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Cotton MS Vespasian D II
- Record Id:
- 040-001103285
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-001101582
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000001273.0x0002ce
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100063639711.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Cotton MS Vespasian D II
- Title:
-
Penitential and similar texts including excerpts from Gennadius of Marseilles, Liber Ecclesiasticorum Dogmatum, and Bernard of Clairvaux, Parabolae; Canones Penitentiales Secundum Ieronimum; Fulbert of Chartres, De Peccatis Capitalibus; anonymous penitential texts; Adso of Montier-en-Der, De Ortu et Tempore Antichristi; Pseudo-Jerome, Quindecim Signa Ante Iudicium; a collection of sermons for liturgical feasts, including sermons by St Wulfstan, St Augustine of Hippo, St John Chrysostom, and Bede the Venerable; Ordo ad Dandam Penitentiam in Capite Ieiunii; Decreta Pontificum; a collection of exempla, miracles and saints’ lives from the works of Gregory the Great, Rufinus of Aquileia, Bede, the Vitae Patrum and other sources; a tract on the addition of the Introit to the Mass; a division of biblical books for liturgical feasts of the Temporal cycle; a collection of miracles, including an excerpt from Hincmar of Reims, De divortio Lotharii et Tetbergae; Remigius of Auxerre, De Celebratione Missae; an anonymous tract on sacerdotal vestments; Canones Generalium Conciliorum, imperfect; a collection of sermons, including sermons by Geoffrey Babio
- Scope & Content:
-
This manuscript contains a large collection of penitential texts, papal decrees, conciliar canons, liturgical and theological treatises, sermons, miracles and exempla. Although the manuscript has previously been dated to the 11th or 12th century, the identification of sermons by Geoffrey Babio (r. 1136-1158), Archbishop of Bordeaux, in the collection of sermons on ff. 86r-165r indicates that it was written in the 2nd or 3rd quarter of the 12th century.
The manuscript was produced by and for a monastery, as is indicated by its inclusion of instructions for priests, a text on reading biblical books at liturgical feasts for a monastic community, and a 13th- or 14th-century ownership inscription from a monastery dedicated to the Virgin Mary that has been partially erased. The manuscript includes a relatively high number of works by French authors, and its script suggests an origin in Normandy (ex. info Michael Gullick). Watson states that the ownership inscription is that of the Benedictine abbey of Montebourg in Normandy (see Watson, The Manuscripts of Henry Savile of Banke (1969), p. 55 [no. 196]).
The manuscript may have reached England as early as the 11th century, although there is no evidence for early English ownership (see Gameson, The Manuscripts of Early Norman England (1999), p. 104 [no. 416]). It was in England in the 16th century, when it became part of the collection of its first-known English owner Henry Savile, of Banke (b. 1568 d. 1617); who may have acquired the manuscript from a Yorkshire monastery.
Contents:
ff. 1v-2v: A Penitential and similar texts including excerpts from Gennadius (fl. late 5th century), Liber Ecclesiasticorum Dogmatum (Book of the Ecclesiastical Dogmas), and St Bernard of Clairvaux (b. 1090, d. 1153), abbot of Clairvaux, Parabolae (Parables), beginning ‘Penitentia aboleri peccata indubitanter credimus’.
ff. 3r-7r: A Penitential, attributed to St Jerome (b. 347, d. 420), entitled: ‘Incipiunt canones penitentiales secundum ieronimum; de episcopo ebrioso · de episcopo · pro diacono ·et ceteris’; beginning: ‘Si quis episcopus aut diaconus aut aliquis ordinatus in consuetudine vitium habuerit’.
f. 7r: Fulbert of Chartres (d. 1029), Bishop of Chartres, De Peccatis Capitalibus (On the Capital Sins), here entitled ‘Canones Fulberti’, beginning: ‘Si quis hominem occidit sponte VII annos peniteat’.
ff. 7r-7v: Three anonymous penitential texts, relating to sodomy, and shortening a period of penance from seven years to two or three days.
