Marston MS 268          Northern France, s. XII 3/4
Arnald, abbot of Bonneval, De septem verbis Domini in cruce, De laudibus
B. Mariae virginis

1.  ff. 1r-47r  de verbis domini in cruce.  Vltima christi uerba que
cruci affixus noui testamenti heredibus tractanda proposuit...et qui diu
fuerant cineres. fiant doctores. et qui sepulti magistri.

Tractatus de septem verbis domini in cruce; PL 189.1677-1726B.

2. ff. 47r-52v  Si linguis hominum loquar et angelorum nichil digne. nichil
proprie de sancte...ut sua dispendia non attenderet dum erroneum lucraretur.

Libellus de laudibus de B. Mariae virginis; PL 189.1725C-35. Text missing
between ff. 48 and 49 ("...in celestibus circumamicta uarietatibus inde aura //
locaustum.  penitentie tutum omnibus...") corresponding to PL 189.1727B-30A.

Parchment, ff. 52, 220 x 150 (156 x 98) mm.  21 long lines.  Double
horizontal and narrowly spaced double vertical bounding lines, full across. 
Additional pairs of rulings in upper, lower and outer margins.  Ruled in
lead.  Remains of prominent prickings in upper, lower and outer margins.
I-VI 8, VII 6 (-1, 2, with loss of text).  Quires signed in Roman
numerals with a dot on either side (I and II also decorated with
symmetrically arranged red circles and flourishes), center of lower margin,
verso.
Written in a neat late caroline minuscule that is written above the
text ruling, not on it.
Red initial, 4-line, with red and green arabesque designs on f. 1r; red
monochrome initials with simple decorative designs, ff. 2v, 9r, 14r; less
elaborate red initials, ff. 18v, 23r, 29v, 47r.  Heading in red for art. 1
only.  Initials stroked with red.
Binding:  France, s. xiii-xiv [?].  Original sewing on four tawed
skin, slit straps laced from out to inside the boards and wedged at
an angle.  Pastedowns sewn with book. The upper board is beech, the lower
oak.  The grooves on the inside of the boards have been burned as well
as gouged out.  A blue and natural color endband is sewn
in a chevron pattern.  The primary core is laced into grooves
parallel to the edges of the boards but not fastened and the endband is
sewn through the cover.  Fragment of an unidentified text (France, s. 
XII 2/4 or med) used for front pastedown; portion of a document dated 1225 [?]
involving Theobaldus, abp. of Rouen (1221-29) and the Cistercian nunnery of
Fontaine-Guerard (Fontes Guerardi) for rear pastedown.
Covered in very thick tawed skin, neatly patched and pieced out. 
The turn-ins are nailed near the corners.  There are two strap-and-pin
fastenings, the pins on the lower board and the kermes pink, tawed 
skin strap ending in a catch with a twisted, tawed skin cord and 
tassel attached, later additions [?].  Remains of later title, in ink, on 
spine.  The rear cover of this binding is illustrated in The
Medieval Book, p. 64, no. 63.

Written in Northern France in the third quarter of the 12th century. 
Belonged soon thereafter to the Cistercian nunnery of Fontaine-Guerard,
founded in the diocese of Rouen ca. 1198 (Cottineau, v. 1, col. 1173); its
early ex-libris on f. 52v:  "iste liber est de fontibus geradi [sic]." 
Presumably the manuscript was rebound while at Fontaine-Guerard given the
contents of the document used for the back pastedown.  According to the
notes of T. E. Marston, the manuscript came from the Benedictine priory at
Charsay, Angouleme; we find no evidence in the manuscript to support this
provenance.  Signature of B. Monnet, s. xviii, on ff. 1r and 52v. 
Purchased from L. C. Witten in 1960 by Thomas E. Marston (bookplate).

secundo folio:  efficientia

Bibliography:  Faye and Bond, p. 95, no. 268.