Cambridge, University Library, MS Dd.8.12
Bible
Contents
- The 'Bury Bible' ( Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 2 (now bound in 3 parts) )
- The 'Dover Bible' ( Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 3 )
- The 'Lambeth Bible' (London, Lambeth Palace Library, MS 3)
- The 'Winchester Bible' (Winchester, Cathedral Library, MS 17 and New York, Morgan Library, MS M.619 )
Physical Description
20th-century foliation:
i (left pastedown) + 1-2 + 3-8 | 9-440 | 441-460 | 461-467, 469 + 470 (right pastedown).
Foliated in the upper outer corner of each recto in pencil in Hindu-Arabic numerals. Unusually, the left and right pastedowns were assigned folio designations in this schema: ff. i and 470 respectively. Folio number 'f. 468' assigned to a leaf no longer present in the volume (as per historic foliation practice at Cambridge University Library).Collation
The manuscript comprises a 13th-century core of 43 quires that contain the general prefaces to the Bible, and the Old and New Testaments, surrounded by exegetical material in additional quires of the 14th and 15th centuries (Quires a, and 44-46). The manuscript has been rebound at least once and some leaves have been displaced, removed, or altered as part of these rebindings. The quires are arranged as follows:
- Quire a8-1 (+2) (ff. i, 1-2, 3-8; 1st leaf missing, 2nd leaf is now the front pastedown, 3rd and 4th leaves are an inserted bifolium) |
- Quires 1-2410 (ff. 9-248)
- Quire 2512-1 (ff. 249-259; 12th leaf cancelled)
- Quires 26-4210 (ff. 260-429)
- Quire 4312-1 (ff. 430-440; 1st leaf cancelled) |
- Quires 44-4510 (ff. 441-460) |
- Quire 468-1 (+2) (ff. 461-467, 469 + 470; 8th leaf missing, ff. 469-470 are an inserted bifolium, f. 469 is affixed to f. 467 with an adhesive, and f. 470 is now the rear pastedown)
a8-1 (+2) (1st missing, 2nd is now the left pastedown, 3rd and 4th are an inserted bifolium) | 1-2410 2512-1 (12th cancelled) 26-4210 4312-1 (1st cancelled) | 44-4510 | 468-1 (+2) (8th missing, 7th leaf fixed to 1st leaf of an inserted bifolium with an adhesive, final leaf of bifolium is now the right pastedown)
Additions
Quire signatures ('a, 1-46') in the bottom right-hand corner of the recto side of the first leaf of each quire, and '+' in the same position on the first leaf after the centre of the quire, written in pencil by a hand of the 20th century.
Binding
17th-century binding. Rebacked. Fully bound in calf leather over pasteboards with matching decoration to the front and rear covers. Covers are each decorated with a blind double-fillet frame inset from the perimeter of the boards by c. 5mm. Head, fore, and tail edges of the boards decorated with a gilt single fillet.
The volume has been rebacked, probably in the 19th century. The replacement back has 7 raised bands, each with a gilt dotted single-fillet across the centre of the band (i.e., across the width of the spine). Spine compartments are decorated along their upper and lower perimeters with a gilt single-fillet. Upper and lower openings of the spine are each decorated with a gilt double-fillet.
Head and tail bands sewn in alternating segments of blue and cream yarn around a core of ?animal-derived cord.
Title label ‘BIBLIA HIERONYMI’ of Russia leather; the perimeter of the label decorated with two concentric frames: the outer frame a triple-fillet tooled in gold, the inner frame a simple foliate roll.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
One of the manuscripts of Richard Holdsworth (1590-1649) , Master of Emmanuel College.
Acquired by the University Library in July 1664: no. 33 in the inventory of Holdsworth's manuscripts compiled chiefly by William Crowe and recorded in MS Ff.4.27 and MS Dd.8.45. The Holdsworth number is recorded as 'vol. 34' on f. 1r.
Part 1 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Dd.8.12, ff. i (left pastedown), 3r-8v]
Contents
Language(s): Latin
The first quire in the volume contains several shorter texts described below.
