Add MS 41069

LIVES OF SAINTS, Exempla, etc., in Latin. Contents:-

1. Legendary of abbreviated lives of saints beginning with St. Silvester (31 Dec.), f. 1, and ending with St. John Apostle (27 Dec.), f. 48. Many of the lives are marked in the margin "ix l" [lectiones] or "iii t" for reading at Matins. All appear to be taken from common sources. Names of saints are given in the index. In many cases the titles written before each life give no indication of the subject, usually taking the first proper name which appears in the text; e.g. "De Arcadio imperatore" (f. 21 b) stands before the legend of St. Alexius. Some of these titles have been corrected by a later hand. Inscriptions in later writing: "De sancta Margareta quere in primo folio huius libri" (f. 22), and "Quere antea in libro de sancto Gallo" (f. 36) suggest that other matter at one time preceded, or was intended to precede, the present first leaf. The following saints are worthy of notice:-(a) Alban, of Mainz (21 June). f. 17 b; -(b) Kilian, of Würzburg (8 July). f. 21;-(c) Narcissus and Afra, of Augsburg (7 Aug.). f. 25;-(d) Verena, of Zurzach, N. Switzerland (1 Sept.). The legend given here is almost identical with that printed in the Breviarium Bansiliense (Michael Wenssler), Pars Aestivalis, ff. 210-211. f. 29 b;-(e) Gall (16 Oct.). f. 36. On f. 6 under the title "In Purificacione," with "ix t" written in the margin, is the story of the blind man receiving his sight after singing the respond "Gaude Maria" in the Pantheon at Rome, beg. "Temporibus Bonifacii pape qui ut in eclesiasticis historiis legitur." See H. L. D. Ward, Catalogue of Romances, ii, p. 648. The version is in almost complete agreement with that in Add. MS. 18346, ff. 74, 74 b; but in the latter "a Foca imperatore" replaces "ut in eclesiasticis historiis." Cf. also A. Mussafia in Studien zu den mittelalterlichen Marienlegenden, i, in Sitzungsber. d. Kaiserl. Akad. d. Wissenschaften, Hist.-Phil. Classe, Vienna, 1886, p. 946. nor a collection of Mary legends arranged as a lectionary in Cambrai MS. 739, cf. Mussafia, op. cit., p. 975.

2. "De Iudeo conuerso": tale of a Christ-image at Berothi (Beyrout), which shed blood and water when pierced by the Jews, who are converted. Beg. "Aleuate oculos sensu[s] uestri uniuersi sancte christiane religionis fratres." The text, which is in almost complete agreement with that printed by Migne, Patr. Gr. xxviii.

819-824, among the spurious works of St. Athanasius, belongs to the second version of the story cited by E. Galtier, "Byzantina," Romania, xxix (1900), pp. 515-516. See also H. L. D. Ward, op. cit., ii, p. 702. f. 49.

3. Fragment of a sermon on preachers, the text being "Si lingus hominum loquor," etc. (1 Cor. xiii. 1). f. 50 b.

4. "Inquisitiones confessionis": a series of questions to be asked in the confessional, arranged under headings. f. 50 b.

5. Two sermons:-(a) "De purificacione beate Marie." f. 52 (b) "De inearnacione," i.e., the Annunciation, f. 53 b, somewhat abbreviated from the respective sermons in the Speculum Ecclesiae of Honorius of Autun (Migne, Patr. Lat., clxxii. 849-852, 901-905). The first sermon includes, like the printed text, the tale of the Jew of Bourges (f. 52 b); cf. E. Wolter, Der Judenknabe (in H. Suchier, Bibl. Normannica, 1879, ii), p. 43. This is followed here (f. 52 b), though not in the Speculum Ecclesiae, by the tale of "The blind man healed"; cf . art. 1 above. In this version reference is made to the Emperor Phocas. The second sermon is divided into six sections, presumably for lectionary purposes.

6. "De asumptione beate Marie," beg. "Cum dominus et saluator noster Ihesus Christus." The account is that of Pseudo-Melito slightly abbreviated from the B text printed by Tischendorf, Apocalypses Apocryphae, pp. 124-136. Some of the divergences show a tendency to follow Tischendorf's M.B. readings, e.g. cap. iv, the passage beg. "Aduenit etiam Paulus," etc. At the end is a note giving the reasons for blessing flowers and making a procession on this feast. f. 55.

7. "De natiuitate beate Marie": a sermon, beg. "Dilectissimi hodie impletum quod Dauid predixerat," consisting mainly of an abridged version of the first eight chapters of the Apocryphal Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew; cf. Tischendorf, Evangelia Apocrypha (1876), pp. 54-69. On f. 58 is the tale of the hermit who heard the angels celebrating the Nativity of the Virgin (cf. Ward, op. cit., ii, pp. 633-4). The form here is closest to that of Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum Historiale, vii, 119, ed. 1624, vol. iv, p. 265. For a similar introduction of this tale after an account of the nativity of the B.V.M. in a homily for this feast see the Speculum Ecclesiae of Honorius of Autun (Migne, Patr. Lat., clxxii. 999-1002). f. 57.

