Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

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

Cambridge, University Library, MS Dd.1.11

The 'False Decretals' of Pseudo-Isidore; Nicholas Trivet, Commentary on 'De consolatione philosophiae' of Boethius

Contents

Introduction: Although the two parts of this manuscript are unrelated - in terms of their origin and their textual contents - they have shared a history together since at the least the middle decades of the sixteenth century. The pagination of the manuscript in an orange-red crayon, running continuously from its beginning to its end and across the two parts without interruption, immediately marks the book out as formerly belonging to Matthew Parker (1504-1575): one-time Master of Corpus Christi College in Cambridge, Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Elizabeth I, and donor of books and manuscripts both to his former college and to the University Library. The pagination also continues without interruption from MS Dd.1.10, the partner volume of this manuscript, which contains the first portion of the so-called 'False Decretals' of pseudo-Isidore. The two portions of this text may originally have been bound together; there is no obvious codicological evidence to suggest otherwise, with the opening leaves of the text of MS Dd.1.11 being clean and well-preserved. Certainly by the time of the manuscripts' donation to the University Library in 1574 they were bound in two volumes: they are recorded separately in the list of Parker's gifts, and a binding label preserved from that time and now affixed to one of the endleaves at the front of the volume describes it as '2 pars'. It is not known whether the other text contained in MS Dd.1.11 - Nicholas Trevet's commentary on Boethius's Philosophia consolatio - had been bound with the False Decretals prior to Parker's possession of the volumes; neither part of MS Dd.1.11 contains any evidence of provenance prior to that relating to Matthew Parker (and nor does MS Dd.1.10). It may be that Parker brought the two parts together simply for the sake of convenience, their leaves being of similar size with wide enough margins for them to be bound together and trimmed at the edges without any loss of text. According to Paul Hinschius's 1863 edition, however, the text of the False Decretals found in MSS Dd.1.10-11 had been copied from a twelfth-century manuscript from Christ Church Cathedral Priory in Canterbury (now British Library, Cotton MS Claudius E.v, which itself ultimately derived from a now lost or unidentified manuscript at Bec in northern France, but supplemented with papal letters held at Canterbury, including forgeries produced during the episcopacy of Lanfranc). No doubt this led M.R. James to speculate in an unpublished description of the manuscript that the copy in MSS Dd.1.10-11 "will have been written perhaps for an Archbishop of Canterbury...possibly for [William] Warham" (see Source for further details). Numerous of Parker's manuscripts did indeed come from libraries in Canterbury (though not always directly), however in this case definitive proof of the book's production remains elusive. The False Decretals was one of a series of compilations of canons and ordinances (legal decrees that determined how the church should operate), not all of which were genuine either: these earlier collections are known as the 'Collectio Hispana' and the 'False Capitularies'. It begins with a preface authored supposedly by 'Isidore Mercator', an imaginary persona whose name derives from the combination of two genuine early Church authors, Isidore of Seville and Marius Mercator. The principal invention of the False Decretals was a body of nearly a hundred pseudonymous papal letters (known as 'decretals'), ranging from the papacy of Clement I to that of Gregory the Great, and assembled by extracting and reconstituting the text of other, genuine sources. As Cotton MS Claudius E.v illustrates, the False Decretals were also subject subsequently to further expansion with church law documents that had particular local relevance or in order to serve specific political purposes. The precise date and place of origin for the False Decretals remains open to debate among canon law scholars, however. It has long been agreed that these texts emerged from the western region of the Frankish empire, with further confirmation being given by the discovery that the originators of some of the forgeries