Beinecke MS 283               Spain, s. XVI^^1
Epistolary, Cistercian use

1. ff. 1r-133v Dominica prima in aduentu domini. Ad Romanos. xiij.
Fratres, Scientes quia...Dominica. xxv. Lectio ieremie prophete. xxiij.
Ecce dies ueniunt dicit...dicit dominus omnipotens.

     Epistle readings for the temporale from Advent through the 25th Sunday
after Pentecost.

2. ff. 133v-156v Epistle readings for the sanctorale from Stephen
protomartyr (26 Dec.) through Sixtus (6 Aug.), ending defectively.  Added in
the margins in a later hand are the translation of James the Greater, Maurus,
John Chrysostom, Julian bishop of Burgos, Robert of Citeaux and Peter of
Verona; also added in the margins but crossed out are entries for Vincent of
Saragossa, Ildephonsus of Toledo, and Thomas Aquinas.

     Small sections of the text are missing throughout the codex due to the
addition of miniatures.

     Parchment, ff. ii (parchment) + 156 + ii (parchment), 340 x 240
(242 x 155) mm.  Written in 18 long lines, single vertical and upper horizontal
bounding lines full length and full across, ruled in lead;
text ruled in red, written space defined by a border of double rulings, also in red.
     I^^2 (f. 1 has been cut out and reinserted on stub); the remainder of the
codex is too tightly bound to permit accurate collation.  At least two
gatherings seem to be missing at end.  Catchwords, accompanied by four
symmetrically placed groups of three dots, perpendicular to text along inner
ruling.
     Written in large round gothic bookhand with red and black accent marks
for recitation.
     The fourteen full-page miniatures constitute the most extensive extant cycle
by the "Spanish Forger" (see W. Voelkle, The Spanish Forger, exhib. cat.,
The Pierpont Morgan Library [New York, 1978] pp. 35-37, 61; figs. 92-109, 226
for reproductions of the miniatures, sources, and related works).  The
miniatures are as follow:  f. 1r Kneeling donor (historiated initial), with
border containing Sts. Peter and Paul, angels with a scroll and a coat of
arms (unidentified; see below), and the
four evangelists with their symbols; f. 9r Noli me tangere; f. 13r Gnadenstuhl
Trinity; f. 28v Elijah fed by an angel; f. 38r Isaac blessing Jacob; f. 47r
Moses striking the rock; f. 58r Eliseus restoring life to the son of the
Sunamite woman; f. 74r Moses, Aaron and Hur at the battle against Amelec;
f. 89v Male saint addressing a kneeling man; f. 105r Moses expounding the law;
f. 114v Reception of blessed into heaven and the fall of the rebel angels;
f. 121r Ezra preaching; f. 127r Courtly couple and two beggars; f. 135r
Three ladies at mass.  All pages with miniatures have full borders of
scrolling acanthus in red, blue, green and purple with hair-spray and gold
balls.  3- and 2-line initials, red or blue, with purple or red penwork
(6-line on f. 134r).  Rubrics throughout.
     Binding:  Date?  Worn red velvet with a silver-gilt crucifix [a fairly
recent addition?] on the upper board.  Brass clasp engraved with "S. Maria/
ora pro nobis."  Rebacked.

Written in Spain toward the beginning of the 16th century, for Cistercian
use; early modern provenance unknown.  In the late 19th or early 20th
century the manuscript was in
the possession of the "Spanish Forger" who erased portions of the text and
added the present miniatures and unidentified arms (quarterly, first argent,
3 bars gules;
second gules, a patriarchal cross argent; third azure, 3 shields or [charges
illegible], an orle or; fourth gules, a lion rampant queue-fourche or and an
orle or; an inescutcheon argent with a bird sable).  Belonged to Hannah
D. Rabinowitz (bookplate).  Purchased from C. A. Stonehill in 1960 as a gift
of the Yale Library Associates.

Bibliography:  Faye and Bond, p. 49, no. 283.
Exhibition Catalogue, pp. 275-77, no. 89.

Barbara A. Shailor