In two columns, some entries followed by the number of chapters in that particular bibilical book.
The distich is part of a longer poem (WIC no. 10679), and discussed in G. Dinkova-Bruun 'Notes on Poetic Composition'.
The poem is WIC no. 17447; a variant can be found in CCCC MS 385, p. 24
For a discussion of this text, see L. DiTomasso, 'The Penitence of Solomon (De Penitentia Salomonis)' (2017). The text in CUL MS Dd.8.12 closely conforms to a version of the text in Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek, MS Can. 9 (olim P.I.9) ff. 106rv, a twelfth-century manuscript perhaps from Liège, which is the recension with the siglum '£' (Version III.1) in DiTomasso's study.
Physical Description
Collation
The extant Quire 'a' is incomplete; the original 1st leaf is lost, 7 original leaves remain, and a parchment bifolium has been added. The first extant leaf of Quire 'a' (the second leaf of the original quire) has been used as the left pastedown by a binder, and has the designation f. i. A parchment bifolium has been inserted into the gathering between the first and second extant leaves (now ff. i and 3 respectively), perhaps by the binder who used the first extant leaf as the left pastedown. The two leaves of the added bifolium have the designations ff. 1-2. The remaining leaves of the original Quire 'a' are foliated as ff. 3-8. In sequence and with reference to the foliation, the extant leaves are ff. i (left pastedown), 1-2 (inserted bifolium), 3-8.
No medieval leaf signatures.
No medieval quire signatures.
No catchwords.Layout
280 × 200 mm. Ruled in light brown ink with a fine point, frame and lines; pricking visible along fore edge of some leaves. Ruled in three columns for ff. 3r-5r and two columns for ff. i (left pastedown) 5v-8v . Ruled for 57 lines to the column, written below top line.
Hand(s)
Written in a form of Secretary with some Anglicana features.
Decoration
Flourished initials (blue initial, red pen-flourishing) 3-5 lines high at the opening of each new textual item, e.g., f. 3r.
Rubrics at the openings of texts on ff. 8r and 8v.
Red and blue alternating paraph marks at the start of each minor segment of a text (typically every few lines), the opening words of the segment sometimes underlined in red.
History
Part 2 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Dd.8.12, ff. 9r-440v ]
Contents
Language(s): Latin
All biblical books preceded by a numbered list of capitula unless otherwise described.
Lacks the Prayer of Manasses
No capitula list preceding the text
No capitula list preceding the text
No capitula list preceding the text.
No capitula list preceding the text
The final rubric associates the text with the Prophet Ezra: ‘'Explicit liber esdre secundum Ieronimum. Incipit prefatio in libro hester'’ - this ascription is probably a scribal error.
No capitula list preceding the text.
This short text, an extract from one of Jerome's letters to Paulinus, is typically found as a prologue to Job rather than as an epilogue to the text.
See Stegmüller 394, but note that the text here ends ‘si hoc non poneretur . nemo dubitaret in fine cessatum’.
Unidentified.
Unidentified.
Unidentified.
Unidentified.
In the hand of Quire 1.
Ad incaustum nigrum faciendum. accipe unam libram aque stagnatis et duas uncias gallorum et duas uncias coprose uiridis et unam unciam gummi et dimidiam.
Includes the 'Gallican' and 'Hebraicum' versions of the Psalter in parallel columns. The 'Hebraicum' version alone includes Ps. 151, 'Pusillus eram'.
No capitula list preceding the text
The leaf f. 249r reproduces the text on f. 250r. The leaf, f. 250r has some significant damage so f. 249r may be a near-contemporary replacement.
In the hand of (or very similar to) Quire 1.
In the hand of (or very similar to) Quire 1.
No capitula list preceding the text.
This is part of the canonical text of Ecclesiasticus, but it is treated here as a separate prologue
Includes Ecclesiasticus chapters 51 and 52, sometimes known as the Prayer of Jesus Son of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus ch. 51) Prayer of Solomon (Ecclesiasticus ch. 52)
The running headings on 314r-316r describe this text as being part of Jeremiah.
Ends imperfectly.
