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Details
BIBLE with Prologues, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
[?England, first half 13th century]
235 x 147mm. 376 leaves: 12, 2-412, 510, 613, 7-1612, 1710, 18-2212, 2312(iii an early replacement), 24-3112, 322, 3312, 345, catchwords in lower margins of final versos, pencil foliation 1-377 followed here, two columns of 30 lines written in black ink in a gothic bookhand between four verticals and 31 horizontals ruled in metalpoint, justification: 156 x 46-7-47mm, with additional verticals in the centre and outer margins and a double horizontal in the upper margin above running headings in letters alternately of red and blue, first line of Genesis similarly lettered, rubrics in red, one-line initials alternately red and blue, initials of two to four lines in red and blue with flourishing extending into margin, chapter numbers in margins in red and blue, SIXTY-EIGHT LARGE ILLUMINATED INITIALS WITH STAVES OF BURNISHED GOLD on divided grounds of pink and blue patterned with white, GENESIS INITIAL WITH SCENES OF THE CREATION AND ELEVEN LARGE INITIALS WITH FOLIAGE, BEASTS AND BEAST-HEADS, all on grounds of burnished gold, the disk of a REVOLVING BOOLMARK pasted onto the margin of f.271 (repairs to a few leaves, Atlas figure of Genesis initial rubbed, some wear to margins). English 18th-century diced russia, panelled in blind, tools include snail, winged insects and a knotted snake (joints and corners worn).
PROVENANCE:
Although the text follows most of the conventions of the Paris Bibles, the script and illumination look more likely to be English than French. The Bible itself is immediately followed by an English calendar, decorated in similar style and apparently contemporary with the main text. Although both the feast of St Cuthbert and the translation of his relics are recorded (20 March, 3 September), they are not in red and the book is unlikely to have been written specifically for Durham. On the other hand, the feasts of St Sexburga (6 July) and her sister Etheldreda (23 June) are included in red. Both were abbesses at Ely and were especially venerated in East Anglia. It seems probable that the Calendar at least was written in that diocese. This would accord with a partly erased inscription in a 13th-century hand at the end of the Apocalypse that appears to read 'Biblia dn'i ...... barnwell'. This is likely to have been Barnwell Priory, a house of Augustinian Canons on the outskirts of Cambridge. It was once one of the largest religious houses in the country.
Richard Bell, prior of the Benedictine Priory of Durham: a partly erased inscription in a 15th-century hand on folio 2v records the gift of the manuscript to John Auckland monk of Durham by the prior Richard Bell. Bell was prior of Durham between 1464 and 1478; he went on to become bishop of Carlisle between 1478 and 1495.
Auckland was prior of Durham between 1484 and 1494. The names of both men occur in several other Durham manuscripts: N. Ker, Medieval Libraries of Great Britain, 1964, Supplement ed. A. Watson 1987, p.85.
Benedictine Priory of St Cuthbert, Durham: Liber sancti Cuthberti de Dunelmia at head of folio 3. Guardians of the great cathedral which housed the body of St Cuthbert, the monks of Durham amassed a considerable library: some three hundred manuscript volumes remain in Durham, despite the ravages of the Reformation. Medieval Libraries..., 1987, pp.18-29, & 31. See also A.J. Piper, 'The Libraries of the Monks of Durham', in Medieval Scribes, Manuscripts and Libraries: Essays presented to N.R. Ker, eds M.B. Parker & A.G. Watson, 1978, pp.213-49.
CONTENT:
Bible in the translation of St Jerome, with prologues ff.3-359v; calendar ff.360v-361; early addition of lists of chapters in each biblical book ff.362-372; further addition of concordance to the New Testament ff.372-374v; vocabulary list ff.376v-377.
The ordering of books and chapter numbering is essentially that evolved in Paris in the early years of the thirteenth century, a development to which the future Archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Langton (d.1228), made a significant contribution. The additional material at the end is designed to assist the reader in finding his way around the Bible, whether for private study or the preparation of sermons. The various annotations in the margins, which run from the contemporary to the 14th-century numbering of the psalms, show that the volume was well used. Study would have been further assisted by the rotating bookmark, presumably once fastened to the volume, of which the disk has been pasted onto the margin of f.271. This is a rare English survivor: R. Ems, 'Medieval rotating column indicators', Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, XII, 2001, pp.179-84.
