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Egerton MS 2951
- Record Id:
- 032-001985022
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-001985022
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000057.0x000340
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100056032282.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Egerton MS 2951
- Title:
- Robert Partes, Poems; Peter Riga, Floridus aspectus
- Scope & Content:
-
This manuscript is the unique witness of the poems of Robert Partes (fl. c 1170), and also includes the collection of short poems, known as the Floridus Aspectus (Appearance of Flowers), by Peter Riga(b. c 1140, d. 1209). The volume was probably produced in the Benedictine abbey of Reading, where Robert Partes was a monk (see Cornog, 'The Poems of Robert Partes' (1937)).
A versified letter from Robert Partes to Peter of Celle (d. 1183), abbot of the Benedictine abbeys of Montier-la-Celle and St Reims(Rheims), refers to him as a bishop. This indicates that the manuscript was produced in or shortly after 1181, when Peter of Celle succeeded John of Salisbury as bishop of Chartres (see Cornog, 'The Poems of Robert Partes' (1937)).
The main part of Robert Partes's poems are epistles in verse addressed to his brother William. Other versified letters are addressed to Stephen of Lincoln, Linganus, a monk of Reims, and to his benefactor Peter of Celle. In addition to these poems there are plaints and epitaphs written by Robert Partes (ff. 17r-23r).
The former 14th-century parchment binding is kept separately as Egerton MS 2851/1.
Contents:
ff. 1r-5r: Robert Partes's versified epistles to his brother William, beginning: 'Quasi prefatiuncula de intentione scriptores fratri suo Willelmo. Vernantis nitor eloquii, nitidi favus oris'.
ff. 5r-5v: Robert Partes's versified epistle to Stephen of Lincoln, beginning: 'Socio quondam suo magistro Stephano Lincoliensi (sic). Me tibi teque michi non enodandus amoris'.
ff. 5v-9v: Robert Partes's versified epistle to Peter of Celle, beginning: 'Domino Petro Carnotensi episcopo tunc Abbati Sancti Remigii Remensis. Ut quid lingua silet? Cur torpet dextera? Cessat'.
ff. 9v-13r: Robert Partes's versified epistle to Linganus of Reims, beginning: 'Domino Lingano monacho Remensis quondam socio suo. Ite breves elegi, vero nichil obstat amori'.
ff. 13r-16v: Robert Partes's versified epistles to his brother William, beginning: 'Item fratri suo de promulgatione nove legis ab abbatis. Principis ad nutum nudat spatarius ensem'.
ff. 16v-17r: A series of epitaphs related to Robert Partes's mother, Basilia, who became a nun, beginning: 'Epitaphium matris. Hic sita natorum genetrix generosa duorum est'. She died in 1267, according to two verses (f. 16v): 'Anno milleno centeno sexageno/Septeno moriens debita soluit'.
ff. 17r-17v: Robert Partes's ten epitaphs of Henry I, beginning: 'Epitaphia sepulture gloriosi regis Henrici senioris inscribenda, fundatoris domus nostre. Regia rex soboles, rex, recti, regula, rerum'. Henry I was the founder of the Benedictine abbey of Reading in 1121.
f. 17v: A short elegiac couplet related to St Thomas Becket: 'De Sancto Thoma. Floreat in terries per te pater insula Bruti, Percipiant famuli regna beata tui'.
ff. 17v-18r: Robert Partes's celebration of Henry I, beginning: 'De rege Henrico seniore, de nomine scilicet illius. Nomen inaurari nostra non indigent arte', including references to the Benedictine abbey of Reading. The poet is punning the name 'Henry'.
ff. 18r-18v: Twelve epitaphs for pictures illustrating the Crucifixion, the Nativity, the Adoration of the Magi, the Sheperds and Christ's baptism; the rubric entitled this part 'De diversis picturis', beginning: 'Ima reconcilians summis Deus alta supinat'.
ff. 18v-22v: Robert Partes's lamentation upon St Thomas Becket's martyrdom. The original rubric has been erased. It has been replaced by a 17th-century hand: 'Thoma Beckett Anglo Archiepiscopo Cantu[a]r[iensi]'; beginning: 'Cor gemit, auris hebet, manus aret, lingua rigescit'.
ff. 22v-23v: A series of verses and epitaphs, beginning: 'Contra obloquentem puerum, mala male scribentem. In scripta velde in speculo mens stulta relucet'. In the margin, written vertically by the same scribe: 'Hic finiunt versus Roberti'.
ff. 23r-47v: Peter of Riga, Floridus aspectus, a collection of poems and epitaphs. The same scribe wrote vertically in the margin: 'Hic incipiunt versus Petri la Rigge'; beginning: 'De passione sancte Agnetis virginis'. Agnes sacra sui pennam scriptoris inauret'; ending with a rhetorical treatise (ff. 43r-47v), which is considered by the scribe as the second book of the Floridus Aspectus. This tract is attributed to Peter of Riga, beginning of the prologue (ff. 43r-v): 'Maiori parte operis consummata stilo quo potui'; beginning of the text: 'Repetitio est cum continenter ab uno eodemque verbo in rebus similitibus et diversis principia assumuntur, hoc modo'.
