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Harley MS 4804/1
- Record Id:
- 041-003356041
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-003356040
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100038230496.0x000001
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100057806402.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 4804/1
- Title:
- Prologue on Psalms attributed to St Augustine; Book of Psalms including Gilbert of Poitiers, Commentarius in Psalterium
- Scope & Content:
-
The first volume of two separate volumes with continuous foliation: Harley MS 4804/1 (ff. 1-167v), and Harley MS 4804/2 (ff. 168-336v).
The first volume is a book of Psalms containing the commentary on the Psalms written by Gilbert of Poitiers (b. after 1085, d. 1154), copied in Chartres during the first half of the 12th century. It includes a Greek text of the Psalms added in the lower margin (ff. 4r-26r) by the Italian humanist Sozomenus Pistoriensis or Zomino of Pistoia (b. 1387, d. 1458). The second volume was copied in the first half of the 14th century in Italy and contains Papias (fl. 1050)'s Vocabulista (Vocabulistics).
Contents:
f. 3r: Basil of Caesarea (b. c. 330, d. 379), translated by Rufinus of Aquileia (b. c. 345, d. 411) [here attributed to St Augustine (b. 354, d. 430)], De laude psalmorum prologus (The Prologue on the Praise of the Psalms), entitled: 'Prologus Beati Augustini super psalterium'; beginning 'Omnis scriptura divinitus inspirata utilis est ad docendum hac ipsa de causa a spirituo sancto conscripta', added in a 14th-century hand.
ff. 3v-160v: The Psalms including, Gilbert of Poitiers (b. c. 1075, d. 1154), Commentarius in Psalterium (Commentary on the Psalter), beginning with Gilbert of Poitiers' commentary: 'Christus integer, caput cum membris, est materia huius libri'; beginning of the book of Psalms (f. 4r): 'Incipit liber Hymnorum vel soliloquiorum prophete de Chisto. Beatus vir qui non abiit', with the commentary: 'Beatus vir huic Psalmo non est ausus Hesdras apponere titulum'.
The manuscript contains a few later additions:
ff. 4r-26r: Greek text added in margins by Zomino da Pistoia.
ff. 163r-165r: Added beginning of Psalms and prayers, written by Zomino da Pistoia.
Decoration:
The historiated and decorated initials are in the style of Chartres whereas the small initials with foliate decoration are in a style used in Paris in the same period, according to Stirnemann, 'Où ont été fabriqués les livres de la glose ordinaire' (1994).
Historiated initial in colours with David playing the harp at the beginning of the Psalms, followed by display script in red and blue (f. 4r). Large initial in colours with foliate decoration at the beginning of Psalm 51 (f. 54r). Initials in red or blue with simple penwork decoration in the other colour. Coloured initials in red. Ornate paraphs in the margin in brown ink (e. g., ff. 135v, 136r; possibly added).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- England and France 700-1200 Project
Greek Manuscripts
Harley Collection - Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-003356040
041-003356041 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 4804 : Book of Psalms with Gilbert de la Porrée's commentary; Papias, Vocabulista
Harley MS 4804/1 : Prologue on Psalms attributed to St Augustine; Book of Psalms including Gilbert of Poitiers, Commentarius in Psalterium - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[7754]/040-003356040[0001]/041-003356041
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- Item
- Extent:
- 1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- https://iiif.bl.uk/uv/#?manifest=https://bl.digirati.io/iiif/ark:/81055/vdc_100057806402.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Greek, Ancient
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1100
- End Date:
- 1499
- Date Range:
- 12th century-15th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
- Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 300 x 215 mm (text space 205 x 150 mm)
Foliation: ff. 167 (+ 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 4 at the end); 2 unfoliated parchment leaves after f. 1, and 1 after f. 165.
Script: Protogothic; Humanistic cursive. The scribe of the Greek text (Harley MS 4804/1, ff. 4-26 and Harley MS 4804/2) and former owner identified as Zomino da Pistoia (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 368; De la Mare, The Handwriting (1973), p. 97; Repertorium der griechischen (1981), I, p. 371).
Binding: British Museum binding of half red leather, 1966.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
? Chartres, Central France.
Provenance:
? Chartres: see Stirnemann, 'Où ont été fabriqués les livres de la glose ordinaire' (1994).
An unknown 14th-century owner: added a Prologue in a 14th-century Italian hand (f. 3r).
An unknown 15th-century owner: added a 15th-century inscription providing the folio numbers corresponding to the Penitential Psalms (f. 1v).
An unknown 15th-century owner: added a fragment of a 15th-century manuscript, used as flyleaves, containing the end of a text attributed to Galen (ff. 166 and 167).
An unknown 15th-century owner: added an annotation on f. 165r in a 15th-century script.
Zomino da Pistoia (b. 1387, d. 1458), studied at the University of Padua in 1407-13, belonged to the Poggio group of humanists at Florence, where he held the chair of Poetry and Rhetoric: annotations in his hand (ff. 161-165); a Greek translation of the Psalms added in his hand in the margin (ff. 4r-26r). The manuscript was probably already bound into two separate volumes in Zomino's time according to the notarial inscriptions usually linked to his manuscripts (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), pp. 368-69) on first and last leaves in both volumes, 'Bartholomeus da Forli, pm' (Harley MS 4804/1 f. 4r and Harley MS 4804/2 f. 168r) and 'Ego Franciscus Luce notarius opere scripsi' (Harley MS 4804/1 f. 165r and Harley MS 4804/2 f. 336v).
An unknown 16th-century owner: added a key to the medieval cross-index system for the commentary on Psalms including various symbols featuring in the margins throughout the Psalms, written by a 16th-century hand (f. 2r); added the (?) 16th-century pressmark 'G. 7' (ff. 1r and [1a]).
The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts.
Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta Cavendish, née Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d. 1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library.
- Information About Copies:
-
Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk.manuscripts/.
Select digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/welcome.htm.
- Publications:
-
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), III (1808), no. 4804.
Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 368-69.
A. C. de la Mare, The Handwriting of the Italian Humanists, 2 vols (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973), I, p. 97.
Cyril Ernest Wright, 'Manuscripts of Italian Provenance in the Harleian Collection in the British Museum: Their Sources, Associations and Channels of Acquisition', in Cultural Aspects of the Italian Renaissance. Essays in Honour of Paul Oskar Kristeller, ed. by C. H. Clough (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1976), pp. 462-84 (p. 468).
E. Gamillscheg and D. Harlfinger, Repertorium der griechischen Kopisten 800-1600, 3 vols, (Vienna: Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Byzantinistik, 1981), I: Grossbritannien, p. 371.
Patricia Stirnemann, `Où ont été fabriqués les livres de la glose ordinaire dans la première moitié du XIIe siècle?', in Le XIIe siècle. Mutations et renouveau en France dans la première moitié du XIIe siècle, ed. by Françoise Gasparri (Paris: Le Léopard d'Or, 1994), pp. 257-301 (p. 274).
Theresa Gross-Diaz, The Psalms Commentary of Gilbert of Poitiers: From Lectio Divina to the Lecture Room (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1996), p. 165.
The British Library Summary Catalogue of Greek Manuscripts (London: The British Library, 1999), I, p. 98.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Notes:
- This manuscript is part of The Polonsky Foundation England and France Project: Manuscripts from the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, 700-1200.