Beinecke MS 455
YALE UNIVERSITY
BEINECKE RARE BOOK AND MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY
GENERAL COLLECTION OF RARE BOOKS AND
MANUSCRIPTS
MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE MANUSCRIPTS
Beinecke MS 455 England, s. XIII^^2/4
Bible
1. ff. 1r-3v blank, with 6 stubs between 2 and 3; f. 4r-v Table of lections
for the liturgical year. At the end of the table: "Incipiunt questiones
ffratris Nicholai de Lira super Bibliam...signantur cum puncto in capite." On
the left of the inscription, in another hand: Vacat; on the right: In isto
volumine.
2. f. 5r (a fold-out leaf) Subject diagram of Books of the Bible for both the
Old and New Testaments, with the number of chapters in each, in red. ff. 5v-6r
blank
3. f. 6v [To the left of the leaf, in two columns:] List of Books of the Old
and New Testaments with number of chapters in each. [To the right:] Nota quod
omnes libri biblie fuerunt editi grece praeter euangelium Mathei et epistolam
pauli ad hebreos vt dixit Waldeby...[followed by notes on fasting].
4. ff. 7r-13v Series of prologues to the Books of the Old Testament in the
following order; numbers are those listed in Stegmueller: 284; 311; 307; 323;
328; 347 (beginning Rogor...); 457; 482; 487; 492; 494; 500; 507; 511 + 510 +
508 + 509 (no divisions); 512; glossa ordinaria on Obadiah treated as
Prologue, 11816 (1); 521 + glossa ordinaria on Jonah, 11817 (1); glossa
ordinaria on Micah, 11818 (3); 528; 531; 534 + Stephen Langton, Soph., 7858;
535 + glossa ordinaria on Haggai, 11822 (1); 539, 540; 543 + 545
(no division); 330, 329; 332; 335 + Isidore, Prol. Judith, 5191; 341 + 343
(no division). f. 14r-v blank
5. ff. 15r-340r Old Testament; books as follow: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Ruth, 1-4 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles, Job, Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus (with Prayer of Solomon),
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Baruch, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah,
Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Ezra (with ch. 11
beginning at v. 16, et sederunt), Nehemiah (followed by a short paragraph:
[H]ic post incensam a chaldeis iudeam dum iudei ingressi fuisset...hebrei
habebant repperit; Isidore, Prol. Ezra, Stegmueller 5187; f. 296v blank and 2
Ezra missing), Tobit, Judith, Esther, 1-2 Maccabees, Psalms (one bifolium
misbound; f. 340v blank).
6. ff. 341r-409r New Testament, in the following order; numbers in
parentheses refer to prologues printed in Stegmueller that precede each book:
Matthew (590); Mark (607); Luke (620); John (624); Acts (glossa ordinaria
treated as prologue, 11831 [1, 3] + 640 + 631 + 635 [no divisions]); Romans
(670); 1-2 Corinthians; Galatians; Ephesians; Philippians; Colossians; 1
Thessalonians (with running title: Ad Leodocenses); 2 Thessalonians; 1 Timothy
(765); 2 Timothy (772); Titus (780); Philemon (783); Hebrews (793); Catholic
Epistles (glossa ordinaria treated as prologue: Iacobus cognomento iustus
filius marie sororis matris domini..., 803); Apocalypse (832 + 828, no
divisions). ff. 409v-410v blank
7. ff. 411r-420v Extensive table of readings, with incipits and explicits of
texts, for the liturgical year, temporale, sanctorale, common of saints, and
votive masses, also citing Biblical locations. Added by the same person who
wrote arts. 1 and 2 above. ff. 421r-422v ruled, but blank; ff. 423r-425v (with
four stubs between 423-24) blank
Parchment, ff. vi (parchment; remains of six stubs between ii and iii)
+ 417 (modern foliation, 1-425, includes
flyleaves) + ii (parchment), 326 x 230 (207 x 120) mm. Ruled in crayon or lead
as described below; written above top line. Remains of prickings in all
margins.
I^^8, II-XVII^^10, XVIII^^8, XIX-XXI^^10, XXII^^8, XXIII-XXIX^^10, XXX^^6,
XXXI-XXXII^^10, XXXIII-XXXV^^8, XXXVI-XLI^^10, XLII^^8 (+1 leaf after 6, f. 407),
XLIII^^14 [structure uncertain].
Text written in similar styles of gothic bookhand mostly by two scribes who
may also appear have ruled the segments each copied. Scribe 1: ff. 7r-13v,
171v-296r, 307r-409r; 2 columns, 53 lines; single vertical and triple horizontal
bounding lines, with three additional horizontal rulings through center of folio
and two in upper margin for running titles, all full length and full across.
Scribe 2: ff.
15r-171v, 297r-306v; 2 columns, 47 lines; single vertical lines between columns,
double inner and triple outer vertical bounding lines for written space, triple
horizontal bounding lines, with three additional horizontal rulings through
center of folio and two in outer margin, all full length and full across;
quires signed with
large Roman numerals and catchwords in gutter. A later hand of the 15th century
wrote arts. 1, 2, and 7 in a less formal style of gothic than the text; at least
four other persons of the 14th-15th centuries have annotated the text in various
styles of cursive.
Decoration by two distinct hands whose division of work does not correspond
precisely to that noted for the scribes. 1: ff. 7r-220v, 325r-340r. Large
flourished initials, body divided red and blue, with interior designs primarily
in red, and small blue circles added; first line of text in blue capitals
decorated with simple red pen strokes. Many rubrics missing. 2: ff.
221r-324v, 341r-409r. Flourished initials similar in design to those by 1, but
somewhat smaller in size and mostly without small blue circles; first line of
text in blue and red capitals alternating; chapter divisions decorated with long
herringbone pendants in red and blue. Running titles and marginal chapter
divisions in alternating red and blue letters throughout codex. Notes to
rubricator, some perpendicular in gutter.
Binding: s. xv-xvi. Original sewing on five double, tawed supports laced
straight and in V's into back-cornered wooden boards and pegged. The spine
is square, the sewing supports prominent. Braided tawed skin [?] endbands.
The first covering is brown
calf with corner tongues. Next is a chemise of pink, tawed skin with an outer
cover sewn to it with diagonal stitches of blue thread. Outer and inner covers
are adhered to each other and to the boards with extending edges cut off. Two
strap-and-pin fastenings with foliate pin bases on the lower board and stubs of
kermes pink straps. Green discoloration on pastedowns. Trace of lettering
in ink on the spine.
Written in England in the second quarter of the 13th century. Rebound in the
15th century when arts. 1, 2, and 7 were apparently added as well as the
notation [Greek] written in ink on the lower cover. Early inscriptions of
s. xv-xvi include: "Iste liber pertinet W^^s Grisley" on front pastedown and
"Liber W^^s. Grysley" on f. 6v (William Gresley, b. 1461; Emden, BRUO, v. 2. p.
822); "Liber pertinet ad Christoferum hole [with notarial marks]" on f. 1r;
"Liber Somerkuse [?]" on back pastedown. Unidentified shelf-marks, in ink, on
front pastedown: "C. h." and "K 5". Unidentified clipping, in English,
from sale catalogue pasted to
front flyleaf. The codex was acquired from Maggs, 4 Aug. 1939, by Henry
Fletcher who presented it to Yale in 1947.
secundo folio: [f. 8:] iordanem. hostium
Bibliography: T. E. Marston, "Some Notable Books and Manuscripts,"
Gazette 22 (1948) pp. 78-79.
Barbara A. Shailor