Back to all manuscripts
Written by:
Trinity Hall
Posted:
07 Feb 2018

1. Description by M. R. James

Read Online

Haenel 16.

Paper and vellum, 111/2 x 81/4, ff. 162 + 8, 34 lines to a page.

Cent. XV, in a clear foreign hand. Written at Bruges. Belonged to Robert Hare whose name is on f. 1 of text.

Collation:

a6 (1, 6 vellum : 1 stuck to cover) 112-512 610 712-1312 148 b2 (vellum : 2 stuck to cover).

Inside the cover on the first vellum flyleaf are the names of the nine Worthies (les neuf preux) and those of

the nine Unworthies; the latter I have not met elsewhere.

Nouem probi.

Hector Fuit ante aduentum Christi. m. c. lxix. annis
Pagani Alexander magnus iic. lxxxix
Julius Cesar xviij.
_______ _________________ ______________________ ___________ _____
Josue m. viic. Lxxii.
Judei Dauid m.
Judas Machabeus c. lxxix.
_______ _________________ ______________________ ___________ _____
Arturus Fuit post aduentum Christi. vc. Xxx.
Cristiani Karolus magnus viiic.
Godefridus de bullene m. lxxxxix.

Nouem improbi.

Chaym Ioram Judas scharioth
Tres pagani Nero Judei Iereboam Christiani Iulianus apostata
Pylatus Achab Barrabo mediolani

There are also memorial verses on the nine worthies and four distichs on the Fathers of the Church.

On f. ii.    Pitagorica precepta (6) Languor a corpore etc.

Enigmata Aristotelei (9) Stateram ne insilias.

Septem miracula mundi. Conseruatio statuarum omnium gentium Rome.

On f. ii b. Nomina septem sapientum grecie, with verses.

De philosophorum quorundam dictis elegantibus (9).

On f. iii.    Artium prima cultores.

On f. iii b. Versus xii sapientum de M. Tullio Cicerone.

On f. iv b. Oracio d. Philippi Burgundie ducis post subjugationem Luxemburgi facia legatis Guillermi ducis Saxonie (1443)

Vous auez oy ce que mon Chancelier a dit.

On f. v a. Sextus papa quartus.    Dilectis filiis Rectori et uniuersitati studio
generalis louanien. leodien. et ypre(n)sis.

On f. v b. Lestat du Roy.

Metra descripta in pirone Brugensi translate manu violenta a ciuitate Leodiensi (6).

On f. vi a. Vaticinium Hermerici.

On f. vi b. Date of creation (in verse) 4880 B.C., of the Flood, of Abraham, of the Birth of Christ.

Anno gr. d. I. C. mo. cccco. lxxo. quando fuerunt hec metra pretacta inscripta steterat mundus anni vim. vic. lxix.

Charm. Est mala mors capta dum dicitur Ananizapta

Ananizapta ferit mortem dum ledere querit

Ananizapta dei sit medicina mei.

Contents:

Ymago mundi per Vincentium ordinis predicatorum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  f. 1

Deus ante omnem diem duo creauit.

Goes down to 1270 A.D. ending f. 158.

seriatim duximus hic ponenda.

f. 158 b. Epithaphium d. Philippi Burgondie etc.

Jan fu ne de Phelippe qui de Jan Roy fu filz

Per d. Ep. Tornacensem.

Idem pro gallicam ignorantibus.

Johannes Philippo Philippus a rege

Hoc Philippus ego mortis tentus lege

Tristi cords citi lacrimas date pro duce Viti. 1467.

De Bragmannis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 b

Bragmanni quasi philosophi

—De moribus istorum Bragmannorum ponit eciam brito in prologum biblie super epistolam b. Jeronimi.

Manlio Torquato Flaccus de vite humane breuitate per comparationem temporis hec . . . . . . . . 162

Diffugere niues etc.

Ad beatissimam V. Mariam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 b

O que pulcra polo residere maria probaris.

Arnulphus de Palude super consolatione vij aut viij annorum.

Incipit tium (? vaticinium) ab anno millesimo cccc. sexagesimo quarto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163

Prelia magnatum video cum sanguinis undis.

13 lines. Then

Leuam dextra timet septentrio preualet Austro.

Epytaphium Leonardi Aretini ab Enea siluio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Hic Leonarde jaces Aretine gloria gentis.

