Showing 121 results

Bede on Genesis and "on Exodus"; M. R. James's no. 14. Two separate works, in different hands of similar date. Item (2) is Bede's "De tabernaculo"; it ends abruptly while discussing Exodus 26. James judged the writing "beautiful"; there is a fine decorated initial at f. 1v. Attached to the binding at the beginning and end are partially erased leaves from another copy of Bede on Genesis, of about the same date.

Sermons on the Virgin and saints; M. R. James's no. 13. Contains: (1) sermons on the Virgin, the second of which contains English verses and a story about an image in Cyclopes, India; (2) sermons on the saints from St Andrew to St Katherine, numbered 62 to 126; (3) "sermones de tempore", numbere from 1 to 53 and followed by a table; (4) a sermon in single lines, in another hand; (5) sermons in double columns of 49 lines, foliated from 1 to 33, incipit: Reuertar in principio cum Tobia; (6) sermons in another hand, 43 lines to a page, foliated 34 to 149; (7) a table to this last set of sermons.

Treatises on astronomy, etc.; M. R. James's no. 25. Contains: (1) an anonymous tract on celestial phenomena (apparently derived from Isidore's De naturis rerum), lacking initials and diagrams; (2) Sermones S. Augustini (96 sermons, most untitled). James gives detailed contents lists of both.

Lawyer's formulary; M. R. James's no. 19. James supplies a detailed list of the contents.

Bible; M. R. James's no. 9. It is slightly incomplete, ending with "Sadduci" in the additional matter "Interpretationes nominum". With decorative borders and initials "of rough English work" (e.g. a ship and fish for Jonah, a dove for Acts).

A legal formulary; M. R. James's no. 18. Spine title: Forma Compositionum Cartarum Obligacionum Acquietanciarum Indenturarum Libellorum et Appellacionum cum aliis pro studio Abbatis. Includes wills dated 1399 and 1403. The first quire is missing. The flyleaves come from one or two unfinished musical service-books (14-15C), one leaf containing antiphons for the feast of the Assumption.

John Chrysostom's Homilies on Matthew; M. R. James's no. 10. There is an interruption to the text at sig. Q5b (Homiliy 55). James terms the writing "ugly and the initials of the plainest". At each end are four 15C leaves of advent music.

Tracts on monastic life; M. R. James's no. 41. Contains: 1) Speculum Religiosorum, in an imperfect 15C copy running from chapter 26, ending with a table of the chapters; 2) contents table of a different (14C) volume, listing 24 sermons and the 131 chapters of a Summa de vicijs; 3) a tract on ecclesiastical discipline, 15C, incipit: De nocturna illusione; 4) Tabula super regulam S. Benedicti; 5) Tabula super librum B. Bernardi de precepto et dispensacione Compilata a magistro Uthredo Bolton.; 6) Tabula brevis super libellum dictum Abbas vel Prior; 7) Tabula brevis super constituciones benedictinas; 8) Quomodo et processus qualiter Judas postquam tradidit Ihesum venit ad matrem suam et qualiter consuluit eam et noluit ab ... (the story of Judas and the cock, exactly the same tesxt as in Q.D.4); 9) Regula beati Benedicti, imperfect in c. 73; 10) Articuli 5-14 on feudal rights of Durham, imperfect, beginning in art. 4, in 15-16C hand; 11) Constitution of the Abbots of St Alban's, St Mary of York, and Chester, for the Benedictines in England, 14C, with two notes on the rule; 12) Extracts in a 15C hand: Hoc autem non te lateat Petre ... , Plurimi nequaquam pleniter intelligentes (on the Rule), and Nota in rosario .xxvij. q. ij. De eo quod dicitur in regula monachorum ... ; 13) Meditacions: Incipit meditaciones excitative compuntionis ex sacre scripture et sanctorum sentenciis compilate presertim ex sentenciis beati Augustini beati Bernardi et venerabilis Anselmi. Memento miser homo ... (in nine chapters with a table at the end; 14) Meditacio divine laudis et spei venie provocativa composita a dicto magistro Willelmo monacho et doctore (incipit: Memor fui dei et delectatus sum); 15) Meditacio divini amoris desiderativa composita ab eodem (incipit: Memento mei deus); 16) Meditacio composita a domino Utredo monacho Dunelmensi et sacre pagne professore ad excitandum hominem cognoscere semetipsum (incipit: Domine recogitabo tibi omnes annos ; 17) Notes of ordinances concerning the order, 15C; 18) Copia litere domini Bernardi de Genebreda Prioris prioratus de Longavilla ord. Cluniac dioc. Rothomag. de revocatione censurarum constitutionum Benedicti Pape xii[mi] presidentibus ... anno domini mccc. Xliijo (15C copy); 19) Innocencius IIII etc. dilecto filio Priori Dunelm (giving the prior of Durham dispensatory powers); 20) Informacio ad computandum algorismi (probably in same hand as 10); 21) Ordinances made in Durham chapter by Prior Wessington, 1417; 22) Littere Mag. Rostandi de inquisicione pecunie e Archdiac. Dunelm, 13C, the first letter being dated 1256.

