Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 6447
Speculum humanae salvationis
Contents
Physical Description
20th-century foliation
[i-iv] + 1-47 + [v]
Written in pencil in the upper right-hand corner of the rectos, by an unidentified hand.Collation
- Quire 18+1 (ff. 1-9: 1st leaf, f. 1, inserted)
- Quires 2-58 (ff. 10-41)
- Quire 66 (ff. 42-47)
18+1 (1st inserted) 2-58 66
No leaf signatures. No quire signatures. No catchwords.Condition
Additions
References to the Bible written in red ink in the margins of the Prohemium (ff. 3v-4v).
Quire signatures written in pencil in the lower right-hand corner of the recto of the first leaf of each quire, by an unidentified hand of the 20th century.
Binding
Original binding (Binski/Zutshi) or 16th-century (Ringrose), sewn on five bands: brown calf (re-backed) over wooden boards, with blind-tooling on the front and rear covers, as follows: a double frame formed by triple fillets; the inner frame mitred to form a central compartment containing a panel stamp of a lion and griffin supporting an imperial crown and shield of a double-headed eagle displayed, within a border of heraldic animals (dog, dragon, griffin, eagles, stag, unicorn, with shields at the four corners: three fleur-de-lys, eagle displayed, three mill rinds, and lion rampant; four-sided frame with scenes of brazen serpent, Crucifixion and Resurrection; two panels with heraldic roses and foliage at head and tail; two pairs of holes at the fore-edge from clasps, now lost.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Perhaps the Abbey of St Bavo, Ghent.
Perhaps in Utrecht in the 16th century: '21 [St W?](?) traiecti in edibus Decani S. Marie' (inscription on front pastedown).
Jean-Baptiste-Godefroid Delbecq (1771-1840) , Ghent schoolteacher and collector of prints and books: his sale, de Porre and Verhulst, Ghent, 8-12 September 1840, lot 49. According to the note by J.L.C. Jacob (see below), Delbecq had purchased the manuscript at the time when the monasteries in Ghent were closed.
J.L.C. Jacob (1805-1865) , bookseller: purchased at the sale of Jean-Baptiste Delbecq (notes concerning the manuscript, f. ii).
Sir Thomas Brooke (1830-1908) , wool merchant and book collector, Armitage Bridge House, Yorkshire: his bookplate (and ?shelfmark 'A.37') ([iv] recto, and recorded in the catalogue of his collection, published 1891 (vol. 2, p. 604).
Sir John Arthur Brooke (d. 1920) : his sale, Sotheby's, 25 and 30 May 1921, lot 1350.
Presented to the University Library by John Charrington (1856-1939) , First Honorary Keeper of Prints, Fitzwilliam Museum (1909-1939) (donation bookplate, front pastedown).
Part 1: Pastedowns [Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 6447, front and rear pastedowns]
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Begins imperfectly in Book 31, Chapter 76, prologue; ends imperfectly in Book 31, Chapter 77, section 2.
With gloss.
Begins imperfectly in Book 31, Chapter 77, section 12; ends imperfectly in Book 31, Chapter 77, section 25.
With gloss.
Physical Description
Layout
265 × 150 mm. Ruled in leadpoint (mostly not visible), frame and line. Two columns, 50 lines to the page, written below top line.
Gloss ruled separately, frame and line ruling, in leadpoint.
Hand(s)
Written in an Italian littera textualis.
Additions
A few interlinear and intercolumnar glosses and annotations.
History
Additional Information
Bibliography
-
Corpus iuris civilis: Volume 1: Institutiones and Digesta Corpus iuris civilis Cambridge
Library Collection - Classics, (Cambridge, 1, Cambridge University Press, 2014, https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/corpus-iuris-civilis/48F7152DDE1563D08CFAB426960328BC)
Part 2: Speculum humanae salvationis [Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 6447, ff. 1r-47r]
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Folio 2r blank.
Ends imperfectly. Text printed from Monte Cassino MS CLII in Florilegium Casinense; text here ends on p. 391, col. 2, l. 21.
Folio 2 is a waste leaf, the verso containing two drawings and columns of text, as per the rest of the manuscript:
- col. 1: Annunciation to St Anne (mismatch with the text, which concerns the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary).
- col. 2: King Astyages' dream (a bearded figure shown beside his bed, instead of Astyages' daughter; see comparable illustration on 7v, where it accompanies the meeting of Joachim and Anna).
Prohemium unprinted in Lutz and Perdrizet edition, but appears in full on ff. 4v-5v of Speculum humanae salvationis, vollständige Faksimilie-Ausgabe des Codex Cremifanensis 243 des Benediktinerstifts Kremsmünster, ed. by W. Neumüller (Graz: Akadem. Druck- u. Verlagsanst.
