Beinecke MS 311               Italy, s. XV^^ex
Isidore; Ambrosius Autpertus, etc.

I. 1.  ff. 1r-42r [I]n subsequente hoc libro qui nuncupatur sinonima
id est multa uerba in unam significationem coeuntia.  Sancte recordationis
ysidorus archiepiscopus ex yspania introducit personam hominis lamentantis...
Tu michi supra uitam meam places.  Explicit liber Sinonime sancti ysidori
Archiepiscopi.

     Isidore of Seville, Synonyma; PL 83.825-68.

2.  ff. 42r-61v [A]postolica uox clamat per orbem atque in precintu [sic]
fidei positis ne securitate torpeant dicit...attende que dico et mihi adhuc
magis stupenda narranti fidem prebeto.

     Ambrosius Autpertus, De conflictu vitiorum et virtutum; Bloomfield,
Virtues and vices, no. 0455 (Beinecke MS 311 not listed).  R. Weber, ed.,
CC Cont. med. 27B (1975) pp. 907-31.

3.  ff. 61v-79r [D]ilecto christi amicis siue degentibus.  H. qualiscumque
uestre sanctitatis seruus.  In una pace ambulare et ad requiem unam peruenire...
nomine suo uocauit te ut memoriale eius semper esset apud te.

     Hugh of St. Victor, Soliloquium de arra animae; PL 176.951-63, ending
defectively.  R. Goy, Die Ueberlieferung der Werke Hugos von St. Viktor
(Stuttgart, 1976) pp. 277-329; Beinecke MS 311 not listed.

4.  ff. 79v-89r [D]esiderium caritatis uestre a nobis exigi[t] debitum
sermonis officium.  Sed tanta sunt que terreant et reuocent animum nostrum ut si
uellimus prohibere desiderio vestro...ut cadem ipsa caritas fructum in uos
inueniat operis non folia laudis.  Explicit liber Augustini de iiij^^or
uirtutibus.  f. 83 bis ruled, but blank

     Pseudo-Augustine, De quatuor virtutibus caritatis; PL 39.1952-57 and
47.1127-34.

5.  ff. 89r-115v [U]t ego peccator et ultimus inscipientior cetteris
imperitior uniuersis te ut sanctitatis uiam pergas...Nam hijs qui hoc seculum
dilligunt et qui in presenti tempore gloriantur et complacent audi quid dicitur
nescitis quia amicitia huius mundi inimica est dei et//

     Pelagius [?], De vita christiana, ending abruptly in ch. 14; PL 50.
383-400.  For the controversy concerning the attribution of this work see:
R. F. Evans, "Pelagius, Fastidius and the Pseudo-Augustinian De vita
christiana," Journal of Theological Studies N. S. 13 (1962) pp. 72-98;
G. Cannone, "Sull'attribuzione del De vita christiana a Pelagio," Vetera
Christianorum 9 (1972) pp. 219-31.

II. 6.  ff. 116r-127r Linfrascritta opera he [sic] cauata dal
libro de le conformitate di sancto francisco videlicet yhesus hosti exponitur.
Franciscus mollestatur.  Expositio prime partis videlicet yhesus hosti
exponitur.  Quia in huius fructus septimi et conformitatis prima partem
[sic] agitur de temptatione domini yhesu christi facta per hostem
diabolum...quia de hijs et doctores et scriptura patet tertium quod erat
declarandum pro huius fructus septimi et conformitatis prima parte videlicet
yhesus hosti exponitur scilicet eius temptationi.  [in a different hand?]  Et
consequenter predicta prima pars est breuiter declarata.  ff. 127v-131v ruled,
but blank

     Bartolomeo da Pisa, De conformitate vitae beati Francisci ad vitam domini
Iesu, Fructus VII, prima pars; printed in Analecta Franciscana 4 (1906)
pp. 149-56.

