 1913.
Purchased from the Cope sale (Sotheby's) on 4 March 1913 by
Percy Mordaunt Barnard (1868-1941)
, a bookseller.
Purchased from the bookseller
Percy Mordaunt Barnard
by Cambridge University Library. A slip of paper stored in the manuscript's box records
the date of the purchase
as 15 May 1913, and a price of £4 15s is recorded in pencil on another slip of paper
in the same box.
Ringrose (2009), p. 210
