Beinecke MS 402               Germany, s. XI^^med
Gospels of Matthew and Mark

1.  ff. 1r-68r  Gospel of Matthew, preceded by Prologue to Gospels from
Jerome (Plures fuisse qui euangelia scripserunt et lucas euangelista...,
Stegmueller, v. 1, no. 596); letter of Jerome to Damasus (Nouum opus me facere
cogis ex ueteri ut post exemplaria scripturarum..., Stegmueller, v. 1, no.
595); spurious addition to letter attributed to Jerome (Sciendum etiam ne quis
ignarum ex similitudine numerorum error inuoluat..., Stegmueller, v. 1, no.
601); Prologue to Matthew (Matheus ex iudea sicut in ordine primus ponitur ita
euangelium..., Stegmueller, v. 1, nos. 590, 591); list of 28 capitula, on f.
6r-7v, with orange Roman numerals in outer margins and initial letter of each
verse to left of text space, touched with gold.  Ammonian sections are given
in the margins throughout the text of Matthew and Mark.  f. 8r-v ruled, but
blank

2.  ff. 68v-111r  Gospel of Mark, preceded by Prologue to Mark (Marcus
euangelista dei et petri in baptismate filius atque..., Stegmueller, v. 1,
no. 607) and 13 capitula (ff. 69r-70v) similar in format to those in art. 1.
Final leaf missing; the conclusion of Mark is added on a piece of parchment
(Germany, s. XII^^med) stitched in between ff. 110 and 112 (formerly glued
to f. 112).

     Parchment, ff. ii (parchment) + 110 (modern foliation at upper right is
correct) + i (f. 112, contemporary parchment, ruled, one column 80 mm. wide, double
vertical and horizontal bounding lines full length and full across,
ruled in hard point) + i
(parchment), 185 x 120 (121 x 62) mm., trimmed.  Written in 24 long lines,
single horizontal, double vertical bounding lines, full length, ruled in hard
point on hair side.  Additional single vertical rulings in inner and outer
margin delineates columns for Ammonian sections.  Remains of prickings in
upper and lower margins.
     I-VIII^^8, IX^^6, X-XIV^^8 (+1 leaf, f. 112, pasted in at end).  A half leaf
sewn in (s. xii) between ff. 110 and 112.
     Written in German minuscule by a single scribe.
     At the beginning of each Gospel, full-page initials, f. 9r (Matthew) and f.
71r (Mark) incorporating symbols of the Evangelists; f. 9r with gold foliate
scrolls with silver tendrils, one with a pink dragon-head terminal, against
blue, light green and orange; f. 71r gold and silver, with spiraling foliage in
shaded blue, orange and green, supported by a pink and gold dragon; both
followed by display capitals in alternate lines of gold and silver, shaded in
blue.  Large initials in gold and silver as above, 2-line, f. 1r, and 6- or
5-line, ff. 3r, 5r, 5v, and 68v, for prefaces, epistles and prologues.  3-line
initials, as above, for chapter divisions.  1-line initials throughout, inner
margin, orange, filled with gold and/or silver.  Rubrics in orange.  Some
oxidization of silver.  The style of decoration is related to a group of Gospel
books attributed to Freising and dated ca. 1040.  The decorative initials are
especially close to those in Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 6204, 828,
23343, and 12201a.  See E. F. Bange, Eine bayerische Malerschule des XI. und
XII.  Jahrhunderts (Munich, 1936) p. 39 ff.  Compare, for example, f. 9r
(Matthew) to Bange, op. cit., figs. 38 and 85; f. 71r (Mark) to figs.
39-41 (note the similarity in the hierarchical order of scripts); f. 1r to figs.
124-25. Also compare the style of small initials to figs. 102, 103, and 174.
     Binding:  s. xix-xx.  Red velvet case.

Written in Germany, probably at Freising (see above), in the middle of the 11th
century; the conclusion of Mark lost by 12th century (see art. 2).  Early
provenance unknown, though the manuscript was in a French-speaking area when a
text containing the date 1586 was added to f. 111v; the remainder of the French
text is mostly illegible.  Acquired from Leon Gruel of Paris (Feb. 1920) by
A. Chester Beatty (see E. G. Millar, The Library of A. Chester Beatty
[Oxford, 1927] v. 1, pp. 75-76, no. 20, with pl. LX of ff. 9r, 71r, 68v-69r).
Sotheby's sale (24 June 1969, no. 43).  Purchased from H. P. Kraus in 1969 by
Edwin J. Beinecke for the Beinecke Library.

secundo folio:  uolumen

Bibliography: Exhibition Catalogue, pp. 183-84, no. 9, pl. 9 of f. 9r.

Barbara A. Shailor