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Add MS 8873
- Record Id:
- 032-003359479
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-003359479
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100039447397.0x000001
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100057849208.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Add MS 8873
- Title:
- Collectio Britannica
- Scope & Content:
-
The only witness of a canonical collection commonly called the Collectio Britannica (The British Collection). This collection originated in France (perhaps in Chartres), and was a reworking of a previous collection.
Historical excerpts contained in this manuscript suggest that the manuscript is a copy that incorporates material put together in the context of Louis VI's coronation in 1108. This volume was probably written shortly after the summer of 1108, in northern France (see Rolker, 'History and Canon Law in the Collectio Britannica' (2008) and Rolker, Canon law (2009)).
This compilation consists of fragments of Papal letters, including two Varia sections (ff. 52r-120r; 171r-210v). The papal letters were copied directly or indirectly from papal registers, now lost. The first Varia section consists of patristic and Roman law materials taken from the Digest, the Digestum Vetus (Old Digest), one excerpt from the Digestum Novum (the New Digest) and the Deusdedit Canon. The second Varia section deals with historical material linked to Frankish affairs such as the disputed coronation of Louis VI.
Contents:
ff. 2r-8v: A table of contents for the compilation, imperfect.
ff. 9r-27v: Excerpts from Pope Gelasius I's letters.
ff. 27v-38v: Excerpts from Pope Pelagius I's letters.
ff. 38v-52r: Excerpts from Pope Alexander II's letters.
ff. 52r-120r: Varia, part I beginning with 49 excerpts from the Corpus Iuris Civilis (Collection of Civil Law), and more specifically with quotations of the Digest and Justinian's Institutes (ff. 52r-65v), beginning: 'Vocare in ius non oportet'; Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals (ff. 65v-85r), beginning: 'Si iuraverat'; Excerpts from St Augutine, De baptismo contra Donatistas (On the Baptism against the Donatists) (ff. 85r-92r); Excerpts from St Augustine's sermons, beginning with the sermon De verbis Apostoli (On the Word of the Apostle) (ff. 92r-96r); Excerpts from St Augustine's Expositio Epistulae ad Romanos (Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans) (ff. 96r-v); Excerpts from St Augustine's De diversis questionibus (On various questions) (ff. 97r-98r); St Augustine's epistle to Hilarius (ff. 97v-98r); St Augustine's epistle to St Boniface (f. 98r); St Augustine's epistle to Prosper and to Hilarius (ff. 98r-v); Excerpt from Pope Nicholaus I's epistle (ff. 98v-99r); St Augustine's epistle to Xanthippus (ff. 99r-100r); St Jerome's epistle to Amandus (f. 100r); Pope Adrian I's various epistles (ff. 100r-104r); excerpts from the canonical collection Canones Gregorii (Laws of Gregory) related to several questions such as the ordination of bishops (ff. 104r-106v); excerpts from St Augustine's sermon De ebrietate (On inebriation) (ff. 106r-107r); excerpts from the penitential called Penitentiale Theodori (the Penitential of Theodore) (ff. 107r-108r); excerpt from Charles the Bold's deed against Wenilo, archbishop of Sens (ff. 108r-v); excerpts from St Augustine, De trinitate (On Trinity) (ff. 108r-110r); excerpts from St Gregory's Dialogues (ff. 110r-111r); excerpt from St Ambrose's commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (ff. 111r-v); excerpt from St Ambrose's commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians (f. 112r); excerpts from St Augustine's epistle to St Jerome, St Jerome's epistles to Rufinus and St Jerome's epistle to Julian (ff. 112r-v); excerpt from St Jerome's treatise Contra Vigilantium (Against Vigilantius) (ff. 112v-113v); excerpt from Agapetus I's epistle to Caesarius of Arles (f. 113v); Pope Vigilius's epistle to Caesarius of Arles (f. 113v-114r); various short excerpts from St Augustine's works and epistles (ff. 114r-119v); short extracts from Bede, De temporum ratione (On the reckoning of time) (f. 119v); excerpt from St Eucherius of Lyon, Instruction to Salonius (f. 120r).
ff. 120r-136v: Excerpts from Pope John VIII's epistles, beginning with the epistle addressed to Bertharius of Monte Cassino.
ff. 136v-142r: Excerpts from St Boniface's epistles.
