Royal MS 6 A XI

THEOLOGICAL WORKS, and an abridged Physiologus, in Latin, viz. :-

1. 'Liber qui uocatur gemma anime' (so the title preceding the text): the liturgical treatise generally and probably assigned to Honorius of Autuil, flor. 1130 (Migne, Patr. Lat. clxxii. 541). At the head of the prefatory letters the original rubricator seems to have given the absurd title (now somewhat smudged) 'Ambrosius de diuinis officiis', which is repeated in the '3th cent. table of contents on f. ii and occurs in some other MSS. Other copies arc in 6 E. ii (ascribed in a later hand to Amalarius) and 8 F. viii, Cotton MSS. Tiberius C. iii (attributed to Beda) and App. xiii, f. 62 (anonymous). Prefatory letters beg. 'Agmen in castris opterni regis', and text 'Plerosque uesania captos piget'. f. 1.

2. 'Incipit epistola Alquini quam edidit ad Widonem comitem': the Liber de virtutibus et vitiis of Alcuin, with prefatory letter to Wido, a Frankish officer in the marches of Brittany (Migne, Patr. Lat. ei. 613). For other copies see 5 E. iv, art. 5, &c. Preface (ep. 237 in Dümmler's Monumenta Alcuiniana) beg. 'Dilectissimo filio suo Widoni . . . Memor peticionis tue', and text 'Primo omnium querendum est'. Lacks the printed epilogue, ending 'dignus efficietur auxiliante domino nostro Iesu Christo, qui cum (&c.). amen'. f. 109b.

3. ' De elemosina': a sermon of unknown authorship, printed as no. cccx among the spurious works of 5. Augustine, vol. v (Migne, Patr. Lat.lxxxix. 2340). Beg.'Remedia peccatorum fratres medicina est'. f. 120b.

4. Extracts, 'De hornine', 'de anima', 'de sensibus carnis', from the Sententiae of S. Isidore of Seville, lib. i, cap. 11-13. Beg. 'Omnia sub celo propter hominem facta sunt'.f. 121b.

5. 'Incipit liber Ysidori Hispaniensis episcopi de numero'; not the tract printed as genuine in Arevalo's edition (Migne, Patr. Lat. lxxxiii. 179), but that which is partially printed from an imperfect Vatican MS. (ib. 1293) as of doubtful authenticity (see 5 E. vi, art. 2, and Harley MS. 495, f. II). It etids with the number eight. Beg. 'Domino nostro altissimo adiuuante de numero', and ends 'delicta operit caritas'. f. 123.

6. ' Incipiunt exceptiones Phisiologi': a somewhat abridged copy of a Latin version of the Greek moralized natural history called Physiologus (see Lauchert, Gesch. des Physiologus), roughly resembling the A or B text of the Latin as printed by Cahier, Mélanges d'Archéologie, ii-iv. It seems to be without any of the extraneous additions contained in the ordinary bestiaries (cf. 2 C. XII, &c.). The order of the articles resembles that of 2 C. XII except that it begins in the middle with the article 'De Yena. Igitur animal est quod Greci ienam dicunt Latini beluam', and ends with the article 'De Natura Castoris'. f. 141.

7. 'De quatuor generibus preciosorum lapidum'; 'about stones named Adamas, Absen, Isten, Fuus. Beg. ' Quatuor sunt preciosorum lapidum genera. Unus quorum est in India'. f. 146b.

8. 'De Herodio'; about a fabulous Indian bird, beg. 'Avis est magna magnitudine'. f. 146 b.

9. ' De Antichristo et de eius vita et conuersatione': the treatise of Adso, Abbot of Montier-en-Der (Haute- Marne) 968992 (Migne, Patr. Lat. Ci. 1291). An abridged form of it is twice printed in Migne, Patr. Lat. xl. 1131 (among the spurious works of S. Augustine) and clvii. 743 (cf 8 F. viii, art. 9, &c.). Preface beg. 'Excellentissime ac regali dignitate pollenti . . . domine regine G[erberte] adsasorum (sic, for Adso suorum) omnium seruorum ultimus . . . Igitur quia pium studium'; text beg. 'Ergo de Antichristo scire uolentes', and ends 'esse prefixit'. The false title Albuinus presbiter ac heremita De Antichristo ubi et quomodo nasci debeat' is prefixed to the text by a hand not much later than the original scribe's. f. 146b.

10. 'Sermo beati Augustini episcopi de collatione x. plagarum Egypti et x. mandatorum legis': a sermon of uncertain authorship (no. xxi in the spurious sermons of S. Augustine, Migne, Patr. Lat. xxxix. 1783). Beg. 'Non est sine causa fratres dilectissimi'. f, 149.

11. 'Beati Augustini ' (rest of title erased): excerpts from the Enchiridion of S. Augustine (Migne, Patr. Lat. xl. 235-244). Beg. 'Cum ergo queritur quid credendum sit'. f. 151 b.

12. ' De certo presbiterorum conuentu ad sinodum' (rubric to ch. i): twenty-seven chapters of a synodal pronouncement, probably by some English bishop. Beg. Auctoritate sanctorum patrum sancitum est ' f. 156. Vellum;ff. ii+160. 11 1/2 in.x7 1/2 in. XII cent. Gatheringsof 8 leaves. Sec. fol. 'populorum legitur'. Coloured initials, the first with interlaced animals. The fly-leaf (f. i) is part of an indenture between Rochester Priory and ' Ioh. Bacher firmarius de Strode' [Strood, co. Kent], 3 Oct. 2 Hen. V [1414] Some th cent. accompts are scribbled with a plummet on f. 160.On f.1 is the Rochester Priory inscription (14th cent.), ' Liber de claustro Roffensi H.monachi'. It may possibly be the 'Dediuinis' which is no.125 in the cat. of 1202 in 5 B. XII (q.v.), but on f. 159 b is a 13th cent. erased inscription which looks as if it belonged to another house, 'Hic est liber ........ ... et quicumque furatus fuerit hunc librum anatematizatus est et cum Daton et Abiron commendatus est. Fiat, Fiat, Amen'. Old Royal press-mark 'no. 359' (in cat. Of 1542, Add, MS. 25469, f. 29); cat. of 1666, f. 6; CMA. 7857, 7925, 8082.