Royal MS 12 E I

Lives of Saints and theological collections of the early 14th cent., in Latin; bound up with a Latin metrical arithmetic and other matter in hands of the 15th cent. Contents:

1. Algorismus Metricus: the common versified arithmetic [by Alexander de Villa Dei], cf. 8 C. IV, art. 11. Without title. The present text consists of about 300 verses, including 14 lines on progression which are absent in Halliwell's edition and only partly given in 8 C. IV. It is accompanied by a prose interpretation found also in Sloane MS. 513 (which gives the author's name 'secundum Saxton'), Egerton MS. 851 and (slightly altered) Add. MS. 17716. Text beg. 'Hec algorismus ars presens dicitur in qua', and ends 'summam numerorum'; commentary beg. 'Hec presens ars dicitur algorismus ab Algore rege', and ends 'predicte progressionis. Et sic finitur tractatus de arte algorismi ad laudem &c. scriptus per manus m. Alb. anno dom. m ccccli'. f. 1.

2. Prayers, theological commonplaces, &c., chiefly in Latin, but some mutilated leaves (ff. 39, 40) were in English. Included are:-(a) Litany to the Virgin. Beg. 'Aue Maria. Quem tu, virgo castissima, angelo Gabriele nunciante'. f. 25;-(b) Mnemonic verses to show the dominical letter over a long cycle of (532?) years (perhaps to begin 1501). Incomplete, including only 54 years. Beg. 'Ciccine blandus amor fit earum dote creator'. f. 33;-(c) Verses on the casus excepti, beg. 'Qui facit incestum, deflorans aut homicida', and other scraps of verse. f. 34 b;-(d) Verses on the calendar beg. 'Sex nonas Maius, October, Iulius et Mars'. f. 35;-

(e) Chronological notes 'de etate mundi'. f. 36;-(f) Fragment of an astrological table of hourly dominations. f. 41 b.

3. Latin-English list of synonyms of simple medicines. Beg. 'Absinthium amarum. Anglice wermod'. f. 69.

4. Notes on simple medicines. Beg. 'Astrologia [Aristolochia] rotunda, calida et sicca'. f. 108.

5. Various recipes, including:-(a) 'Aqua vite' (simplex, composita, and perfectissima, cf. 12 D. XII, f. 71). f. 111;-(b) 'Aqua mirabilis'. f. 114;-(c) 'Colirium mag. Mauricii Cicilie'. f. 114b.

The above articles are in 15th cent. hands; the remainder, a miscellaneous collection of lives and miracies of saints, interspersed with theological commonplaces, prayers, hymns, &c., is in several hands of the early 14th cent.

6. Anonymous life of S. Alexius, printed in Bolland's Acta Sanctorum, July, iv, p. 251. Beg. 'Temporibus Archadii et Honorii imperatorum fuit Rome quidam uir'. f. 116.

7. Hymn, attributed to S. Bernard of Clairvaux, printed in Migne, Patr. Lat. clxxxiv. 1317 (cf. Chevalier, Repert. Hymn. nos. 4907, 9541). Beg. 'Dulcis Iesu [al. Iesu dulcis] memoria, / dans uera cordi gaudia'. Incomplete, 28 x 4 lines, ending 'et corde totus ardeo'. f. 118 b.

8. 'Vita s. Katerine': life of S. Katharine of Alexandria, the Latin prose version (derived from the Greek life by one Athanasius) printed (with Johannes Kanneman's Passio Christi, &c.) in two 15th cent. editions, s. l & a., where it is attributed to Rabanus Maurus, and from Cotton MS. Calig. A. VIII by Dr. Einenkel, Early Engl. Text Soc., 1884. Another copy is in Harley MS.

12, f. 141. Begins (wanting the preface of the Cotton MS. and editions), 'Maxencius anno regni sui tricesimo quinto residens in ciuitate Alexandrinorum'. f. 119 b.

9. Hymn (Chevalier, Rep. Hymn. no. 6691) printed, from a Paris MS., by Gautier in a note to his Adam de S. Victor (Paris, 1859), ii, p. 332. 6 x 3 lines; the seventh triplet (with last line of the sixth) is wanting, and a prose paraphrase substituted. Beg. 'Gaude, uirgo Katerina, qua doctoris lux diuina'. Inserted in the margin at the foot of the page. f. 119 b.

10. 'Incipiunt hore de s. cruce'. The first hymn beg. 'Ligatus es ut solueres mundi ruentis complices' (cf. Chev. Rep. Hymn. no. 10619). f. 122 b.

11. A fragmentary office, including matins and part of lauds. Without title. Incomplete. The hymns beg. 'Dolo Iude osculatus Christus captus et ligatus', and 'Colaphizatur et uelatur sed arundine uerberatur'. f. 124 b. A few commonplaces follow at f. 125.

12. Table of epistles and gospels for Sundays throughout the year. f. 126 b. Followed (f. 127 b) by more commonplaces.

Art. 13 must have been originally at the end of the volume, having a foliation, 88-99, and a table of contents (f. 136 b) to art. 6-end.

13. Distinctiones and homiletical notes, in a minute hand of the end of the 13th cent.; partly in the form of an incomplete 'numerale'. Beg. 'Duo sunt que timet humana fragilitas'. f. 128.

14. 'De beato Dionysio': the life as in the Legenda Aurea of Jacobus de Voragine (ed. Graesse), cap. cliii. Beg. 'Dyonisius interpretatur uehementer fugiens'. f. 137.

15. 'Narracio de s. Dominico et beato Francisco': a vision of S. Dominic (cf. Ward, Cat. of Romances, ii, p. 680). Beg. 'Quidam frater minor'. f. 140.

