Royal MS 8 E VII

MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS, relating in part to the English Universities, in Latin, viz.:-

1. Repertorium Biblie: the alphabetical glossary of the Bible (Abba-Zizania) attributed by Bale (ed. Poole, pp. 25, 468) to Alexander Neckam. In Harley MS. 2270, f. 195, it is ascribed (in a later hand) to John of Bridlington. Anonymous copies are at Oxford, Laud Misc. XXX, Merton Coll. ccxxxiv. Preface beg. 'Licet nonnulli circa vocabula biblie'; text, 'Abba secundum Papiam Syrum'. Colophon, 'Laus tibi sit, Christe, quoniam liber explicit iste, I Qui repertorium biblie vocitetur in euum'. f. 1.

2. Letter from an English prelate (perhaps Edmund Lacy, Bishop of Exeter, formerly Master of University College, see below, art. 5) to Oxford University, recommending Ferdinand of Cordova, who is at Calais and about to visit England, and reciting a letter to the abbot of S. Bernard in Flanders [Lieu-St. Bernard, near Ant. werp ?], in which the young scholar's marvellous achievements at Paris University are described. For similar accounts see Julien Havet in Mem. de ta Soc. de l'Hist. de Paris, ix, 1883. The letter, written at the instance of John Montagu, a chaplain in the bishop's church, is dated Calais, 1 Feb. 1446[7]. Beg. 'Obsequium et honorem. Clarissimi uiri uirum mirabilem'. f. 52 b.

3. 'Cronica preciosa de vniuersitate Cantabriggia': a copy of the Historiola, a mythical account of Cambridge University attributed to Nicholas Cantelupe (d. 1441, according to Leland). It beginswith Gurgunt and ends with Athelstan, A.D. 924, and is possibly a counterblast to the Oxford claims represented by the well-known interpolation in Asser, which Camden derived from a lost MS. which he regarded as written temp. Rich. II. The colophon states that the article is taken 'ex libro mag. Roberti Aschurst doctoris Cantabrigiensis uniuersitatis'. Printed by T. Hearne at the end of Sprott's Chronicle (1719). For other copies see Add. MS. 35816, Cotton MS. Faust. C. III, f. 1, Arund. MS. 350. Beg. 'Anno a mundi creatione 4321'; ends 'in eodem anno coronatus'. f. 53 b.

4. 'Liber prophecie Iohannis de Rupecissa qui vocatur Vnde mecumin lribulacione'(so colophon): the tract addressed from prison to Petrus Pencrii, a Franciscan physician, by the Franciscan Iohannes de Rupescissa (Roquetaillade, fl. 1349), printed in Edward Brown's second volume of Gratius' Fasciculus Rerum Expetendarum (London, 1690), p. 496. For other copies see Harley MS. 1008, f. 27, Sloane MS. 156, f. 19 b. The dates here and in the Harley MS. are altered from the 14th to the 15th century, and at the end is added here a note to show that the prophecies of David and of Merlin agree with this treatise in predicting disasters in 1464 or 1465. Beg. 'Ex medullis ewangelice caritatis'. f. 57.

5. 'Questio de duracione huius etatis mundi'. The colophon adds 'compilata ac edita per me arcium et medicine doctorem Iohannem Paulum de Fundis ac etiam in astronomia actu Bononie astrologie monarcham legentem et disputantem, 1433'. After this is added 'Ex libris magistri Edmundi Lacy episcopi Exoniensi (1421-1455), cuius anime propicietur deus ex gracia. amen'. A note is appended on the rule for summing the series 1 + 2 + 3... + n. f. 73.

6. Quaestiones directed against the doctrines of Wycliffe, dated at the top 1465, viz. :-(a) 'Numquid ecclesiarum cathedralium et aliorum beneficiorum ecclesiasticorum prouisiones pertinuerunt originaliter et immediate ad summos pontifices'. f. 78;-(b) 'Utrum, sicut Aaron fuerit summus pontifex tempore veteris legis, ita sit aliquis superior aliis sacerdotibus'. f. 83; -(c) 'Utrum liceat ad sanctorum basilicas seu reliquias corporales facere peregrinaciones'. f. 92. Paper; ff. 97. 8 3/4 in x 6 in. XV cent. Written (except art. 4, which is in another hand of the same date) in a singularly ugly and somewhat illegible hand. The last few pages are mutilated at the edges. Sec.fol. 'adamas'. Not identified in the old catalogues.