In the hand of Quire 1. Folio 373v blank.
Unieditified, but contains elements of of Stegmüller 590 and 591.
Variant of Stegmüller 670.
Variant of Stegmüller 674.
Preface to the Epistle is copied after the Capitula.
Preface to the Epistle is copied after the Capitula.
Preface to the Epistle is copied after the Capitula.
Preface to the Epistle is copied after the Capitula.
Preface to the Epistle is copied after the Capitula.
Preface to the Epistle is copied after the Capitula.
Preface to the Epistle is copied after the Capitula.
Preface to the Epistle is copied after the Capitula.
Preface to the Epistle is copied after the Capitula.
Preface to the Epistle is copied after the Capitula.
Preface to the Epistle is copied after the Capitula.
Preface to the Epistle is copied after the Capitula.
Preface to the Epistle is copied after the Capitula.
Contains: I Baruch 1.1-5.9
Physical Description
Medieval foliation, perhaps 13th-century:
1-3 (for ff. 9-11) + 1-206 (for ff. 12-216) + 1-188 (for ff. 251-440)
Foliated in the upper outer corner of each recto in brown ink in Hindu-Arabic numerals in the typical western European medieval forms. There appears to be a gap in the medieval foliation. The leaves designated ff. 217-250 in the pencil foliation were not included in the medieval foliation sequence.Collation
43 quires, typically of 10 leaves:
- Quires 1-2410 (ff. 9-248)
- Quire 2512-1 (ff. 249-259; 12th leaf cancelled)
- Quires 26-4210 (ff. 260-429)
- Quire 4312-1 (ff. 430-440; 1st leaf cancelled)
No leaf signatures specific to this part of the item.
Quire signatures ('1-42') in ink in Roman numerals in the centre of the lower margin of the last verso of each quire - some partially lost to trimming.
No catchwords specific to this part of the item.Condition
Layout
245 × 155 mm. Ruled in ink and crayon in two-column format, frame and lines; pricking visible along fore edges of some leaves. Written below top line, typically 52 lines to the column.
Hand(s)
Written in an early-13th century north European textualis formata.
Decoration
Historiated initial I on f. 12r with 7 scenes depiciting the seven days of creation as described in Genesis 1-2, each scene enclosed in a round frame in the body of the initial. Creation scenes are rendered on gold grounds, stamped with a floral or star motif. The upper and lower terminals of the initial are filled with foliate and zoomorphic interlace roundels in red, green, blue, pink, and white, but these sections have been damaged by over-trimming, presumably by later binders.
Coloured initials at the start of each biblical book. There are minor variations in the execution of these initials but all are typically 6-12 lines high, the body of the initial outlined in black and filled in gold, the counterspaces (i.e. the space inside an 'o') filled with a dark blue ground and white pen-flourished decoration, the initial enclosed entirely within a square or rectangular frame outlined in a dark pink and filled with a lighter pink decorated with small clusters of white dots. The remainder of the first word following the large initial is typically written as white Lombardic capitals on a dark blue rectangular ground.
Flourished initials at the openings of each Biblical chapter and other minor divisions of the text, either red initials with blue pen-flourishing or the reverse.
Running titles in the centre of the upper margin of each leaf (i.e., recto and verso) - written in Lombardic capitals, each letter written alternately in red or blue.
Plain coloured initials, red or blue, for each new item in the capitula lists.
Rubrication (red only) at the beginning of each preface and each biblical book.
History
Part 3 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Dd.8.12, ff. 441r-460v]
Contents
Language(s): Latin
In triple columns.
Stegmüller 850 with unidentified preface.
The text referred to as '4 Esdras' in this manuscript (and generally so in western Europe in the Middle Ages) is now more commonly known as '2 Esdras'. The textual divisions of the medieval '4 Esdras' do not easily map onto the modern chapter and verse designations for 2 Esdras and so identification is made by comparing the textual content.
Physical Description
Collation
2 quires of 10 leaves:
- Quires 44-4510 (ff. 441-460)
Layout
380 × 250 mm. Ruled in ink in triple-column format, with single vertical bounding lines extending the full height of the page. Written below top line, typically 72-75 lines to the column.
