Extent: fols. 224; parchment; 150 x 110 (148 x 100) mm
Former Owner(s):
Rowland Oseley
Note:
Layout: 2 columns, 25 to 38 lines per page. Script: Several Gothic book hands Decoration: Initials in red and blue, many with pen decoration. Binding: Very early, possibly contemporary binding, heavily damaged with only the back board preserved. Spine perished, sewing broken, headbands and cords very fragile. Housed in a read cloth clamshell box. Folios numbered in a later hand. Parchment with many flaws, some worming to first quire. Marginal annotations in several ca. late 13th/14th-century English hands. Scribes: Hand 1 (fols. 1-7, English Gothic pearl script); Hand 2 (fols. 8-13, English Gothic hybrid bookhand); Hand 3 (fols. 15-74r, angular English Gothic bookhand); possibly a different hand on fol. 75r (English Gothic pearl script, further identification would be ideal); Hand 4 (fols. 75r and 97-162, mature Gothic bookhand); Hand 5 (fols. 75-96, English Gothic bookhand); Hand 6 (fols. 163-221v, Gothic bookhand, notably flat tops of ascenders). Columns are labelled "a" and "b" (recto) and "c" and "d" (verso) in top margins. Provenance: Acquired by the Ripin family from H.P. Kraus prior to 1969. Gift of Arley L. Ripin, 1979. Provenance: On fol. 194r, a 16th/17th c. hand has written "Rowlande Oseley owete this booke. God make him a good man" in the bottom margin;"Rowlandus Oseley" written in bottom margin of 208v in the same hand. Provenance: Possibly of the Oseley family in Shrewsbury/Alscott region in Shropshire ca. 16th c. Contents: folio 1-4: Sermon on John 20:11 "Maria stabat ad monumentum foris plorans" attributed to Origen -- folio 4-13: "De spiritu et anima" [incomplete] attributed to Augustine and Alcher of Clairvaux -- folio 14: [recto blank; verso covered with personal notes in two almost illegible hands, one apparently 14th century Latin, the other perhaps 17th century Flemish] -- folio 15-74: selected sections from "Pastorale sive regula pastoralis" Gregory the Great -- folio 74 verso: [unknown text, beginning "Qui bene praesunt presbiteri duplici honore digni habeant..."] -- folio 75-131: "Sententiae" Books II, III [lacking seventh leaf and a few sentences at the end of book II, fol. 96v mostly blank] Isidore of Seville -- folio 132-162: "Ad comites" attributed to Augustine [162v is blank] -- folio 163-169: "De modo orandi" [incomplete] Hugh of St. Victor -- folio 170-188: "De instructione noviciorum" [beginning in the middle of chapter II Hugh of St. Victor -- folio 188-189: [Meditations with rubrics] -- folio 189-195: "Sermo de disciplina Christiana" Augustine -- folio 196-221: "De similitudinibus" [excerpts] [unidentified compiler] Eadmer, Bishop of St. Andrews, Scotland [sometimes attributed to Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, of whom Eadmer was a disciple] -- folio 222-224: [personal notes and geometrical drawings]. Origin: English execution. Estimated dates of creation differ; researchers have suggested both first half of the 13th century and 14th century. Separately written treatises that have been bound together at an early date (pre-16th. century at the latest). Lisa Ihde-Costa has argued that the manuscript was produced in Canterbury on the basis of the script and contents (utilizing other manuscripts included in medieval catalogs from Canterbury). Further research will repay. Portable size, multiple hands/instances of production, annontations all seem to indicate communal/corporate production, probably a religious community, and the size in particular may indicate medicant production/use. The hand change at 8r (from Hand 1 to Hand 2, as named by Regan) continues the text of "De spiritu et anima," again, possible indicative of corporate production/use (this was a question raised by Regan, confirmed against the text in PL and Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Manuscripts, Ms. Codex 17, DS 1445).
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