A Wycliffite New Testament; M. R. James's no. 47. Complete apart from the loss of one leaf containing text from the end of 1 John to the start of 3 John; includes high-quality ornamentation. The text consists of: 1) a table of "matters" of each gospel; 2) a lectionary, after the use of Salisbury; 3) the text of the New Testament, including prologues; 4) "Here eendith the apocalips of Jon ... And bigynneth the lessouns and pistlis of the olde testamente that ben red in the chirche bi al the yeere".

A medical miscellany; M. R. James's no. 43. Contains: 1) notes of apothecaries' weights; 2) a Latin treatise on materia medica, chiefly taken from Isidore and Pliny; 3) Liber de infirmitatis et venenis; 4) accounts of various substances; 5) De passionibus oculum; 6) a treatise De urinis, in English; 7) Secreta mulierum, in English; 8) Materia medica, in English, followed by notes on plants and on "makyng of oyles"; 9) Dicta ypocracii; 10) a series of short passages, mostly in English: De quatuor infirmitatibus corperum, On the nine pulses, To wete & to knowe the veynes of blode letynge, On the pure complexions, De numeris ossium; 11) a treatise by John of Burdews [also de Burgall] "for medysyn ageyn the pestlens evylle" of 1390; 12) a Latin tract on medicines. Recipes appear passim. The flyleaves contain records of legal cases.

Writings of saints Ambrosius and Jerome; M. R. James's no. 27. Probably English work. Contains: (1) Liber ualde utilium preceptorum atque consiliorum de libris officiorum Beatissimi pape [erased] Ambrosii mediolanensis collectus; (2) Liber S. Jeronimi presbyteri contra Iovinianum; (3) Liber beati Ambrosii Mediolanensis episcopi de misteriis sine iniciandis; (4) Sermo primus de sacramentis ambrosii. Includes, at the front, a 15C list of herbs and a recipe in English.

Bede's Martyrology; M. R. James's no. 31. At the front are some 14-15C calendar notes, with one folio missing. The Martyrology is followed by: 1) a form of cursing sacrilegious persons; 2) a statement of what a parish priest ought to know and do; 3) verses on the months; 4) the hymn "Saluatoris mater pia" with music on a four-line stave; 5) De beata Maria - eight sets of three lessons.

The first part contains: 1) In primis post librum Elucidarij ... ; 2) Sermon of St Anselm: Ad interioris hominis custodiam; 3) Prologus beati Ieronimi presbiteri de nativitate beate Marie virginis et de vita eiusdem virginis; 4) notes on the Assumption, St John, Julian the Apostate, Theophilus, and stories of Joseph and Mary and the birth of Christ; 5) two quatrains: on the beauty of women and on the Fall; 6) brief notes on wine, long measure, a Christian death, and weights, measures and coins; 7) Liber Ricardi de Hampole de aedificatione spirituale (or: De emendatione peccatoris); 8) miscellaneous short tracts and notes, including: on the decalogue and the plagues of Egypt, on sins and confession, on the cross, on Judas, on King Charles of France and St Giles, etc.; 9) Abbathia de spiritu sancto; 10) extracts on diet and medicines; 11) De expositione iiiior partium anni [a forecast of the year depending on which day of the week Christmas day falls upon]; 12) brief notes on Adam, sin and the church, the character of a priest, and Pope John 22nd.

