Manuscript Descriptions

My Oxford doctoral thesis, ‘Of Republics and Tryants: aspects of quattrocento humanist writings and their reception in England, c. 1400 – c. 1460’, completed in 1997, included an appendix providing detailed manuscript descriptions of a score of relevant codices. I have subsequently published one of these, and discussed others in print; a couple, meanwhile, have been superseded by later scholarship. Many, though, remain unpublished and include information not available elsewhere. As dissertations are not the most accessible items, this page is intended to provide links to my descriptions. Please note that these have not been revised from the state they appeared in the thesis, including the original errors and infelicities; for ease of citation, the original pagination has been retained. I do intend to revise some of these for publication; if you wish to refer to any of them, it would best to contact me for an update on their latest status.

I give below a table listing the manuscripts described in the appendix, and, in the last column, either a link to the pdf file of the description or an explanation for its not being included here. The table is followed by an outline of the format of the descriptions, and a list of abbreviations used.

Number	Manuscript	Page	Status
[1].	Aberystwyth: National Library of Wales, MS. Peniarth 336A	312 – 315	DGRMS1
[2].	Cambridge: Corpus Christi College, MS. 472	316 – 323	DGRMS2
[3].	Cambridge: Jesus College, MS. Q.G.15	324 – 330	DGRMS3
[4].	Cambridge: Trinity College, MS. B.14.47	331 – 333	DGRMS4
[5].	Cambridge: Trinity College, MS. O.9.8	334 – 341	DGRMS5
[6].	Cambridge: University Library, MS. Gg.i.34(i)	342 – 347	revised and published in Bodleian Library Record
[7].	Dublin: Trinity College, MS. 438 – Notice	348 – 354	DGRMS7
[8].	Durham: Dean & Chapter Library, MS. C.iv.3	355 – 370	DGRMS8
[9].	Florence: Biblioteca Riccardiana, MS. 952	371 – 375	superseded
[10].	London: British Library, MS. Cotton Otho.A.vii – Notice	376 – 378	discussed in ‘The Scribe Thomas Candour’, English MSS Studies, xii
[11].	London: British Library, MS. Harl. 1705	379 – 392	DGRMS11 Note: a revised version is to appear in Library of Humfrey
[12].	London: British Library, MS. Harl. 2268	393 – 414	DGRMS12
[13].	London: British Library, MS. Harl. 3426	415 – 420	DGRMS13Note: a revised version to appear in Library of Humfrey
[14].	London: Lambeth Palace Library, MS. 354	421 – 423	DGRMS14
[15].	Manchester: Chetham’s Library, MS. Mun.A.3.131 – Notice	424 – 426	full description to appear in Library of Humfrey
[16].	Manchester: John Rylands Library, MS. lat. 211	427 – 430	DGRMS16
[17].	Oxford: Balliol College, MS. 315 – Notice	431 – 433	DGRMS17
[18].	Oxford: Bodleian, MS. Auct. F.5.26	434 – 441	DGRMS18
[19].	Oxford: Bodleian, MS. Bodl. 915	442 – 447	discussed in ‘The Scribe Thomas Candour’, English MSS Studies, xii
[20].	Oxford: Magdalen College, MS. 218	448 – 451	DGRMS20
[21].	Oxford: New College, MS. 288	452 – 457	DGRMS21
[22].	Seville: Biblioteca Colombina, MS. 5/1/20	458 – 460	DGRMS22
[23].	Città del Vaticano: BAV, MS. Vat. lat. 10669 – Notice	461 – 463	superseded

The conventions employed in the entries are as follows:

Some entries are marked as ‘notices’ which provide only summary information, revising a recent catalogue entry. The majority are full descriptions.  They are headed by a short title of their contents and a synopsis of date and place of production. The dating follows the conventional form as outlined by M.Parkes, Medieval Manuscripts of Keble College, Oxford (London, 1979), p.xix.

DESCRIPTIONS

Each description is divided into four sections: technical description, listing of contents, discussion of provenance and bibliography.