Lacks the sections on the Seven Stations of the Passion, the Seven Sorrows and Seven Joys of the Virgin, which follow ch. 42. For the deletion of these three chapters, see: Adrian Wilson and Joyce Lancaster Wilson, A medieval mirror: Speculum humanae salvationis 1324-1500 (Berkeley; London: University of California Press, 1984), p. 28.
Physical Description
Layout
f. 1r-1v 235 × 180 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame only. Two columns, 50 lines to the page, written below top line.
ff. 2v-47r 120-125 × 180 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame and line. Two columns, 25-51 lines to the page, written below top line.
Hand(s)
Written in two hybrida hands: 1r-1v and 2v-47r.
Decoration
170 drawings in grisaille, two per page, each occupying the upper half of a text column; outlined in ink or pencil, shaded with black chalk or lead; depicting biblical and historical scenes. The drawings follow the usual set found with the text, classified by E. Breitenbach, Speculum humanae salvationis: eine typengeschichtliche Untersuchung, Studien der deutschen Kunstgeschichte 272 (Strassburg: J.H.E. Heitz, 1930) in his IV Kreis (p. 74) as being of Western origin, and says of it (p. 75) 'steht innerhalb der Kreises isoliert' (i.e. 'stands alone within that circle'). According to the description by B. Cardon, Manuscripts of the Speculum humanae salvacionis in the Southern Netherlands (c. 1410-1470) (Leuven: Peeters, 1996), pp. 382-84, 'the models used were related to the ones in workshops in Utrecht in the mid-15th century, drawing upon Eyckian sources'.
- 2v: Annunciation to St Anne; King Astyages' dream, with bearded king holding branches with leaves
- 5v: Fall of Lucifer; Creation of Eve
- 6r: God instructing Adam and Eve; Temptation of Eve
- 6v: Fall: Adam eating and Eve taking the fruit; Expulsion of Adam and Eve
- 7r: Eve spinning and Adam digging; dove bringing olive branch to Noah's Ark
- 7v: Joachim and Anna at Golden Gate; King Astyages' dream with his daughter
- 8r: Hortus conclusus and fons signatus ; Barlaam's prophecy
- 8v: Nativity of the Virgin; Tree of Jesse
- 9r: Porta clausa ; Temple of Solomon
- 9v: Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple; Mensa Solis
- 10r: sacrifice of Yepte's daughter; Queen of Persia observing her domain
- 10v: wedding of Mary and Joseph; wedding of Sara, Raguel's daughter, and Tobias
- 11r: turris barris ; tower hung with a thousand shields
- 11v: Annunciation; God appearing to Moses in burning bush and giving him Tablets
- 12r: Gideon's fleece; Rebecca giving water to Eleazar
- 12v: Nativity; vision of Pharaoh's butler
- 13r: Aaron's rod; Emperor Octavian consulting Sibyl who receives vision of the Virgin and Child inside the sun
- 13v: Adoration of the Magi; Magi pointing at star
- 14r: three strong men bringing water from Bethlehem to David; servant bringing chalice to Solomon
- 14v: Presentation in the Temple; Ark of the Covenant
- 15r: candlestick with seven lamps (menorah); Presentation of Samuel in the Temple
- 15v: idols falling off columns as Holy Family enters Egypt; sculpture of the Virgin and Child made by Egyptians
- 16r: Moses breaking Pharaoh's crown; Nebuchadnezzar's vision of a statue
- 16v: Baptism of Christ, witnessed by an angel; Brazen Sea
- 17r: leper Naaman bathing in Jordan; two men carrying Ark across dry river Jordan
- 17v: Temptation of Christ, with Satan and three dice; Daniel breaking idol Bel and killing dragon
- 18r: David defeating Goliath; David killing bear and lion
- 18v: Mary Magdalene drying Christ's feet with her hair; Manasseh pentitent in captivity
- 19r: return of the Prodigal son; David repenting before Nathan
- 19v: Christ's entry into Jerusalem; Jeremiah lamenting before gates of Jerusalem
- 20r: David greeted after his triumph and bearing the head of Goliath; Heliodorus punished by two angels for attempting to plunder the Temple
- 20v: Last Supper; God giving manna to people of Israel
- 21r: Lamb, symbolising Christ ('Agnus Dei'); Melchisedech offering bread and wine to Abraham
- 21v: Christ prostrating his enemies with one word; Samson killing a thousand men with a donkey's jaw
- 22r: Shamgar killing six hundred men; David killing eight hundred men
- 22v: Betrayal of Christ; Joab killing Amasa
- 23r: Saul threatening David; Cain killing Abel
- 23v: Mocking of Christ; torture of Hur
- 24r: Noah ridiculed by Cham; blinded Samson ridiculed by Philistines
