Add MS 62777

MATTHEW PARIS, LIVES OF THE ABBOTS OF ST ALBANS ETC.: England, St. Albans Abbey; early 14th cent. Latin. Produced by the St Albans scriptorium for the use of the abbot (Matthew Paris recording that Abbot Stephen had designated a special section of the scriptorium for the abbot's use), being one of eleven extant manuscripts from the abbot's study (carrying the inscription 'De studio domini Abbatis' at the end of the contents table, f. 1v). This copy of the founder's vita, and those of his predecessors in the abbatial office, was probably made for Hugh de Eversdone, abbot 1308-1326. See R. B. Knowles in HMC, Third Report, pp. 205-206; R. Vaughan, Matthew Paris (1958), p. 193, n. 3; N. R. Ker, Medieval Libraries of Great Britain (1964), p. 167; R. Thompson, Manuscripts from St. Albans Abbey (1982), p. 67. Owned by Thomas Moody (inscriptions on f. 161v, 17th cent. hand). A comparison with William Wats's 1640 edition of the Historia Maior suggests that this volume may be that belonging to Sir Henry Spelman (circa 1564-1641) which, along with two manuscripts from the Cotton collection, was used as the basis for the edition and which subsequently went missing (see L. F. R. Williams in English Historical Review, XXVIII, 1913, p. 719). Later owned by the Marquess of Bute, MS. 3 (F.17); see notes and description ff. i-x. Purchased at Sotheby's, 13 June 1983, lot 5.

Vellum; ff. x+161. Sec. fol.: 'Qui ingressus'. 201 x 130mm. Paper pastedowns and two paper flyleaves at front and back, with an original vellum flyleaf at the front (carrying a 14th cent. table of contents, f. 1v). Gatherings (14) of 12, except i14 (lacks 14, blank), xiv4. Ruled (triple bounding lines, the two outermost of which are close together) in lead-point and ink for single columns of 22-26 lines. Written space 150 x 96mm. Script is a Gothic textualis rotunda by three scribes (ff. 2-34, ff. 34-49v; ff. 50-152). A slightly later hand added the documents on ff. 158-161 , dated 1327-1328, and the additions on ff. 152v-156 are probably of the 16th cent. (imitating an earlier Gothic script and added on leaves which were originally blank). Medieval and early modern marginal notes in ink and red. Ink pagination (16th cent.?). Early 19th-cent. English blindstamped red morocco binding, with gilt title on spine. Printed fragments used to line spine. Silk bookmark attached to head. Sewn on 4 cords.

Contents:

1. ff. 2-34. The Life of St Alban and the Life of St Amphibal, composed in the second half of the 12th cent. by the monk William of St Albans. See T. D. Hardy, Descriptive Catalogue, Rolls Series (1862-1871), I, no.8, pp. 4-6; W. McLeod, 'Alban and Amphibal: Some Extant Lives and a Lost Life', Medieval Studies XLII (1980), pp. 407-430. Beg. 'Incipit prologus in passione beati Albani. Quisquis beatorum martyrum' (f. 2), and for the texts themselves, 'Cum persecutio que sub diocliciano' (f. 2v) and 'Gloriosa beati prothomartiris anglorum' (f. 20).

2. ff. 34-49v. Account of the finding of the relics of St Alban, describing events from Alban's burial to his translation by Geoffrey Gorron (abbot 1119-1146) and the dedication of the shrine in 1129. This version includes 40 lines in verse (ff. 37v-38 and 41). The text is found in one other manuscript, Cotton Claud. E.IV, f. 43v (see Hardy, op. cit., no.13, p. 9). Beg. 'Tractatus de invencione sive translacione beati albani anglorum prothomartiris. Cum preciocus dei martir Albanus viriliter'.

3. ff. 50-91. Matthew Paris, Lives of the Two Offas (Duorum Offarum Merciorum Regum Vitae), composed circa 1250 to stress the royal connections of St Alban's Abbey from its foundation. Other extant copies are Matthew Paris's autograph manuscript, Cotton Nero D.I, ff. 2-25, and Cotton Claud. E.IV, ff. 89-97. Extracts occur in Cotton Vitel. A.XX, ff. 67-70. See W. Wats, Vitae duorum Offarum (1639). Beg. 'Incipit historia de offa primo ... Inter occidentalium anglorum reges illustrissimos'.

4. ff. 91-152. Matthew Paris, Lives of the Abbots of St. Albans (Gesta Abbatum), containing the vitae of the first 23 abbots (up to John de Hartford, 1255) by Matthew Paris, the great St Albans chronicler and monk, with the anonymous continuation to the death of Thomas de Marinis in 1308 (ed. H. T. Riley, Rolls Series, 1867, II, p. 109). Matthew Paris's autograph copy is extant, being Cotton Nero D.I, ff. 30-73). Beg. 'Hic prenotantur nomina abbatum ecclesie sancti Albani, Quorum plurimi multa beneficia ... Willegodus primus abbas'.

5. ff. 152v-156. On the Welsh Expedition (De Exercitu Walliae), describing the Welsh campaigns of Henry III of 1257-1260. Added in a 16th or 17th cent. hand. Inc. 'De exercitu Wallie in his quae contingunt Abbatiam sancti Albani'.

6. ff. 158-161. Records of St Albans' churches in the North, perhaps added for the personal use of the Abbot, comprising: (a) an extract from the Consistory Court of Durham granting exemption from episcopal jurisdiction for the churches of Coniscliffe, Hartburn and Eglingham (appropriated to St Albans in Durham and Northumberland) and Tynemouth and Woohorn (appropriated to Tynemouth Priory, a cell of St Albans, in Northumberland), 1327; - (b) an extract from the Consistory Court of York on the agreement over a pension due to St Albans by Walter Fleminge, rector of Appleton-le-Street, co. York., 1328. Inc. '()cca in galilea'.

Decoration consists of three major 4-line initials (ff. 2, 2v, 20) with divided red and blue bodies and good quality flourishing, extending into blue and red penwork and brush borders (that on f. 2 a full border, the others partial); approx. 150 initials in blue with red flourishing (one 3-line, fifteen 1-line, others 2-line). Occasional red diapered bar line-fillers. Blue or red run-over symbols in the form of a paragraphus symbol.