34 JOHN BELET (about 1160-70). COLLECTANEA, sm. folio, MS. ON VELLUM, with coloured decorative initials; bound in old calf About 1180-90 120 0 0 CONTENTS: 1. BECKET'S PASSION. Incipit passio beati thome martyris Cantuariensis Archiepi. Digne fratres karissimi huius diei preclara festivitas fidelium deuotione frequentata, sollempnis agitur, in qua patris nostri et patrie protectoris, iunictissimi atlethe Thome martyris mors in conspectu Dei efficitur preciosa This is an apparently unknown Legendum; evidently of English origin, from the phrase protector patriæ, and possibly anterior to the canonisation in 1173. 2. IOHANNIS BELEHT SUMMA de Ecclesiasticis Officiis. In prima ecclesia prohibitum erat ne quis loqueretur linguis nisi esset qui interpretaretur. . 236 columns An extremely valuable text. The date of the book's composition is shown by the author's reference (in his article on the Assumption) to an assertion made by Helizabeth religiosissima mulier adhuc vivens. This St. Elizabeth of Treves died in 1165.-There is no mention of All Souls' day here. 3. LIBELLUS DE VITA ET INTERFECTIONE GLORIOSI COMITIS FLANDRIE KAROLI a domino Waltero Morinensis ecclesie archidiacono editus . . 54 columns. A complete and remarkably early text of a document important for the history of the Low Countries. The original was written about 1150. 4. VITA KAROLI MAGNI REGIS IMPERATORIS EDITA AB EINHARDO ABBATE. Gens Merouingorum de qua Franci reges sibi creare soliti erant . . 32 columns. An early text of a famous chronicle, complete. 5. VITA SCI AUGUSTINI EPI (edita a Posidio Calamesi epo) Inspirante rerum omnium facto (re) . 62 columns; followed by Dicta Augustini, 6 columns, and Translatio Augustini, 3 columns. 6. TRANSLATIO S. NICHOLAI. 4 columns. 7. CANTICUM CANTICORUM cum Glossa. 75 columns. 8. Description of the Holy Land by Fretellus, dedicated to H. Bishop of Olmütz, 10 columns, incomplete. (The original was written at Antioch before 1140.) 9. COLLATIO PAFNUTII ABBATIS de tribus Abrenunciationibus. . 35 columns. 11. COLLATIO ABBATIS SERAPIONIS de octo vitiis principalibus. 39 columns. 17. MIRACLE in favour of Helsinus, Abbot of Ramsey in England, 4 columns. 18. IERONIMUS de captivo monacho, 5 cols. incomplete. This very valuable and important volume was formerly in the Abbey of Tongerloo, but probably drifted into the library of that house long after its compilation. It may have been transcribed and compiled for John Belet (an Englishman) at Amiens and retained by him so long as he lived. At least Nos. 1-8 of the above list formed a homogeneous whole. (The first five leaves are in a slightly later hand, and were added to make up for a loss of the original first four leaves of the MS.) Nos. 9-18 may have been annexed either by Beleth himself or by a later owner, but even in this division No. 17 indicates an English origin. Tanner claims Belet, Beleth, or Bylith as an Englishman, although most of the biographers seem to think that he was French. £ 8. d. 35 WALTER MAP, about 1130-1190. THE ARTHUR ROMANCE. Le premier 36 GILBERT FOLIOT (died 1188). GILLEBERTUS SUPER CC. [SERMONES IN Small folio, FINE MS. ON VELLUM, 108 leaves, written in double columns; with painted capitals, and having several curious drawings on the margins; in excellent condition, in the original binding of wooden boards covered with white leather About 1250 32 0 0 Written in the Abbey of Royaumont (Regalis Mons) near Paris, which was founded by St. Louis in 1227. The rubricator, who was apparently also the illustrator, was an artist of considerable skill and fancy. On leaf 13, he has added a head on the margin in continuation of the ornamental line from the initial P; something similar on leaves 20, 24, 32, 40, 76, 68, 71, 84; on 46 a white griffin rampant on a red roundel; on 49, a rustic preaching or protesting with outstretched finger; on 50, two men carrying a basket slung upon a bar supported on their shoulders, before them a grotesque dog standing on his hind legs; on 56, within a roundel, a green tree or double fleurde-lis, on one side of which is a warrior with a red shield, in the mail and helmet of the early twelfth century, who strikes with his sword at an upright beast like a grotesque lion, on the other side of the tree; on 57, two similar grotesque animals fighting; on 66, another hybrid animal; on 73, a grotesque lion; on 80, a very curious horned dragon with a head at each end, biting his lower portion; on 92, a fight between a grotesque lion and a rustic whose weapon is a flail with a ball at the end. This last is a striking picture. 