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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".

A commentary by William de Conches (Guillaume de Conches) on Boethius' De consolatione philosophiae; M. R. James's no. 74. Latin title: Commentum Willelmi de conches super boecium de consolacione philosophiae. Includes a few domestic and personal memoranda, in English.

A collection, "summa Wanlensis et summa de oculo morali cum tabula"; M. R. James's no. 67. Contains: 1) Summa collectionum (explicit: tractatus qui dicitur commune loquium compositus a fratreJoh. Walensi de ordr. fratr. minorum ...) [that is, by John of Wales; 2) extracts: Repletus spiritus sancti gratia, and Hugo de claustro anime; 3) Oculus moralis per Lincoln.; 4) a table in two columns. There are flyleaves from a 14C mss and the binding is two sheets of a 13C psalter containing parts of four psalms.

Printed work (London, 1657) by Geoffrey Watts, interleaved with ms. notes. [EEBO has a BL second edition with the title: A scribe, pharisee, hypocrite; and his letters answered, separates churched, dippers sprinkled: or, A vindication of the church and universities of England, in many orthodox tenets & righteous practices. Whereunto is added a narration of a publick dipping, June 26. 1656. In a pond of much Leighes parish in Essex, with a censure thereupon. By Jeffry Watts B.D. and Rectour of Much-Leighes. , London : printed for Edward Dod, at the Gun in Ivy Laine, and for Thomas Johnson, at the Golden Key in St. Pauls Church-yard, 1657.]

By John Ashton

Theological treatises; M. R. James's no. 24. According to an old table of contents, they are: (1) Quidam tractatus de morte et eius circumstanciis; (2) Sermo de S. Benedicto; (3) Speculum religiosorum; (4) Expositio de sex alis Cherub. (with diagram of cherub); (5) Speculum theologie factum a magistro Johanne Welensi (with diagrams of tower of wisdom and trees of virtues and vices); (6) Explanacio ligni vite; (7)Vita Aluredi Abbatis Rievall. [life of Ailred, abbot of Rievaulx], by Walter Daniel; (8) Aluredus Abbas Rievallen, de onerbius, incomplete (truncated at homily 17, out of 31, according to index at f. 79); (9) Notule de historia aurea collectae; (10) Kalendarium plenum nominibus sanctorum quolibet die per annum (calendar associated with Durham, with placenames written above names of saints); (11) Legenda de Sancta Elizabeth; (12) Meditaciones S. Augustini.

Miscellaneous tracts; M. R. James's no. 34. Contains: 1) a catalogue of Rievaulx library, in two lists the second being approximately a shorter replica of the first [James transcribes both]; 2) Introductiones in Theologiam; 3) Fallacie [incipit: Fallacia apud logicos dicitur]; 4) Loci [incipit: Locus argumenti est sedes argumenti]; 5) Summa de diuersa uocabulorum significacione edita a mag. Will. De monte (called at the end Tropi theologici); 6) notes on vices; 7) Excerpta moralia [incipit: Ad edificacionem animarum et morum informacionem]; 8) Sermons without heading (incipits: Hora est iam uos de sompno surgere; Excitare volens apostolus; Deus manifeste veniet deus noster non silebit]; 9) Aelredi Abbatis Rievallensis oracio pastoralis, with an extract from a letter by Aelred and his dying words; 10) Consuetudines Cisterciensium, ending with the Privilege of pope Innocent in a different hand; 11) Letter by "Stephanus cisterciensis ecclesie servus" [Stephen Harding] to T. abbot of Sherborne; 12) Bernardi Antiphonarium sive liber de musica, and Tonale, ending with verses on the numbers of chapters in each book of the Bible; 13) Bernardi silvestris liber de creatione rerum, interspersed with verses after the manner of Boethius and Martianus Capella; 14) Lines on prosody with interlinear notes [incipit: Regula splendescit quia sillaba longa patescit].

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.

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.

Tracts by Aquinas, Bonaventura and others; M. R. James's no. 54. There is a early title - Breviloquium de virtutibus antiquorum principum ac philosophorum 2o fo. Quod habebat - and a contents table at f. 2v. Contents: 1) Tractatus de ente et essencia [by Thomas Aquinas]; 2) Breviloquium de virtutibus antiquorum principum et philosophorum [by Bonaventura]; 3) Diversa themata predicatoribus proficua (a collection of 23 sermons with Exempla, Applicationes, etc.); 4) Moralitates super ysaiam prophetam; 5) Libri 19 de animalibus et eorum proprietatibus moribus hominum applicatis; 6) Declamaciones senece et aliorum philosophorum dicta moralizata, under the headings: "De redemptione generis humane" and "De misericordia dei ad nos"; 7) De 7 mortalibus (peccatis et) eorum effectibus et incomodis; 8) Sermones quidam; 9) De quinque septenis in sacra scriptura inventis; 10) De 7 mortalibus peccatis ut supra [repetition of text (7) in another hand]; 11) Alie notule morales cum aliis, with notes; 12) six (?) sermons in a bad hand.

