Add MS 8167

DICTAMINAL TREATISES: collection of dictaminal treatises, etc., formerly belonging to Westminster Abbey; early-mid 13th cent. Latin. Origin: England. See M. Camargo, 'The English manuscripts of Bernard of Meung's Flores Dictaminum', Viator, xii (1981), pp. 197-219. Acquired for Westminster Abbey by William de Hasele, who died as sub-prior before May 1283: see ex libris, f. 2, and H. G. Richardson and G. O. Sayles, 'Early Coronation Records', BIHR, xiii (1935), p. 135. Hasele probably acquired the volume before the death of Abbot Richard de Crokesle in 1258, which is recorded on a fly-leaf (f. 2). The signature of Thomas Ruston, monk of Westminster, occurs on a former end paper (f. 201): Ruston was a novice in 1435-1436, see ibid., p. 135. Other signatures, etc., occurring are: 'Jo. Bulkley', late 16th-early 17th cent. f. 2;- 'James Danes', 17th cent. f. 154;- '130' in ink, 17th-18th cent. f. 1v. Subsequently owned by: John Topham, antiquary (d.1803), see f. 1v and Topham's sale-cat., Leigh, Sotheby, 4 Feb. 1804, lot 679;- Thomas Bryan Richards, 24 Feb. 1804. f. 1v;- Henry Petrie, 1820. f. 2. Presented by Henry Petrie, Esq., 13 Nov. 1830.

Vellum; ff. 201+2*+78*. Composite manuscript. 180 x 135mm. approx. Gatherings: i12, ii16, iii-viii8, ix6, x4, xi-xiv12, xv10, xvi10 (lacks 10), xvii8 (lacks 2), xviii8 (lacks one leaf - each leaf mounted separately on a guard), xix-xx6, xxi8 (lacks 2), xxii12 (lacks 3). Fly-leaves, ff. 2, 2*, 200. End-papers, ff. 1, 201. Quires generally marked with gothic capital letters B-V, foot of first folio recto from f. 3, indicating that the first quire of the manuscript is missing. There is no quire marked 'L': quire x between quires 'K' and 'M' is unmarked on the first folio (f. 84). Quire xix marked '1o', at foot of last folio verso. Quires xx and xxii unmarked. Catchwords ff. 15v, 62v, 98v, 111v, 123v, 161v. Some signatures in romans, first folios recto: quire vi (i-iiii); quire x (ii-iiii on ff. 84-86 - see also remarks on quire marking above); quires xii and xiv (i-vi). Single columns except for the following: ff. 31-87, 136-154, 181-187, 189-196v. Various main hands, namely small gothic book scripts and documentary cursive scripts, early-mid 13th cent. The following articles are in the same hands: art. 1 and part of art. 5; articles 8-9. Additional material in late 13th cent. hands, with marginals, etc., 14th-15th cent. The following articles begin on a new quire: art. 1 (text imperfect at beg.); articles 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 13 and 15. Headings in red and initials in red and blue penwork to most articles. Marginal grotesques of monkeys, f. 100. A stub (f. 78*) bears memoranda in a 12th cent. documentary cursive script.

Contents:

1. ff. 2-2v. Material on fly-leaf; mid-late 13th cent. (a) Memoranda concerning a dispute in 1250 during the abbacy of Richard de Crokesle. f. 2;-

(b) Annals of national events in 1258, with a record of the death of Richard de Crokesle on 17 July in that year. f. 2;- (c) Coronation rubric; mid 13th cent. Printed in H. E. Allen, 'A thirteenth-century Coronation Rubric', The Church Quarterly Review, 95 (1922-1923), pp. 335-341. See also H. G. Richardson and G. O. Sayles, 'Early Coronation Records', BIHR, xiii (1935), pp. 129-145. f. 2v.

2. ff. 3-30v. Fragment from books 5-11 of the 'Etymologiae' of Isidore of Seville. Imperfect at beginning. Beg. (first complete heading) 'Dies est presencia solis'. Ends. 'de cancris scorpiones'. Migne, PL, lxxxii, 73-728. Marginals in later medieval hands, none later than 15th cent.

