Add MS 47676

HOLKHAM MSS. Vol. V (formerly MS. 210). EXPOSITIO LEGUM ROMANARUM, a compilation of Roman and Visigothic law; South Italy, 1st quarter of the 11th cent. The compilation, which possibly originated in Italy in the 9th cent., uses Roman sources both pre- and post-Justinian, and Visigothic law-books, especially the code of Recceswinth (654). For an analysis of the contents, see A. Gaudenzi, 'Un' antica compilazione di diritto romano e visigoto', Documenti e Studi pubblicati per cura della R. Deputazione di Storia Patria per le Provincie di Romagna, ii, 1886, pp. 5-227. Gaudenzi identified in the compilation fragments supposedly of the code of Euric (466-484), the oldest Visigothic law code; his theory of the origin of the Fragmenta Gaudenziana is not universally accepted, though they were included in K. Zeumer's edition of the Visigothic laws, Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Legum Sectio I, i, 1902, pp. xvi-xviii, xx, 469-472; but see also A. Schultze in Berichte über die Verhandlungen der Sächsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, phil.hist. Klasse, xcv, 4, 1943, especially pp. 116-118. For further bibliography see the entry Fragmenta Gaudenziana in Repertorium Fontium Medii Aevi, iv, 1976, pp. 535-536. On the last leaf, f. 164b, is entered, in a later hand, a spurious papal bull imitating a bull of Gregory I, viz. P. Jaffé, Regesta Pontificum Romanorum, 1885, no. 1366, thought by Ewald to be a forgery of temp. Gregory VII, see Gaudenzi, ibid., pp. 50-53. Vellum; ff. iii+ 164. 285 mm. x 210 mm. First quarter of XI cent. Gatherings of eight leaves (except xx⁴) numbered (except xx, xxi) in contemporary romans enclosed between points on the versos of the last leaves. Pricked (but the pricking mostly cropped away), ruled with a dry point and written in double columns of twenty-two lines, in more than one hand. The script has the general characteristics of Monte Cassino MSS. datable to the earlier llth century (cf. e.g. E. A. Lowe, Scriptura Beneventana, 1929, ii, pl. lvi-lviii, lxiv), a date also indicated by the occasional use of the 2-sign with 't' for the abbreviation 'tur' (ff. 159b, 162b), on the significance of which see E. A. Loew, The Beneventan Script, 1914, p. 217 sqq. Decoration: f. 1, col. i, is written in rustic capitals drawn in outline, filled in with green, red, yellow and blue inks; there are crude coloured initials, mostly of interlace pattern with lacertines, ff. 1, 2, 48b, 88, 89b, 95b, 101, 105, 108, 108b, 110b, 120; smaller coloured initials throughout, including an 'O' (f. 134) and three 'Q's (ff. 68b, 87b, 143) in the forms of faces; many smaller capitals in the body of the text heightened with colours; and rubrication throughout. Gilt ostrich stamp of T. W. Coke (see below) on 19th cent. calf binding. The MS. was obtained by Marino Freccia (Freczel), the Neapolitan jurist, from the church of Santa Maria, Ravello, in 1534: his dated signatures, and his inscription acknowledging a debt of aims to the church for the book, ff. 1, 163b. Acquired, 1715, by Thomas Coke, Earl of Leicester (signature, f. 1), from the Discalced Augustinians at Lyons, see S. De Ricci, op. cit., pp. ix, 18. Signature and bookplate of Thomas William Coke, lst Earl of Leicester of Holkham 1837, ff. i, ii.

Palaeography: Compilation of Roman and Visigothic law, Beneventan script: 1st quarter of 11th cent.

LAW CIVIL: Compilation of Roman and Visigothic law: 1st quarter of 11th cent.: Lat.

Art. Illuminations and Drawings ITALIAN: Expositio Legum Romanarum: initials, etc., South Italy: 11th cent.

Thomas William Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester of Holkham: Bookplates: bef. 1837.

Bookplates and Book-stamps: Coke (Thomas William), 1st Earl of Leicester of Holkham: bef. 1837.

includes:

• f. ii Thomas William Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester of Holkham: Signatures: bef. 1837.
• f. 1 Thomas Coke, Baron Lovell; Earl of Leicester: Signature: n.d.
• ff. 1, 163b Marino Freccia, Neapolitan jurist: Inscription by, and signatures: 1534.