Selections from Augustine: M. R. James's no. 49. Contains: 1) Augustinus super Genesim ad literam libri xii (ff. 1-99); 2) Augustinus de gratia novi testamenti (ff. 100-123; at f. 100 an initial has been cut out); 3) Prologus ex libro primo retractatus S. Augustini (f. 124); 4) Liber S. Augustini ad Honoratum de utilitate credendi (ff. 125-140); 5) Sermo S. Augustini de laude karitatis, incipit: Divinarum scripturarum mulitplicem (ff. 141-42); 6) An untitled tract, incipit: (O)mnis diuina scriptura circa triplicem intellectum, ends imperfectly (ff. 143-47).

John Mandeville's Itinerary (in Latin) and a copy of Gesta Romanorum; M. R. James's no. 35. With Latin and English notes on the power of God (ff. ii -iv). The Gesta contains 58 stories (with some resemblance to Harleian ms. 2270); James lists the subjects treated.

Speculum Christiani ("The Mirror of a Christian", a 14C devotional work): M. R. James's no. 51.

A collection of sermons and extracts; M. R. James's no. 65. Contains: 1) Expositio missae. In virtute sancte crucis; 2) extracts on leprosy and on the Holy Ghost; 3) Sermo Gibuini de filio prodigo and three other sermons; 4) extracts; 5) - 13) sermons for particular days in the church calendar; 14) extracts; sermons: 15) Omnis caro corruperat; 16) Vie syon lugent; 17) In hunc modum loquitur patres; 18) De institutione misse et de intellectu eorum 19) Ut intinguatur pes tuus; 20) Oritur sol et occidit; 21) sermo in dedicatione ecclesia; 22) Intravit ihesus in quoddam castellum; sermons: 23) on the parable of the vineyard; 24) Ite baptizate; 25) Cum invitatus fueris ad nuptias; 26) for the first Sunday after Pentecost (Temptatus est ihesus); 27) for the third Sunday after Pentecost (Que mulier habens dragmas); 28) extracts; 29) sermo in Quadragesima; 30) for the 13th Sunday (Et approprians samaritanus); 31) Quid sit fides; 32) Exposition of some Levitical ceremonies; sermons: 33) for Palm Sunday; 34) magistri Petri in ... (Surge aquilo); 35) extracts; 36) sermon on the blood of the Lamb; 37) extracts; 38) Incipit de xij apostolis ubi nati fuerint ... ; 39)Questiones de diversitate in officiis ecclesiasticis. Ends imperfectly. The binding has a leaf of a 13C folio psalter in double columns, the same as in Q.B.3. and Q.B.8, with flyleaves from the smaller psalter used to bind Q.G.4 and 5. The latter include parts of psalms 42-45 and 23 and 26.

A collection including "De fide et legibus" by William of Paris; M. R. James's no. 59. Contains: 1) In principio librorum biblie et quot capita quibus libris continentur; 2) Meditacio cuiusdam sapientis de custodia interioris hominam; 3) Notule excerptae de diversis Doctoribus [inc. one from Ricardus heremita de Alvernia Episc.]; 4) Willelmus Parisiensis de fide et legibus, in 5 books; 5) Dialogus de deo et anima ex Trismegisto (incipit: Asclepius iste pro solo); 6) extract: anime non ex traduce procreantur; 7) Confessio Joh. Wickliff de sacramento altaris; 8) extract: Omnes debemus laudare dominum; 9) De sacerdotum begligentia in divinis officiis celebrandis; 10) Excerpta e Patribus de oratione; 11) 'Alureudus' (Ailred of Rievaulx), De anima; 12) Tractatus de mundo fugiendo; 13) extracts: de peccato originale. In the binding are two double leaves of a 13C psalter with parts of Psalms 88-142.

A collection of tracts: M. R. James's no. 66. Contains: 1) Tropi magistri petri cantoris parisius; 2) Subtilis exposicio simboli traditi a beato anastio [=Athanasio]; 3) Exposicio parvi simboli s. laicorum, with Representacio temporum que finierunt ab inicio mundi usque ad finem [on two leaves which are missing]; 4) Sentencia dominice orationis exposita breviter nec non utiliter, ubi tanguntur .vii. peticiones prout comparantur .vii. donis spiritu sancti; 5) Sententia beati Roberti lincolniensis episcopi de fide et articulis fidei incipit; 6) Sententia sancti Roberti lincolniensis episcopi de confessione; 7) a tract with incipit: Debentes de vobis racionem bonam reddere; 8) Tractatus de penitentia brevis et utilis; 9) Tractatus de quatuor virtutibus cardinalibus; 10) Tractatus de sompno brevis; 11) Augustinus de assumptione B.M. V., ending imperfectly. There are five flyleaves from a ms. of similar form and date, the first four being the two middle sheets of a quire from a treatise on preaching.