Technical descriptions are divided into seven sections as follows:

I Material, size of page and number of leaves. Material is distinguished between paper and parchment; comment is made on the disposition and quality of parchment, or on watermarks in the paper. Size of page recorded in millimetres, length × breadth. The number of pages or folios (depending on present numbering) is recorded with all later flyleaves noted in roman numerals and all sheets of the original codex (including blank folios) noted in arabic numerals: eg. vi (2 paper, 4 parchment) + 292 + vi (4 parchment, 2 paper).

II Collation, catchwords and signatures. The quires are collated, excluding flyleaves, following the system described in N.Ker, Medieval Manuscripts of British Libraries, iii (Oxford, 1983) p.vii. The presence of catchwords is noted, but their position is mentioned only if it is not in the bottom righthand corner. The presence of quire or folio signatures is also noted.

III Size of written space, number of lines, pricking and ruling. The size of written space is measured from the top line or, if there is none, from the top of the first line’s minims to the bottom line or, if there is none, the bottom of the last line’s minims; measured in millimetres, length × breadth. All manuscripts listed here are written in one column, so number of long lines is recorded. Presence of borders and ruling also noted but comment is not made of implement used. Presence and position of prickholes noted.

IV Handwriting. Only the handwriting of the scribes is discussed here. The basic distinction made is between gothic and humanist scripts, with the latter divided into lettera antica and italic. Notable features of the handwriting are recorded, be they particular letter-forms, abbreviations or punctuation.

V Illuminations. Presence of illuminated initials and borders noted and their pigments mentioned. No attempt is made to describe representational drawings.

VI Marginalia. A brief survey is provided, attempting to distinguish the annotations of different readers, beginning with the scribe.

VII Binding. Only brief comment is made, unless the binding is fifteenth century.

2^o fo. Verba probatoria are noted for each fascicule of a manuscript and also for folios other than the second if structure of the manuscript suggests they could have been used in cataloguing (as, for example, in the case of BL, MS.Harl. 1705).

The listing of contents is confined to the items of the original codex, excluding all later additions. Therefore, contents lists or other writings found on the flyleaves are not recorded in this second section. If these additions are written in a hand which also annotates part of the main text, they are discussed under marginalia in the technical description; otherwise they are mentioned in the history of the manuscript. In the listing, the following symbols are used:

/           line-break

^…^      addition between the lines

\…/       addition on the line or in the margins

|…|        scribal writing in the margins

||           break in the text

[…]      editorial expansions or additions

Words written in italics signify that they were inserted by a hand other than the scribe of that section.

Each item is followed by, in order, bibliographical details, notes on pecularities in this particular copy and, if necessary, comments on the content. Under bibliographical details, references are provided to printed versions of an item; if no printed version exists, reference is made (where possible) to Bertalot, Initia Humanistica or other bibliographical tool which mentions manuscript copies of the text. Other manuscripts are selectively listed only if such bibliographical information does not occur elsewhere or if those copies elucidate the circulation of the manuscript described.

Discussion of provenance discusses any evidence available for the origin and the circulation of the manuscript. Any ex libris or other mark of ownership is discussed in this section. Also, the implications of the technical evidence are explained as are the insights that the contents can provide about the circulation of texts in fifteenth century England.

Each description ends with a brief bibliography. In this section, and elsewhere, the following abbreviations are used:

