Cotton MS Vitellius A XVII, ff 17-166

Contents:

ff. 17v-164v: Osbert of Clare (d. after 1139), Epistolae (Letters), with an interpolation containing two treatises that have been attributed to Eadmer [Edmer] of Canterbury (b. c. 1060, d. in or after 1126), De Conceptione Sancte Marie (On the Conception of the Virgin Mary); the rubrics for these treatises (ff. 99v, 101v) were added in the 13th century.

The manuscript contains a number of additions:

f. 17r: Latin poems and proverbs, added by different hands in the 12th century; including Bernard of Cluny [Morlaix] (b. c. 1100, d. c. 1150), verses from De Contemptu Mundi (On the Vanity of the World), beginning ‘In geminum caput egrediens apud anglica rura’ and ‘Ad bona claudimus, ad mala vendimus osque manumque’; Anonymous/Unidentified author, untitled poem, beginning ‘Iuno, tesifone, pallas, bellona, dione’; an excerpt of Albertanus of Brescia, known as Causidicus (b. 1190, d. after 1250), De Amore et Dilectione Dei et Proximi (On the Love and Goodwill of God and of Neighbours), beginning ‘In mundo duo sunt que nil abscondita prosunt’; Unidentified/Anonymous author, ‘Potio sit potius mors [...]’; an excerpt of Pseudo-Ausonius, Septem Sapientium Sententiae (Seven Sayings of Wisdom), beginning 'Que nam summa boni ? Mens est sibi conscia recti'; Unidentified/Anonymous author, untitled poem, beginning ‘Cum bene pugnaris, cum cuncta subacta putaris’; an excerpt from the Catonis Disticha (Distichs of Cato), beginning ‘Numquam bella bonis numquam discrimina desunt’; Unidentified/Anonymous author, untitled poem, beginning ‘Quilibet expulsus rebusque suis spoliatur’; and an anonymous legend recounting the origin of Judas Iscarioth (‘Iudas scariothes’).

ff. 23v-24r (lower margin): An anonymous poem on the Passion, begining ‘Mens, affectus, ratio, sensus convenite’, added in the 12th century.

f. 26r (lower margin): An anonymous poem entitled ‘Iohannis lucicij contra legistas et decretistas indiscretos’, added in the 12th century.

ff. 164v-165v: The second part (‘secunda pars’) of the poem on the Passion on ff. 23v-24r (lower margin); with moral and satirical notes in the margins, added in the 12th century.

ff. 165v-166v: Three anonymous poems on the Virgin Mary, the first incomplete at the beginning; the first complete stanza begins: ‘Mater caput agita manibus levatis’, added in the 12th century.

f. 166v: An anonymous poem on the three men revived by Christ, here entitled De Tribus Mortuis (On the Three Dead Men), beginning ‘Intro, foris, sub humo, recubat, vehitur, veterascit’, added in the 12th century.

f. 166v: Maximianus (fl. 6th century), Elegiae (Elegies), excerpts [written vertically], added in the 12th century.

f. 166v: An anonymous saying about the three types of unhappiness, beginning: ‘Tres infelices in mundo novimus esse’, added in the 12th century.

f. 166v: Aesop, Fabulae (Fables), 26: De Agno et Lupo (About the Lamb and the Wolf), excerpt: 'Nil melius sano monitu, nil peius iniquo. Consilium sequitur certa ruina malum' , added in the 12th century.

Decoration:

1 large puzzle initial in red and blue, with foliate decoration in the same colours (f. 61v); medium initials in blue, green, ochre or red with arabesque penwork decoration in the other colour. Medium initials in blue and red with filigree penwork decoration in the other colour (ff. 99v, 101v) . Small initials in blue, green, ochre or red. Rubrics in red. Display script (capitals) in brown ink. For the added poems on ff. 23v-24r (lower margin); f. 26 (lower margin); ff. 164v-166v only: 3 medium puzzle initials in red and green (ff. 165v, 166r, 166v); medium initials in red, some with red penwork decoration; small initials in green and red, sometimes with penwork decoration in the other colour; small (one-line) initials highlighted in green and red. rubrics in red.