annotated and used three ninth-century manuscripts, two of which were from the monastic library at Corbie. They were first cited definitively at the Council of Quierzy in 857, and given very wide circulation thereafter (more than a hundred manuscript copies are still extant), forming the basis of the Church law across Europe until the sixteenth century. It was only in 1628 that the fictional nature of much of their content was proven by the scholar David Blondel. The second part of this manuscript stands in stark contrast to the first. Here, the authorship of the text is certain, and much is known not only of the author's life but also of the circumstances in which he came to write this text. Nicholas Trevet was born at some point between 1257 and 1265, and began his career in the Dominican order in his young adulthood, first at the London convent and then, in the late 1280s, at Oxford. There he first established his reputation as a scholar and, at an early stage (possibly before 1300), began spending time overseas, most likely at other Dominican studia. The earliest datable work to emerge from these travels was the commentary on Boethius's De consolatione philosophiae. The text must date from before 1304, since Trevet quoted parts of it in his quodlibet of that year, perhaps before he incepted as regent master at Oxford in 1303, and maybe as early as the turn of the century. A prefatory dedication (not commonly found in the surviving manuscripts) reveals that it was written for a fellow member of the Dominican order, a teacher and subsequently close friend of Trevet's, apparently an Italian named Paul who lived in Pisa. Although Trevet had been urged to undertake the work by his mentor, it was only once he was in Florence that he did so. At first struggling to find a copy of the De consolatione, Trevet eventually had to make one himself, using another lent to him by an unnamed third party, presumably a resident of Florence. Both received presentation copies from the author in thanks. According to Edmund Silk, in his unpublished edition of the text, 'Trevet's purpose [in the commentary] is to help students grasp the plan of the Consolatio as a whole, and the relation of the parts to the whole'. He drew widely on previous authors and commentators, in particular William of Conches, in order (as Lodi Nauta has put it) to 'extract the sententia, the deep meaning...[which] could be co-ordinated with the sententiae of other authorities'. The citation by Trevet of his commentary in his second quodlibet in 1304 indicates that his work on Boethius and involvement in university were interconnected: the commentary was not simply an exposition of the text, 'but could also function as a vehicle for expounding views which found their way into his university disputations' (Nauta). Characteristics that Trevet's commentary shares with the False Decretals are its wide dissemination and lasting impact. More than a hundred copies of the text survive, although there appears not to be a published list (though Silk mentioned that one was being compiled by Ruth Dean). It was used by a number of translators of Boethius, most notably by Geoffrey Chaucer (a copy of whose translation has been part of the University Library's collections since at least c. 1424, and is now MS Ii.3.21), but also Robert Henryson and John Walton. Its influence also continued beyond the manuscript era, informing and influencing the earliest printed commentaries of Pseudo-Aquinas and Badius Ascensius. Dr James Freeman| Medieval Manuscripts Specialist| Cambridge University Library Bibliography:| Eric Knibbs, 'Ebo of Rheims, Pseudo-Isidore and the date of the False Decretals', Speculum, 92 (2017), 144-183 [https://doi.org/10.1086/689411]| Eric Knibbs, 'Who was Pseudo-Isidore? A brief introduction to an ancient problem', Pseudo-Isidore: an edition-in-progress of the False Decretals [https://pseudo-isidore.com/]| Ruth Dean, 'The dedication of Nicholas Trevet's Commentary on Boethius', Studies in Philology, 63 (1966), 593-603 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/4173543]| Lodi Nauta, 'The scholastic context of the Boethius commentary by Nicholas Trevet', in Boethius in the Middle Ages: Latin and vernacular traditions of the 'Consolatio philosophiae', ed. by M.J.F.M. Hoenen and L. Nauta (Leiden: Brill, 1997), pp. 41-67.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Extent: Codex: iv + 2 + 232 + 60 1 + 2 + iv leaves.
Foliation:

