The James Catalogue of Western Manuscripts

Shelfmark B.11.2
Manuscript Title

Amalarius of Metz, Liber officialis

Alternative Title

Amalarius

James Number 241
Century 11th
Physical Description

26 lines to a page. In an exquisite round English hand. Admirable decorative initials with heads of beasts and birds. The last five leaves are mounted on tracing paper.

Provenance

Given by Whitgift

From Exeter. It is the last in the list of Leofric's books give to Exeter as printed in Wanley's catalogue (Hicke's Thesaurus, 11.80). It appears as Liber Officialis Amalarii.

On f.121b is: Hunc librum dat leofricus episcopus ecclesie sancti petri apostoli in ex(onia ad se)dem suam episcopalem pro remedio anime sue ad utilitatem successorum suor(um ● si quis) autem ilium inde abstulerit ύ perpetue maledictioni subiaceat. Fiat. Das boc gif leofric b̅ into sceē petres minstre on exancest(re) þaer his biscopstol is ● his aefter filgendum to nitƿeorðnysse ● and gif hig hƿa ut Æt brede ● haebbe he ece geniðerunge mid eallum deoflum. Amen.

On f.1a at top in red chalk Johannes Parker. This was the son of Abp Parker.

[Hussey (2014) describes the manuscript as written at St Augustine's, Canterbury in the middle decades of the 10th century and at Exeter by the third quarter of the 11th century]

Religious House Exeter, Devon, Cathedral Church
Donor Whitgift, John (1530/31?–1604), Archbishop of Canterbury, Master of Trinity
Size (cm) 31 x 21.5
Folio 122 ff.
Material Parchment
Language LatinMusicOld English
Collation

1 fly-leaf | 18-48 (8 canc.) 58-128 l310 1410 (wants 10: no gap) 158 (wants 8 blank).

Notes

No ff. 116-119. Six leaves kept separately in melemex sleeves (ff. 113-115, 115a, 120-21

IIIF Manifest URL https://mss-cat.trin.cam.ac.uk/Manuscript/B.11.2/manifest.json
Online Since 05/12/2012

Contents

On the fly-leaf are scribbles of the alphabet (xi) andabcdefgh juþelenleo et ui(rgo)bryhtricus presbiteἐ. Liber de ecclesiastico officio secundum usum romanum (xv).

In capitals, the ground coloured yellow and green,
Collectio Amalarii viri doctissimi de ordine Romane aeclessiae qui vocatur liber officialis.
i. De ordine orationum in missa ante epistolam.
There are 38 capitula in lib. I. and 62 in lib. II.
lxii. De sexta ferea.
Expliciunt cap. libri II.
In a smaller hand,
Hic commemorantur dies aegyptiaci qui eo modo in anno circulo sunt obseruandi · ne in his sanguis minuatur aut potio ad soluendum praebetur.
In principio itaque mensis ianuarii dies primus
et ante eius exitum dies septimus.
A principio mensis februarii dies · iiii ·
et ante eius exitum dies · iii ·
No more has been written.
On the verso two xvith cent. notes, one from Trithemius.
Incipit collectio Amalarii viri doctissimi
f.4 De ordine Romane Æclesiae qui vocatur Liber officialis
(In capitals: ground coloured red, yellow and green: good initial to text.)
Postquam scripsi libellum qui a mea paruitate uocatur.
Each chapter has a good initial, and title on coloured ground.
f.44 Liber secundus
In c. lx. the hand changes.
C. lxii. ends f.112b,
Noctibus quia in ea peracta est. (In Migne, P.L. 105, it is Lib. iv. c. xvi.)
Then follow four lines with neumes.
Venite adoremus dominum et procidamus ante eum qui fecit nos.
-qui transduxit nos ad celestia sempiterna gaudia alleluia.
In a larger hand,
f.113 De parasceue
Oramus te Domine dominorum magister rationis aeterne.
Ends f.121b,
Dicamus. Mihi autem adherere deo bonum est.

Bibliography

Doane, A. N. and Hussey, M. T. (eds.), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts in Microfiche Facsimile, Vol 22, Exeter Manuscripts, Descriptions by Matthew T. Hussey (Arizona, 2014), pp. 1-8

Gneuss, H., Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: a List of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Medieval and Renaissance Studies 241 (Tempe, AZ, 2001), no. 174

Gneuss, H. and Lapidge, M., Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Biographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100 (Toronto, 2014), no. 174

Hartzell, K. D., Catalogue of Manuscripts Written or Owned in England up to 1200 Containing Music (Woodbridge, 2006), p. 120.

Ker, N. R., Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon (Oxford, 1957), no. 83.

Morgan, N. and Panayatova, S. (eds.) with the assistance of Rebecca Rushforth, Illuminated Manuscripts in Cambridge : A Catalogue of Western Book Illumination in the Fitzwilliam Museum and the Cambridge Colleges. Part 4, The British Isles, 2 vols. (London, 2013), vol 1. no. 11 and cited nos. 10 and 14

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