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Arundel MS 36
- Record Id:
- 040-002039316
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-002039280
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000395.0x000222
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100056007447.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Arundel MS 36
- Title:
- Collection of Saints' Lives
- Scope & Content:
-
This 12th-century manuscript contains a collection of saints’ lives and lections from saints’ lives. The manuscript was produced at the Augustian Priory of Kirkham in North Yorkshire, in the first or second quarter after its foundation in the 1120s. Its founder, Walter Espec (d. 1153), also founded the nearby-situated Cistercian abbey of Rievaulx. This may explain how the scribe who copied this manuscript gained access to the Vita Sancti Edwardi Regis et Confessoris (Life of St Edward, King and Confessor) by Rievaulx Abbey’s best known author, Aelred of Rievaulx (b. 1110, d. 1167). Since Rievaulx Abbey enjoyed a close connection with the Cistercian abbey of Clairvaux, it may also explain the relatively high number of lives of French saints in this manuscript, including St Hilary of Poitiers, St Martin of Tours, St Audoin of Rouen, and St Justus of Beauvais.
The manuscript originally contained 141 folios: until the late 16th century it was joined together with Cotton MS Vespasian B XI, ff. 84-125 + 1 (containing the missing part of the Vita Sancti Edwardi Regis et Confessoris) and Royal MS 13 A XXI, ff. 151-192 (see Watson, Medieval Manuscripts (2004), pp. 74-77).
Contents:
ff. 1r-12v: Possidius of Calama (b. c. 370, d. c. 440), Vita Beati Augustini (Life of St Augustine), ending with a Testimonium de Sancto Augustino (Testimony about Saint Augustine) by Pope Celestine I (d. 432) and Gennadius of Marseilles (d. 496).
ff. 13r-15v: Pseudo-Jerome, De Nativitate Sanctae Mariae (On the Nativity of the Virgin Mary), with prologues addressed to St Chromatius (d. c. 406/407), bishop of Aquileia, and St Heliodorus (d. c. 390), bishop of Altino.
ff. 15v-16v: Anonymous, Vita Sancti Andreae (Life of St Andrew), with reference to the Cathedral of St Andrew in St Andrews, Scotland (‘quam tam celebris habetur locus ille, ubi ecclesia beati Andree Apostoli constituta est in Scotia’).
ff. 17r-47v: Johannes Hymonides (b. c. 825, d. c. 880), Vita Sancti Gregorii Magni (Life of St Gregory the Great), with a verse on St Gregory the Great and prologue on f. 17r; and a table of chapters on ff. 17r-18v.
ff. 48r-49v: Lection from anonymous, Vita Silvestri I Papae (Life of Pope Sylvester I).
ff. 49r-50v: Lection from anonymous, Vita Sancti Hilarii Pictaviensis (Life of St Hilary of Poitiers).
ff. 50v-51r: Lection from anonymous, Inventio Sancte Crucis (Invention of the Holy Cross).
ff. 51r-52r: Lection from Sulpicius Severus (b. c. 363, d. c. 420), Vita Sancti Martini Episcopi Turonensis (Life of St Martin, Bishop of Tours).
ff. 52r-53r: Lection from anonymous, Translatio Sancti Benedicti (Translation of St Benedict).
ff. 53r-53v: Lection from anonymous, De Sanctis Martiribus Timotheo et Simphoriano (On the Martyr Saints Timotheus and Simphorianus).
ff. 53v-54v: Lection from anonymous, Vita Sancti Audoeni Episcopi (Life of Bishop St Audoin).
ff. 54v-55v: Lection from anonymous, Hystoria de Exaltatione Sancte Crucis (History of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross).
ff. 55v-56r: Lection from anonymous, De Sancto Iusto Martyre (On the Martyrdom of St Justus [of Beauvais]).
f. 56v: Aelred of Rievaulx, Vita Sancti Edwardi Regis et Confessoris, imperfect: a table of contents and incipit (‘Incipit prologus venerabilis Ælredi abbatis ; in vitam sancti Ædwardi regis’) only.
[ff. [2a] recto, [2a] verso are blank].
The manuscript contains a later addition:
f. 16v: Pope Gregory VIII (b. c. 1110, d. 1187), letter to the prior and brothers of Kirkham Priory, added in the 12th century.
Decoration:
Contemporary ink drawings with red colours of three extra-biblical couples in the margin of f. 13r: Joachim and Anna; Joseph and Mary; and Mary Cleophas and her husband (identified as the father of Susanna Alpheus).
1 large historiated initial ‘B’ with knot-work in green and red, featuring a bishop in green and red against a blue background in each compartment (f. 1r). 1 large zoomorphic initial ‘I’ (a dragon or snake with wings) with foliate elements in green and red (f. 1r). 1 large initial ‘G’ in red and green with zoomorphic heads and foliate interlace against a blue background (f. 18v). Medium initials in red, green or blue, some with foliate decoration (arabesque motifs) in another colour or colours. Small initials in blue, green or red. Display script (brown initials) and small initials in brown ink sometimes highlighted in red. Rubrics and Roman numerals in red. Quotations marks in red and green. Paraph marks in brown ink highlighted in red.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Arundel Manuscripts
England and France 700-1200 Project - Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002039280
040-002039316 - Is part of:
- Arundel MS 1-550 : Arundel Manuscripts
Arundel MS 36 : Collection of Saints' Lives - Hierarchy:
- 032-002039280[0036]/040-002039316
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Arundel MS 1-550
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
A parchment codex
- Digitised Content:
- https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100056007447.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1150
- End Date:
- 1174
- Date Range:
- 2nd or 3rd 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.
