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Harley MS 3042

Record Id:

040-002048873

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002048873

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000761.0x00015c

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 3042

Title:

Ambrose, De officiis ministrorum, Sermo de resurrectione domini, De poenitentia, Hexaemeron, and De paradiso

Scope & Content:

This composite manuscript consists of two parts that were written separately.

Part 1 (ff. 1v-67v, 120r-141v) was written in Germany in the 2nd half of the 11th century.

Part 2 (ff. 68r-119r) was written in western Germany in the 2nd half of the 12th century.

Contents:

Part 1:

ff. 1v-66v: Ambrose, De officiis ministrorum.

ff. 66v-67v: Ambrose, Sermo de resurrectione domini.

ff. 120r-141v: Ambrose, De poenitentia.

Part 2:

ff. 68r-109v: Ambrose, Hexaemeron.

ff. 109v-119r: Ambrose, De paradiso.

Decoration:

Part 1:

2 large initials with foliage and one with a grotesque, outlined in brown ink, with brown, red, green and yellow, on a coloured ground (ff. 1v, 131v; red and green added). 3 large initials in red, with interlace, clasps, and foliate decoration, on red and yellow grounds (ff. 32r, 51v, 120r). Display script for letters following some large initials. Rubrics in red.

Part 2:

1 large initial in brown ink with two grotesques and foliage, with red, blue and green, on a green and light brown ground (f. 68r). 17 initials in red with penwork decoration and reserved designs (ff. 71r, 74r, 77r, 79r, 79v, 85v, 86r, 88v, 90v, 98r, 99v, 100v [x2], 101r, 104r, 106v, 109v). 1 small initial in red (f. 68r). Rubrics in red. Capitals highlighted in red.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002048873", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 3042: Ambrose, De officiis ministrorum, Sermo de resurrectione domini, De poenitentia, Hexaemeron, and De paradiso" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002048873

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 3042 : Ambrose, De officiis ministrorum, Sermo de resurrectione domini, De poenitentia, Hexaemeron, and De paradiso

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[3043]/040-002048873

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1050

End Date:

1199

Date Range:

2nd half of the 11th century-2nd half of the 12th century

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 440 x 310 mm [Part 1 and 2] (350 x 195 mm, in 2 columns [Part 1]; 370 x 210 mm, in 2 columns [Part 2]).

Foliation: ff. 141 (+ 5 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 4 at the end); 1 unfoliated parchment stub after f. 31 and 2 after f. 144; f. 119 is a fragment (restored); 1 unfoliated paper pastedown (bibliographical notes) on f. [i]recto.

Collation: Each quire has been mounted separately onto a paper guard; remains of a quire mark (v?) on f. 91v;

Script: Caroline minuscule [Part 1]; Protogothic [Part 2].

Binding: British Museum in-house; red half leather binding with the Harleian arms gold stamped on the outside covers; remains of previous binding (gold-tooled diced brown leather) pasted inside covers and of the spine (inscribed in gold: 'S. Ambrosius De Officiis; Hexaemeron; De Poenitent.; De Paradiso') on f. [iv]; rebound in 1968.

Custodial History:

Origin:

Germany [Part 1]; western Germany (?Arnstein) [Part 2].

Provenance:

Parts 1 and 2 were together by the 12th century: in Part 1, the scribe/illuminator of Part 2 added red initials/letters (ff. 66v, 131v), replaced some text initials with simple red penwork initials (e.g. ff. 11v, 12r - cf. initial on f. 68r), and added titles/rubrics in margins, including one on f. 67v (last page of Part 1) which refers to the first text in Part 2.

The Premonstratensian abbey of St Mary and St Nicholas, Arnstein, founded 1139, owned in the 12th/13th century: its ownership inscription on f. 68r: 'Liber ecclesie sancte marie sanctique Nycholai in arenstein', and f. 120r: 'Liber sancte Marie gratia plene sanctique Nicholai confessoris eximii in Arinstein', the latter is surrounded by a triangular decorated frame with a mask; Heinrich Schupp, abbot of St Mary and St Nicholas, Arnstein, between 1556 and 1574, added references to Bible passages, notes, running headers, (?) highlighted initials, and inscribed on f. 31v: 'Henricus Arnsteinensis licet Indignus Abbas hunc librum cum suis titulis divinarumque scripturarum locis compilavit, restauravit atque in lucem edidit. Anno salutis humane 1570. Legerit quicumque mei meminerit utrimque. Studio qui suo multum laboravit in isto' (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 53).

Nathaniel Noel (fl. 1681, d. c. 1753), bookseller, employed by Edward Harley for buying books and manuscripts chiefly on the Continent, where his agent was George Suttie (see Diary, ed. by Wright and Wright (1966), I, p. 81 n. 8; Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 254).

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, inscribed as usual by their librarian, Humfrey Wanley ‘16 die Januarij, A.D. 1720/21’ (f. 1r).

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.

Publications:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), II, p. 727 (no. 3042).

A. Kohl, 'Arnsteiner Handschriften im Britischen Museum zu London', Nassovia. Zeitschrift für nassauische Geschichte und Heimatkunde, 4 (1903), 106-08, 120-21, 133-34 (p. 120).

The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by C. E. Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), I: 1715-1723, p. 81 n. 8.

Wilhelm Köhler, 'Die Karolingischen Miniaturen', in Zweiter Bericht über die Denkmäler Deutscher Kunst (Berlin: Reimer, 1912), pp. 52-77 (p. 58).

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. 53, 254.

Sigrid Krämer, Handschriftenerbe des deutschen Mittelalters, Mittelalterliche Bibliothekskataloge Deutschlands und der Schweiz: Ergänzungsband 1, 3 vols (Munich: Beck, 1989-90), I (1989), p. 25.

Bruno Krings, Das Prämonstratenserstift Arnstein a. d. Lahn im Mittelalter (1139-1527) (Wiesbaden: Selbstverlag der Historischen Kommission für Nassau, 1990), p. 247 (no. 18).

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Ambrose of Milan, Saint, Archbishop of Milan, c 339-397,
see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000121452186,
see also http://viaf.org/viaf/100227669

Places:

Arnstein, Germany
Germany
Western Germany