Decoration:
Initials in red, blue, or green, some with simple penwork decoration.
Highlighting of letters in red.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Egerton Manuscripts
England and France 700-1200 Project - Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-001985022", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Egerton MS 2951: Robert Partes, Poems; Peter Riga, Floridus aspectus" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-001985022
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-001985022
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
-
A parchment codex
- Digitised Content:
- https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100056032282.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1175
- End Date:
- 1199
- Date Range:
- 4th quarter of the 12th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 185 x 130 mm (text space 120 x 80 mm).
Foliation: ff. 47 ( + 2 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves at the beginning + 3 at the end).
Script: Protogothic.
Binding: British Museum/British Library in-house. Former covers are kept separately.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: ? Reading, Southern England.
Provenance:
The Benedictine abbey of St Mary the Virgin, Reading, founded in 1121: the contents of Robert Partes's poems are closely associated with the abbey; the author was a monk of Reading Abbey (see to Cornog, 'The Poems of Robert Partes' (1937)); perhaps added the late 12th-century and early 13th-century notes on Robert Partes's poems (e. g., ff. 6r; 12r).
? 'Johannes ffrow[b]ayn': added 16th-century text and inscribed his name on f. 1r.
An unknown 16th-century English owner: added a deleted 16th-century verse on f. 2r.
'James Fawether': his name inscribed in a 16th-century script on the inside of the first of the two leaves that form the upper cover (Egerton MS 2951/1), originally the verso of the first leaf of the bifolium that has been folded and turned at a right angle in order to create a binding for Egerton MS 2951.
'Henry Ca[rle]', his name inscribed in a 16th-century script next to that of 'James Fawether' (Egerton MS 2951/1); perhaps added the inscription 'And so she was attired as a', possibly a quotation from the Arcardia of Philip Sidney (b. 1554, d. 1584).
An unidentified 16th-century owner: (?) his name (?) 'Barnard' inscribed on the inside of the second of the two leaves that form the lower cover (Egerton MS 2951/1), originally the verso of the first leaf of the bifolium that has been folded and turned at a right angle in order to create a binding for Egerton MS 2951.
An unknown 17th-century owner: added a rubric in a 17th-century script at the beginning of the poem dedicated to St Thomas Becket's martyrdom (f. 18v).
Purchased at Sotheby's 13 November 1916, lot 730, by the British Museum, using the Bridgewater fund (£12,000 bequeathed in 1829 by Francis Henry Egerton, 8th earl of Bridgewater (b. 1756, d. 1829) from 'The Property of a Lady' for £6.10.
- Information About Copies:
-
Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk.manuscripts/.
Select digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/welcome.htm.
- Publications:
-
Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts 1916-1920 (London: British Museum, 1933), no. Eg. 2951.
Andrew G. Watson, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts c. 700-1600 in The Department of Manuscripts: The British Library, 2 vols (London: British Library, 1979), I, no. 616.
William H. Cornog, 'The Poems of Robert Partes', Speculum 12 (1937), 215-50 (rel. to ff.1-23v).
André Boutemy, 'Recherches sur le 'Floridus Aspectus' de Pierre la Rigge: Prolégomènes à une édition de cette anthologie', Moyen Âge, 54 (1948), 89-112.
Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books, ed. by N. R. Ker, 2nd edn, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 3 (London: Royal Historical Society, 1964), p. 155.
B. R. Kemper, Reading Abbey cartularies : British Library Manuscripts, Egerton 3031, Hovley 1708 and Cotton Vespasian E XXV, 2 vols (London: The Royal Historical Society, 1986-1987), II, (1987), p. 116.
Alan Coates, English Medieval Books: The Reading Abbey Collections from Foundation to Dispersal (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999), pp. 47, 56-57, 60, 152 (as no. 46).
Rita Beyers, 'Suzanne et les Vieillards: Le Regard de Pierre Riga', in 'Contez me tout': Mélanges de langue et literature médiévales offerts à Herman Braet (Louvain: Peeters, 2006), pp. 435-52 (p. 435).
Richard Sharpe and James Willoughby, Medieval Libraries of Great Britain (Oxford: The Bodleian Libraries, 2015) «http://mlgb3.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/mlgb/book/4518/» [accessed 11 May 2017].
Rachel Koopmans, 'Thomas Becket and the Royal Abbey of Reading', English Historical Review, 131:548 (2016), 1-30 (pp. 8-10).
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Notes:
- This manuscript is part of The Polonsky Foundation England and France Project: Manuscripts from the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, 700-1200.