- 24v: Flagellation; Achior tied to tree by Holofernes' servants
- 25r: Lamech berated by his wives; Job attacked by Satan and by his wife
- 25v: Christ crowned with Crown of Thorns and mocked; Darius's concubine Apamene placing crown on her head
- 26r: Shimei threatening David with stone and club; King Amon threatening David's messengers
- 26v: Carrying of the Cross; Isaac carrying wood to the altar
- 27r: son of vineyard owner cast out and killed (Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen); two men carrying vine from Promised Land to desert
- 27v: Christ nailed to the Cross; Tubalchain with hammer and Jubal with psaltery
- 28r: Isaiah's martyrdom; King Moab sacrificing his son
- 28v: Crucifixion; Nebuchadnezzar's vision of tree
- 29r: King Codrus sacrificing his life for liberation of his citizens; Eleazar killing elephant
- 29v: Longinus piercing Christ's side and Jews mocking him; David ridiculed by Michol
- 30r: Absalom's death; King Embmedorach cutting his father's body in three hundred pieces and feeding vultures
- 30v: Deposition; Joseph's brothers with his tunic
- 31r: Adam and Eve lamenting Abel's death; Naomi asking her daughters-in-law to call here 'Mara' (i.e. bitter) because of her misfortune
- 31v: Entombment of Christ; two men carrying bier with Abner's coffin
- 32r: Joseph in well addressed by two of his brothers; Jonah cast into the sea
- 32v: Hellmouth with four levels; angel cooling three youths in fiery furnace
- 33r: angel sending Habakkuk to feed Daniel's in lion's den; bird using worm's blood to free young one from glass cover
- 33v: Christ's triumph over Satan; Benaiah killing lion
- 34r: Samson killing lion with his bare hands; Ehud piercing Eglon with his sword
- 34v: Virgin surrounded by Instruments of the Pasion and triumphing over Satan; Judith beheading Holofernes
- 35r: Jael piercing Cysara's eye with sword; Queen Tomyris beheading Cyrus
- 35v: saints rescued from Hell (shown as Hellmouth) by Christ; people of Israel set free from Egypt by angel
- 36r: Abraham rescued from Chaldaeans' fire by God; angel leading Lot and his family out of Sodom
- 36v: Resurrection: Christ stepping out of the tomb; Samson removing gates of Gaza
- 37r: Jonah emerging from whale; builders of Solomon's Temple with corner stone
- 37v: Ascension of Christ; Jacob's dream of heavenly ladder
- 38r: Christ bringing back lost sheep; Elijah in fiery chariot
- 38v: Pentecost; Tower of Babel
- 39r: God giving Moses Tablets; Elisha filling poor widow's vessels with oil
- 39v: Virgin praying surrounded by Instruments of the Passion and manger with ox and ass; Anna, Tobias's wife, troubled by her son's absence
- 40r: woman looking for her drachma (Parable of the Lost Coin/Piece of Silver); Saul giving Michal to Phalathiel/Palti
- 40v: Coronation of the Virgin; David playing harp before Ark
- 41r: St John's vision of woman surrounded by sun and standing on moon; Solomon's mother, Bathsheba, seated on his right side
- 41v: Virgin interceding for the sinners; Abigail pleading to David to have pity on Nabal
- 42r: Thecuites reconciling David and Absalom; wise woman showing Sheba's head to Joab
- 42v: Virgin protecting sinners under her cloak; Tharbis saving city of Saba from Moses' siege by asking her father to let her marry Moses
- 43r: woman of Thebes drops millstone on Abimelech; Michal speaking to soldier while David escapes through window
- 43v: Christ displaying wounds before God; Antipater showing wounds to Julius Caesar
- 44r: Virgin showing her breasts ('Maria mediatrix'); Esther pleading to Ahasuerus for people of Israel
- 44v: Last Judgement: Christ seated on rainbow, with feet resting on orb, lily and sword at his head, flanked by two angels with trumpets above dead rising from graves; three men bringing gifts to nobleman seated under canopy
- 45r: five wise and five foolish virgins (Parable of the Ten Virgins); God's hand writing on the wall before King Balthazar 'Mane tetel fares'
- 45v: devils punishing sinful souls in cauldron; two men cutting David's enemies with saw
- 46r: Gideon riding and dragging enemy; Pharaoh and his army drowned in Red Sea
- 46v: God holding the crucifix ('Throne of Mercy'); Queen of Sheba before Solomon
- 47r: feast of King Ahasuerus; Job's sons feasting
Four- to eight-line initials in blue, with internal void decoration, and infill and marginal flourishing in red ink (ff. 1r, 2v, 5v).