A transcript of an inquiry into the Porteous Riots

Papal decretals; M. R. James's no. 6. Contains [numbered by the order in its contents list, following James]: (1) a contents list of (2) text and gloss of Decretales Gregorii Novi; (3) Constitutiones nove duo innocencij iiiti (incomplete); (4, interrupting 3) Constitutiones alexandri iiiiti; (5 - bound after 6) Decretalis bonifacii in sixto libro, entitled in the contents list "Expositio super id … et libro vj prout concernit visitationem episcopi dunelm et conventus dunelm"; (6) liber sixtus non glo[ssatus] (another copy of book 6 of the decretals of Boniface VIII, 1298, in another hand and with a table of chapters). With flyleaves from a 13C law ms.

The Summa of Raymond de Peñaforte, and other tracts, incomplete; M. R. James's no. 69. Contains: 1) on the flyleaves, notes including extracts from saints Augustine and Bernard, and memorial verses; 2) Summa Raymundi, on the sacraments; 3) a tract on marriage law, in a different hand; 4) [Summa Raymundi, on marriage,] incipit: Quoniam frequenter in foro penitentiali dubitaciones circa matrimonium. At least one quire of the last has been lost.

Guides to vices and virtues [probably by Guillelmus Peraldus, 13C]; M. R. James's no. 20. Contains: (1) Summa de vitiis, incipit: Primo videndum est quid sit peccatum, with many marginal notes; (2) Tractatus de virtutibus, incipit: Postquam dictum est de morbis ipsius anime.

A compendium of canon law by Bartholomew of Pisa; M. R. James's no. 4. It runs from "abbas" to "zelum", in a hand that James says is "probably English", with initials in red and blue. The prologue begins: Quoniam ut ait Gregorius super Ezechielem.

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.

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.

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

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.

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).

Two chronicles; M. R. James's no. 58. Contains: 1) the Scala chronica of Thomas Gray [d. 1369], down to the death of Henry III (1272), in French prose, imperfect at the beginning; 2) a Latin chronicle starting from 1042 and ending, imperfectly, with the death of Simon de Montfort [1265] - an extract from the Annals of Waverley, a Cistercian house near Farnham, Surrey. The last quire is misbound.

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.

Works of St Greory, Bishop of Nazianzus, bearing on the flyleaf the old title "Apologij gregorii cum aliis"; M. R. James's no. 38. A preface (Rufini ad Apronianum ... ) is followed by eight books: Apologeticus; De epiphaniis sive de natali domini; De luminibus sive secundis epiphaniis; De pentecosten de spiritu sancto; In semet ipso de agro; De ieremie dictis presente imperatore ... ; De reconciliatione monachorum; and De grandinis vastatione cum pater episcopus reticeret. There follows a separate treatise: Incipit tractatus in canone misse et de differentiis in faciendis crucibus ... a Ricardo abbate ecclesie premonstrati ordinis editus.

Sermon preached at St John's College, Oxford, by Ambrose Bonwicke [linked with Elijah Fenton].

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.

Robert Grosseteste's commentary on Boethius' De Consolatione Philosophiae, and other works; M. R. James's no. 70. Contains: 1) Roberti Grosthead Commentum in Boetium de Consolatione Philosophiae; 2) Recapitulacio metrorum consolacionis philosophice Anicij mallij Severini boecij exconsulis ordinarij; 3) Ambrosius de bono mortis; 4) Libellus hugonis de S. Victore de virtutibus et vicijs; 5) Libellus Magistri hugonis de S. Victore de consciencia; 6) Lucij annei senece ad callionem de remedijs fortuitorium; 7) P. ovidii Nasonis de Vetula liber tercius; 8) Incipit tractatus et causa quare singula volumina sua composuit iste ovidius; 9) Sequiture eciam prefacio leonis prothonotarij que preponitur isti libello ut cercius appareat quod ovidius erat eius auctor; 10) a page of writing in a different hand, the beginning of "Uestra nouit intentio. De scolarium disciplina compendiosum postulare tractatum" (a pseudo-Boethian tract).

Robert of Lincoln's Summa Justicia, in ten parts; M. R. James's no. 36. [Presumably this is a work by or atributed to Robert Grosseteste.]

A sermon by Ricardus de Sancto Victore and a homily by John Chrysostom; M. R. James's no. 71. Contains: 1) A sermon on the Temptation of Christ, by Ricardus de Sancto Victore [Richard de Saint-Victor], incipit: Ductus est jhesus in desertum; 2) Omelia beati Johannis Crisostomi de muliere Chananea, in a different hand.