37 GILBERT FOLIOT. Expositio in Canticum Canticorum, una cum compendio Alcuini, nunc primum in lucem prodiit opera et studio Francisci Junii, small 4to. LARGE PAPER; bound in olive morocco for Charles I, with his crown and arms in gold on the sides, from David Laing's collection, a very fine copy Londini MDCXXXVIII (1638) 30 0 0 38 GEOFFREY VINSAUF (flour. 1190-1200) POETRIA NOVELLA. Fol. 1 blank. Fol. 2: Incip liber poet'e nouelle magri ghuill'i anglici missi ab ipo rege aglie ad Iunocētiù ppm iiij ad sui cog'tulaez. Prohemiū Papa stupor mudi, si dix'o ppa nocēti | Acephalu nom t'bua t.' si capd' adda Hostis erit nom metri. . Fol. 77: . . Iam mare transcurri . . On the reverse: Quem pape scripsi. . Fol. 78: Explic' liber poetrie nouelle dō grās Am | Nom fortuna, studiù cas9 z genitura | Vict9 affect9 hitus fac z cōsulit hora. Small 4to. MS. ON VELLUM, 78 leaves, with painted initials; 14 lines of verse to the page, with a great number of closely written prose glosses on the margins; bds. (Ravenna ?) about 1330 15 0 0 Vinsauf was an Englishman and served as an agent between Richard Cœur de Lion and the Pope. A short chronicle of King Richard is ascribed to him. It is by an error of the scribe that the author is named Guillelmus; and that the Pope's name appears as Innocent IV (1243-1254). It was to Innocent III (11981216) that Vinsauf addressed his Poetria Novella, which was an effort to restore the old classical metres in the place of the monkish rhymes which had become the favourite form of verse. It has been printed in Leyser's collection of mediaval poetry. The Expositio, or set of glosses, has a colophon which states that it was made by a sufficientem virum ad petitionem scolarium Ravennensium. 39 LAGAMON (about 1200). LAYAMON'S BRUT, or Chronicle of Britain; a Poetical Semi-Saxon Paraphrase of the Brut of Wace. Now first published from the Cottonian manuscripts in the British Museum; accompanied by a literal Translation, Notes, and a Grammatical 1847 Glossary. By Sir Frederic Madden. 3 vols., roy. 8vo., with facsimiles; This is still Anglish rather than English. "A highly important publication. The entire Poem is now placed within reach of those who have neither opportunity nor inclination to grapple with the obscurities of the MSS.; and this has now been done under a very careful eye, and with a rich accompaniment of elucidations."-Garnett's Essays, p. 128. The poet was a priest at Ernley, or Arley, on the Severn, and he is believed to have written this book about the year 1200. 40 JOHN GARLAND (about 1190-1250). Fol. 1: Cartula nostra tibi mandat dilecte salutes | Multa videbis ibi si non mea dona refutes Smallest 4to. (square 12mo.), MS. ON VELLUM, 20 leaves; old calf Entirely written in rhymed verse. About 1320 On page 38, there is a subscription (above the words Explicit contemptus mundi) from which we get the name of the scribe as YVRARDINUS. In forty-three lines of prose minutely written on the lower half of p. 38 and the upper half of 39, there is an analysis of the poem in which the author is twice mentioned and the title of the book given as "liber magistri Johannis de Gallandia, qui solet vocari Cartula vel liber de contemptu mundi." John Garland is claimed both in England and France. He was a man of great repute who died in Paris in the twelve-fifties. Roger Bacon was a friend of his. 41 ORMIN flor. about 1240. THE ORMULUM with the notes and Glossary of Dr. R. M. White, edited by Rev. Robert Holt, 2 vols. post 8vo. cloth, uncut Oxford, 1878 This is not Anglish but real English of the Midlands, about A.D. 1230-40. It begins with: This book is named Ormulum, | Therefor that Orm it wrote | And it is wrote quadruply | Of Gospel books four. These are the first four lines, with nothing but the spelling altered. 