Beinecke MS 376               France, s. XIII^^4/4
William of Tournai, Flores Bernardi

1.  front and back flyleaves:  Deed, in Latin, dated 26 March 1450, issued
by "Antonius Longobardus [several letters or words lost in binding] neapolis
Reginalis ad contractus Iudex."  The
document was cut in half and trimmed to serve originally as pastedowns;
considerable loss of text.

2.  ff. 1r-6v Alphabetical subject index for art. 5, with entries for:
Abbatum de pompa et negligentia, Abissus, Abstinencia...Ypocrisis, Zelus,
Zelus prelati in prelatorum zelus.

3.  ff. 6v-9v Index for art. 5 arranged according to numerical sequence,
ranging from 2 to 8:  e.g., Due alle quibus uolant anime ad diuersa scilicet
spes et timor; Tres filie nobilis regis; Quatuor amoris gradus, etc.  f. 10r
blank

4.  f. 10v Table of contents and first part of list of capitula for Book 1
of art. 5, added s. xv^^2, to replace text on lost folio.

5.  ff. 11r-136v  //vii De illa unitate quo tres substancie in christo
una persona sunt.  viij De distinctione trium gradium in dominica
incarnacione...[text:] Incipit liber primus excepcionum collectarum de
diuersis opusculis beati bernardi egregii abbatis clare uallis de eo [sic]
quid est deus.  In libro .v. de consideracione primum.  Quid est deus qui est
merito quidem nichil conpetentius eternitati que deus est...impassibile agile
[added in margin:  configuratum] glorificatum denique corpori claritatis sue.
Explicit liber decimus.

     William of Tournai, Flores Bernardi, missing the prologue and beginning
of table of contents for Book 1; GKW v. 3, nos. 3928-30 for printings of arts.
2, 5-7.

6.  ff. 136v-139r Capitula ista sunt excerpta de quibusdam summis
venerabilis patris beati bernardi In quibus continentur uerba quidem melliflua
de beatissima dei genitrice maria.  [table:] De dignitate et excellencia
beatissime dei genitricis marie. i...[text:] De dignitate et
excellencia beatissime dei genitricis marie.  In sermone de assumpcione
eiusdem.  Non est quod me delectet magis non est quod terreat magis quam de
gloria uirginis...principes nos faciat glorie et beatitudinis sue.  Amen.

     Excerpts from St. Bernard [?] on the Virgin Mary.

7.  ff. 139r-140r Incipiunt auctoritates quedam memoria digne collecte de
dictis bernardi.  In capitulo sequenci.  In epistola ad robertum monachum.
Dolor minus deliberat non uerecundatur non consulit rationem non metuit...mater
intacta ab angelo benedicta.  f. 140v blank

     Concludes with a short extract not in printed text (cf. art. 5) but in some
early manuscripts (cf. Paris, B.N. lat. 16373, s. xiii, f. 146r; Cambrai, Bibl.
Mun. 252, s. xiii-xiv, f. 173r-v):  De laude ipsius uirginis.  In sermone de
uigilia domini.  O beata maria sola inter mulieres benedicta....

     Parchment, ff. i (parchment, s. xv) + 140 + i (parchment, s. xv), 205 x 145
(159 x 102) mm. 2 columns, ca. 45 lines.  Ruled in lead; prickings in upper and
lower margins.  Folios 1-26:  double horizontal and outer vertical bounding
lines, other vertical bounding lines are single; all full length and full width.
Additional
pair of rulings across upper margin for running titles.  Folios 27-50:  similar
arrangement to previous section for vertical rulings of written space, but only
a single upper horizontal bounding line; additional rulings in upper margin.
Folios 51-140:  similar arrangement to ff. 27-50, but with single vertical
ruling added in outer margin and another pricking for upper horizontal bounding
line in outer margin.
     I^^10 (see also art. 4), II^^4 [?], III-XII^^12, XIII^^6.  Leaf signatures for
first gathering, in blue, in lower right corner, recto (e.g., ii, iii, etc.);
catchwords in center of lower edge, verso.
     Written in compact gothic script with numerous corrections and notes in
contemporary and later hands, s. xiii-xv.
     Decorative initials, divided red and blue, 3-line, with extensive penwork
designs and cascades also in red and blue, for the beginning of each book of
art. 5 and for art. 6.  Simple initials, red or blue, 2-line, with penwork
designs of the opposite color throughout the codex.  Running titles (e.g., FLO.
B. I) in red and blue; headings, chapter numbers, and underlining, in red.
     Outer column of f. 140 cut off; no loss of text.
     Binding:  s. xix.  Limp vellum case with two ties and two black, gold-tooled
labels:  "Flores ex operibus B. Bernardi" and "M. S. XIII-XIV C."  Wound,
caught-up sewing, wound endbands, and vellum lining on the spine between sewing
supports.

Written in France in the fourth quarter of the 13th century.  Early ownership
inscription, s. xiv [?], in lower margin of f. 1r, effaced but partially legible
under ultraviolet light:  "Istum librum dedit frater Iacobus conuentum sulm
[for Sulmona near Naples?]...".  Presumably the manuscript was in or near
Naples in the fifteenth century when the flyleaves (see art. 1) and the text on
f. 10v (art. 4) were added.  Note on recto of final flyleaf indicates that the
manuscript was received in Rome on 26 October 1584, having been brought from
Naples by Marcellus Maioranus, bishop of Acerra (see C. Eubel, et al., eds.,
Hierarchia catholica medii et recentioris aevi [Regensburg, 1923; reprinted
Padua, 1960] v. 3, p. 94):  "Romae Die XXVI mensis Octobris M. D. Lxxxiiii.
Accepi transmissum Neapoli a R. P. D. Marcello Maiorano Episcopo Acerrano."
Belonged to an unidentified member of the Albani family whose oval book stamp
containing initials "R. A." appears on f. 1r (cf. seal of family illustrated in
Enciclopedia Italiana, v. 2, p. 95); stamp not located in J. Gelli, Gli
ex-libris italiani (Milan, 1930).  Number "53" in ink on f. i verso.  From the
library of the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky (MS 4) which acquired it in
June 1920 from Maggs.  Purchased from the private collector Laurence
Taylor Greer in April 1964 by H. P. Kraus, who presented it to the Beinecke
Library in 1968.

secundo folio: [index, f. 2] d. 1. 5.
     [text, f. 11] vii. De

Bibliography:  De Ricci, v. 1, p. 731, no. 4 (while at the Abbey of
Gethsemani).

Barbara A. Shailor