Beinecke MS 349               France, s. XII/XIII
Cistercian Order, Statutes

1.  For f. 1r see art. 5; ff. 1v-15v Anno igitur ab incarnatione domini M^^o
C^^o L. viii. in generali capitulo hec ceperunt institui.  Ex quibus multa iam
superioribus scriptis ubi potuimus inserujmus.  Cetera que restant per capitula
distingantur.  Abbatibus et monachis qui in uia sunt. uel in grangiis si
conuentus defuerit...mittuntur cum gaudio caritatis eos suscipiat. et eis sicut
propriis in omnibus//

     Statuta capituli generalis, with the years 1158 and 1180-1190
mentioned in red.  This article was originally placed after f. 127.

2.  ff. 16r-104r //calefaciendis preparent, si tamen frigus hoc exegerit.
Finita namque post euangelium collecta...benedicat potum seruorum suorum.

     Liber usuum; P. Guignard, Les monuments primitifs de la Regle
Cistercienne (Dijon, 1878) pp. 95-245.  Beinecke MS 349 is missing 3 folios
at the beginning of the text, containing Capitula 1-3 and part of 4; the order
of the remaining folios should be 16, 17, 20, 18, 19.  Quires 6 and 7 are also
bound incorrectly; should be in the order 53, 62-67, 60, 61, 54-59, 68.
 
3. ff. 104r-117v Super instituta generalis capituli apud cistercium.
In carta caritatis inter cetera continetur quod singulis annis...et priuatim
dicetur.  Similiter fiet ad missam pro defunctis.

     Super instituta generalis capituli apud Cistercium; Guignard,
op. cit., pp. 245-73.  Includes 92 chapters, the same and in the same
order as those in the Divionensis manuscript, Dijon, Bibliotheque Municipale
MS 114 (82), dated ca. 1173-91 (J. Turk, Cistercii statuta
antiquissima, Analecta Sacri Ordinis Cisterciensis fasc. 1-4 [1948]
pp. 5-9).

4.  ff. 117v-123v Incipiunt capitula usuum conuersorum. i.  Qualiter
se habeant fratres in grangiis.  ii.  Quo tempore surgant...[prologue, f.
118r:] Incipit prologus.  Cum constet super animas fratrum laicorum...[text,
f. 118v:] Qualiter se habeant fratres in grangijs.  Tam ad uigilias quam ad
horas...habere contigerit. nam emere [erasure] omnino non licet.

     Liber usuum conuersorum; Guignard, op. cit., pp. 276-87.

5.  ff. 123v-127v Super cartam caritatis.  Antequam abbatie cistercienses
florere inciperent...[text, f. 124r:] Incipit carta caritatis.  Quia
unius ueri regis et domini et magistri nos omnes seruos licet inutiles...
quatuor supra nominatis abbatibus preuisum fuerit celebrabitur.  [Pen trials
on f. 127v include 2 copies of the beginning of art 1 and a lecture on the
Catholic faith which continues on the present f. 1r:]  Quicumque vul [sic]
saluus esse ante omnia opus est vt teneat catholicam fidem...Vnus omnino non
confusione substancie sed vnitatis persone.

     Carta caritatis; Guignard, op. cit., pp. 79-84.