42 JOHN OF ABBEVILLE (died 1267) Homiliæ. Licet cum martha sollicitarer in curia z turbarer erga plima. . Incipiunt omelie magri iohis de abbisvilla . . small 4to. FINE MS. ON VELLUM, with ornamental initials; 207 leaves in double columns, 36 lines to the column; written in a clear, minute hand by an English scribe; old calf gilt from the library (and with the bookplate) of Maurice Johnson of Spalding, 1733 7 0 0 10 About 1290-1300 15 In remarkably fine condition. With the autograph inscription of Johannes Preston, Penitentiarius Angliæ, who bought the book for five florins, about 1400, and placed it in the library of St. Augustine's Monastery near Canterbury. The latter fact is attested by an inscription written about 1410 by the librarian on a strip of vellum inserted in front of the book. Some leaves of French verse are written at the end of the volume. The first line is "Flour de flours, columbine, de mes dolours playne medicine." Although not quite an Englishman, John of Abbeville was very nearly a subject of Henry III. In any case this is an early English MS. 43 ROGER BACON 1214-1294. Fratris Rogeri Bacon . . OPUS MAJUS . Folio, LARGE PAPER, with diagrams; old calf backed with old red morocco 44 THOMAS SPROT flor. 1280. Chronicle, Lives of Archbishops of Canterbury, etc., in Latin MS. ON VELLUM, in a volume, small folio, bound for Sir Edward Dering about 1650, with the Dering crest on the sides in gold (rebacked) About 1375 (continued down to 1480) 36 This is the identical volume from which Hearne printed his Sprott's chronicle. It contains the following pieces: 1, A List of the Abbots of St. Augustine of Canterbury down to 1375; 2, A Note on the four chief Highways of England; 3, Bishoprics throughout the world; 4, Temporal possessions of the Archbishops of Canterbury ; 5, Privileges of the Abbots of St. Augustine; 6, Alphabetical Index of the contents of the Abbey Register; 7, Lists of English Kings and of the Archbishops (ending 1370-1400 continued to 1480); 8, List of English Sees; 9, Genealogical Table showing the right of Edward of Windsor to the French crown; 10, Lists of Archbishops and Abbots continued to the sixteenth century; 11, Endowments of the Bishopric of Rochester; 12, Sprott's chronicle (continued); 13, Memorandum de Newington. 5 MATTHEW OF WESTMINSTER (died about 1308) Flores Historiarvm .. collecti præcipue de rebus Britannicis ab exordio mundi vsque ad Annum Domini. 1307. Small folio, title within woodcut border; somewhat damp stained; bound in London about 1570-80, by Archbishop Parker's binder, with Lyonnese tooling and compartments in colours £ s. d. Londini, ex officina Thomæ Marshiji . . 1570 30 0 0 A good example of English ornamental binding. On the back of the title is the engraved bookplate of "Robertus Eglesfield Clericus" with his arms (three eagles in the field), the letters Coll. Reg. Oxon., and the motto "Reginæ erunt nutrices tuæ which may be read punningly as Queen's [College] will nurse thee. 46 RICHARD ROLLE OF HAMPOLE (died 1348). THE PRICK OF CONSCIENCE. Fol. 1 and 3af hym skille witt mynde | Ffor to knowe gode z ille | And pto 3af hym witt z skille | . . Fol. 112: . . Her endep pe pricke of conscience. Finito libro reddatur gloria Xpo. Qui scripsit carmen sit benedictus Amen. Fol. 113: To goddes worschipe pat der vs bou3t | To whom we owen to make our mone | Of our synes þat we han wrou3t | In 3oupe and elde wel many one pe seuene Salmes are purz souzte | In schame of alle our goostly foon | And in englische pei be brou3t. Fol. 119: Ffor on pi payne whoso pynke In worldly welpe hap no delyte. . Ff. 120-122 blank. Fol. 123: Gladnesse to glade wip, bones meke | In lownesse to lerne me to lyue | Lord I pee pat biseke pe peues gilt was forzeue | Hangynge on rode . . Fol. 130: . . In heuene kyngdome me to sesen | Graunte oon god & psones thre. Amen, Amen, Amen. Explicit cōmentù in 7 Psalmos penitentiales in Anglicis. 47 Small 8vo. MS. ON VELLUM, 130 leaves, 39 lines to the page; old The date written at the end, which appears to be 1223, is of course the addition The book came to Maurice Johnson in 1710, after having belonged previously to The end-lines of the Pricke are: And je that have herde this tretys redde | That another MS. of the same. Small folio, FINE OLD ENGLISH MS. ON VELLUM, 137 leaves, with seven illuminated capitals, rubricated headings throughout; in a seventeenth-century calf binding About 1401 40 0 0 A book of great and singular value, in consequence of its numerous variations from the ordinary text of MSS. It is in admirable preservation, and has only lost one leaf, the first of "The Entre" (or introduction), and the second from the end. Thus it begins And no quyk creature bot pay As he is nowe, bope God and mon. The variations between this and the preceding MS. are curiously great. The second MS. is far and away superior to the other in the tuneful and easy movement of the metre; which may indicate the hand of a clever editor. It is certainly not so close to the original text of Hampole as is the previous