Burney MS 323

The Catholicon,written by the Dominican Johannes Balbus (d. 1298) of Genoa, is a long treatisefor the study of Latin, divided into five parts: orthography, prosody, grammar,rhetoric, and etymology. This copy was owned by the Augustinian priory at Stonein Staffordshire (half-way between Stoke-on-Trent and Stafford). A puzzlingfeature of this manuscript is the style of illumination. The repertoire ofornament is basically English, but some of the colours are unusual, and thefigure-style, as for example in this initial, are extremely Italian. While thescript is English, the decoration is probably by an Italy-trainedartist working in England.

Contents:

ff. 1r-299v: John Balbi,The Catholicon, begins. 'Liber, qui vocatur Catholicon, quem frater Johannes de Janua deordine fratrum praedicatorum fecit et compilavit ad instructionem et utilitatemillorum, qui grammaticam scienciam studere frequentant...' ends. “...in cuius nomine flectetur omnegenu celestioum terresttrium et infernorum. Cui est honor et gloria, magnitudeet magnificentia, virtus et potestas, regnum et imperium in saecula saeculorum.Amen.”

f. 299v: 15^th-centuryownership note ('Liber iste Januenus, alias dictus Catholicon,liber est prioratus canonicorum regularium domus religiosae Sancti Walfadimartyris de Stone Coventrensis et Lich. dioecesis, ex dono magistri Silberti deStone, ecclesiae Cathedralis Weilensis canonici').

Decoration

1 full band and barborder, with illuminated interlace knots and foliate sprigs (f. 1r), and manyother partial bar foliate borders, usually illuminated and painted in rose andblue. 3 large historiated initials (ff. 1r, 198r, and 232r). 1 partial border witha bas-de-page scene of an archer shooting at another man's exposed buttocks (f.234v). Large painted foliate initials, usually of blue and red on a goldground. Small blue initials, many with red pen flourishing. Blue paraph marks.