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Cotton MS Julius D III
- Record Id:
- 040-001101710
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-001101582
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000001246.0x00000a
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100066094452.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Cotton MS Julius D III
- Title:
-
Cartulary of St Albans Abbey; Ralph of Dunstable, Vita Sancti Albani; Golliardic stanzas; Versus de Motu et Pena Peccandi; Versus de Mensibus Anni; Versus de Virtutibus Imitandis et Earum Distinctionibus; Vita Beati Thome Martiris Archiepiscopi Cantuariensis; Hildebert of Lavardin, Biblical Epigrams; Alain de Lille, Anticlaudianus (excerpt)
- Scope & Content:
-
This composite manuscript consists of two parts that were produced at different periods of time but potentially at the same location. The first part (ff. 1-124) contains the cartulary of the Sacrist of the Benedictine abbey of St Albans that was written after 1393 and contains additions to the second half of the 15th century. The second part (ff. 125-196) contains the lives of St Alban, written by Ralph Dunstable (fl. 1180), a monk from St Albans, and Thomas of Canterbury. It also contains Latin poems by Hildebert of Lavardin (b. c. 1055, d. 1133), Bishop of Le Mans and Archbishop of Tours, the French theologian Alain de Lille (b. c. 1128, d. 1202/1203), and various anonymous writers. The second part was written in the first quarter of the 13th century, and was most likely produced at St Albans Abbey as well: Ralph of Dunstable’s life of St Alban can be found in three other manuscripts, all originating from St Albans (see Thomson, Manuscripts (1982), p. 91). The two parts were possibly joined together in the library of Sir Robert Bruce Cotton (b. 1571, d. 1631) (see Tite, The Early Records (2003), p. 97).
Contents:
ff. 1r-124r: The cartulary of the Sacrist of the Benedictine abbey of St Albans, containing copies of deeds, leases, and other documents [ff. 1-63 should follow ff. 64-124].
ff. 125r-158v: Ralph [here ‘Robertus’] of Dunstable (fl. 1180), Vita Sancti Albani (The Life of St Alban) [BHL 212; Walther 732].
ff. 159r-159v: Golliardic stanzas concerning the state of the Church, beginning 'Quasi corvus crocito'.
ff. 159v-171v: Anonymous, Versus de Motu et Pena Peccandi (Poem on the and Progress and Punishment of Sinners), including a section entitled De Miseria Hominis (On the Suffering of Mankind).
ff. 171v-181r: Anonymous, Versus de Mensibus Anni (Poem on the Months of the Year): a debate between the four seasons [Walther 5773].
ff. 181r-183v: Anonymous, Versus de Virtutibus Imitandis et Earum Distinctionibus (Poem on Imitable Virtues and Their Distinctions); possibily incomplete and followed by other pieces (see Rigg, ‘A Latin Poem’ (1995), p. 162); the texts on f. 183v, beginning ‘Posse triplex homini’ and ‘Dives obit’, are listed as separate items by Thomson, Manuscripts (1982), p. 91.
ff. 184r-190v: Anonymous, Vita Beati Thome Martiris Archiepiscopi Cantuariensis (The Life of St Thomas, Martyr and Archbishop of Canterbury), metrical version [BHL 8227; Walther 10906b].
ff. 191r-196v: Hildebert of Lavardin, Biblical Epigrams [Walther 20296].
f. 196v: Alain de Lille, an excerpt from Anticlaudianus (or De Officio Viri Boni et Perfecti Libri Novem), beginning: ‘Hic ardent seraphini flammata calore supernæ’, imperfect [Walther 7854].
The manuscript contains a number of additions:
f. 1*recto: A table of contents, added by Richard James (b. 1592, d. 1638), librarian for Sir Robert Bruce Cotton.
ff. 62v-63r: short notes and memoranda added in a (?) 15th-century hand
[ff. 1*verso, 40r, 61v-63v, 99v, 106r, 117v, 124v are blank].
Decoration:
Part 1:
Medium initials in red, once with foliate penwork decoration in brown ink (f. 110r); first letters of words and Tironian notes often highlighted in red; running headers in red; rubrics in red; line-fillers in brown and red ink.
Part 2:
1 large initial in blue against a green ground with foliate penwork inside the letter and red pen-flourishing (f. 125r); medium initials in red and blue with penwork decoration in the opposite colour; small (one-line) initials at the beginning of verses highlighted in red; rubrics in red; running headers in red.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Cotton Collection
England and France 700-1200 Project - Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-001101582
040-001101710 - Is part of:
- Cotton MS : Cotton Manuscripts
Cotton MS Julius D III : Cartulary of St Albans Abbey; Ralph of Dunstable, Vita Sancti Albani; Golliardic stanzas; Versus de Motu et Pena… - Hierarchy:
- 032-001101582[0035]/040-001101710
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Cotton MS
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
A parchment codex
- Digitised Content:
- https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100066094452.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1200
- End Date:
- 1599
- Date Range:
- 13th century-16th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Condition: outer edges of leaves singed by fire in 1731.
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 185 x 130 mm (text space: 155 x 100 mm [ff. 1r-124r]; 145 x 70 mm [ff. 125r-196v]).