copy. The last fourteen lines run as follows: Nowe is the last parte of this bok sped | And alle the materes there in be red | The whiche conteneth as je my;t here | Bothe generalle and specyal ioyes sere For oure lordes loue swete Ihesu | Prey for hym specyally that hit drew | That yue he lyue God saue hym hameles | And mayntene hys lyf in alle godenes | And if he be dede as falleth kyndly | That God on his soul haue mercye | And bryng hitte to that blysful place | Where ioye euer is and eke solace | To the whiche place he us alle bryng | That for oure heele on rode con hyng. MCDI. 48 ROLLE OF HAMPOLE. PRICK OF CONSCIENCE. Last page: Here endeth the tretys that is callyd the Prykke of Contiens. 8vo. MS. ON VELLUM, 121 leaves; 33 lines to the page; with a border and with illuminated initials; calf About 1440 36 0 ... A COMPLETE COPY, written with South-English_modifications. The first few lines on page 1 are The myt of the fadir of heuene | The wit of the sone with his iftes seuene And the goodnesse of the holi gost | God and lorde of my tes most | . The final lines are "Now he have herd this tretis rad | Vnto toure heryng openly sprad Ffor the loue of Cst Jhesu | Pray for hym that thys bok out drew | Ffor hym also that wrot hit here | Wher' that he be ferr' or nere | As synfullyst that lyueth by brede That God hem kepe quyk and dede | And saue hem fro wickednesse | And hem mayntene in godnesse | iff they be dede as falleth by kynde | That God her soules haue in mynde | And brynge hem to that blisful place | To haue the sit of his face | To whiche ioye he us brynge | That for oure loue made all thyng. BARTHOLOMEW GLANVILLE, author of the De Proprietatibus Rerum flor. about 1330-see in Section II under Batman (Stephen) 49 RALPH HIGDEN (died 1360) HIGDEN'S POLYCHRONICON. Leaves 1-8 contain the Tabula with the head of Higden. Leaf 9: Liber Pmus. Incipit pfacio in historia que dr. policronica. Capitulū pmum. Post pclaros artiù scriptores. with a small portrait of Higden. Leaf 10b: Pfacio seda ... Pfacō tcia.. Leaf 184b: Incipit liber Septimus . . Fol. 2226: normani ac'ter sagittati p anglos sunt . . contractis treugis et induciis inter reges utrosque discessum est. Annoque Dni Millio CCCXXXIX Rex Angl. E. tercius post conqestum deuastauit destruxit combussit et spoliauit in regno Francie villas Mille VCC et vi quarum quelibet habuit ecclesiam parochialem, exceptis castris et maneriis magnorum dominorum, et aliis fortaliciis, et expectauit Philippum de Valesio regem Francie per duos dies continue in campo qui tunc noluit venire. Small folio, ENGLISH MS. ON VELLUM, FROM THE LIBRARY OF CROYLAND ABBEY, in double columns, 42 lines to the column; with 7 fine large illuminated initials (two of which are intended to pourtray Higden himself) and numerous ornamental capitals in blue and red; bound in old gilt russia, with the elaborate engraved bookplate of Maurice Johnson of Spalding (1735) Liber Croylandie, about 1370 50 This must have been transcribed from the author's earliest text, for he ultimately continued it down to 1357, suppressing the final passage which appears in the above Croyland copy. The inscription "Liber Croylandie on the first page of the text appears to have been written about 1440. The book had previously belonged to Magister Thomas of Grantham (about 1370-80) according to his inscription on the flyleaf; and to Dominus Richardus Blesworthe (about 1410-20) whose name is written on one of the margins. 50 HIGDEN'S POLYCRONICON in English. Title: Polycronicon in red ink between woodcuts. On the reverse, five stanzas of An Introductorie Anno dni. M. cccc. lxxxxv. Leaf 2: Prohemye (by Wynkyn de Worde); leaves 4-49 the Table; leaf 50 blank; the text begins on leaf 51 and ends on leaf 397 with Finis vltimi libri. Leaf 398: Imprented in Southwerke by my Peter Treueris at expences of John Reynes boke seller at the sygne of saynt George in Poules chyrchyarde. The yere of our lorde god M.CCCCC. z xxvii. the. xvi. daye of Maye. Small folio, with woodcuts; fine and large copy in old gilt russia, with the Gulston crest on the back 1527 40 Sir John of Trevysa, chaplain to Lord Thomas of Barkley, made the translation and justifies his action in a preliminary dialogue. The Prohemye, which Wynkyn de Worde assigns to himself, is nothing more than Caxton's preliminary address in his edition, with a change of name. Ordinary copies of this edition are not so expensive, but fine copies like this are singularly rare. |