YALE UNIVERSITY
BEINECKE RARE BOOK AND MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY
GENERAL COLLECTION OF RARE BOOKS AND
MANUSCRIPTS
MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE MANUSCRIPTS
Beinecke MS 371 Northern France or Low Countries, s. XIV^^in
Nicolas de Byard; Defensor, etc.
1. ff. 1r-163r Duplex est abstinencia detestabilis et laudabilis.
Detestabilis ut in ypocritis...nec auris audiuit nec in cor hominis ascundit
[sic] que preparauit deus electis suis ad que uos perducere dignetur qui
viuit et regnat per omnia secula seculorum. amen. amen. amen.
Nicolas de Byard, Tractatus de vitiis et virtutibus; Bloomfield,
Virtues and Vices, no. 1841; MS 371 not listed. Printed under the title
Dictionarius pauperum by Andre Bocard, for Durand Gerlier (Paris, 1498)
Hain-Copinger 6153.
2. ff. 163r-168v Themata per totum annum dominicalia et ferialia. f. 169r
blank
Table of themes for the liturgical year beginning In sabbatis ad vesperas,
Dominica prima, and concluding with a section devoted to Saints, Andrew
through Martin. The order of the table corresponds closely to the printed text
cited in art. 1, ff. 119r-122v.
3. ff. 169v-170r Hic est tabula per modum alphabeticum [remainder of heading
trimmed]. Abstinencia. i. ij. iij./ Adulacio. iiij./...de videndo. clxi. de
vita eterna. clxii./ explicit liber qui vocatur de abstinencia.
Alphabetical subject index to art. 1 which is similar to that printed by
Bocard, op. cit., ff. 122v-123v; numbers refer to foliation for art. 1 that
was added by same hand as subject index.
4. f. 170v [Heading:] Capitulum de paciencia. [text:] Inpaciencia. Sunt
quidam qui...qui impaciens et sustinebit dampnum. Explicit liber qui vocatur de
abstinencia.
Chapter omitted from art. 1.
5. f. 171r-v Ista tabula [two words trimmed and illegible] sequentem
libellum. De abstinencia. xij./ De auaricia. xxiiij/...De verbo ocioso. 1vij./
De virtute xxv.
Alphabetical subject index for art. 6.
6. ff. 172r-232v Incipit liber scintillarum virtutum et primo de
caritate. Dominus dicit in euangelio. Maiorem caritatem nemo habet...
[conclusion on f. 231v:] quam per vnius licentiam multi periclitentur. Tu autem
domine nostrorum miserere. Est exemplaris crimen si tu uitiaris. [at bottom of
folio:] Nomen scriptoris ma[?]r petrus amator amoris.
Defensor, Liber scintillarum; H. M. Rochais, ed., CC ser. lat. 117
(1957) pp. 2-234. The order of the chapters, following the numbers in the
printed text, is: 1-20, 22, 38, 21, 23-26, 28-30, 32-46, 48-50 (the last
chapter divided into De tribulacione and De hiis qui a mundi amore
prepediuntur), 51-81 (although no leaves of the manuscript are lost,
the text skips in the middle
of ch. 68 from f. 222v to f. 232r-v, and resumes on f. 223r in the middle of
70; on both ff. 222v and 223r occur contemporary notations that hic deficit
and that the reader is to Require plus in vltimo folio), 31.
7. f. 233r Series of short passages entitled "Nota diligenter quod hec
consideranda sunt in missa," with some portions attributed to Gregory and
Augustine. f. 233v blank
The parchment has been prepared in three different ways that do not
correspond precisely to the literary divisions. A single contemporary hand
added both running titles and foliation throughout the codex. The parchment,
thick and of poor quality, measures ca. 157 x 119 mm.
Part I: ff. 1-155 (contemporary foliation i - cliiij, lxvii bis):
(121 x 90) mm. Written in two columns, 29 lines. Single vertical bounding
lines; ruled in ink or
lead. Remains of prickings in no consistent pattern. I^^12 (-1, a stub),
II-XIII^^12. Quire signatures, bold Roman numerals in center of lower margin,
and catchwords (occasionally), both on verso. Quiew and leaf signatures
(e.g., m, mj,
mij, etc.) on recto near gutter. Written by multiple scribes in gothic textura
of varying quality. Penwork initial, 4-line, on f. 1r, blue with red
flourishes. Plain initials, 4- to 2-line, red or blue. Paragraph marks
alternate red and blue. Some guide-letters.
Part II: ff. 155-171 (contemporary foliation, clv-clxiii; rest lost due to
trimming?): (ca. 140 x 100) mm. Frame-ruled in lead for either long lines (ff.
155-158) or 2 columns (ff. 159-171). I^^18 (-18, a stub). Quire and leaf
signatures as
in Part I. Written by several scribes in crude gothic textura; f. 171r-v (art.
5) added by the same scribe who wrote running titles and foliation throughout
the codex.
Part III: ff. 172-233 (contemporary foliation, i-1xi, final folio
unnumbered): (120 x 95) mm. Written in 27 long lines; no consistent arrangement
of rulings or prickings. I-VII^^8, VIII^^8 (-7, 8). Quire signatures, similar to
those in Part I, on recto and/or verso. Catchwords near gutter, verso.
Written by three scribes: 1, ff.
172r-193r, small compact gothic textura; 2, ff. 193v-232v, loopy cursive
verging on Anglicana; 3, f. 233r, gothic cursive. Penwork initial, red with
blue flourishes, 3-line, on f. 172r; plain initials, 2-line, headings, initial
strokes, in red. Notes to rubricator.
Binding: Date? The backs of the gatherings are cut in about 4 mm. at each
sewing station. Original sewing on four tawed slit straps. There are
fragments of leather saddle-stiched around the plain, wound endbands, and
traces of adhesive and leather [?] between sewing supports on the spine.
Covers wanting.
Written in Northern France or in the Low Countries at the beginning of the 14th
century; early provenance unknown. Inscription on f. 1r "Bethleem" indicates
that the codex belonged, s. xvi-xvii, to the Augustinian priory of "Bethlehem"
near Louvain. Belonged to S. Harrison Thomson (MS 7; pencil note on f. 233v);
purchased from him in 1967 with the Edwin J. and Frederick W. Beinecke Rare
Book Endowment Fund.
secundo folio: nullus
Barbara A. Shailor