Hand(s)
Written in the northern European form of textualis in a style typical of the first half of the 15th century.
Decoration
Pen-flourished initials (blue initial, red flourishing) for the first lemma beginning with a new letter of the alphabet; due to the number of lemma beginning with 'A' the first lemma in each new pair of initals ('aa' 'ab' 'ac' etc.,) is distinguised with a flourished initial.
Coloured initials for each lemma, lombardic capitals, alternating red and blue.
Rubricated headings (red only) introducing a new section of names under a new letter of the alphabet.
History
Part 4 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Dd.8.12, ff. 461r-469v]
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Contains genealogies in tabular form and various diagrams of e.g., Noah's Ark
Physical Description
Collation
Quire of 8 with the 8th leaf missing.
- Quire 468-1 (+2) (ff. 461-467, 469 + 470; 8th missing, ff. 469-470 are a tipped-in parchment bifolium)
The original structure of Quire 46 has been rearranged during later rebindings: a binder added a parchment bifolium after f. 467, then fixed the first leaf of the bifolium to the last extant leaf of Quire 46 with an adhesive and used the second leaf of the bifolium as the right pastedown. The original final leaf of Quire 46 (what would have been f. 468) is lost; due to historic foliation practice at Cambridge University Library, the lost leaf was included in the folio count when assigning folio designations, and so the foliation jumps from f. 467 to f. 469. The leaf-surfaces f. 467v and f. 469r are not visible as they are the interface by which the new bifolium was joined to the last extant leaf of Quire 46.
The CUL foliator, contrary to typical practice assigned a folio designation (f. 470) to the right pastedown.
Leaf signatures in the lower outer corner of the first four 461r-464r rectos in the quire, written in Roman numerals in red ink.
Condition
Layout
280 × 180 mm. Ruled in ink, in two-column format, frame only. Written below top line, typically 72-75 lines to the page. The various diagrams in this part cross the central margin.
Hand(s)
Written in a form of Secretary with some Anglicana features, probably by one scribe.
Decoration
Genealogical diagrams: diagram outlines in red, names and explanatory phrases in black, typically in a simple 'tree' structure. More complex layouts are present on: 461r, 462r, 465r, and 466r.
Pen flourished initials (red only, or red and black) at the beginning of new sections of the text.
Red-only rubrication for the opening lines of new sections of the text.
History
Additional Information
Record Sources
- An unpublished description of the manuscript composed between 1926 and 1930 by M.R. James , now held in the University Archives (UA ULIB 7/3/74).
- An unpublished description of the manuscript composed between 1948 and 1970 by H.L. Pink , now held in the University Archives (UA ULIB 7/3/75).
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
Former pressmark on 1r: ‘3.107’ in ink.
No. '329' in a UL catalogue compiled 1754-56 by Thomas Goodall (now Cambridge, University Library, MS Oo.7.53-55) (see f. 1r).
Bibliography
-
A catalogue of the manuscripts preserved in the library of the University of Cambridge, (Cambridge, 1: Dd, Cambridge University Press, 1856)
Early Gothic manuscripts. 1, 1190-1250 A survey of manuscripts illuminated in the
British Isles, Morgan, N. J. (London, 1, Harvey Miller, 1982)
Peter of Poitiers's <hi rend="italics">Compendium in genealogia Christi</hi>: the
early English copies Belief and culture in the Middle Ages: studies presented to Henry
Mayr-Harting, Panayotova, Stella (Oxford, 327-341, Oxford University Press, 2001)
Manuscripts in the University Library, Cambridge (Dd-Oo) Index of Middle English prose, Connolly, Margaret (Woodbridge, D.S. Brewer, 2009)
Western illuminated manuscripts: a catalogue of the collection in Cambridge University
Library, Binski, PaulZutshi, Patrick (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2011, https://doi-org.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/10.1017/CBO9780511780479)
Approaching the Bible in medieval England Manchester medieval studies, Poleg, Eyal (Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2013)
Funding of Cataloguing
Wellcome
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