ff. 8r-9v: Adso Dervensis (b. c. 910/915, d. 992), Abbot of Moutier-en-Der, De Ortu et Tempore Antichristi (On the Rise and Time of the Antichrist), beginning ‘De antichristo scire volentibus primo dicemus quare sic vocatur ideo scilicet quia Christo contrarius erit et Christo contraria faciet’.
f. 10r: Pseudo-Jerome (here attributed), Quindecim Signa Ante Iudicium (The Fifteen Signs Before Doomsday).
ff. 10r-30v: A collection of sermons for liturgical feasts, including a sermon by St Wulfstan (b. c. 1008, d. 1095), Bishop of Worcester (ff. 28v-29r [De Antichristo]; and perhaps also on ff. 19v-20v, and ff. 23r-23v); St Augustine (b. 354, d. 430), Bishop of Hippo (ff. 23v-24v; ff. 29r-29v); St John Chrysostom (b. c. 347, d. 407), Patriarch of Constantinople (ff. 26r-27v); and Bede the Venerable (b. c. 673, d. 735), monk of Wearmouth–Jarrow (ff. 27v-28v).
ff. 30v-34r: Instructions for priests for the Sacrament of Penance during the liturgical season of Lent (entitled: ‘Ordo ad dandam penitentiam in capite ieiunii’), beginning: ‘In primis praemonere debet sacerdos omnes christianos ex sacris scripturarum testimoniis’.
ff. 34r-40v: A collection of papal decrees, entitled ‘Decreta pontificium’.
ff. 40v-63v: A collection of exempla, miracles and saints’ lives focusing on conversion and penance; the collection begins with an exemplum entitled ‘De quodam vicedomino [nomine Theophilo] qui filium dei negavit’ [ff. 40v-43v]; the section that follows contains excerpts from the Dialogi (Dialogues), and the Homiliae in Evangeliae (Sermons on the Gospels) of Gregory the Great (b. c 540, d. 604) [ff. 43v-45r, 47r-47v, 50v, ff. 51r-53r]; Historia Monachorum in Aegypto (The History of the Monks in Egypt) by Rufinus of Aquileia (b. c. 345, d. 411) [ff. 46r-47r]; excerpts from the Vitae Patrum [ff. 50r; 54v; 56v-57r; 62r-63v]; the sermons of Hrabanus Maurus (d. 856) [ff. 47v-48r]; the Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (Ecclesiastical History of the English People) of Bede the Venerable (d. 673, d. 735) [ff. 48r-48v, 53r (Vision of Dryhthelm)]; an unidentified narrative about St John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria [ff. 48v-50r]; excerpts from the Vita Sancti Iohannis Eleemosynarii (Life of St John the Merciful) by Leontius (fl. 650), Bishop of Neapolis [ff. 50r; 55v-56v]; miracles and visions of St Macarius [ff. 53r-54v]; John the Deacon of Rome (fl. late 9th century)’s account of the miracles of St Nicholas [ff. 57r-60r]; and the anonymous Vita sanctae Marinae (The life of St Marina [the Monk]) [ff. 60r-61r]; and Vita Sanctae Thaisis (The Life of St Thaïs) [ff. 61r-61v].
ff. 63v-64r: A note about Pope Celestine I (r. 422-432)’s addition of the Introit to the Mass, beginning ‘Celestinus papa constituit ut ad introitum autem id est officium diceretur’.
f. 64r: An allocation of biblical books to the feasts of the Temporal Cycle for liturgical reading by a monastic community, beginning: ‘Ad adventu domini usque ad natale; legitur ysaias propheta’.
ff. 64r-66r: A collection of miracles, beginning with a miracle about a priest who daily recited masses for the souls of the dead, entitled: ‘Miraculum de sacerdos qui cotidie missas celebrabat pro defunctis’; followed by four unidentified miracles concerning a negligent monk, evil spirits, and ending with an excerpt from Hincmar (b. 806, d. 882), Archbishop of Reims, De divortio Lotharii et Tetbergae (The Divorce of Lotharius and Tetberga), beginning: ‘Tempore beati basilii archiepiscopi fuit quidam senator fidelis nomine protherus qui habens unicam filiam’.