A prophecy headed

Grandeuus ac Octogenarius Astronomus de Alcaria Judeus natus sed quidem baptisatus Alfonsus

fernans Rodie habitans suis in judiciis ac pronosticationibus anni domini millesimi cccc. octuagesimi

que sequuntur inseruit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 b

Verses. Visio sit victus. laus labor. lumen amictus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  164

Sunt tua tedia lis et inedia fraus mulierum

Sunt tua gaudia pax sapiencia copia rerum.

Epytaphium Turci anno 1482.

Qui vici innumeros populos tot regna, tot urbes

Solus et immensi qui timor orbis eram, etc.

Dum indulta fuit treuga inter Ludouicum francie Regem et Carolum Burgondie etc. ducem tercia Nouembris

a. d. millesimo quadringentesimo septuagesimo secundo Reges et principes subscriptos ut suos confederatos

expressit Idem Dux Burg. quos et sub dicta treuga voluit comprehendi.

(List follows.)

© N.J.R. James

2. Supplementary Description

Author: Vincent of Beauvais(?)
Language: Latin
Origin: Flanders
Date: 15th c., ca. 1460 – 1480
Material: Paper (Watermark; p (g?) with foliate motif above) and parchment (front pastedown; f. e; fols. 163-164)
Physical Description: iii modern paper flyleaves + 169 folios (I unfoliated former pastedown, then foliated a – e, 1 – 163) + iii modern paper flyleaves, 290 x 214 (192 x 136) mm, 36 – 37 long lines, ruled in ink, catchwords
Rubric: Ymago mundi per vincentium ordinis predicatorum
Incipit: Deus ante omnem diem duo
2o folio: artem invenit
Explicit: in Ihero solumtano te[. . . .] sepeli[. .]tur (fol. 163v)
Contents: Unfoliated former pastedown, List of the Nine Worthies and Nine Unworthies, with verses on Worthies and Doctors of the Church; fol. a recto, Verses Pitagorica precepta, Enigmata Aristotelei, Septem miracula mundi; fol. a verso, Verses Nomina septem sapientum grecie, De Philosophorum quorundam dictis elegantibus; fol. b recto, Artium primi cultores; fols. b verso – c recto, Twelve verses on the wisdom of Cicero; fols. c verso – d recto, Oracio de Philippi Burgundie ducis post subjugationem Luxemburgi facta legatis Guillermi ducis Saxonie (1443); fol. d recto, Pope Sixtus IV (d. 1485) to the Rectors and students at Louvain, Liège and Ypres, 1473; fol. d verso, Lestat du roy; fol. e recto, Vaticinium Hermerici; fol. e verso, Dates of Creation, Flood, Abraham, birth of Christ, in verse, and charm Est mala mors capta; fols. 1r – 158r, Imago mundi (to 1270); fol. 158v, Verse Epitaph of Philip of Burgundy, Jan fu ne de Philippe; fol. 159r, Verse Idem pro gallicam ignorantibus (date 1467 at foot of page); fols. 159v – 161v, De Bragmannis; fols. 162r, Manlio Torquato Flaccus, De vita humane brevitate per comparationem temporis hec; fol. 162v, Devotional Marian verse O que pulcra polo residere maria probaris; fol. 163r, Arnulphus de Palude, Super consolatione vii aut viii annorum, and verse, Epytaphium Leonardi Aretini ab Enea Silvio; fol. 163v, Verse prophesy Grandeuus ac octogenarius astronomus de alcaria Judeus natus (dated 1480); fol. 164r (pastedown of lower cover, still attached to previous binding),Verses Visio sit victusEpytaphium Turci, 1482
Script: Gothic bookhand (hybrida), with Humanistic cursive elements (almost bastada)
Decoration: Red penwork initials [2 – 3 l.] occasionally with minor internally-voided decoration, for main and sub-divisions, fols. 1r – 20v; red paragraph marks for minor text divisions, fols. 1r – 20v
Provenance: Flanders / Burgundy in late 15th c. (contents and script of fols. a – e, 163 – 164); Robert Hare (d. 1611); his bequest
Binding: 20th c., (Cambridge Conservation consortium) native-dyed skin over paste boards, white endbands, ‘7’ on fore-edge (previous 18th / 19th c. binding kept with MS)
Notes: Several different hands, all late 15th c., fols. a – e, 163 – 164, unfoliated pastedown. James suggests main text written in Bruges. Although a student at Gonville Hall, Robert Hare was executor of the will of Dr William Mowse, (??) Master of Trinity Hall 1552-3, 1555-7, while his brother William and cousin Nicholas were Trinity Hall men.
Bibliography: M. R. James, Catalogue of Manuscripts in Trinity Hall (Cambridge, 1907), 10 – 12

© Trinity Hall, Cambridge