III. 7.  ff. 132r-133r [Q]uisquis ades medijque subis iam limina templi/
Siste parum insontemque tuo pro crine passum/ Respice me, me conde animo...
Sanctorum assotians [sic] eterne pacis amena/ Perpetuo felix mecum regnabit
in aula./ Explicit.  f. 133v ruled, but blank

     Pseudo-Cyrianus (also attributed to Lactantius), Carmen de passione Domini;
PL 7.283-86.

8.  f. 134r-v [At top of folio, in original hand:  iesus] [V]irgo decus
nostrum cuius se credidit aluo/ Diuum ille aeternus rex hominumque pater/ Cuius
ab humano sanctissimus ille deorum/...Salue quas dedimus uirgo tibi uota
precesque/ Virgo intercessor nostra fer ante iesum./ Mafei Vegij Laudensis poetae
laudatissimi Ad Virginem Salutatio Explicit.

     Poem, Ad virginem salutatio, in 52 verses, here attributed to Mapheius
Vegius (1407-58); listed in Walther, Initia 20491, without attribution.

9.  ff. 135r-136v [M]ors fera cuncta rapit. non est lex certior ulla./ .I.
nunc longa trahas ocia. cuncta rapit./ qui sacer et toti preeram qui maximus
orbi./ Antistes iaceo. mors fera cuncta rapit/...Quid victus cultusque nites
nunc [?]omnibus esca/ Pene fero unde tegar. mors fera cuncta rapit. [and then
repeats first two lines of poem again]  Finis.  f. 137r-v ruled, but blank

     Poem in 128 verses (7 16-line stanzas, each followed by the refrain "mors
fera cuncta rapit") on the inevitability of death, with verses for various
conditions and positions in life, including (as noted in margin by a nearly
contemporary hand) pope, cardinal, king, poet, lawyer, farmer, wise man, old
man, rich man.

     Paper (watermarks:  unidentified arms with a cross, others buried in gutter
and cropped), ff. ii (paper bifolio) + 137 (contemporary foliation 1-115;
unnumbered leaf between 83-84) divided into 3 distinct sections as follow:

     Part I:  ff. 1-115 (see above), written in 19 long lines; single vertical
bounding lines
in lead, full length.  Guide-lines for text in brown ink, very faint or quite
heavy.  I-X^^8, XI^^6, XII-XIV^^8, XV^^6 (or 8, lacking 1 and 8 after ff. 109 and
114?).  Catchwords for quires I-V centered in lower margin.  Written in round
gothic script with humanistic features (cf. Thomson, Latin Bookhands, no.
79), by one scribe using nibs of different widths. Spaces left for 2-line
initials.  Severe water staining in lower margins of ff. 1-17; loss of text in
some lower lines.
     Part II:  ff. 116-131, written in 24 long lines.  Vertical bounding lines in
lead, full length; guide-lines for text in pale brown ink.  I-II^^8 (= XVI-XVII);
catchword centered in lower margin, verso.  Written by one hand in round gothic
with humanistic features.  Plain 5-line initial in red, f. 115r.  Rubrics and
strokes on capitals within text, in red.
     Part III:  ff. 132-137, written in 32 lines of verse.  Vertical bounding
lines in hard point; rulings for text in ink.  I^^6 (= XVIII).  Written by
one hand in italic script.  Spaces left for 2-line initials, with guide-letters
for rubricator.
     Binding:  s. xv.  Original, wound sewing on two tawed skin, slit straps
laced through a tunnel in the edge into channels on the outside of a flush
beech board
and pegged twice.  Endband cores of tawed skin rest on the spine, with a piece
of unadhered tawed skin, under the tiedowns.  The cores are pegged twice.
Spine square.  About one third of lower board is covered with tawed skin,
originally green [?] nailed along the edge.  Trace of a rectangular fastening
on the lower board.  Upper board wanting, lower board detached.

Written in Italy at the end of the 15th century; early modern provenance
unknown.
Purchased from Rauschburg's of New York in 1936 by S. Harrison Thomson (MS 18;
pencil note on f. i recto).  Acquired from Thomson in 1967 as the gift of
Edwin J. Beinecke.

secundo folio:  in hoc seculo

Barbara A. Shailor