M. R. James's no. 76. Contains: Epistola Hieronymi ad Demetriadum Virginem; Dicta Anselmi Archiepiscopi; Sermo S. Augustini de penitentia; Collaterales iiiior virtutum; De xii lapidibus; Orationes seu meditationes Anselmi Archiepiscopi; Expl. monologion Anselmi arch.: Inc. prologus in proslogion eiusdem; Proslogion Anselmi; Liber B. Augustini de presentia summi et veri ac omnipotentis dei; Seneca de institutione morum; Collatio Serapionis; De vestimentis sacerdotalibus; an exposition of the canon of the mass; a tract on prosody (wanting the first leaf); elegiac verses on death (30 lines); a dialogue on prosody; verses in another hand (wanting a quire); hymn to the Virgin; two unconnected lines of verse; prologue to a treatise on astronomy, with treatise beginning "Spera est rotundum et globosum corpus" and ending with instructions on making an astrolabe; and a gloss on the Lamentations.

A medical miscellany; M. R. James's no. 72. Contains: 1) recipes in English and Latin; 2) Incipiunt notabilia distinctiones textus distinctiones librorum de anima extracte, with three books "De anima" following; 3) memorial verses, in Latin; 4) recipes in Latin and scribbled notes; 5) Utrum logica sit scientia; 6) Hic incipiunt distincciones et notabilia extracta a questionibus super primum librum phisicorum Aristotelis; 7) recipes in Latin and scribbled notes, including a hymn; 8) Hic incipiunt notabilia extracta ex tercio de anima secundum Alexandrum; 9) recipes in Latin; 10) [by Albertus], Primo est sciendum secundum M. henricum de mandavilla quod eodum modo operatur cecus in ligno et cirurgicus in corpore cuius anothomiam ignorat; 11) recipes; 12) Armaldus de nova villa de gradibus; 13) recipes; 14) a separate book fo recipes for parts of the body, incipit: Conferunt cerebro … ; 15) Contenta magistri Walteri Agulini de urinis; 16) recipes

Not in M. R. James' Catalogue. Incipiunt (f. 1a): hore de eterna sapientia. Anima mea desideravit te. Text enclosed in floriated border, with decorated initials; believed to be of North German provenance.

A fragment of a Sarum processional; M. R. James's no. 62. The leaves are bound in complete disorder and one is missing. There is no decorative work.

Rule of St Benedict; M. R. James's no. 6. Contains: 1) flyleaves ff. 1-8 made up of parts of 15C Durham account rolls; 2) table to the following; 3) Regula S. Benedicti; 4) appendix in another hand; 5) a table to no 7); 6) Articuli super quibus in visitacione foret inquisicio facenda ("in a later hand"); 7) a tract headed "C.R.D.A.", known as Liber "Abbas vel prior", in 20 chapters with a prologue; 8) another table; 9) a circular letter from a gaggle of abbots to the Benedictines of England; 10) similar from the Abbot of St Albans; 11) Rubrica de modo et forma procedendi in eleccione ... ; 12) an explanation of the system of Arabic numerals; 13) a note: Utrum liceat prelato absque consensu sui conventus observanciarum dispensaciones sive mutaciones facere.

A transcript of an inquiry into the Porteous Riots

Lists books seen by John Clarke as well as those he owned; the latter were donated to the College by Clarke's mother in 1790.

The cover title concludes with the comment that this was "The first opening after the great repairs and restorations". A variant title on the first page includes the comment that Thomas Attwood Walmisley was B.A. of Jesus College, 1838, and that the singers in 1849 were Frederick Leete, William Neale, Jesse Frisby and Edmund Bilton. The music includes a solo, two, three and four parts, all with organ, and sets Psalm 5 verses 1, 2, 3, 7, 12 and 13. The text begins "Ponder my words, O Lord".

By Dr Ashton; compare his annotations to edns in the Old Library (1686 and 1718, E.6.42 and C.5.7/1)

Rubric on proof; M. R. James's no. 2. A law text by Andreas Siculus [variously known as Andreas Barbatius, Andrea Barbazza or Andreas Bartholomaei de Sicilia]. James judged the script to be "almost certainly" Italian; initials are lacking. Incipit: Continuatus sic. Visum est de confessionibus per quas aduersarius relevatur ab onere probandi. The early quires have guards cut from a 14C ms., others have guards cut from a 10C ms.

