| Description | Manuscript volume, comprised of various texts written in the second half of the 14th century to the 15th century, probably assembled as a single codex in the 15th century.
Miscellanea Theologica, a collection of 23 theological tracts (sermons, papal decrees, confessional, etc). The fifth text refers to Henricus de Frimaria, who in 1342 was a lector at Erfurt, where the manuscript was probably written. Fol. 1r contains a later table of contents (fifteenth century). Contents are as follows:
1. fols. 1v-27r (quires 1-3): Tractatus de nouissimus de operibus... 'Sequitur de penis inferni timendis...discordias seminando etc.'
2. fols. 27v-30v: Sermones ii de beata virgine. Sermons for feast days of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Fol. 31r is left blank.
3. fol. 31v: Sermo in cena domini.
3* fol. 32v: Sermo de concepcione (not listed in the Table of Contents on fol. 1r). Fol. 33r is left blank.
4. fol. 33v: Miraculum de omnibus sanctis. A vision of the guardian of a church of St Peter (fol. 33r left blank).
5. fols. 33v-34r: Sermo de animabus.
6-8. fols. 34v-42v: Three sermons for feast days of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
9. fols. 43r-44r: 'Reprobacio Beghardorum et beginarum'. Ad nostrum qui desideranter... Ker identifies this as a papal bull of Clement V of 1312 (v. iii. 2) about the rehabilitation of the heretical Beguines and Beghards. It is followed by a list of eighteen articles, the first being 'Quod sacerdos communiter imputatus non potest conficere corpus cristi' and the notice 'Hos articulos confessus est quidam sartor qui fuerat vnus de illis hereticus set modo conuersus ad fidem Et propter istos articulos xii beghardi simulque hereticos (sic) sunt cremati in colonia etc'.
10. fol. 44v: Sermo de assumptione.
11. fols. 45-48r (quire 5): 'Tractatus (altered to Collecta) de resurrectione'. [C]irca cristi resurrectionem vtor tali consideratione... plenibus habetur in legenda. Followed by notes in another hand (48r-v).
12. fols. 49-68v (quires 6, 7): 'Creditur quod lectiones presentis sexterni circa Capitula beati Iohannis de passione domini sint lecte per Reuerendum doctor[em] Magistrum Henricum de frymaria qui in studio parys[iensi] vocatur h[enricum] de Alem[ania]', added in the fifteenth century. Hec cum dixisset ihesus egressus est trans torentem cedron. Illud est capitulum xviii(m) ewangeliste beati Iohannis...Explicit expositio ewangelii de passione domini beati Iohannis septem leccionibus lecta et finita in quadragesima per Reuerendum Got' de Langelo summum lectorem fratrum minorum in erfordia cum Iohannem ordinarie lectitaret. Est quoque reportata et fideliter ingrossata per [...] sub anno domini m ccc xli. Ker identifies Henricus de Frimaria as a lector at Erfurt in 1342, but the Passio Christi attributed to him and printed several times is not the present text. Fols. 68v-71v carries on from this in a different hand.
13. fols. 73-91v, 94-166v (quires 8-15): 'Sermones hyemales per hyemem de tempore'. Induimini dominum ihesum cristum. Rom(a) 13. Lex antiquorum Regum fuisse ... nos debeat iudicare ut possimus cum electis regnare quod nobis ... amen. Ker identifies this as sermons 1-17, 29-41, 52-54, and parts of sermons 18, 28, 42, and 51 of a (usually) numbered series of fifty-four sermons for the period from Advent. A quire is missing after fol. 120 and a quire after fol. 157. The last sermon is on John xvi. 8. A signe de renvoi on fol. 91v refers to the continuation 'in principio sexterni sequentis' (i.e. fol. 94). Fol. 167 r-v is left blank.
13*. fols. 91v-93v: Sequitur hic opinio de santa maria magdalena eam opinatiue probando fuisse virginem set non assertiue. Ker identifies this as a space filler in the main hand at the end of quire 9, quires 9 and 10 being written by different scribes and evidently at the same time.
14. fols. 168-70v: Sermo de domenica prima postquam festiuo trinitas. Sermon for the first Sunday after the Feast of the Holy Trinity.
