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Harley MS 402
- Record Id:
- 040-002046230
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002046230
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000596.0x000333
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100065012830.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 402
- Title:
-
Twelve collections (Distinctiones) of excerpts from Church Fathers and other authorities
- Scope & Content:
-
This 12th-century manuscript contains twelve collections of excerpts from, or attributed to: the Church Fathers St Ambrose (b. c. 340, d. 397), St Jerome (b. 347, d. 420), St John Chrysostom (b. c. 349, d. 407), St Augustine (b. 354, d. 430), St Gregory the Great (b. c. 540, d. 604), and St Isidore of Seville (b. c. 560, d. 636); and other authorities, including Pope Miltiades (d. 314), Cassiodorus (b. c. 485, d. c. 580), Bede the Venerable (b. 673, d. 735), Hrabanus Maurus (b. c. 780, d. 856), Haimo of Auxerre (d. c. 865), ‘Remigius’ – possibly Remigius of Auxerre (b. c. 841, d. 908) – Hugh of Saint-Victor (b. c. 1096, d. 1141), Pope Gregory VII (b. c. 1015, d. 1085), William of Champeaux (b. 1070, d. 1121) and Gilbert de la Porrée (b. 1085, d. 1154). The manual also includes biblical sources and excerpts from the statutes of the Fourth Council of Carthage (e.g., on divination). An excerpt from the Decretum Gratiani (f. 102v) that appears to be taken from a commentary by Pope Alexander III (b. c. 1105, d. 1181; r. 1159-1181) [‘Alexander papa’] indicates that the manuscript was produced in the second half of the 12th century. The twelve collections are referred to as Distinctiones, a form of textual organisation used by preachers for composing sermons, which indicates that the manuscript was written for a priest.
Contents:
ff. 1r-16v: Distinctio 1: on the Trinity.
ff. 17r-24v: Distinctio 2: on the creation of the angels.
ff. 25r-48v: Distinctio 3: on the creation of mankind and the world, free will, the soul, and predestination.
ff. 49v-59r: Distinctio 4: on the Incarnation.
ff. 60r-66r: Distinctio 5: on the Eucharistic bread and wine.
ff. 67r-74v: Distinctio 6: on sacrament of baptism; imperfect at the end: see ff. 83r-85r.
ff. 75r-80v: Distinctio 7: on the sacrament of marriage, second part.
ff. 81r-82v: Distinctio 8: on the Church hierarchy and virtues.
ff. 83r-85r: Distinctio 6: on the sacrament of baptism; misbound, originally placed after f. 74.
ff. 86v-90v: Distinctio 7: on the sacrament of marriage, first part; misbound, originally placed before f. 75.
ff. 91r-112v: Distinctio 8: on the church hierarchy and virtues; misbound, originally after f. 82.
ff. 113v-126r: Distinctio 9: on penance and confession.
ff. 126v-144v: Distinctio 10: on alms, secular clergy, forgery, murder, lies and oaths.
ff. 145r-165r: Distinctio 11: on prayer, fasting, divination and holy scriptures.
ff. 166r-179r: Distinctio 12: on the afterlife, dreams, Antichrist, the signs before the Last Judgment, the final age, the Book of Life, the rewards of the good and the punishment of the evil ones.
ff. 179v-180r: Pseudo-John Chrysostom, Sermones in decollatione sancti Iohannis Baptistae (Sermons on the Beheading of John the Baptist), excerpt De Mala Muliere (On the Evil of Women), partially erased on f. 180r.
f. 180v: An introduction and list of contents, beginning: ‘Si quis humanæ intelligentiæ choartatus capaciliate divine legis spaciosa non valet aut negligit legere vel intelligere volumina’.
f. [183] recto: Pseudo-John Chrysostom, Sermones in decollatione sancti Iohannis Baptistae, a single sentence from De mala Muliere: ‘malis . Sed hactenus mihi de muliere mala sermo habitus hic habeat finem’.
The manuscript contains a few additions:
f. [183] verso: Latin quotations in 12th- or 13th-century scripts.
[ff. 1* recto, 1* verso, [24a] recto, [24a] verso, [24b] recto, [24b] verso, [48a] recto, [48a] verso, 49r, 59v, [59a] recto, [59a] verso, 66v, [66a] recto, [66a] verso, 85v, 86r, 104r, 113r, 141v, 150r, 169v are empty].
Decoration:
Initials of various sizes in blue, dark red and green, a few with reserved lines and penwork decoration in another colour with some yellow. Rubrics in red. Capitals marked in yellow. Line fillers in red and green. An added marginal drawing in brown ink (faint) of: a Eucharistic chalice on an altar (f. 60r); the base of a chalice (f. 61v); a Eucharistic chalice (ff. 62r, 63v); a hooded man (f. 106v); a man holding a book and a (?) candle (f. 116v); a monk (f. 121v); a man with a bow (f. 122v); a human figure (f. 123r). Manicules in brown ink added in margins (e.g., ff. 67v, 68r, 76v, 99v, and 104v).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- England and France 700-1200 Project
Harley Collection - Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002046230", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 402: Twelve collections (Distinctiones) of excerpts from Church Fathers and other authorities" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002046230 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 402 : Twelve collections (Distinctiones) of excerpts from Church Fathers and other authorities - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[0401]/040-002046230
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100065012830.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1150
- End Date:
- 1199
- Date Range:
- 2nd half of the 12th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 220 x 155 mm (text space: 165 x 90 mm).
Foliation: ff. 1* + 180 (+ 1 unfoliated parchment flyleaf after f. 1* + 3 unfoliated parchment flyleaves at the end); 2 unfoliated blank ruled parchment leaves after f. 24 (f. [24a] and f. [24b]) and 1 after ff. 48, 59, 66, and 85 (ff. [48a], [59a], [66a], and [85a]); at least one leaf missing after f. 74; 1 unfoliated parchment stub between f. 157 and f. 158; ff. 83-85 have been misbound and were originally placed after f. 74; ff. 86-90 originally before f. 75; and ff. 91-103 originally after f. 82.
Script: Protogothic.
Binding: Post-1600. Parchment binding with gold-stamped foliate centrepiece and gold-tooled borders, remains of two fastening ribbons on the upper and lower covers, the spine inscribed in gold at the British Musuem: ‘EXCERPTS FROM THE FATHERS’; gilt book-edges; fragments of a printed Bible (? early modern) pasted on the inside of the upper cover.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
England or France.
Provenance:
Sir John Doddridge (b. 1555, d. 1628), judge, son of Richard Doddrige, merchant of Barnstaple: given to his nephew Richard Dunaeus according to an inscription recording the gift (f. 1* verso).
Richardus Dunaeus (?Downe) (b. 1600), of Devon, Wadham College, Oxford, owned in 1620: an inscription recording the gift from his maternal uncle (f. 1*v).
Mrs Downe, of Barnstaple, Devon (?related to Richardus Dunaeus): owned until 1658, inscribed by Sir Edward Harley 'bought of Mrs Downe at Barstaple [sic] 1658' followed by his signature (f. 1* verso).
Sir Edward Harley (b. 1624, d. 1700), politician and parliamentarian army officer, of Brampton Bryan, Hereford, father of Robert Harley: bought from Mrs Downe in 1658, inscription in his hand recording the purchase (f. 1*v).
The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts.
Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta Cavendish, née Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d. 1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library.
- Information About Copies:
-
Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk.manuscripts/.
Select digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/welcome.htm.
- Publications:
-
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), I (1808), p. 234.
Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 138, 139, 141, 179.
- 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.