Bible; M. R. James's no. 11. Finely written and illuminated. James gives a detailed list of subjects of the historiated initials at the head of the books; his collation lists some mutilations and losses.

A well-known work by Petrus Comestor; M. R. James's no. 5. The main text has decorated initials in red and blue; it ends in the chapter "de dyonisio areopagtia". There are two flyleaves taken from a 10-11C missal, beginning with part of the gospel for the Decollation of St John the Baptist and ending with collects and lessons for the feast of the Assumption.

Bible; M. R. James's no. 3. 13C with decorated initials; the first quire is missing, so the text begins at Genesis 36 v. 24. James has a note on the order of the books. The Eusebian Canons occupy 2 pp. after the Apocalypse. In the flyleaves are two 15C lists of the books of the Bible.

On the rule of princes, by Aegidius Columna (Aegidius Romanus); M. R. James's no. 26. James identifies it as English work. The text is ornamented fleur-de-lys and demi fleur-de lys, and at f. 1 is a miniature showing the Descent of the Holy Spirit as a dove; there is a coat of arms in the lower margin. James judges this miniature of inferior quality and it has been partially erased. Some marginal notes appear.

A Durham gradual; M. R. James's no. 22. Contains Graduals and Tracts for the year. Numerous additions have been made to the names of saints in the Proprium de sanctis. The flyleaf at the beginning has a verse in English; there are two flyleaves at the end from service-books with music, the second containing a hymn to St Oswald.

Metaphysical questions; M. R. James's no. 17. "Questions" on books i-x and xii of Metaphysics, with a table of those on books i-vii and a short prologue addressed to a Pope as dedicatee (incipit: Cum cetere sciencie ad cognicionem summi boni conferant, sanctissime pater). The unnnamed author speaks of himself as a Dominican. The volume is imperfect: ending in book 12. The final quire is in a different hand from the rest.

Boethius' De consolatione philosphiae; M. R. James's no. 48. "Quinque libri boecij de consolacione philosophie cum tabula" and "Exposicio super quinque libros predictos satis certe notabilis". That is, Boethius' On the Consolation of Philosophy, with marginal and interlinear glosses and at the end a table of contents; there follows a commentary on the work by Nicholas Trivet (incipit: Explanacionem librorum boecij de cons. phil. Aggressurus) . There are some decorative borders and a few diagrams.

Moral tracts with letters of Seneca; M. R. James's no. 32. Contains: 1)Quadripartitus apologeticus B. Cyrilli Episc. [wanting book 1]; 2) Libellus de iv virtutibus [incipit: Quatuor virtutum species]; 3) Tract. de doctrina dicendi atque tacendi [incipit: Si fore uis sapiens]; 4) diagram of hands marked with subjects for meditation; 5) Epistolae Senece ad Lucilium numero lxxxv, ending at Ep. lxxxiv with the last words in a 17C hand.

Glosses on Isaiah (ff. 1-116), Tobit (ff. 117-129) and Ruth (ff. 129-34); M. R. James's no. 50. Parts of two leaves from a large 13C missal are attached to the covers. The gloss on Isaiah is in a different hand from the other two and has "a good rough initial".

Customary of the Carthusian order; M. R. James's no. 12. In three sections. The main text is preceded by a table of and note on reading the statutes and followed by extracts on disputed points (1494-1517).

Lecture notes [on logic], headed Structura supplementum, dictated to Francis Sterling by master William Paterson; M. R. James's no. 39. At the end are four pages of notes.

Peter Lombard's Sentences; M. R. James's no. 15. Rated "an unremarkable copy", with marginal notes in various hands. Bound at the front and back several Anglo-Saxon semi-palimpsest leaves originally containing a Durham version of Aelfric's Homilies; ff. 4-9 have been used for a 14-15C tract, "Cum summa teologice discipline diuiditur in duas partes".

Notes on "Proverbs", "Ars Artium", "Scaliger's Apothegms", "Declamations", etc., with dates of birth and death of the compiler's family.

William Lambarde's transcription (1565) of books 4-8 of Henry of Huntingdon's "Historia Anglorum"; with a work said to be Gervase of Tilbury's "De necessariis scacarii observatiis", actually the "Dialogue of the Exchequer" by Richard Fitzsimon