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Harley MS 4984
- Record Id:
- 040-002050828
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002050828
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000859.0x0001f7
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100064572778.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 4984
- Title:
- Collection of texts about St Martin of Tours: Sulpicius Severus, Vita Sancti Martini, Epistolae, Dialogi (books 1-3); Gregory of Tours, De Virtutibus Sancti Martini and Libri Octo Miraculorum
- Scope & Content:
-
This 12th-century manuscript contains a collection of texts on the life, miracles and translation of St Martin of Tours (d. 397) by Sulpicius Severus (b. c. 363, d. c. 425) and Gregory of Tours (b. c. 538, d. 594). The manuscript was written for a monastic audience, as is indicated by a contemporary marginal inscription on f. 64r that describes reading the life of St Martin of Tours in 'our monastery' ('usque ad hoc capitulum legitur hec vita in nostro conventij'). The linguistic region in which this manuscript was produced is unknown. Since its first known owner Johannes Vlimmerius (d. 1597) was prior of the Augustinian priory of Sint-Maartensdal (1559-1562) in Leuven, the manuscript may originate from the Southern Netherlands or Northern France. However, Ker points out that several of Vlimmerius's manuscripts originate at English monasteries and seem to have been sent to him directly from there (Ker, 'English Manuscripts' (1942), p. 206).
Contents:
ff. 1r-1v: Sulpicius Severus, Letter to Desiderius (Preface to the Vita Sancti Martini), beginning: 'Incipit epistola Severi Sulpicii ad Desiderium de vita sancti ac beatissimi Martini Turonensis archiepiscopi'.
ff. 1v-2v: Sulpicius Severus, Prologue to the Vita Sancti Martini (Life of St Martin of Tours), beginning: 'Plerique mortales studio et glorie seculari inaniter dediti'.
ff. 2v-3v: A list of chapters.
ff. 3v-18v: Sulpicius Severus, Vita Sancti Martini, beginning: 'Incipit vita sancti ac beatissimi Martini Turonensis Archiepiscopi'.
ff. 18v-20v: Sulpicius Severus, Letter to Eusebius, beginning: 'Incipit epistula Severi sulpicii ad eusebium presbiterum postea episcopum'.
ff. 20v-23r: Sulpicius Severus, Letter to Aurelius, beginning: 'Epistula ad Aurelium diaconum'.
ff. 23r-25v: Sulpicius Severus, Letter to Basula, beginning: 'Incipit epistula Severi Sulpicii ad socrum suam Basulam qualiter sanctus Martinus de hoc mundo migraverit'.
ff. 25v-63r: Sulpicius Severus, Dialogi (Dialogues), Books I-III, each preceded by a list of chapters, beginning: 'Incipiunt capitula libri primi Dialogi Severi Sulpitij'.
ff. 63r-64r: Gregory of Tours, extract (on the death of St Martin of Tours) from the Historia Francorum (History of the Franks), also known as the Decem Libri Historiarum (Ten Books of Histories), beginning: 'Item de transitu sancti Martini'.
ff. 64r-64v: Gregory of Tours, extract (concerning a posthumous miracle shown to Severus Sulpicius) from the Libri Octo Miraculorum (Eight Books of Miracles), beginning 'Beatus autem Severinus coloniensis civitatis episcopus'.
ff. 64v-65r: Gregory of Tours, extract (concerning a posthumous miracle shown to St Ambrose of Milan) from the Libri Octo Miraculorum, beginning: 'Eo tempore beatus Ambrosius'.
ff. 65r-66v: Gregory of Tours, extract (concerning a posthumous miracle shown to St Brice of Tours) from the Historia Francorum, beginning: 'De sancto Bricio'.
ff. 66v-67v: Gregory of Tours, extract (on the translation of St Martin of Tours) from the Libri Octo Miraculorum, beginning: 'De translatione sancti Martini'.
ff. 67v-68r: An erased text about St Martin of Tours (his name partially legible in the erased rubric) with 5 leaves excised.
ff. 68r-68v: A hymn on St Martin of Tours, beginning: 'Dei virtus et sapientia cuius nutu'.
ff. 68v-105r: Gregory of Tours, De Virtutibus Sancti Martini (About the Virtues of Saint Martin of Tours), Books I-IV, beginning: 'Incipit liber primus miraculorum beati Martini editus a beato Gregorio Turonorum episcopo'.
[f. 105v is empty].
Decoration:
1 large puzzle initial with penwork decoration (f. 3v). Initials in red or blue with penwork decoration in the other colour. Simple initials in green, red, blue or light brown. Display script in blue, red or green. Rubrics in red. Paragraph marks in green, red, light brown or black.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- England and France 700-1200 Project
Harley Collection - Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002050828", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 4984: Collection of texts about St Martin of Tours: Sulpicius Severus, Vita Sancti Martini, Epistolae, Dialogi (books 1-3); Gregory of…" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002050828 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 4984 : Collection of texts about St Martin of Tours: Sulpicius Severus, Vita Sancti Martini, Epistolae, Dialogi (books 1-3); Gregory… - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[4984]/040-002050828
- 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_100064572778.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1175
- End Date:
- 1199
- Date Range:
- 4th quarter of the 12th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 250 x 150 mm (text space: 165/175 x 110/120 mm).
Foliation: ff. 105 (+ 4 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves at the beginning + 3 at the end); 5 parchment stubs between f. 67 and f. 68.
Script: Protogothic.
Binding: Post-1600. 'Harleian' binding of gold-stamped and -tooled red leather, the spine inscribed in gold at the British Museum: 'LIFE AND MIRACLES OF ST MARTIN'; marbled endpapers.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
England, Northern France or Southern Netherlands.
Provenance:
Johannes Vlimmerius (d. 1597), Prior of the Augustinian Priory of St-Maartensdal (Val St Martin), Louvain (1559-1562): his gift to the priory; inscribed on f. 1r: 'Ex p[ar]te f[ratris] Joa[n]nis Vli[m]merij'; perhaps his press-mark 'T. 15' on f. 15r.
John Chamberlayne (b. 1666, d. 1723), translator and literary editor, son of Edward Chamberlayne (b. 1616, d. 1703): his sale conducted by Daniel Browne, bookseller at the Black Swan and Bible Without-Temple-Bar, on 11 March 1723/4 (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 101).
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 ‘11 die Martij, A.D. 1723/4’ (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.
- 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.
Complete digital coverage available for this manuscript; see Digital Manuscripts, https://bl.uk/manuscripts/.
- Publications:
-
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-1812), III (1808), p. 235 (no. 4984).
Neil Ripley Ker, 'English Manuscripts owned by Johannes Vlimmerius and Cornelius Duyn', in The Library, 4th series, 23 (1942), pp. 205-07 (p. 206).
The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by Cyril Ernst Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), II: 1723-1726, p. 281 n. 6.
Cyril Ernst Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 85, 101, 228, 339.
Willem Lourdaux and Marcel Haverals, Bibliotheca Vallis Sancti Martini In Lovanio: Bijdrage to tde studie van het geestesleven in de Nederlanden (15de-18de eeuw), 2 vols, Symbolae, Series A, 8 (Leuven: Universitaire Pers Leuven, 1978-1982), I (1978): De Bewaarde Handschriften, pp. 677-81.
- 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.