ff. 142v-153r: Excerpts from Pope Urban II's epistles,
ff. 153r-159v: Excerpts from Pope Stephen V's epistles,
ff. 159v-171r: Excerpts from Pope Leo VI's epistles,
ff. 171r-210v: Varia, part II beginning with Pope Honorius I's epistle to Bishop John and Gaudius, notary of Campanie (ff. 171r-v), beginning: 'Presentium lator, interclusa voce', followed by five other Honorius I's epistles (ff. 171v-172v); St Jerome's epistle to Rusticus (f. 172v); excerpts from Pseudo-Prosper of Aquitaine, De Vita Contemplativa (On the Contemplative Life) (ff. 172v-174r); excerpts from St John Chrysostom, De Reparatione Lapsi (On the redemption of apostates) (ff. 174r-v); excerpts from Gelasius I's De Anathematis Vinculo (On the constraints of anathema) (ff. 174v-176v); excerpt from Pope Adrian II's epistle and decret after the first Council of Troyes (868) (ff. 176v-177r); excerpt from Pope Adrian II's epistle to the bishops of the sixth Council of Soissons (f. 177r); a collection of excerpts from the chronicle Continuatio Aimoini, including an extract from the Annales Bertiniani (ff. 177r-180r); excerpts from St Ambrose's commentary on the Gospel of Luke (ff. 180r-181v); excerpts from the Digest and the Deusdedit Canon, including excerpts from the Liber Diurnus, a collection of papal letters and papal formulae (ff. 181v-210v); ending with Pope Nicholaus I's epistle to Hincmar of Reims (f. 210v).
Decoration:
Small initials, Roman numerals and rubrics in red. After f. 127 spaces are left blank for initials and rubrics. Brown initials with penwork decoration.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Additional Manuscripts
England and France 700-1200 Project - Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-003359479", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Add MS 8873: Collectio Britannica" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-003359479
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-003359479
- 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_100057849208.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1100
- End Date:
- 1124
- Date Range:
- 1st 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.
Foliation: ff. 210 (+ 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and 2 at the end; + 1 unfoliated parchment flyleaf at the beginning and 1 at the end).
Dimensions: 250 x 170 mm (text space: 200 x 100 mm).
Script: Caroline minuscule.
Binding: British Museum/British Library in-house.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Northern France.
Provenance:
?Amans-Alexis de Monteil (b. 1769; d. 1850), French historian, antiquary and bookseller: a note of Sir Frederick Madden 'Several mss. and Anglo-Norman Charters were bought of Hen[ry] Bohn, chiefly from the collection of M. Monteil: Add. MS 8873 etc...' in Add MS 62071 (notes from 1771 to 1835; no foliation, classified by year, see 1831).
Bought by the British Museum from Henry George Bohn, London bookseller, in June 1831(note on f. [iii] recto), lot. 330.
- Information About Copies:
- Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk.manuscripts/.
- Publications:
-
Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum in the Years 1831-1835 (London: British Museum, 1835), [Add MS 8873].
Paul Ewald, 'Die Papstbriefe der Brittischen Sammlung', Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft für ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde, (1880), 274-414, 505-96.
Colin Conrat, Der Pandekten und Institutionenauszug der brittischen Dekretalensammlung, Quelle des Ivo (Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1887), p. 188.
Paul Fournier, Histoire des Collections Canoniques en Occident depuis les fausses Décrétales jusqu'au Décret de Gratien, 2 vols (Paris: Recueil Sirey, 1931-1932), II, no. 155.
F. Dvornik, The Photian Schism: History and Legend (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1948), pp. 324-25.
Walter Ullmann, ''Nos aliquid incompetenter': Some Observations on the Register Fragments of Leo IV in the Collectio Brittanica', Ephemerides Iuris Canonici, 9 (1953), 275-87.
Stephan Kuttner, 'Urban II and the Doctrine of Interpretation: A Turning Point', in The History of Ideas and Doctrines of Canon Law in the Middle Ages (Aldershot: Variorum, 1980), pp. 51-58.
Robert Somerville, ‘Edmund Bishop and his transcription of the Collectio Britannica’, in Studia in honorem eminentissimi Cardinalis Alphonsi M. Stickler, Studia e textus historiae iuris canonici, 7 (Rome: Libreria Ateneo Salesiano, 1992), 535–48.
Robert Somerville and Stephan Kuttner, Pope Urban II, the Collectio Brittanica, and the Council of Melfi (1089) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), pp. 1-41.
Klaus Herbers, Leo VI. und das Papsttum in der Mitte des 9. Jahrhunderts (Stuttgart: Hiersemann, 1996), pp. 49-91.
Lotte Kéry, Canonical Collections of the Early Middle Ages (ca. 400-1140) (Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 1999), pp. 237-38 [with additional bibliography].
Detlev Jasper and Horst Fuhrmann, Papal Letters in the Early Middle Ages (Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 2001), pp. 61-64, 120-23.
Charles M. Radding and Antonio Ciaralli, The Corpus Iuris Civilis in the Middle Ages: Manuscripts and Transmission from the Sixth Century to the Juristic Revival (Leiden: Brill, 2007), p. 106.
Christof Rolker, 'History and Canon Law in the Collectio Britanica: A New Date for London, BL Add. 8873', in Bishops, Texts and the Use of Canon Law around 1100. Essays in Honour of Martin Brett, ed. by Bruce C. Brasington and Kathleen G. Cushing (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008), pp. 141-52.
Christof Rolker, Canon Law and the Letters of Ivo of Chartres (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), pp. 92-99.
- 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.