ff. 67r-77v: Remigius of Auxerre (b. 841, d. 908), Benedictine monk of Saint-Germain-des-Prés (Auxerre), De Celebratione Missae (On the Celebration of Mass), beginning ‘Celebratio misse in commemoratione passionis Christi peragitur sicut ipse prrecepit apostolis’.
f. 77v: An anonymous tract on sacerdotal vestments, entitled ‘Expositio Misse atque Simboli’ (Exposition on the Mass and its Symbols).
ff. 77v-85v: Conciliar canons, beginning ‘Canones generalium conciliorum in temporibus Constantini imperatoris ceperunt’; ending with a note on clerical celibacy attributed to the French theologian Anselm of Laon (d. 1117).
ff. 86r-165r: A collection of sermons, containing a large number of sermons by Geoffrey Babio (b. 1136, d. 1158), Archbishop of Bordeaux, followed by unidentified sermons.
The manuscript contains a few later additions:
f. 1r: A prayer-charm, against evil (‘plentia mala’), added in a 12th-century script.
f. 1r: A table of contents, added by Richard James (b. 1592, d. 1638), librarian for Sir Robert Bruce Cotton (b. 1571, d. 1631).
[f. 66v and f. 165v are blank].
Decoration:
3 large initials in blue or purple with penwork decoration in blue and red, or red (ff. 147r, 149v, 152v); large, medium and small initials in green, ochre or red (some oxidized), sometimes with penwork decoration in the same or the other colour, or both colours: 5 large blue initials with green and red penwork decoration (ff. 107r, 132r, 144r, 156r, 158v); medium and small initials in brown ink with minor foliate penwork decoration, sometimes highlighted in red; some featuring human faces and pointing hands (ff. 20v, 24v). Display script (brown rustic capitals) sometimes highlighted in red, or green and red. Titles rubricated or highlighted with red or green horizontal lines. Decorated paraph marks in brown ink. Underlining in brown ink (added later).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Cotton Collection
England and France 700-1200 Project - Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-001101582
040-001103285 - Is part of:
- Cotton MS : Cotton Manuscripts
Cotton MS Vespasian D II : Penitential and similar texts including excerpts from Gennadius of Marseilles, Liber Ecclesiasticorum Dogmatum, and… - Hierarchy:
- 032-001101582[0966]/040-001103285
- 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_100063639711.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1125
- End Date:
- 1174
- Date Range:
- 2nd or 3rd quarter of the 12th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 195 x 110 mm (text space: 170/160 x 95 mm).
Foliation: ff. 165 ( + 3 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves at the beginning + at the end); 1 unfoliated parchment stub between f. 69 and f. 70; f. 70 and f. 71; f. 91 and f. 92; f. 69 and f. 70; f. 96 and f. 97; f. 99 and f. 100; f. 104 and f. 105; f. 108 and f. 109; and f. 109 and f. 110; 2 unfoliated parchment stubs between f. 76 and f. 77; 2 unfoliated paper stubs between f. 162 and f. 163; a paper label from an old Cottonion binding (with the pressmark ‘Vespasn D. II’ inscribed) pasted on f. 1r.
Script: Protogothic.
Binding: British Museum/British Library in-house: rebound 18 May 1962 (stamp inside upper cover). Brown half leather binding; Cotton’s bookplate gold-stamped on the upper and lower covers, the spine inscribed in gold at the British Museum: ‘THEOLOGICAL TREATISES’.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: ?Montebourg, Northwestern France.
Provenance:
?The Benedictine abbey of the St Mary the Virgin at Montebourg, Normandy, founded between 1066 and 1087, owned in the 13th or 14th century: f. 165v includes a 13th- or 14th-century ownership inscription and book curse (anathema), both partially erased, of an abbey dedicated to the Virgin Mary: ‘Liber sancte mar[...]’; according to Watson, the ownership inscription can be transcribed as ‘Liber sancte Mar[ie] Montisbur]gi’ (see Watson, The Manuscripts of Henry Savile of Banke (1969), p. 55 [no. 196]); perhaps its 15th-century pressmark on f. 2v (‘F’).
