Marston MS 271     Northern Italy, s. XI 2/3
Passion of St. Secundus, in Lat.

ff. 1r-24v Incipit prologus sancti secundi martyris.  Gloriosa
beatorum martyrum gesta...que dominus noster ihesus christus eisdem 
seruis suis dignatus est prerogare; [f. 4v:]  Incipit passio sancti 
secundi martyris christi.  Sub Diocleciano igitur et maximiano 
imperatoribus fuit quidam uir spectabilis...Passus est autem 
beatissimus christi martyr secundus .y. kalendas septembris sub 
diocleciano et maximiano imperatoribus. Regnante [erasure?] uero 
domino nostro cui est honor.

Life of St. Secundus, second version still unpublished; see Acta 
Sanctorum, Aug., v. 5, pp. 792-95, where it is quoted, and 
BHL no. 7569 (note:  the explicit given in BHL is on f. 24r, l. 13; 
there is therefore more text in Marston MS 271).  The Acta Sanctorum 
states that a manuscript from the monastery of St. Maurice, 
Magdeburg is its source (p. 792, 3).

	Parchment (yellow, speckled on hairside), ff. i (modern
parchment) + 24 + i (modern parchment), 207 x 165 (136 x 104) mm.  
18 long lines.  Double vertical and horizontal bounding lines, full 
across.  Ruled in hard point on hair side before folding.  Prickings 
(slits) in upper, lower and outer margins.
	Three gatherings of eight leaves.
	Written in well formed caroline minuscule.
	Plain red initial, 2-line, at beginning of text, f. 1r; similar 
2- to 1-line initials for text divisions.  Headings in red 
majuscules.  Initials stroked with red, ff. 1r-20r.
	First leaf stained and worm-eaten, with loss of an isolated 
letter or two.
	Binding:  Place uncertain, s. xix.  Dark red plush case.

Written in Northern Italy in the second third of the 11th century; 
early provenance unknown.  Inscription, s. xvi [?], on f. 1r:  
"Fr. Marcus An. Taffinus sacre Theologie Professor [?]."  Belonged
to Giuseppe (Joseph) Martini of Lugano from whom it was purchased 
by H. P. Kraus (Cat. 75, no. 95); sold by Kraus in 1960 to
Thomas E. Marston (bookplate).

secundo folio:  [rece]dens uenerat

Bibliography:  Faye and Bond, p. 96, no. 271.

Barbara A. Shailor