Two- or three-line initials, alternating in red or blue, occasionally with internal void decoration.
Headings written and paraph marks drawn in red; litterae notabiliores touched in red.
History
According to the description of the manuscript in B. Cardon, Manuscripts of the Speculum humanae salvacionis in the Southern Netherlands (c. 1410-1470) (Leuven: Peeters, 1996), pp. 382-84, 'the models used [for the miniatures] were related to the ones in workshops in Utrecht in the mid-15th century, drawing upon Eyckian sources'.
Additional Information
Bibliography
-
Bibliotheca casinensis: seu Codicum manuscriptorum qui in tabulario casinensi asservantur
series per paginas singillatim enucleata: notis, characterum speciminibus ad unguem
exemplatis
aucta Bibliotheca casinensis, (Monte Cassino, 3, ex Typographia Casinensi, 1873)
Speculum humanae salvationis; kritische ausg., übersetzung von Jean Miélot (1448).
Die
quellen des Speculums und seine bedeutung in der ikonographie, besonders in der elasässischen
kunst des
XIV. jahrhunderts. Mit der wiedergabe in lichtdruck (140 tafeln) der Schlettstadter
handschrift, ferner
sämtlicher alten Mülhauser glasmalereien, sowie einiger scheiben aus Colmar, Weissenburg,
etc., (Mülhausen, Buchdr. E. Meininger, 1907)
La collection des 38 homélies latines de Saint Jean Chrysostome The Journal of Theological
Studies, Wilmart, André (19, 76, 305-327, 1918, https://www.jstor.org/stable/23947279)
<hi rend="italics">Speculum humanae salvationis</hi>: eine typengeschichtliche
Untersuchung Speculum humanae salvationis Studien zur deutschen Kunstgeschichte, Breitenbach, Edgar (Strassburg, J.H.E. Heitz, 1930)
Representations of the Temple of Jerusalem Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Krinsky, Carol Herselle (33, 1-19, 1970)
Speculum humanae salvationis: Vollständige Faksimile-Ausgabe des Codex Cremifanensis
243 des
Benediktinerstifts Kremsmünster Codices selecti phototypice impressi, Neumüller, Willibrord (Graz, Akadem. Druck-u. Verlagsanst, 1972)
A medieval mirror: speculum humanae salvationis, 1324-1500, Wilson, Adrian (Berkeley; London, University of California Press, 1984)
The illustrations and the Gold Scrolls Group Typologische taferelen uit het leven
van Jezus: a manuscript from the Gold Scrolls Group
(Bruges, ca. 1440) in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, ms. Morgan 649: an edition
of the text, a
reproduction of the manuscript and a study of the miniatures Corpus van verluchte
handschriften uit de Nederlanden, Cardon, Bert (Leuven, Peeters, 1985)
Flanders in a European perspective: manuscript illumination around 1400 in Flanders
and
abroad. Proceedings of the international colloquium, Leuven, 7-10 September 1993 Corpus
van verluchte handschriften = Corpus of illuminated manuscripts, Smeyers, MauritsCardon, Bert (Leuven, Peeters, 1995)
Manuscripts of the Speculum humanae salvationis in the southern Netherlands (c. 1410-c.
1470): a contribution to the study of the 15th century book illumination and of the
function and meaning
of historical symbolism Corpus of illuminated manuscripts: Low Countries series, Cardon, Bert (Leuven, Peeters, 1996)
Four early fifteenth-century English manuscripts of the Speculum humanae
salvationis and a fourteenth-century exemplar English Manuscript Studies: 1100-1700, Scott, Kathleen L. (10, 177-203, 2002)
Additional Information
Record Sources
Availability
Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card. 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.
Custodial History
Bibliography
-
Catalogue de vente des livres de Jean Baptiste Godefroid Delbecq, du 8 à 12 septembre
1840, (Ghent, de Porre & Verhulst, 1840)
A catalogue of the manuscripts and printed books collection by Thomas Brooke, F.S.A..
and
preserved at Armitage Bridge House, near Huddersfield, Ellis, G.I. (London, 2: M-Z, Ellis and Elvey, 1891, https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/012309055)
Summary catalogue of the additional medieval manuscripts in Cambridge University Library
acquired
before 1940 Summary catalogue, Ringrose, Jayne (Woodbridge, Boydell Press, 2009)
Western illuminated manuscripts: a catalogue of the collection in Cambridge University
Library Western illuminated manuscripts, Binski, PaulZutshi, Patrick (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2011, https://doi-org.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/10.1017/CBO9780511780479)
Colour: the art & science of illuminated manuscripts Colour, (London, Harvey Miller Publishers, 2016)
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