Mid-20th-century foliation:

[a-d] + [i-ii] + 1-232 | 233-292 + 293 + [iii-iv] + [e-h]

Numbering in pencil in the upper right-hand corner of the rectos.
Foliation:

Mid-16th-century pagination:

601-1505 (for ff. 1-293)

Numbering in red/orange crayon in the upper right-hand corner of the rectos (thus, odd numbers only), by one of the secretaries of Matthew Parker.

Collation

1-298 | 30-3412

Modern quire signatures added in pencil, on the recto of the first leaf of the quires, by the hand of H.L. Pink (L-Qq | AA-EE). These do not take into account the appaent loss of quires between the end of Quire 17 ('Dd') and the beginning of Quire 18 ('Ee'), and between the end of Quire 24 ('Ll') and the beginning of Quire 25 ('Mm').

Binding

Evidence preserved within the manuscript (endleaves bearing four friction-holes and rust stains, indicating the presence formerly of four corner-bosses and a chain-staple, and a title label preserved on the front pastedown) indicates that the manuscript was previously bound in similar style to that of the binding on other manuscripts donated to the University Library by Matthew Parker (for an example, see: MS Ii.2.4).

The Parkerian pagination that begins in MS Dd.1.10 - the partner volume of this manuscript - continues without interruption in MS Dd.1.11. This suggests that the manuscript may once have been bound in a single volume and up until the time it was in Parker's possession. However, by the time of its donation to the University Library, the manuscript was bound in two volumes: the two were recorded separately in the list of Parker's donations (see Acquisition) and this volume contains a binding label that describes it as '2 pars' (f. [ii] recto).

Parker donation number '15' (see Acquisition), titles and volume number inked onto the fore-edge by Abraham Wheelocke: '15. Epist. et Canones, 2. Boethius'

Quarter goatskin with marbled paper sides and vellum tips (perhaps by J.P. Gray and Son, Cambridge, around the mid-20th century: see MS Ff.1.28 for a similar example).

History

Provenance and Acquisition

Presented to the University Library in 1574 by Matthew Parker (1504-1575), archbishop of Canterbury . No. 15 in the list of 25 'Libri Scripti in pergameno' published to commemorate Parker's gift (see Early catalogues of manuscripts, up to c. 1600).

Part 1: endleaves [Cambridge, University Library, MS Dd.1.11, ff. [i], [iii]]

Contents

1.1. [i] recto-[i] verso
Fragment of a legal document
Language(s): Latin and early modern English

The rear endleaf in MS Dd.1.10, and the front and rear endleaves in this volume, are parts of a legal document related to a contract of marriage concerning Thomas Rayndle and John Coller. The text is very faded and hard to decipher. The front endleaf is written in Latin, the rear in English.

1.2. [iii] recto-[iii] verso
Fragment of a legal document
Language(s): Latin and early modern English

The rear endleaf in MS Dd.1.10, and the front and rear endleaves in this volume, are parts of a legal document related to a contract of marriage concerning Thomas Rayndle and John Coller. The text is very faded and hard to decipher. The front endleaf is written in Latin, the rear in English.

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: Fragment, comprising two portions of a legal document. 2

Hand(s)

Written in an early modern secretary script.

History

Origin: 16th century (before 1574).

Additional Information

Bibliography

    Manuscripts in the University Library, Cambridge (Dd-Oo) Index of Middle English prose, Connolly, Margaret (Woodbridge, D.S. Brewer, 2009)

Part 2 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Dd.1.11, ff. 1-232]

Contents

2. 1r-232v
Decretales ('False Decretals') Isidore Mercator ('pseudo-Isidore')
Language(s): Latin
Incipit: ||1r: insurgunt aduersum nos et dicunt anime mostre non est salus
Explicit: 232v: per Angliam et Scotiam constitutis salutem et apostolicam||

The text continues from MS Dd.1.10, without interruption, and ends imperfectly. Text missing between the end of Quire 17 ('Dd') and the beginning of Quire 18 ('Ee'), and between the end of Quire 24 ('Ll') and the beginning of Quire 25 ('Mm').

For a more detailed account of the text as it compares to that provided in Hinschius's edition, and the inclusion of additions relating to Canterbury derived from its exemplar, see M.R. James's unpublished description (UA ULIB 7/3/74; see Data Sources for more information).

Hinschius (1863)
PL 130:733- (printed from a C-recension manuscript)

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 2r: ad malefaciendum
Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: 232

Collation

  • Quires 1-298 (ff. 1-232)

Although the catchword 'quae' on f. 136v matches with what follows, it appears to have been written in by another, less practised hand than the main scribe's - disguising the loss of perhaps three quires between the end of Quire 17 ('Dd') and the beginning of Quire 18 ('Ee') (see: Hinschius, pp. 635, 689, and M.R. James's unpublished description, UA ULIB 7/3/74 - further details in Data Sources). At least one quire is also missing between the end of Quire 24 ('Ll') and the beginning of Quire 25 ('Mm') (see ff. 192v-193r). Catchwords written vertically. Occasional leaf signatures, written in Arabic numerals.

Layout

275 × 165 mm. Two columns, 28 lines, frame and line ruling, in leadpoint, written below top line.

Hand(s)

Written in a humanistic semi-textualis script.

Decoration

Gaps of three to four lines left for decorated initials at textual divisions.

Rubrics written in red ink.

Additions

Marginal annotations in pencil by the hand of Henry Bradshaw, University Librarian 1867-1886, comparing the text against Hinschius's edition: see, for example, ff. 136v-137r, 178r, 188r, 193r, 197v). Not all of the other marginal annotations in this volume are by Bradshaw.

