Marston MS 187     Northern France or Flanders, s. XV med-3/4
Exordium magnum cisterciense

1. ff. 1r-3v  Incipiunt capitula tocius uoluminis.  Distinctionis prime.
Capitulum primum.  Quam dominus ihesus in doctrina sua formam perfecte
penitencie tradiderit.  capitulum secundum.  Quam a primitiua 
ecclesia..Recapitulatio finalis eorum que in hoc uolumine continentur
[another hand has added:] finis.

List of chapters for art. 2.

2. ff. 3v-162r  Incipit prologus sequentis operis versifice editus.
[metrical prologue, written as prose:]  Quisquis ad eternam cupis [sic]
pertingere vitam.  Currere felicem monachi contendis agonem...Illius a 
manibus procul auolet iste libellus.  Explicit prologus.  [f. 5r:]  
In nomine domini nostri ihesu christi.  Incipit narracio de inicio 
cysterciensis ordinis. qualiter scilicet patres nostri de molismensi 
cenobio propter puritatem...Capitulum primum.  Eternus deus eterni dei 
filius dominus noster ihesus christus creator omnium rerum.  redemptor 
omnium fidelium.  dum in diebus humilitatis sue salutem operaretur in 
medio terre...et spiritu sancto viuit et regnat...Amen.  Explicit liber 
de inicio cysterciensis ordinis [erasure visible under ultra-violet light:]
editus a uenerabili [?] magistro petro clyniacensi [not
dunacensis as
reported by Leclercq, 1961, p. 164].  f. 162v ruled, but blank

Conradus of Eberbach, Exordium Magnum Cisterciense;   
text of Marston MS 187 belongs to Type 2 as described and edited by B.
Griesser, Series Scriptorum S. Ordinis Cisterciensis v. 2 (Rome, 
1961), Marston MS 187 cited as MS 7 on p. 24.  Here the text is divided 
into six distinctiones; initial letter of each verse in metrical 
prologue stroked with red.

	Parchment (end pieces, repaired, mottled), ff. ii (modern parchment) +
i (contemporary parchment, ruled but blank) + 162 + ii (modern parchment),
268 x 180 (186 x 120) mm.  2 columns, 37 lines.  Single vertical and
double horizontal bounding lines.  Ruled in crayon or ink.  Remains of
prickings in upper, lower and outer margins.
	I-V 8, VI 8 (-8, no loss of text), VII-XX 8, XXI 4 (-4).  Remains of
catchwords along lower edge, verso; quire and leaf signatures (e.g.,
k1, k2, etc.) in lower right corner, recto.
	Written in a well formed hybrida script, without loops.
	At the beginning of each distinctio flourished initials, 11- to 
6-line, divided red and blue with parchment spaces and penwork designs
in brown and red.  Plain initials, some with parchment designs, alternate
red and blue.  Headings and running headlines in red.  Paragraph marks 
either alternate red and blue (in art. 1) or are in red (art. 2).  
Majuscules stroked with red.  Guide letters for decorator.  Repairs and 
imperfections in parchment often outlined in red.
	Binding:  England, s. xix/xx.  Blind-tooled olive green goatskin over
oak boards; bound by Maltby, Oxford.

Written in Northern France or Flanders in the middle or third quarter of
the 15th century; early provenance unknown.  Belonged to James P. R. Lyell
(bookplate; 1871-1949); 250 medieval manuscripts from his collection were
bequeathed to the Bodleian Library (see Lyell Cat. for information and
bibliography).  The remainder of the collection was sold by his executors to
Quaritch in 1951; this manuscript sold by Quaritch (cat. 699, 1952, no. 47).
Purchased from C. A. Stonehill (inv. no. 21543?) in 1958 by Thomas
E. Marston (bookplate).

secundo folio:  in sancto

Bibliography:  Faye and Bond, p. 85, no. 187.
	Leclercq, 1961, p. 164.

Barbara A. Shailor