Stowe MS 57

Catalogue of the Stowe Manuscripts in the British Museum, 2 vols (London: British Museum, 1895-1896), I, no. 57:

' "SCUTUM BEDE. Collectivvs Gaufridi de Vfford": a collection of Latin treatises, moral, grammatical, and historical, in mixed prose and rhyming verse, viz.: — 1. List of vices, tabulated in four classes, with the reason why each should be avoided, e.g. "Irascere noli. Quare? Quia ira uiri iustitiam dei non operatur." Followed by ten lines of verse, beg. "Hęc figura scutum dicta Bede: in partes octo picta." The article is not the same as the "Scutum Bede" in the Bodleian Library (Bernard's Catalogus, no. 1953, now no. 630). f. 1b.

2. Exhortation to the study of letters. f. 2. Beg.: "Noli mi fili monitum mispendere vili Cipus erit laudis, si que pater edocet audis." Ends: "Hinc alphabetis primis insisto dietis, Quo mage scriptura tali pateat mihi cura." After this follow (f. 3) tables of the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin alphabets, numerals, etc., together with (f. 3b) "Litterę Norm[ann]orum qu dicuntur run-stafes" (sc. runes), and (f. 4) "Caracteres Ęthyci phylosophi" (cf. H. Wuttke, Cosmographia Æthici, 1853, p. 85.) 3. Explanation of certain signs of notation, as the asteriscus, obelus, etc.; in verse, with glosses in prose, chiefly from Isidore's Etymologiarum lib. i. cap. 21 (Migne, lxxxii. col. 96). f. 4b. Beg.: "In quibusdam laborare Sensum excedentibus Uisum quasi delirare Est discretis mentibus." 4. Instructions for the pronunciation of letters, beg. "Annotatis superius quarundam gentium quibusdam alphabetis et scripturarum notulis." f. 5. This and the two preceding articles apparently form one work.

5. Abstract of Bible History, etc., with continuations including a Chronicle of England to 1154. f. 5b. Begins with a prologue explaining the author's intentions in undertaking the work, beg.: — "Tot et tanti tractauere De raptis temporibus, Precellentes qui fuere Et uerbis et moribus.

Sed me cause commouere Principales geminę. Quod, si mentem exercere Uellem uerbi semine,

Plus liceret his studere, Uiri quis et feminę Ad exemplum refulsere Diffidente nemine, Et ut michi manualem Librum hinc conficerem. In quo summam mox annalem Dubitans conspicerem."

The preface begins on f. 6b, with the words "Infra rerum humanarum varios nobilesque circuitus." The materials of the work are so arranged as to show the influence of the number seven ("septenarii numeri mysterium," f. 7b). It opens with a statement of the nature of the Trinity, beg. "De conditione creaturarum verba prolaturus" (f. 8b), which is followed by an account of the Creation. Then, as a preliminary to the narrative of the proceedings of man on the earth, comes a dissertation on the seven liberal arts (f. 15). The Bible narrative follows, prose and verse being intermixed in it, following the order of the books, and including an abstract of the Mosaic law; the period of the kings is described very summarily (ff. 19b-74b). A short note by the author (f. 75) introduces the account of the Captivity and of the interval between the Old and New Testaments, with which are joined lists of the kings of Assyria, Media, Persia, Sicyon, Egypt, Argos, Athens, Thebes, Lacedæmon, Corinth, Macedonia, Lydia, and Babylon (ff. 75-87). After a fresh metrical prologue, beg. "Decantaturus nova carmina, postpositurus Pristina" (f. 88), and a list of heresies (f. 88b), comes a short abstract of the New Testament history and the spread of the Gospel, and the persecutions under various emperors to the fall of the Western Empire (ff. 90b-100). The subjects now become historical, including lists of the kings and emperors of Rome, the kings of France from their origin from Antenor of Troy to Louis VI. [1108-1137], and the dukes of the Lombards (ff. 100-108). The author then introduces a geographical description of the different parts of the earth (ff. 108b-113), taken from Orosius and other authorities, and concludes the whole of this part of the work with some rhyming verses on death, beg. "Morte ruunt quę uiua fluunt sub culmine celi" (ff. 113b, 114). A fresh preface follows (f. 114b), with references to the remaining contents either of this MS. or of one from which it is copied, beg. "Ad id usque temporis"; to which is added a verse address to the reader. Then comes a list of the popes (f. 116b), which is very incomplete; the last names, apparently in a later hand than the rest, are Eugenius [?III., 1145], Adrian [? IV., 1154], Innocent [a mistake], and Alexander [?III., 1159-1181]. After a blank page comes a verse prologue to a chronicle of England (f. 119b), beg. "Trium gentum generamen Edicturus breuiter Ut earum lineamen Intendatur leuiter Brittę, Anglę, Normannęque, Pręualontis cęteris, Scripta sequor lancis ęquę Ponderantis ueteris." The chronicle begins (f. 120) "Dardanus ex Jove et Electra." It includes a list of the Heptarchic kings, and ends abruptly with the coronation of Henry II. [1154]; in a list which follows, the names of "Henricus filius H. ii.," Richard and John are added in a different hand. At the end are the following lines (f. 144): — "Explicit Anglorum series Britonumque priorum, Attigit Henriei quę tempora pacis amici Regis in hac gente, Stephano prius antra tenente, Edita quam breuiter, ut pateat leuiter." 6. "Libellus de Virtutibus et Vitiis," in verse of various metres. f. 145. Begins: "Virtutum formam vitiorum monstra notando." Preceded (f. 144b) by some introductory lines, beg. :— "Motus morum uitę signum Gestorum indicium." 7. "De Natura Jumentorum, Bestiarum, et cunctorum Animalium," including lists of names of animals (with the Anglo-Saxon or Norman names sometimes added in another hand), precious stones, trees and plants. f. 156. Begins, "Omnibus animantibus Adam prius uocabula indidit." Preceded (f. 155b) by some introductory lines, beg.: — "Post volumen consignatum ante ceu putauimus In cor uenit commutatum hoc quod exarauimus De naturis bestiarum uolucrum et uermium Lapidumque et herbarum arborum et piscium." 8. "Medicine quas probaverunt Ypocras, Aristotiles, Paulus, Plato, Cosmas et Damianus": various medical recipes, beg. "In primis ad capitis dolorem." f. 166b. In the margin of the last page is a recipe in verse, De plaga," beg.: — "Hęc est curandę ualidissima potio plagę." The colophon of the whole work runs : — "Hic collectiuus doctrinę per loca riuus Explicit, intentes satians, renuens male lentos." With regard to the title "Scutum Bede" (see above, p. 36), Leland (De Scriptoribus Britannicis, p. 118) mentions a grammatical work called "scutum Bedæ " among the works falsely attributed to Bede. This title, however, would apparently apply only to the grammatical extracts on ff. 1-5 ; but the name of the author, Geoffrey de Ufford, probably applies to the whole volume. The work must have been originally compiled early in the reign of Henry II. The text is accompanied throughout by a great quantity of marginal and interlinear glosses, apparently in the same hand, in which various authorities are quoted, including Hugo de S. Victore (f. 14), who died in 1142. Vellum; ff. 166. Circ. 1200. Initials coloured and ornamented. Leaves have been cut out between ff. 1 and 2, 53 and 54 (two), 86 and 87, 118 and 119 (two), 162 and 163. The volume contains the autographs of Thomas Hatcher (1611) and Thomas Martin of Palgrave (1729). Small Folio.'.