15. fols. 171-175v: Sermones de sancto petro duos. Two sermons on St Peter. Fol. 176r is ruled but left blank.
16. fols. 176v-177r: De confessione. 'Confiteor deo omnipotenti...repletione' The Confiteor prayer for the Penitential Mass.
17. fols. 177v-178v, 199-206v: Incipit confessionale factum a magistro iohanne de culnis. Ad habendum salutifere confessionis ordinem hec beuiter conscripta sunt. Primo fiat confessio de puerilibus utpote de inobediencia ... delectacionem consenciat (ends aburptly).
18. fols. 179-181r: Sermo de prelatis.
19. fols. 181r-184r: Sermo de sancta agneta. A Sermon for the Feast of St Agnes. Fols. 184v-185r are left blank.
20. fols. 185v-189r: Sermo de assencione uersus assumptione de b[m]. Sermon on the difference between the Ascension of Jesus Christ and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
21. fols. 189r-193r: Sermo de angelis.
22. fols. 193r-197r: Sermo de sancto augustinus. A Sermon for the Feast of St Augustine.
23. fol. 197r-v: Sermo de sancto laurencio. A sermon for the Feast of St Laurence.
23*. fols. 197v-198v: 'Ich bekenne vnserm hern etc daz ich leyder myn dage...vnde bite genade'. Ker identifies this as a form of confession in German. Not in the Table of Contents on fol. 1r (probably written later than the rest of the compilation).
Paper, 200x145mm. 2 columns only in fols. 49-71v and 171-206v. Full ruling on fols. 171-206; elsewhere only the frame. Collation: 1(12, wants 1-3), 2(12), 3(10, wants 10 blank after fol. 30), 4(14, fols. 41-44), 5(4, fols. 45-48), 6-8(12), 9(8 + 1 leaf after 8, fol. 93), 10(10), 11(16), 12-13(12), 14(14), 15(16, wants 10 after fol. 166 and 12-16, all probably blank), 16(3, fols. 168-70), 17(8), 18-20(10).
Written in cursiva, hybrida and textura by several hands at different dates; Ker identifies items 13 and 13* as being written before the rest. There are a few red initials, 4-line (e.g. fol. 49r) and 2-line (e.g. fol. 189r). There is one 10-line initial on fol. 185v. Capital letters are in the same ink as the text marked with red: the red is sometimes metallic (e.g. fol. 173r). Plaited headbands suggest a contemporary fifteenth-century binding of German origin, wooden boards covered with dark leather bearing fillets and numerous repetitions of small blind stamps. Remains of a duckhead metal clasp visible on front and back covers, the central clasp is missing. Bosses (five, now missing) on the lower cover only.
The pastedowns are two parchment leaves containing 14th-century hymns. Ker idenitifies the exposed sides as the beginnings of: (i) Clarum decus, Aue maris stella, Fit porta cristi peruia, Vexilla regis, and Rex criste factor omnium; (ii) Ihesu nostra redempcio, Impnum canamus, Veni creator, Beata nobis guadia, and Iam cristus astra ascenderat. The pastedowns contain 2 columns of 33 lines with 2-line and 1-line red initials. Other strips of parchment for strengthening lie under the pastedowns and between and in the middle of quires. The only discernible pieces (after fols. 9 and 198) come from a 12th-century service book. 2 parchment tabs, coloured with red ink (now faded), have been pasted on to mark specific items (fols. 25 and 29). |
| CustodialHistory | The manuscript has the ex libris and pressmark of the Benedictine abbey of Saints Peter and Paul at Erfurt (fol. 1r, fifteenth or sixteenth century; also fols. 1v and 73r): Liber sanctorum apostolorum Petri et Pauli in Effordia. Pressmark 6685 on the front and spine. The volume was sold at Sotheby's, 26 January 1899, lot 745. Later formed part of the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), linguistic psychologist, founder of the Orthological Institute and originator of the language system Basic English, whose interests in language systems are reflected in the subject matter of his collection, which comprised individual manuscripts and manuscript collections dating from the 14th to the 20th century. |