Add MS 62141

COLLECTION OF EXEMPLA: containing sixty-six tales; [late 13th cent.?] Latin. Partly French. Beg. 'Beatus anthonius retulit se vidisse tres laqueos inimici per universi terra explicatos'. The chief sources referred to in the text are the Fathers and the Vitae patrum. Among several tales which cannot be paralleled in other known collections (see J. A. Herbert, Catalogue of Romances, 1910, III, pp. 1-271, and F. C. Tubach, Index exemplorum: a Handbook of Medieval Religious Tales, Helsinki, 1969) are 'De qodam qui noluit facere pentitenciam', the events of which are described as having taken place at 'vangis in bria' (?Nangis in Brie) in 1262, and 'De quodam rustico qui voluit fieri sacerdos', which contains a short passage in French. It seems probable therefore that the collection was compiled in northern France towards the end of the 13th century. On the reverse of the last leaf (f. 15v) is an account of the life of St Louis (d. 1270), beg. 'Beatus ludovicus quondam rex francorum illustris patrem habuit christianissimum regem ludovicum ...' (cf. Legenda aurea, ed. T. Graesse, 1846, p. 915). A note at the end in an English hand of the 14th cent. records 'hunc libellum dedi post mortem meam iohanni witte' (f. 15). Armorial bookplate (f. i) of Sir Henry Bruce Meux, 3rd Bart. (succ. 1883, d. 1900). Purchased at Sotheby's, 9 Dec. 1981, lot 74.

Vellum; ff. ii+15. 170 x 115mm. Gatherings (2, signed 'o' and 'p') of 8, except p8 (wants 8, blank), indicating that this was once bound as part of a larger work. Written in double columns of 33 lines, with rubrication and initials decorated in red and blue, in late 13th cent. in northern France or England. Binding of olive brown morocco, gilt-stamped, late 19th cent.(?).