Dimensions: 275 x 195 mm (text space: 225 x 155 mm, in 2 columns).
Foliation: ff. 56 ( + 2 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves at the beginning + 2 at the end); 1 unfoliated medieval parchment leaf between f. 2 and f. 3 (f. [2a]); a paper pastedown (bibliographical notes) on f. [ii] recto; 1 parchment stub between f. 47 and f. 48; early modern foliation throughout the manuscript (crossed out).
Script: Protogothic.
Binding: Post-1600. British Museum/British Library in-house: re-bound on 13 February 1963. Brown half leather binding, Howard’s bookplate (‘BIBLIOTHECA ARUNDELIANA’) gold-stamped on the upper and lower covers, the spine inscribed in gold: ‘LIVES OF SAINTS’.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Kirkham, Northern England.
Provenance:
The Augustinian priory of the Holy Trinity or Christ Church, Kirkham, North Yorkshire, founded c. 1122: its 12th- or 13th-century ownership inscription on f. 1r: 'Liber Sancte Trinitatis de Kirkham'; added a letter for the prior and monks of Kirkham from the papal legate on f. 16v; the scribe for ff. 1-12v is the same as that for Burney MS 216, ff. 5-88v, and Add. MS 38817, ff. 5-91v; the latter manuscript also has a Kirkham inscription, each manuscript with similar initials (ex info. Michael Gullick, cited in The Libraries of the Augustinian Canons, ed. by Webber and Watson (1998), p. 32; see also Lawrence-Mathers, Manuscripts in Northumbria (2003), p. 189).
Henry Savile, of Banke (b. 1568 d. 1617), collector of manuscripts, owned in early 17th century: the manuscript is listed as no. 5 in both his ‘H’ and ‘A’ catalogues (respectively Harley MS 1879 and Add MS 35213), both produced before 1614 (see Watson, Medieval Manuscripts (2004), pp. 17, 74).
? Thomas Howard (b. 1585, d. 1646), 2nd earl of Arundel, 4th earl of Surrey, and 1st earl of Norfolk, art collector and politician: his bookplates gold-stamped on the upper and lower binding.
Henry Howard (b. 1628, d. 1684), 6th duke of Norfolk, presented to the Royal Society in 1667.
The Royal Society, London (its ink stamp: 'Soc. Reg. Lond / ex dono HENR. HOWARD / Norfolciensis.', f. 1v). Purchased by the British Museum from the Royal Society of London together with 549 other Arundel manuscripts in 1831.
- Information About Copies:
-
Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts, https://bl.uk/manuscripts/.
Select digital coverage available for this manuscript; see the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts, https://bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/.
- Publications:
-
Catalogue of Manuscripts in The British Museum, 1 vol. in 3 parts (London: British Museum, 1834-1840), Part I: The Arundel Manuscripts (1834), pp. 8-9.
Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books, ed. by Neil Ripley Ker, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 3 (London: Royal Historical Society, 1964), p. 106.
Andrew G. Watson, The Manuscripts of Henry Savile of Banke (London: The Bibliographical Society, 1969), pp. 74-77.
Franz Römer, Die Handschriftliche Überlieferung der Werke des Heiligen Augustinus, 9 vols, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Sitzungsberichte, 276 (Vienna: Böhlau, 1969-2001), II: Grossbritannien und Irland: Verzeichnis nach Bibliotheken (1972), p. 162.
James P. Carley, 'The Royal Library as a Source for Sir Robert Cotton's Collection: a Preliminary List of Acquisitions', The British Library Journal, 18 (1992), 52-73 (p. 62).
Anne Lawrence, ‘The Artistic Influence of Durham Manuscripts’, in Anglo-Norman Durham 1093-1193, ed. by David Rollason, Margaret Harvey, and Michael Prestwich (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1994), pp. 451-69 (p. 469, n. 52).
Colin G. C. Tite, ''Lost or Stolen or Strayed': A Survey of Manuscripts Formerly in the Cotton Library', in Sir Robert Cotton as Collector: Essays on an Early Stuart Courtier and his Legacy, ed. by Christopher J. Wright (London: The British Library, 1997), pp. 262-306 (p. 267).
The Libraries of the Augustinian Canons, ed. by Teresa Webber and Andrew G. Watson, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 6 (London: British Library, 1998), p. 32.
Anne Lawrence-Mathers, Manuscripts in Northumbria in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries (Woodbridge: Brewer, 2003), pp. 189-90.
Andrew G. Watson, Medieval Manuscripts in Post-Medieval England (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004), pp. 17, 74-77.
Mellie Naydenova-Slade and David Park, 'The Earliest Holy Kinship Image, the Salomite Controversy, and a Little-Known Centre of Learning in Northern England in the Twelfth Century', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 71 (2008), 95-119.
Ian Campbell, 'The Idea of St Andrews as the Second Rome Made Manifest', in Medieval St Andrews: Church, Cult, City, ed. by Michael Brown and Katie Stevenson (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2017), pp. 35-50 (p. 35, n. 2).
- 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.