History

Origin: England; ; 15th century, probably later in the century, or possibly early 16th century.

Additional Information

Bibliography

    Decretales pseudo-Isidorianae, et Capitula Angilramni. Ad fidem librorum manuscriptorum recensuit, fontes indicavit, commentationem de collectione pseudo-Isidori, (Lipsiae, B. Tauchnitz, 1863) Codices pseudo-Isidoriani: a palaeographico-historical study. With a foreword by Horst Fuhrmann Codices pseudo-Isidoriani Monumenta iuris canonici. Series C, Subsidia, Williams, Schafer (New York, Fordham University Press, 1971) The English Church and the Papacy: From the Conquest to the Reign of John The English Church and the Papacy, Brooke, Z.N. (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1989, https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/english-church-and-the-papacyfrom-the-conquest-to-the-reign-of-john/4E0931BEB290E1A7F3CE784DF54ABDCF) Edition Pseudo-Isidore: An Edition-in-Progress of the False Decretals, Knibbs, Eric (2020, https://pseudo-isidore.com/edition/)

Part 3 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Dd.1.11, ff. 233-292]

Contents

3.1. 233r-290v
Commentary on Boethius, De consolatione philosophiae Nicholas Trevet
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 233r: Expositio fratris Nycolai treueth anglici ordinis predicatorem super Boetio de consolatione
Incipit: 233r: Explanationem librorum Boecii de consolacione phylosophica aggressurus
Explicit: 292v: Et sic terminatur quintus continens proses . 6 . 2 metra . 5 . Et sunt universaliter in toto libro prose . 39 . 2 metra totidem
Final rubric: 290v: Explicit commentum super quinque libros Boecii de consolacione phylosophica secundum fratrem Nicholaum Anglicum sacre pagine professorem ordinis predicatorem
Kaeppeli 3134
3.2. 290v-292v
Alphabetical index to Nicolas Trevet, Commentary on Boethius, De consolatione philosophiae
Language(s): Latin
Rubric: 290v: Incipit tabula super libros Boecii
Incipit: 290v: Achademia est quod circumstantias in quam studuit plato
Explicit: 292v: Dionisius tyrannus mortem cottidie metuebat . l . 3 . pro . 5 . 8||

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: 234r: quod Boecius dictus
Form: codex
Support: Parchment
Extent: 60

Collation

  • Quires 30-3412 (ff. 233-292)

Catchwords.

Layout

275-290 × 185-195 mm. Two columns, 46-57 lines, frame ruling only, in leadpoint, written below top line.

Running book numbers in the upper margin, and chapter numbers and alphabetical sequences of letters in the fore-edge and gutter margins, keyed to the index.

Hand(s)

Written in cursiva antiquior script.

Decoration

Gaps left in the text for the insertion of diagrams accompanying the commentary.

Three- to six-line geometric initials in red and blue, with pen infill and marginal flourishing in the same colours, marking the divisions of the commentary between the books of the De consolatione philosophiae.

Two-line initials in red or blue, with contrasting pen infill and marginal flourishing in the same colours, marking subidivisions of the commentary.

History

Origin: 15th century ; Italy

Additional Information

Bibliography

    Nicholas Trevet's Commentary on Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy Trevet on Boethius, Silk (†), Edmund T. (2012, http://campuspress.yale.edu/trevet/) Sources of the Boece Chaucer library, Machan, Tim WilliamMinnis, A. J. (Athens, GA, The University of Georgia Press, 2005) Extracts from Trevet's commentary on Boethius: texts and translations Chaucer's <hi rend="italics">Boece</hi> and the medieval tradition of Boethius, Silk (†), Edmund T.Scott, A.B. (Woodbridge, 35-81, Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 1993)

Additional Information

Record Sources

This catalogue entry draws on an unpublished description of the manuscript composed between 1926 and 1930 by M.R. James , now held in the University Archives (ULIB 7/3/74). For further information on these descriptions, see the subject guide Unpublished descriptions of the western medieval manuscripts at Cambridge University Library.

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.

Bibliography

    A catalogue of the manuscripts preserved in the library of the University of Cambridge, (Cambridge, 1: Dd, Cambridge University Press, 1856) The dispersal of the monastic libraries and the beginning of Anglo-Saxon studies: Matthew Parker and his circle. A preliminary study Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, Wright, C.E. (1, 3, 208-237, 1951)

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