Foliation: ff. 196 ( + 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves and 1 unfoliated parchment flyleaf at the beginning + 5 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the end); 1 unfoliated parchment stub between f. 121 and f. 122; f. [iv] is a paper leaf with bibliographical notes; a modern paper pastedown (note of examination) on f. [198 verso]. The current foliation is from the 17th century; medieval foliation in Roman numerals in the first part only: ff. 1-63 should follow ff. 64-124; two sequences numbered ‘lxxiv-cxxxii’ (ff. 1-61) and ‘[xvi]-lxii’ (ff. 64-124) indicate that sections of the cartulary have been lost. The quires and f. [iv] and f. [197] have been mounted on paper guards.
Script: Protogothic (ff. 125r-196v); Gothic (ff. 1r-124r).
Binding: British Museum/British Library in-house. Brown half-leather binding; Cotton’s bookplate gold-stamped on the upper and lower covers, the spine inscribed in gold at the British Museum: ‘REGISTER OF ST. ALBANS ABBEY, ETC.’; rebound in 1973.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: St Albans, Eastern England.
Provenance:
The Benedictine abbey of St Albans: the first part (ff. 1-124) contains the cartulary of the Sacrist of St Albans Abbey; the second part (ff. 125-196) most likely originates from St Albans Abbey as well (see Ker, Medieval Libraries (1964), p. 59); it contains the life of St Alban by Ralph of Dunstable that elsewhere survives only in manuscripts from St Albans Abbey (see Thomson, Manuscripts (1982), p. 91).
Sir Robert Bruce Cotton (b. 1571, d. 1631), 1st baronet, antiquary and politician: his bookplates gold-stamped on the upper and lower covers; his shelfmark on f. [v verso]; the table of contents on f. 1*recto was added by his librarian Richard James; his name inscribed on f. 125r (black ink); and his notice on f. 196v: ‘Finis R C xxxx’ (see Colin G.C. Tite, The Early Records of Sir Robert Cotton’s Library: Formation, Cataloguing, Use (London: The British Library, 2003), p. 97).
Cotton’s collection was augmented by his son, Sir Thomas Cotton (b. 1594, d. 1662), 2nd baronet, and his grandson, Sir John Cotton.
Sir John Cotton (b. 1621, d. 1702), 3rd baronet: bequeathed the entire Cotton collection of books and manuscripts to trustees ‘for Publick Use and Advantage’, 12 and 13 William III, c. 7. Formed one of the foundation collections of the British Museum in 1753.
- Information About Copies:
- Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk.manuscripts/.
- Publications:
-
A Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Cottonian Library Deposited in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1802), p. 15.
Bibliotheca Hagiographica Antiquae et Mediae Aetatis, Subsidia Hagiographica, 6 (Brussels: Société des Bollandistes, 1898–1901; repr. 1992), nos 212, 8227.
Davis, Godfrey Rupert Carless, and others, Medieval Cartularies of Great Britain and Ireland (London: The British Library, 2010), p. 169 (no. 837).
Dinkova-Bruun, Greti, 'De Virtutibus Imitandis: An Anonymous Latin Poem on the Cardinal Virtues', The Journal of Medieval Latin, 7 (1997), pp. 28-41.
Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books, ed. by Neil Ripley Ker, 2nd edn, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 3 (London: Royal Historical Society, 1964), p. 59.
Rigg, A. George, ‘“De motu et pena peccandi”: A Latin Poem on the Causes and Effects of Sin’, in Literature and Religion in the Later Middle Ages: Philological Studies in Honor of Siegfried Wenzel, ed. by Richard G. Newhauser and John A. Alford, Medieval & Renaissance Studies & Texts, 118 (Binghamton, NY: Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, 1995), pp. 161-77.
Scott, Alexander Brian, 'The Biblical Allegories of Hildebert of Le Mans', Sacris Erudiri, 16 (1965), 404-24 (p. 417, as ‘A’).
Scott, Alexander Brian, Deirdre Baker, A. George Rigg, ‘The Biblical Epigrams of Hildebert of Le Mans: A Critical Edition’, Mediaeval Studies, 47 (1985), 272-316.
The Heads of Religious Houses England and Wales 940-1216, ed. by David Knowles, Christopher N. L. Brooke and Vera C. M. London (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972), p. 148.
Tite, Colin G. C., The Early Records of Sir Robert Cotton’s Library: Formation, Cataloguing, Use (London: The British Library, 2003), p. 97.
Thomson, Rodney M., ‘Two Twelfth Century Poems on the «Regnum-Sacerdotium» Problem in England’, Revue Bénédictine, 83 (1973), 312-24.
Thomson, Rodney M., Manuscripts from St Albans Abbey 1066-1235, 2 vols (Woodbridge: Brewer, 1982), I: Text, pp. 68, 75, 91 (no. 18) [for further bibliography].
Walther, Hans, Initia carminum ac versuum Medii Aevi posterioris Latinorum: Alphabetisches Verzeichnis der Versanfänge mittellateinischer Dichtungen, Carmina Medii Aevi posterioris Latina, 1 (Göttingen: VandenHoeck & Ruprecht, 1959), nos 5773, 7854, 8227, 10906b, 20296.
- 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.