3. f. 30v. 15 lines of verse; late 13th-early 14th cent. Beg. 'Cum sit sepe datum gratum'. Added at the end of art. 2 in a later hand.

4. ff. 31-87. Works of Magister Guido Faba, grammarian at Bologna in the early 13th cent. Marginal note in 13th cent. cursive, f. 48v. 14th cent. marginals in dry-point from f. 51 (see also articles 5, 13, 14): some of these notes have been inked over, circa 1500 (ff. 79-80). As follows: (a) 'Summa prosaici dictaminis magistri Guidonis'. Beg. 'Quasi modo geniti infantes'. ff. 31-51;- (b) Dictamen, beginning with a letter from a son to his parents asking for money. Beg. 'Reverendis parentibus A et B'. ff. 51-70v;-

(c) 'Exordia amicorum'. Beg. 'Ordo rationis expostulat'. ff. 70v-82v;-

(d) 'Arenge magistri Guidoni'. Beg. 'Vobis tanquam domino'. ff. 82v-87.

5. ff. 88-133. Miscellaneous dictaminal and legal collection, etc. Probably compiled in Oxford between 1220-1240. See H. G. Richardson, 'An Oxford Teacher of the Fifteenth Century', Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, xxiii, no.2 (1939), pp. 3-24. However, see item apparently dated 1246

(f. 95). (a) Tract on rules for letter writing, with lists of words associated with medieval trades. Beg. 'Personarum quedam sunt'. Printed, ed.

G. Waitz, Neues Archiv, iv (1879), pp. 339-343. ff. 88-90v;- (b) Collection of model deeds. First item titled 'Carta de baronia'. A mortgage deed dated 30 years after the coronation of Henry III (f. 95, line 5) is either a scribal error or indicates that most of art. 5 was written after 1246;-

(c) Ecclesiastical precedents relating to Cambridge and the Pontificate of Gregory IX (1227-1241). Part of the same collection as ff. 124v-125v. See Richardson, 'Oxford Teacher . . .', p. 15. ff. 95v-97;- (d) Treatise on letter writing, with examples. Beg. (rubric) 'Precensiones et proibiciones'. The diocese of Lincoln is mentioned (f. 102), and Oxford students (ff. 104, 105). ff. 97-105;- (e) Model letters: royal letters with appropriate replies. Beg. (rubric) 'Rex mandat'. ff. 105-107;- (f) Register of writs. Beg. (rubric) 'breve de recto domini regis'. ff. 107-113;- (g) Table of numerals. ff. 113-114;- (h) Ecclesiastical precedents, containing items relating to Oxford and the the diocese of Lincoln during the Pontificate of Honorius III (1216-1227). Beg. 'A.B.C. Iudices tali decano'. ff. 114-119;- (i) Legal notes.

ff. 119v-121v;- (j) Ecclesiastical precedents. Beg. 'Placuit ut'. ff. 121v-122;- (k) Letters of Pope Gregory IX relating to attacks on papal messengers; 1232. (i) To the Archbishop of York; 5 June 1232. Not recorded in Potthast, Regesta. ff. 122-122v;- (ii) To Henry III; 7 June 1232. Potthast, Regesta, no. 8945. Printed in Foedera, i, pt.1, p. 111. ff. 122v-124v;- (l) Ecclesiastical precedents relating to Cambridge. See (c) above. ff. 124v-125v;- (m) Collection of model letters, including a number of student letters. Beg. 'Pater filius salutem'. ff. 125v-131v;- (n) Tract on accounting. Beg. Siquis voluerit computa ordinare'. Accounts for 6-12 Henry III [1221-1228] are quoted (f. 132). ff. 131v-133.

