Royal MS 8 E XVIII

DIADEMA MONACHORUM, with some canon-law and historical notes, &c., in Latin. Artt. 1, 2 occur in the same order in 8 D. XIII, a Worcester MS., from which this may probably have been copied. Contents:-

1. 'Liber qui dicitur Diadema monachorum' (so colophon): the work of Smaragdus (cf. 7 D. XI). Imperfect by loss of a leaf at the beginning. Beg. in cap. i (Migne, Patr. Lat. cii. 595) '. . . Numquem est sine gemitu orandum'. f. 1.

2. 'De Ioanne brevi': a metrical version (13 x 4 lines) of the story told in the Apophthegmata Patrum (transl. by Pelagius), Rosweyd's Vitae Patrum, lib. v, p. 598 (Migne, lxxiii. 916). Beg. 'In gestis patrum ueterum / quoddam legi ridiculum'. f. 77.

3. Verses on simony (22 hexameters) beg. 'Surgit in ecclesia monstrum genitore Losinga / Symonidum secta canonum uirtute resecta', roughly corresponding with the first half of a poem printed by Flacius Illyricus (Varia doctorum poemata, ed. 1754, p. 220). The reference is apparently to the appointment of Herbert de Losinga to the see of Thetford (transferred by him to Norwich) in 1091. No such charge is known against Robert Losinga, Bishop of Hereford (d. 1095). f. 77 b.

4. 'Ex decretis sanctorum patrum': a collection of canons which seems to be unknown. The arrangement is not systematic. The first four are as follows;-(a) The spurious Exhortatio of Pope Eutychianus (Jaffé, no. 147) printed in Migne, v. 163, but the text has many differences, and the passage relating to the Quicumque vult is wanting. Beg. 'Fratres et sacerdotes, domini et cooperatores'. f. 78;-(b) A confessional formula. Beg. 'Credis in deum patrem'. Imperfect at end by loss of two leaves. f. 79 b;-(c) A hymn (perhaps imperf. at beg., 21 x 3 lines) on the New Jerusalem, beg. 'Gloriosa summi regis / aula sui signo gregis / insignitur hodie'. This is an insertion in a later hand on the upper part of a page, which had been left blank. f. 80; -(d) 'Ex decretis Ygini pape', the spurious decretal Ligna ecclesiae (Jaffé, no. 40). f. 80. The remainder consists of extracts from Councils, the Fathers, Pseud- Isidorian and other spurious and genuine decretals, the Penitential of Theodore, &c. Ends with 'Aug. de laicis. Mutus et surdus ... non qui tarde loquitur'. f. 78.

5. Brief annals, giving as originally written the date of Easter for each year from 1066 to 1205, and obits and events for various years 1066-1130. The dates in this hand are either of general English interest (including, under 1105, the note 'Siuurdus rex uenit', referring to the visit of Sigurd, King of Norway, to England on his way to Palestine), or relate particularly to Worcester and the West of England (1095, 'ob. Wulstanus ep. xiiii. Kal. Feb.'; 1107, 'ob. Rodbertus filius Hamonis'; 1113, 'ciuitas Wigorniip prorsus igne consumitur'), or in the case of the last entry (1130, 'Hugo archiepiscopus Rotomag. eligitur') relate to an abbot of Reading. Entries in another hand, 1121-1142, relate almost entirely to Reading Abbey or its cell Leominster, to which it is therefore presumed that the MS. belonged. Later additions are notes of eclipses in 1178, 1180, and fuller particulars for the calendar 1189-1233. Printed by F. Liebermann, Ungedrwckie Ang-Norm. Geschichisquellem, 1879, p. 9. f. 94. Vellum; ff. 96. 91/4 in. x 63/4 in. Middle of XII cent. Original second (?). now first, fol. 'Numquam est'. Ornamental initials in colours. See pl. 60 b, c. Probably belonged to Leominster Priory (the Diadema Monachorum occurs in the catalogue printed in Engl. Hist. Review, iii, p. 124); afterwards to John Theyer (signature, f. 1). Theyer sale-cat. no. 159; CMA. 6510.