Repertorium on the Speculum Historiale of Vincent de Beauvais [Vincentius Bellovacensis]; M. R. James's no. 45. There is a prologue by John haut furey, priest, addressed to Simon, Cardinal of S. Prisca [Simon D'Archiac]. At the end are lists of headings and of the extracts contained in the Speculum Historiale. The first leaf has a decorated border.

A dictionary of canon law; M. R. James's no. 7. Runs from "Abbas" to "Zelus"; James terms the writing "rough" and "ugly".

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.

Psalter with miscellaneous ecclesiatical collection; M. R. James's no. 23. Contains: (1) Ieronimus de camera Christi; (2) Origenes; (3) ; (4) table of days and seasons; (5) a beautifully written Kalendar, with 15C insertions; (6) Libellus b. Martini episcopi de quattuor virtutibus; (7) a sermon, incipit: Sermo iste docet quales boni vel qualed mali sint xristiani; (8) preliminary matter to the psalter; (9) psalter, in double columns of 26 lines each, with a fine initial at f.15 and a collect after each psalm; (10) prayers; (11) cantica for particular occasions; (12) office of the dead, in a 15C hand; (13) collects and antiphons, in a 15C hand; (14) end of a Diurnal in a 12C hand; (15) a sermon of St Augustine, "de dedicatione ecclesie"; (16) another sermon on the same subject; (17) a tract: De corpore vel sanguine domini vel quid significet; (18) Isidore: De homine erumpnas presentis seculi defiente; (19) De quindecim signas; (20) a 15C table of Easter.

Psalter; M. R. James's no. 21. Contains psalms and canticles, preceded by hymns and followed by the litany, "sequences" and "Virgo gaude". Names of saints in the litany have been altered to match the Sarum form. The "sequences" include music for the first verse of each.The end flyleaf is from a 13C missal; its contents include the proper prefaces for Easter.

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.

By an anonymous author, 19C

The priest's prosody: a table of all the words in the readings, for the whole year, in which mistakes in prosody were likely to be made; M. R. James's no. 42. In the part concerning saints days, the usua; Sarum English saints appear, with special emphasis on Friedeswide. There follows a Chronology of national events from 1370 to 1443, in a different hand.

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.

Priscian's "De grammatica libri xvi" and "De accentibus" (by Priscianus Caesariensis), the latter ending imperfectly; M. R. James's no. 28. Includes a few later leaves, decorated initials and, at the start, a Greek alphabet matched against numerals. The margins bear many pointing hands and sketches of faces.

Letters of Poggio [Bracciolini] and others; M. R. James's no. 63. James lists the individual writers or recipients (most but not all are by Poggio). David Rundle (see publication note) says this volume "includes a series of Poggio letters not otherwise known to have had an English circulation" and "was clearly made for private use by someone whose name is Thomas Armin (reading the code at fol.27v)", of whom nothing further is known. The work is followed by a tract: Dilucidarium lemonocensis [= John Lemovicensis] de sompno pharaonis, consisting of 20 letters supposed to be written by actors in or observers of the story of Joseph and Pharaoh; it is dedicated to Theobald, King of Navarre. At the end of the volume are some domestic accounts, mentioning William Fairwether and servant Thomas Marcer, and the copy of a letter to Francis Tyrwhitt about a lawsuit involving "my brother Thomas Fairwether".

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".

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.

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.

Sermons on the saints, by a Benedictine monk, containing: 1) a prologue, followed by sermons on 2) John the Baptist; 3) SS. Peter and Paul; 4) St Mary Magdalene; 5) St Peter; 6) St Mary; 7) The Cross; 8) In dedicacione; 9) St Victor (with indications that the author is a monk of St Victor at Paris); 10) All SS.; 11) St Martin; 12) St Andrew; 13) St Nicholas; 14) St Mary; 15) In Nat. Domini; 16) O quam pulchra; 17) St Benedict; 18) The armour of God; 19) St Mary; 20) Angels (incipit: circa rerum cardinem versamur); 21) Narrat divina hystoria quod Tobyas ... 22) Samson. There follow briefer notes, then "In pasca" and "Sermo in ieiunio", a sermon on the Assumption of St Mary, and more miscellaneous short sermons. At the end is a quatrain with English glosses.

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.

Virgil's Aeneid; M. R. James's no. 33. James suggests the text was copied from an imperfect archetype. He identifies two hands in the text and at least four more in the marginal and interlinear glosses.

A Premonstratensian ordinal; M. R. James's no. 55. There is an explanatory preface. Two parchment flyleaves at either end have been cut from a roll which had been taken round to various monasteries (in the Midlands and northern England) to solicit their prayers for William Yorke, abbot of the house to which the book belonged.