Beinecke MS 385               Germany or Bohemia, s. XV^^med
Sermons; Tractatus de XII naturis XII animalium

1. ff. 1r-3r Dum medium silencium tenerent omnia omnipotens etc. Sap.
vij^^o [Wisdom 18.14].  In hijs verbis notatur aduentus filij dei ihesu
christi super altarum inter missarum sollempnia. Et ibi...
et sumere mereretur. Sic quod factum est ut sancto spirite panis ut prius
latitantem agnouit.

     Unidentified sermon for Advent.

2. ff. 3r-4v Conuenit Ecclesia magna cogitare quid facaret fratribus
suis qui in tribulacione erant M^^c v^^o [1 Maccabees 5.16].  Accipite semina
et serite agros ut fruges habere possitis...[Gen. 47.23-24]. Verba ista dixit
yoseph ad populum egypti...in purgatione qui dicit etiam postularent
propter quod hec dies animabus ordinata est etc.

     Unidentified sermon.

3. ff. 4v-7r Iste auctor agit de xij naturis xiij [changed from xij?]
animalium propter duodecim numerum apostolorum qui satis perfectus. equaliter
tria. Sic sancta trinitas designatur...sermones blandos etc. Qui flumine
est placidum etc. hec de naturis animalium dicta sufficiunt etc.

     Excerpts from an unidentified work De duodecim naturis duodecim naturis
duodecim animalium; the animals discussed are: lion, eagle, serpent, ant, fox,
deer, spider, sea-monster, turtle, elephant, panther, centaur.
The habits and religious significance of each are described.

4. f. 7r Questio est erant duo viri quorum vnus fuit religiosus et alter
secularis...secularis legittimus per seruum religiosus etc. f. 7v
ruled, but blank

     Quaestio on whether the sin of lust (luxuria) is worse for a
religious or a secular man.

     Paper (watermarks: similar to Piccard Ochsenkopf I.163), ff. i
(paper) + 7 + i (paper), 304 x 201 (250 X 152) mm., with deckle edges.
Written in 2 columns of ca. 38 lines, frame-ruled in brown ink. Prickings
at outer edges.
     Composed of a single [?] gathering of 7 leaves (structure uncertain).
     Written in gothic cursive with loops, by one scribe.
     Crude 3- and 2-line initials in red. Strokes on 1-line capitals
and underlining in red.
     Binding:  s. xix-xx [?].  Olive cloth spine with paper sides.

Written in Eastern Germany or Bohemia in the mid-15th century;
early modern provenance unknown. The following evidence of ownership is similar
to that in Beinecke MS 368: stamp with monogram of letters "FG" (on ff. 1r
and 7r); small rectangular tag with "Nro. 51" in black ink (pasted to upper
margin of f. 1r); inscriptions of a 19th-century owner: "Tractatus: De Missa,
et Sacramento Eucharistiae. De XIII naturis XIII animalium, adaequatis
Christo et numeri XII Apostolorum. Quaestio quaedam theologicalis"
(on f. 1r) and "G.L." (on f. 7v). Belonged to S. Harrison Thomson.
According to a recent note inside front cover it was no. 2 in his
collection, and he acquired it from Parker's in Oxford in 1926.
The earlier provenance cited above, however, corresponds closely
to that in Beinecke MS 368 which was apparently bought by him in Prague in
1924. It is probable that Thomson acquired both manuscripts from the same
place, whether Oxford or Prague. Purchased from Thomson in 1967 with the Edwin
J. Beinecke and Frederick W. Beinecke Fund.

secundo folio: que solis

Barbara A. Shailor