ILLUMINATION:
This is a fine example of the 13th-century Bible format. The rich illumination contributes to its ease of use. Most Books open with an illuminated initial, with flourished initials used for the subordinate Prologues. The opening Prologue, however, receives a large and ornate illuminated letter, while the first Book, Genesis, opens with the historiated initial of the Creation. Both the size of the volume, which is larger than the one-volume Bibles that were produced in Paris in the second half of the 13th century, and the forms of the illuminated initials demonstrate the manuscript's origin in the first half of the century.
The subjects in the roundels of the historiated initial are the scenes of creation, all supported by an Atlas figure (rubbed) f.5. The gold ground initials with beasts and foliate forms are on ff.3, 4v, 112v, 150, 160v, 173v, 178, 300v, 323, 342, 353v.
[?England, first half 13th century]
235 x 147mm. 376 leaves: 1
PROVENANCE:
Although the text follows most of the conventions of the Paris Bibles, the script and illumination look more likely to be English than French. The Bible itself is immediately followed by an English calendar, decorated in similar style and apparently contemporary with the main text. Although both the feast of St Cuthbert and the translation of his relics are recorded (20 March, 3 September), they are not in red and the book is unlikely to have been written specifically for Durham. On the other hand, the feasts of St Sexburga (6 July) and her sister Etheldreda (23 June) are included in red. Both were abbesses at Ely and were especially venerated in East Anglia. It seems probable that the Calendar at least was written in that diocese. This would accord with a partly erased inscription in a 13th-century hand at the end of the Apocalypse that appears to read 'Biblia dn'i ...... barnwell'. This is likely to have been Barnwell Priory, a house of Augustinian Canons on the outskirts of Cambridge. It was once one of the largest religious houses in the country.
Richard Bell, prior of the Benedictine Priory of Durham: a partly erased inscription in a 15th-century hand on folio 2v records the gift of the manuscript to John Auckland monk of Durham by the prior Richard Bell. Bell was prior of Durham between 1464 and 1478; he went on to become bishop of Carlisle between 1478 and 1495.
Auckland was prior of Durham between 1484 and 1494. The names of both men occur in several other Durham manuscripts: N. Ker, Medieval Libraries of Great Britain, 1964, Supplement ed. A. Watson 1987, p.85.
Benedictine Priory of St Cuthbert, Durham: Liber sancti Cuthberti de Dunelmia at head of folio 3. Guardians of the great cathedral which housed the body of St Cuthbert, the monks of Durham amassed a considerable library: some three hundred manuscript volumes remain in Durham, despite the ravages of the Reformation. Medieval Libraries..., 1987, pp.18-29, & 31. See also A.J. Piper, 'The Libraries of the Monks of Durham', in Medieval Scribes, Manuscripts and Libraries: Essays presented to N.R. Ker, eds M.B. Parker & A.G. Watson, 1978, pp.213-49.
CONTENT:
Bible in the translation of St Jerome, with prologues ff.3-359v; calendar ff.360v-361; early addition of lists of chapters in each biblical book ff.362-372; further addition of concordance to the New Testament ff.372-374v; vocabulary list ff.376v-377.
The ordering of books and chapter numbering is essentially that evolved in Paris in the early years of the thirteenth century, a development to which the future Archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Langton (d.1228), made a significant contribution. The additional material at the end is designed to assist the reader in finding his way around the Bible, whether for private study or the preparation of sermons. The various annotations in the margins, which run from the contemporary to the 14th-century numbering of the psalms, show that the volume was well used. Study would have been further assisted by the rotating bookmark, presumably once fastened to the volume, of which the disk has been pasted onto the margin of f.271. This is a rare English survivor: R. Ems, 'Medieval rotating column indicators', Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, XII, 2001, pp.179-84.
ILLUMINATION:
This is a fine example of the 13th-century Bible format. The rich illumination contributes to its ease of use. Most Books open with an illuminated initial, with flourished initials used for the subordinate Prologues. The opening Prologue, however, receives a large and ornate illuminated letter, while the first Book, Genesis, opens with the historiated initial of the Creation. Both the size of the volume, which is larger than the one-volume Bibles that were produced in Paris in the second half of the 13th century, and the forms of the illuminated initials demonstrate the manuscript's origin in the first half of the century.
The subjects in the roundels of the historiated initial are the scenes of creation, all supported by an Atlas figure (rubbed) f.5. The gold ground initials with beasts and foliate forms are on ff.3, 4v, 112v, 150, 160v, 173v, 178, 300v, 323, 342, 353v.
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