Royal MS 8 F XVII

PETER OF BLOIS, archdeacon of Bath (circ. 1175-1191) and afterwards of London (circ. 1192-1204), Letters, Sermons, and other works, in Latin. Of the numerous MSS. hardly two give the same order and there are differences of text (perhaps due to a recension by the author) according to which the MSS. fall into at least two groups, Royal MSS. 14 C. IV, 15 B. IV, Cotton MS, Vesp. E. XI, Burney MS. 303, and Harley MSS. 325, 3684 falling into one, and Harley MS. 3672, Royal MS.

10 A. XVIII, and others (see below) into another. The editions (Paris, 1519, Mainz, 1600, Goussainville's, 1667, and Giles', 1847), though quite uncritical, generally follow the Harley 3672 group. The present MS. follows the former group so far as the original hand is concerned, but a nearly contemporary corrector has made insertions in the margin and marked some of the letters to be omitted according to a text of the other group, Contents 1. 'Epistole Petri Blesensis Ba[thoniensis] Ar[chidiaconi]': 101 letters, including the prefatory epistle to Henry II. of these no. 96 is the Instructio Fidei, opusc. v of Goussainville (Migne, Patr. Lat. ccvii. 1069), and no. 101 the Conquestio de Hierosolymitana Peregrinatione, opusc. iv (ib. 1057). Preface beg. 'Henrico dei gratia . . . Rogatus a uobis'; the next letter, 'Audiui et conturbatus est uenter'. f, i. At the end of art. i the scribe seems to have thought his task finished and hence added the note 'in hoe uolumine sunt xi. quaterni' ; but afterwards he continued and added eleven quires more.

2. 'Incipit opusculum mag. Petri Blesensis Bathon. Archidiaconi rogatu regis Henrici secundi super Iob': opusc. iii of Goussainville (Migne, Patr. Lat. ccvii. 795, cf 7 C. i, art. 23). Beg. 'Henrico ... Gratias ago gratie largitori quia gratanter'. f. 88 b.

3. 'Eiusdem Petri de conuersione beati Pauli' : the last but one of the sermons in the Paris edition of 1519, opusc. ii of Goussainville (ib. 791). Beg. 'Recolenda est cum exultatione beati Pauli conuersio'. f. 102.

4. 'Idem (sic) Petri de transfiguratione domini': the last of the sermons in the Paris edition, opusc. i of Goussainville (ib. 777). Beg. 'Reuerendo domino et patri karissimo Fremaldo dei gratia Attrebatensi episcopo . . . Magistri Sigerii frequens instantia'. f. 104.

5. 'Exhortationes mag. P. Blesensis Ba. Ar.': 47 sermons (wanting Goussainville's nos. 24, 28, 34-36, 40, 41, 43-49, 63-end). The end of the sermon Ad Sacerdotes is the fragment given at the end of Giles' collection (ib.

775) and not as given in the text (sermon lv, col. 722). Beg. 'Dum medium silentium, &c., Sap. xviii. 14: A diebus antiquis'. f. 108. Vellum; ff. 176. 113/4 in. x 81/4 in. XIII cent. Gatherings of 8 leaves, numbered at the end i~xxii. Double columns. Sec. fol. 'contristari'. Illuminated initial to each article, others in red and blue. Belonged to Lesnes Abbey, in Erith, co. Kent, 'Hic liber est ecclesic beati Thome martyris de Liesnes. Quem qui ei abstulerit aut illi super eo fraudem fecerit, nisi eidem ecclesie plene satisfecerit, anathema sit maranatha. flat flat. amen'. Old Royal press-mark 'no. 325' (Westm. invent. of 1542, Add. MS. 25469, f. 28); cat. of 1666, f. 15 b; CMA. 8158.