Burney MS 355

A 15^th-centuryCarthusian rewriting of the fifth century ascetic discourses of John Cassian.

Contents:

ff. 1r-52r: John Cassian, Institutes of the Coenobia rephrased by Denys the Carthusian. f. 1r.Prologue of Denys Begins ‘Declaratio sermonum tuorum illuminat. Ends primoa prologo eius.’ Text Begins ‘De institutis ac regulis monasteriorum.’(f.1) Ends ‘…quod istud intelligimus’. (f. 52r) (As pubilished in Iohannis Cassiani libri xii., Coloniae, 1540, ff. i-xxxix.)

f. 52r: Expliciunt libri duodecim Cassiani presbiteride institutionibus monachorum et de octoprincipalibus vitiis, translati ad planum ac facilem stylum propter simplitioresa Domino et fratre Dyonisio monacho ordinis Carthusiensium in Ruremunda.Translata sunt haec a dicto Dyonisio anno Domini 1453, transcripta sunt autem afratre Arnaldo Tolenbeke, monacho domuscapelle ejusdem ordinis, anno Domini 1478 die Sancti Sixti Pape.’

ff. 52r-200v: JohnCassian, Conferences of the DesertFathers rephrased by Denys the

Carthusian Prologue of Denys Begins ‘Sapientia abscondita et thesaurus…’ (f. 52v) Ends ‘…sicutet ibi a prologo.’ Text Begins ‘Cum accepissem abbatem Moysen’ (f. 200v) Ends ‘…tutissimum portum silentii.’ (As publishedin Iohannis Cassiani libri xii.,Coloniae, 1540, ff. xxxix^v-cxlii^v.)

f. 200v: ‘Scriptum est hoc opus in domo capelle ordinis CarthusiensiumCameracensis Dyocesis, ac finitum permanus fratris Arnoldi Beeltresen [?] deTolenbeke monachi professi ibidem, annoDomini m° cccc° lxxix° in crastino beate Marie Magdalene, sub prioratu DominiArnoldi Hodeman [?] anno xxii. regiminis ejusdem. Orate pro Scriptore.’

Decoration: Large puzzle initials in blue and red, some withflower motifs and dense penwork flourishing, 1 with possibly later flourishingin brown ink (f. 144). Smaller simple initials alternately blue and red, 2 withpossibly later flourishing in the bowl in brown ink (f. 143v).