Alexander & Temple	J.J.G.Alexander & E.Temple, Illuminated Manuscripts in Oxford College Libraries (Oxford, 1985)
Baron, Bruni	H.Baron, Leonardo Bruni Aretino (Leipzig, 1928)
BAV	Città del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
Bertalot	L.Bertalot, Initia Humanistica 2 vol.s [in progress] (Tübingen, 1985-90)
Bertalot, Studien	L.Bertalot, Studien zum Italienischen und Deutschen Humanismus 2 vol.s (Rome, 1975)
BJRL	Bulletin of the John Rylands Library
BL	London: British Library
Bod.	Oxford: Bodleian Library
BodLR	Bodleian Library Record
BRUC	A.B.Emden, Biographical Register of the University of Cambridge (Cambridge, 1963)
BRUO	A.B.Emden, Biographical Register of the University of Oxford to AD.1500 3 vol.s (Oxford, 1957-9)
CCloseR	Calendar of Close Rolls
Colophons	[Bénédictins da Bouvert] Colophons des Manuscrits Occidentaux 6 vol.s (Fribourg, 1965-82)
CPL	Calendar of Papal Letters
CPatR	Calendar of Patent Rolls
CUL	Cambridge: University Library
DBI	Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani
de la Mare	A.C.de la Mare, ‘Manuscripts given to the University of Oxford by Humfrey, Duke of Gloucester’, BodLR, xiii (1988) pp.30-51 & pp.112-21
DH&EH	[Bodleian exhibition catalogue] Duke Humfrey and English Humanism (Oxford, 1970)
DHL	[Bodleian exhibition catalogue] Duke Humfrey’s Library and the Divinity School, 1488-1988 (Oxford, 1988)
EHR	English Historical Review
Ep.Acad.	H.Anstey, ed., Epistolae Academicae Oxon. 2 vol.s (Oxford, 1898)
exhib. cat.	exhibition catalogue
Furietti	J.A. Furiettius, ed., Gasparini Barzizii Bergomatis et Guinforti Filii opera (Rome, 1723)
Garin	E.Garin, Prosatori latini del Quattrocento (Milan, 1952)
Griffiths, Humanism	G.Griffiths, J.Hankins & D.Thompson, ed., The Humanism of Leonardo Bruni (Binghamton, 1987)
GSLI	Giornale Storico della Letteratura Italiana
Hain	L.Hain, Repertorium Bibliographicum 4 vol.s (Milan, 1948)
Hankins	J.Hankins, Plato in the Renaissance 2 vol.s (Leiden, 1990)
Harth	Poggio Bracciolini, Lettere, ed.H.Harth 3 vol.s (Florence, 1983-7)
Harvey	M.Harvey, England, Rome and the Papacy, 1417-1464 (Manchester, 1993)
IMU	Italia Medioevale e Umanistica
Iter	P.O.Kristeller, Iter Italicum 7 vol.s (Leiden, 1963-97)
JEccH	Journal of Ecclesiastical History
JWCI	Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes
Ker	N.Ker, Pastedowns in Oxford Bindings (Oxford, 1954)
Luiso	F.Luiso, Studi su l’epistolario di L.Bruni (Rome, 1980)
Mann	N.Mann, “Petrarch MSS in the British Isles”, IMU, xviii (1975) pp.139-527
Mehus	L.Mehus, ed., Leonardi Bruni … Epistolarum libri 2 vol.s (Florence, 1741) [epistle number followed by Luiso number]
Pächt & Alexander	O.Pächt & J.J.G.Alexander, Illuminated Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford 3 vol.s (Oxford, 1966-73)
PL	J.P.Migne, Patrologia Latina
RIS	Rerum Italicarum Scriptores
Rundle, “Virtue & Weiss”	D. Rundle, ‘On the difference between Virtue and Weiss: Humanist texts in England during the fifteenth century’ in D.Dunn, ed., Courts, Counties and the Capital (Stroud, 1996)
Sammut	A.Sammut, Unfredo Duca di Gloucester e gli umanisti italiani (Padua, 1980)
Schirmer	W.Schirmer, Der Englische Frühhumanismus [2nd ed.] (Tübingen, 1963)
TCBS	Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society
TRHS	Transactions of the Royal Historical Society
Vickers	K.Vickers, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (London, 1907)
Weiss	R.Weiss, Humanism in England during the Fifteenth Century [3rd ed] (Oxford, 1967)

As well as the above abbreviations, the following symbols are used: * designates a manuscript that I have not been able to consult in person, + designates a manuscript I have consulted only on microfilm. A manuscript number in bold signifies a cross-reference to another codex discussed in the appendix.

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