Royal MS 20 E VII-VIII

20 E. VII, VIII

POSTILLAE on the Hexateuch and Psalms, by the Franciscan, Nicolaus de Lyra (d. 1340 or 1349), With the additions of the converted Jew, Paulus de Sancta Maria, Bishop of Carthagena, 1403, and of Burgos, 1415-1435. Two volumes, apparently written in the same hand. Vol. I is unfinished, and it does not appear whether any other portions of the Bible were ever completed. The arrangement differs somewhat from the editions, such as Kobergers Bible (Nuremberg, 1485) and the edition of Lyra's commentary by Mentel (Strassburg, 1473?), the additions being incorporated at the end of each chapter, riot at the end of the book, see the rubric on f. 3 b, 'Vt in isto libro et sequentibus facilius possit sacra scriptura secundum sensum litteralem intelligi necessarium duxi postillis a magistro Nicholao compilatis additiones reuerendi in Christo patris et domini domini Pauli de Sancta Maria sacre pagine doctoris eximii episcopi Burgensis . . . in fine cuiuslibet capituli tam veteris quatii noui testamenti superaddere . . . finiuit autem eas anno domini mo. cccco xxixo'. Lyra's general preface beg. 'Hec omnia liber vite Ecclesiastici xxiiii; secundum quod dicit beatus Gregorius'; Paul's preface beg. '[Q]uid tibi visutviuens'; commentary, '[I]n principio creauit (&c.): Omissis diuisionibus curiosis'. The commentary on Joshua breaks off in ch. xvii, 'funiculus enim est instrumentum mensurandi terram'. Vol. II contains the complete commentary on the Psalms. Preface beg. 'Propheta magnus surrexit (&c.) Luce septimo: Quamuis liber psalmorum apud Hebreos inter agyographa '; text, 'Beatus vir: Quamuis beatus Augustinus dicat'; ends 'laudabunt te. Ad quam laudem nos perducat qui cum (&c.). amen'. Four fly-leaves, fastened down on the covers, are 8 leaves from a 14th cent., MS. of the Digest with the marginal gloss of Accursius. The visible portions contain parts of lib. xxxvii, tit. viii-xi (in Vol. 1) and lib. iv, tit. ii-iv (in Vol. II).

Vellum; ff. i + 277, i + 201. 20 1/4 in. x 143/4 in. Late XV cent. Gatherings of 10 leaves (i⁹, xxii⁹, last¹² in Vol. I; xvii⁸, last¹², in Vol. II), lettered, with catchwords. Double columns of 58 lines. Sec. fol. in Vol. I 'Vt predictum'; in Vol. II, 'in presenti. Spaces are left for initials an miniatures and diagrams, but only the first miniature is partly sketched in faint pencil outlines. The subject is apparently a series of scenes of the Creation. In the modern binding of both volumes is inlaid the stamped leather of the old (early 16th cent.?) binding. The roll-produced serpentine ornament (with dragon's heads) which forms the frame of the central panel, and the lozenge-shaped stamps (wyvern and spray of foliage and flowers) into which the panel is divided, with the triangular stamps (fly and foliage) at head and foot, also within the panel, seem to agree with the binding of a Petrus Blesensis (1519) in the Bodleian Library at Oxford (Weale, Bookbindings and Rubbings in the Nat. Art Library, 1894, p. 116, no. 91), but the triangular stamps at the side (a spider's web?) are different. Cat. of 1666, f. 4 b; CMA. 8040, 8039.