?An unknown monastery in Yorkshire, owned in the early 16th century: according to Watson, Cotton MS Vespasian D II can be identified as no. 40 in a list of monastic books, most of which have Yorkshire provenance, that was compiled by the antiquary Thomas Talbot (b. c. 1535, d. c. 1595), no Cotton MS Vespasian D XVII (see Watson, The Manuscripts of Henry Savile of Banke (1969), p. 81 [no. 40]); perhaps its 15th-century pressmark on f. 2v [‘F’).
Henry Savile, of Banke (b. 1568 d. 1617), collector of manuscripts, owned in early 17th century: identified as no. 196 in his catalogue (see Watson, The Manuscripts of Henry Savile of Banke (1969), p. 55 [no. 196]).
Sir Robert Bruce Cotton (b. 1571, d. 1631), 1st baronet, antiquary and politician: his bookplates gold-stamped on the upper and lower covers; his pressmark on a paper label pasted on f. 1r; a table of contents in the hand of his librarian Richard James has been added on f. 1r; the manuscript is listed in his catalogues (see Tite, The Early Records (2003), p. 182.).
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:
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A Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Cottonian Library Deposited in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1802), p. 474.
Adso Dervensis De ortu et tempore Antichristi, necnon et tractatus qui ab eo dependunt, ed. by Daniel Verhelst, Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis, 45 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1976), pp. 157-58 (as O’).
Cross, James E., 'Wulfstan's De Anticristo in a Twelfth-Century Worcester Manuscript', Anglo-Saxon England, 20 (1990), 203-20 (pp. 206, 209-210, 216, 219, 220).
Cross, James E., 'A Newly-Identified Manuscript of Wulfstan's "Commonplace Book," Rouen, Bibliothèque Municipale, MS 1382 (U .109), fols. 173r-198v', The Journal of Medieval Latin, 2 (1992), 63-83 (pp. 72-76).
Gameson, Richard, The Manuscripts of Early Norman England (c. 1066-1130) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 104 (no. 416).
Gneuss, Helmut, and Michael Lapidge, Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A List of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 241 (Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2001), p. 315 (no. 388).
Hall, Thomas N., ‘Wulfstan’s Latin Sermons’, in Wulfstan, Archbishop of York: The Proceedings of the Second Alcuin Conference, ed. by Matthew Townend , Studies in the Early Middle Ages, 10 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2004), pp. 93-139 (pp. 94, 97).
Schulz-Flügel, Eva, Historia monachorum sive De vita sanctorum patrum: Tyrannius Rufinus, Patristische Texte und Studien, 34 (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1990), p. 95.
'The Manuscripts', in Wulfstan's Eschatological Homilies, ed. and trans. by Joyce Tally Lionarons (2000) http://webpages.ursinus.edu/jlionarons/wulfstan/frameset3.html [accessed 18 July 2018].
Tite, Colin G. C., The Early Records of Sir Robert Cotton’s Library: Formation, Cataloguing, Use (London: The British Library, 2003), p. 182.
Ward, Harry Leigh Douglas, and John Alexander Herbert, Catalogue of Romances in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum, 3 vols (London: British Museum, 1883-1910), 3 (1910), pp. 454-56.
Watson, Andrew G., The Manuscripts of Henry Savile of Banke (London: The Bibliographical Society, 1969), pp. 55 (no. 196), 81 (no. 40).
Whitelock, Dorothy, Wulfstan: Sermo Lupi ad Anglos, 3rd edn (Exeter: Exeter University Press, 1967), p. 29 n. 1.
Wieland, Gernot R., ‘A Survey of Latin Manuscripts’, in Working with Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts, ed. by Gale R. Owen-Crocker (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2009), pp. 113-57 (p. 127).
- 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.