16. Brief anecdotes of S. Arsenius Anachoreta (see Vitae Patrum, Migne, lxxiii. 807, 888). Beg. 'Arsenius per totum tempus'. f. 140 b.

17. Extracts from the chronicle of Martinus Polonus (see 10 C. XI, art. 3), including the story of Pope Joan. Beg. 'Roma habet turres ccclx'. f. 141.

18. 'Contra cupidos et auaros uel potentes in gestis Alexandri': the Iter Alexandri ad Paradisum, a legend of Jewish origin (see Paul Meyer, Alexandre le Grand dans la littérature française, 1886, ii, p. 356). A fuller text was printed by Julius Zacher, Alex. Magni Iter ad Paradisum, Konigsberg, 1859. For the French form of the story, given in the Faits des Romains, see 16 G. VII, f. 307 b, and other MSS. Beg. 'Salomon didascalus Iudeorum scribit sic de Alexandro, quod quocunque locorum diuertebat'. Ends 'uacabat et honestati. Explicit narracio de gestis Alexandri regis'. f. 144.

19. Religious tales, in several hands. For description of the separate stories or extracts see Ward and Herbert, Cat of Romances, iii, p. 537. The first hand extends to f. 153 b and then (omitting ff. 154, 155) to 156 b. Another hand begins on f. 157 and continues (omitting f. 158) to f. 165 and then reverts to ff. 154, 155. A third hand (transcribing exclusively miracles of the Virgin) begins on f. 166. The whole collection beg. 'Quidam bonus Christianus in territorio Antiochie'. f. 145 b. Artt. 20, 21 are in the same hand as the miracies of the Virgin above.

20. Four tales which all occur in the Legenda Aurea of Jacobus de Voragine for Christmas Day (ed. Graesse, cap. vi), viz.:-(a) The midwife Salome, taken, through the 'compilatio Bartholomei', from the Protevangelium Iacobi ;-(b) Statue of Romulus, 'ut testatur Innocentius iii. papa';-(c) Jeremiah in Egypt, from Historia Scholastica;-(d) Octavianus and the Sibyl (including the reference to Pope Innocent III). Beg. 'Ioseph licet deum de uirgine'. f. 171.

21. Three more extracts from the Legenda Aurea, viz.:-(a) 'De sancta Anastasia': the story of SS. Agape, Chionia, and Irene, from cap. vii (Graesse). Beg. 'Anastasia que Christiana fuit'. f. 172;-(b) 'De sancto Siluestro': the latter part of the life of Pope Silvester from cap. xii. Beg. 'Persequente Constantino Christianos'. f. 172 b;-(c) 'De Veronica', from the legenda for the Passion, cap. liii. Beg. 'Tyberius Cesar cum graui morbo teneretur'. Ends (incomplete ?) 'terri, biliter exardascit'. f. 180 b.

22. Two short notes (a) on prayer and (b) on Bede's title 'venerabilis'. The latter is in the same hand as ff, 154, 157, &c., and artt. 23-25. f. 182.

23. 'Barlaam': the story of Barlaam and Josaphat, the abridgement given by Jacobus de Voragine in his Legenda Aurea (ed. Graesse, cap. clxxx). See Ward, Cat. of Romances, ii, p. 130. Beg. 'Barlaam cuius hystoriam Iohannes Damascenus diligenti studio compilauit'. f. 182 b.

24. ' De Magdalena': an extract from the life given in the Legenda Aurea (ed. Graesse, cap. xcvi, p. 413). Beg. 'Interea beata Maria Magdalena superne contemplacionis auida'; ends 'in pace quieuit', f. 191.

25. 'Exemplum de tigre', from a bestiary, 'Ex aui. G. B.' Beg. 'Tigris ubirapte sobolis'. f. 192b.

26. 'De bonis sociis s[c]. Amone et Phiscio': the story of Damon and Phintias from Valerius Maximus. Beg. 'Narrat Valerius in libro 4 quod cum uellet Dionisius'. f. 192 b.

27. Sacred songs in English and French, viz.:-(a) Sequence in English, with notes (see Hughes-Hughes, Cat. of MS. Music, quoted below). Beg. 'Stond wel moder vnder rode, biheld þi child wyth glade mode'. f. 193;-

(b) Another, without music. Beg. 'Quanne hic se on rode Iesu mi lemman'. f. 194b;-(c) Song in French, with notes. Beg. '[ ] mer me estut a tute fin e mun'. f. 194 b.

28. 'Narracio Lincolniensis pro collacione elemosine'. Beg. 'Episcopus Lincolniensis dominus, immo potius sanctus, Robertus Grostet. predicauit quod tempore Christi duo filii'. f. 195.

29. Theme for a sermon on Ecclus. vi. 5, followed by a longer sermon on 2 Tim. ii. 3, beg. 'Labora sicut bonus miles Christi: In hiis uerbis ponit beatus Martinus'. f. 195 b.

Vellum ; ff. 197. 5¹/₄ in. x 4 in. Early XIV-late XV centt. Sec. fol. 'articuli quidam'. Belonged to John Theyer. Theyer salecat. no. 275; not identified in CMA.

Description of music from Augustus Hughes-Hughes, Catalogue of Manuscript Music:

ff. 193-195. 'Stond wel moder vnder rode': a sacred song, the music to which resembles in form that of the Latin Sequence. It is followed by a semi-religious French song, the first few words of which are lost. The notes used are square and diamond-shaped on a stave of four red lines, with the C, B flat and C-B flat signatures.