8. "De natiuitate beate Marie," beg. "Natalis sancte Marie uirginis antiquitus minime celebris habebatur": a sermon which, after a reference by incipit to the tale found in art. 7, divides itself into three parts:-(a) Why the Virgin answers prayers;-(b) An exposition of the text "Surge propera amica mea" (Cant. ii. 10) (c) "De quatuor nominibus beate Marie uirginis." f. 58 b.

9. "B[ernardus]. De meditatione" (title written in the margin as a guide to the rubricator): abbreviated version of the doubtful "meditationes" of St. Bernard, beg. "Multi multa sciunt et seipsos nesciunt" (Migne, Patr. Lat., clxxxiv. 485), also found as part of the work called Hugonis de S. Victore Liber de Anima (cf. Migne, Patr. Lat., clxxvii. 166). f. 59 b.

10. Theological commonplaces, mainly extracts from the works of SS. Augustine, Jerome, and, particularly, St. Bernard. f. 65. The following items are included:-(a) Verses on confession, beg. "Sit simplex humilis confessio vera fidelis." Cf. Aquinas, Commentum in Lib. iv Sententiarum, Dist. xvii, art. iv, Quaestio iv, Paris ed., 1873, x, p. 512. f. 68;-(b) Verses on the six ages of the world, beg. "Sex uidet etates sex respondere diebus;" based upon Bede, Liber de Temporibus, cap. xvi; cf. Migne, Patr. Lat., xc. 288. f. 69.- (c) Four lines on the crucifix, beg. "Aspice pendentem crucifigas in ervce mentem." f. 69;-(d) Reference to a certain Mark who received communion from an angel. f. 69 b;-(e) The verses on the humours from Schola Salernitana (ed. Renzi), ll. 1696-7, 1702-3, 1707-8, 1714-15, beg. "Largus. am ans. hilaris. prudens. rubeique coloris." f. 70;-(f) "De monacho": tale of a monk, bishopelect, who on the journey to his see rests under a tree whose leaves are inscribed "Ave Maria." On inquiry it is discovered that one "bonus Iohannes" formerly lived there. The ground is dug and the body discovered with the tree growing through the tongue and mouth. Beg. "Quidam, monachus electus in episcopum fuit." This motive of a tree or plant inscribed with "A.M." on the leaves occurs in various tales, e.g. "Saved by learning two words" (cf. Jacobus de Voragine, Legenda Aurea, ed. Graesse, p. 221, Ward, Cat. of Romances, ii, p. 654); "Poor clerk who died during an interdict " (cf. Vie des Anciens Pères (A. 14), J. A. Herbert, Cat. Of Romances, iii, p. 342 ; Add. MS. 30512, f. 33 b, contains a tale in Irish which is apparently a mixture of "Saved by two words" and the "Clerk of Chartres," cf. R. Flower, Catalogue of Irish MSS. in the British Museum, ii, p. 485. Mussafia, op. cit., ii, p. 91, cites, from a MS. at Florence, Bibl. Laurent., Conventi Soppressi (Camaldoli) 747. D. 3, a tale of one who said "A. M." diligently and dying on a journey was buried by the wayside, from his mouth grew a tree with leaves inscribed- "A. M.)." f. 70 b;-(g) Description of the origin of the Letania major (25 Apr.); cf. Vita S. Gregorii, Lib. i, Migne, Patr. Lat., lxxv. 279, and Jacobus de Voragine, Legenda Aurea, ed. cit., p. 312. f. 71 ;-(h) Tale of a poor woman who, having nothing to offer the Virgin on the feast of the Assumption, is moved to flagellate herself, at each stroke ejaculating " Ave Maria." In course of time the Virgin appears to a priest bidding him warn the woman of her approaching death. He goes, and finds that the rod has flowered. f. 71;-(i) Note on the Institution of the Rogation Days by St. Mamertus, Bishop of Vienne; cf. Legenda Aurea, ed. cit., pp. 313-14. f. 71 b.

11 (a separate gathering of twelve leaves of finer vellum than the rest of the MS.). Summa de Matrimonio of Tancred of Bologna (1185 ?- 1234 ?; cf. Schulte, Geschichte der Quellen des canon. Rechts, i, pp. 199-205). Printed by A. Wunderlich, Tancredi Summa de Matrimonio, 1841. Beg. "In omnibus causis quilibet suo iuri renunciare ualeat absque peccato." f. 72. Vellum (ff. i, ii, iv paper) ; ff. iv + 83. 7.3/8 in. x 5.3/8 in. Written in a variety of bands, possibly in N. Switzerland, xiii cent. Gatherings mainly of 8 leaves (iv^6; vii^4 ; viii^2, 1 cancelled ; x^12 ; xi^12). Initials of flourished penwork in red and blue. On f. iii is a fragment of a 15th cent. document relating to the parish church of "Amerswilr" [? Amriswyl, in Thurgau]. Owned in the 20th cent. by George Neilson, LL.D., of Glasgow (signature, f. i). Purchased with Add. MSS. 41068, 41070.