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Medieval ms. volumes and some later material.

Decretals newly glossed; M. R. James's no. 1. Contains: (1) decretals of Gregory XI in five books, with a prologue; (2) a canon law tract in a different and later hand (from an Italian source, SC), with references to the former and incipit: Legitur in Ezechiele venter tuus comedet et viscera tua implebuntur. The first words of the gloss are missing ("but can be supplied from no. 6 [Q.A.6] - In huius libri principii quinque precipere sunt prenotanda …" SC). At the beginning are two flyleaves from a later ms., containing two extracts from the Ottobian Constitutions and one from the Clementine.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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".

Works of Augustine; M. R. James's no. 16. Contains: (1) Augustinus in libro ii Retractionum, Contra donatistas auctoritate beatissimi episcopi et martyris cipriani; (2) Aurelii Augusti ypponensis episcopi contra Donatistas de Baptismo libri septem; (3) Augustinus in libro ii Retractionum, Uenit etiam tunc; (4) Aur. Augustini Doctoris ypponensis Ep. Liber de Natura et Gratia; (5) Epistola Prosperi ad B. Augustinum Ep. ; (6) Epistola S. Hylarii Arelatensis Ep. Ad S. Augustinum ypponensem Ep. ; (7) Aur. Augustini Doctoris ypponensis Ep. Libri duo de predestinatione Sanctorum et de Bono perseuerantie ad Prosperum et Hylarium. The text is well written, with coloured initials. Bound in two consecutive sheets of a psalter containing parts of psalms 34-38 and 43-49. A piece of a 15C table appears in the binding. The flyleaf has a 12C table of contents and a 15C pressmark: "Augustinus de baptismo et de natura et gracia et alia litera. B".

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.

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. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Isidore's encyclopaedic "Etymology" in twenty books; M. R. James's no. 8. It is lavishly decorated: "The ornaments and initials at the beginnings of the books are exceedingly good and characteristic English work".

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.

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.

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.

Extracts from the constitutions of Clement V', made up of "De summa trinitate et fide catholica R. Clemens vus" and "De rescript. R. - Abbates aut alii religiosi"; M. R. James's no. 29. Colophon: "Nomen scriptoris est thomas plenus amoris/ Iste liber constat Petro de Abyngdon/ Stephano". James notes that Thomas "plenus amoris", probably translatable as "Fullalove", is a name that commonly appears in Oxford mss.

Wycliffite texts, principally Miracles of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke (imperfect), in English; M. R. James's no. 30. The first volume contains: 1) an unidentified fragment, imperfect at both ends; 2) "xii capituli" [12 chapters], imperfect at the start; 3) Bernardus de dignitate clericorum; 4) De uita b. M. virginis [incipit: "Circa uirginem uero ex qua incarnacio facta fuit"]; 5) "Incipiunt quedam miracula de S. Maria"; 6) Hic incipiunt meditaciones de passione. Both 5) and 6) are in a 15C hand. The second volume contains the Gospels of Saints Matthew, Mark and Luke, in a small hand of early 15C date, ending at the 9th chapter of Luke, verse 24.

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.

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.

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.

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].

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.

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.]

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

Lecture notes [on metaphysics]; M. R. James's no. 37. Contains: 1) In generalia Philosophiae Theoremata vulgo dicta Metaphysica Praefatio dictata a Magistro Gulielmo Paterson et a me Francisco Stirling conscripta; 2) Axiomata Mori de immortalitate animae (in English), with names of constellations and 3 pp. of Theses

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.

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.

Acts of the Apostles with glosses; M. R. James's no. 40. Begins (f. 2): Quibus et (gloss: humanitate a divinitate). Ends: Explicit liber actuum apostolorum liber VIII [with symbol over]. D. C., which James says is thus written for "habet versus III. D. C.".

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.