6. ff. 133-135v. Material added in mid-late 13th cent. hands at the end of the last quire of art. 5. As follows: (a) Memoranda on the head as the principal part of the body. Beg. '[C]aput omnium membrorum'. Preceded by a rubric in the same hand. ff. 133-133v;- (b) Discussion of the term 'Iube domine benedicere'. ff. 133v-134;- (c) Documents relating to Papal taxation; 1246. (i) Letter from the abbots and priors of England to Pope Innocent IV; 1246. Printed in Matthaei Parisiensis. . .Chronica Majora, iv, Rolls Series,

pp. 531-533. ff. 134-134v;- (ii) Grievances of the English Kingdom presented at the Council of Lyon; 1246. Beg. 'Gravatur regnum anglie'. For a modern printed edition see Councils and Synods, II, pt.1 1205-1265 (1964), pp. 396-397. ff. 134v-135;- (d) Monastic rules of Richard, abbot of Westminster. Probably Richard de Crokesle (1246-1258). ff. 135-135v.

7. ff. 136-154. Johannes de Rus, Tractatus de constructione. Beg. 'Eorum quae accidunt litterae'. Bursill-Hall, no. 149.3.

8. ff. 155-165v. 'Epistola prosaycam dicitur iste liber': a treatise on letter writing with models. Beg. 'Epistola est oracio prosaica'. Possibly a work of Guido Faba, see Camargo, op. cit., p. 206 and n.35.

9. ff. 166-168. On time and its divisions. Beg. 'Rerum necessarium sagacitatem'. Thorndike and Kibre (1963 edn.), 1350.

10. f. 168v. Three model letters of recommendation, two of which are addressed from the Archdeacon of Surrey to the Bishop of Lincoln on behalf of a clerk in the diocese of Winchester. Material added in a later hand on the last folio verso of the preceding article.

11. ff. 169-180v. Two formularies. Both are annotated with short marginal texts in a late 13th cent. hand. (a) Formulary of Bernard of Meung

(fl. 1153). Beg. 'Urbanus episcopus servus servorum'. See Camargo, op. cit., pp. 202-208. See also C. Vulliez, 'Un nouveau manuscrit Parisien de La Summa Dictaminis de Bernard de Meung. . .', Revue d'histoire des textes, vii (1977), pp. 133-151, particularly p. 135, n.2. ff. 169-178;- (b) French formulary contemporary to (a) above. Beg. 'Et in uero collagio'. ff. 178-180v.

12. f. 180v. Verses beg. 'Festum fulget odiernum'. At foot of f. 180v and in the same hand as the other marginal annotations to art. 11.

13. ff. 181-187. Legal formulary, 'Forma citationum diversarum'. Marginals in dry-point as in art. 4. Beg. 'Forma citationum et salutationes'. Followed (f. 187) by memoranda of a moral nature in a 13th cent. hand.

14. ff. 187v-188. Ecclesiastical precedents, including items relating to the dioceses of Bath and Wells and Lincoln, and to London. Additional material added at the end of art. 13, in the same hand as art. 10 (f. 168v). With marginals in dry-point as in art. 4, 13 etc.

15. ff. 189-196v. Treatise on logic. Beg. 'Cum sit nostra presens intencio ad artem dialecticam'. With diagrams, ff. 192, 193.

16. ff. 197v-200v. Ecclesiastical precedents, etc.; 1256-1281, n.d. Added at the end of art. 15 and on a fly-leaf. As follows: (a) Ecclesiastical precedents

(i) concerning the election of William de Colern as abbot of Malmesbury; 1256 (see f. 197v). ff. 197v-199;- (ii) letter from Henry III concerning the appointment of Walter Giffard as Bishop of Bath and Wells; 16 June 'quinquagesimo vto', i.e. 55 Hen. III (1271). However, Giffard in fact became Bishop of Bath and Wells in 1264 and was translated to York in 1266. f. 199;- (b) Formula letters relating to transfer of a monk from one abbey to another; 1281. f. 199v;- (c) Description of arrangments at Reading Abbey for commemoration of the founder, Henry I; late 13th cent. ff. 200-200v.