     Parchment, ff. ii (parchment, i = front pastedown) + 127 (early foliation
reflects original sequence of leaves: 116-30, 4-5, 7-8, 6, 9-41, 50-55,
48-49, 42-47, 56-115) + ii (parchment,
ii = back pastedown), 295 x 202 (222 x 137) mm.  29 long lines, ruled in lead,
double vertical bounding lines on left side of page, single vertical bounding
lines on right, triple horizontal bounding lines at top and bottom and
sometimes at center, all full length.  Prickings near gutter and lower edge;
double parallel prickings near gutter for some horizontal bounding lines.
     I^^8, II^^8 (-8 following f. 15), III^^8 (-1, 2, 3 before f. 16),
IV-VII^^8, VIII-IX^^8 (leaves of the two quires are confused; for correct
order see art. 2), X-XVI^^8, XVII^^3 (structure uncertain; no loss of text).
Quires signed in Roman numerals surrounded by four dots at center of lower
margin, verso; sequence runs i-xiiii beginning on f. 19v.
     Written by one scribe in large, even bookhand.  Additions by various
hands, s. xiii-xvii; some lost due to trimming.
     Four large initials, ff. 1v, 38r, 86r, and 93r (12-, 29-, 8-, and
9-line), light brown with crude running pattern of clover-leaf-like forms
in brown ink, filled with brown, green and red spiral foliage with flowers
and dragon-head terminals, on blue and red grounds decorated with triplets
of white dots. See W. Cahn, "The Rule and the Book:  Cistercian Book
Illumination in Burgundy and Champagne," in T. G. Verdon, ed., Monasticism
and the Arts (Syracuse, 1984) fig. 6.1 of f. 1v.
One elaborate, but crude, calligraphic initial, f. 118v,
9-line, divided red and green, accompanied by red and green foliate motifs,
framed in green.  Numerous initials throughout, 7- to 2-line, red or blue, and
occasionally green, with blue, red or green foliate penwork, some extensive.
1-line initials, red or blue, alternating.  Rubrics throughout, some in text,
others in margins.  Wavy red line-fillers.
     Binding:  s.xix.  Brown calf, blind- and gold-tooled, with mottled, mauve
paper sides.  On spine:  "Constitutions du monastre de Fontaine-Jehan".

Written in the late 12th or early 13th century, after 1191 (f. 32v contains
the feast of St. Thomas of Canterbury, added to the Cistercian calendar in
1191); probably produced at the abbey of Fontaine-Jean in Northern France, to
which it belonged in the late 16th century.  The Cistercian abbey of
Fontaine-Jean, near Montargis, between Sens and Orleans, was a daughter
house of Pontigny founded in 1124.  Notes of s. xvi on f. 75v:  "ce livre est
de Fontaine Jean" and at bottom of f. 104r:  "Nous auons de coustoume en ceste
maison de Fontaine-Jehan.  Que quand vn Religieulx decede.  Le tranteiesme iour.
On dict vnne grande Messe et vn Libera sur la fosse.  Et le dernier Jour de lan
vne grande Messe et vn Libera sur la Fosse"; this hand is similar to that which
wrote "Frere Denis Regnault" on f. 127v.  The note on f. 104r continues in
cursive in another hand:  "et vng Libera tous les dymanches a la sortie
de nonne vng an durant".  On f. 126v is a note in the same [?] cursive
hand giving the date of the
death of this Denis Regnault:  "Fr. Dionysius Regnault relligiosus huius
monasterij in anno domini 1590 quj obijt autem."  However, a short prayer in
the margin of f. 10v ends with the inscription "1601.  F. D. Regnault".  Other
early notes give no indication of place; on f. 15v, "Frere Nicolas Dignet
religieulx de ceans lan mil v^^c xlij [added by another hand:] qui morut lan
de grace 1595."  On f. 122v, "En lan 1548 le 20 ior De Januier frere Thomas
Chammaillard fut profes.  Frere Thomas." Partially erased note in lower margin
of f. 14v contains the date 1555.  Collection of Abbe Joseph Felix Allard
(1795-1831; owned a number of manuscripts from Pontigny); purchased from him
by Sir Thomas Phillipps in the late 1820's (no. 3744:  tag on spine and stamp
inside front cover; Phillipps Studies v. 3, pp. 33 and 152).  Sold at
Phillipps sale at Sotheby's (30 Nov. 1965, no. 6, pl. of f. 1v) to H. P. Kraus.
Purchased from Kraus in 1969 by Edwin J. Beinecke, who presented it to the
Beinecke Library.

Barbara A. Shailor