The James Catalogue of Western Manuscripts

1. A leaf (xiv) of the Visio de spiritu Guydonis beginning
audiebant unam tenuem vocem primo(?) dicere. Amen
ending
ibi disponitur ad summum(?).

2. The Clementine Recognitions.
Inc. prologus in librum quem moderni itinerarium beati
Petri uocant.
(The leaf is numbered 7.)
Tibi quidem papa gaudenti
-narracionis inicium. Expl. prologus.
Text:
f."7"b Ego clemens in urbe roma
Liber x ends on f.105
et non minorem ei graciam quam apostolo exhiberet.
Expl. liber decimus.

3. f.105 A list of European sovereigns
Imperator Romanorum etc.
...
List of the principal Churches in Rome, and of the Cardinalates.
List of the dioceses of Europe and of the East.
Ending f.109:
Archiepiscopus Colocensis qui dicitur Rodo. nullum habet suffraganum.
Explicit secundum Rogerum.
f.109b is blank.

4. f.110 In a later hand, as I believe: Galfridi Monemutensis Historia Britonum
(Not divided into books: mentioned by Hardy, Materials, I. p. 345.)
Prologue. Cum mecum multa
-gratulatus effectu.
Ends f.177: in latinum sermonem transferri curauit.
Explicit.

5. f.l77 Inc. prophetia merlini
Sedente Wortigerno Rege britonum super ripam exhausti fluminis.
Ending: et sonitum inter sidera confident (f.181).
f.181b is blank.

6. f.182 Meditationes Bernardi
Multi multa sciunt.
Ending: cum sponsa proficies unum eundemque dominum glorie qui viuit et regnat in sec. sec. Amen.

7. f.193b Domine deus meus da cordi meo te desiderare
Ending: roborique tuo mea placeat imbecillitas per I. C. saluatorem meum qui cum patre in tui unitate uiuit et regnat per infinita sec. sec. Amen.

8. f.199b A paragraph on Faith

9. f.200 In another hand, verses headed
Vita... s. Brandani.
Vana vanis garriat pagina pagana
Greges agros prelia vox virgiliana
Mundi dilectoribus placeant mundana
Alexandri studia pia sunt non vana
Is per uiam tridui liber in deserto
Corde deo proximus azimis referto
Pie sitit serie ad quam stilum verto
Dulcis sitis pia sunt viam hanc experto.
f.200b Gesta Alexandri
De Nectanabo mago quomodo magnum genuerit Alexandrum Egipti sapientes.
Ending: vino et veneno superatus a(t)que extinctus occubuit (f.212b)

10. f.212b Gulielmus Gemmeticensis de gestis Normannorum
Prologue.
Pio victorioso atque orthodoxo summi regis nutu
-Rex victoriose atque orthodoxe. Expl. epistola.
Text. Ex quo francorum gens.
The seventh book or section ends : ab eis iniuste perpetratam.
f.244 Sequitur genealogia Edwardi regis
Anno domini m^o.lxxiiij tres de prouincia merciorum monachi.
Ends: Cui successit Edwardus filius eius et regnauit annis L. et plus.
The text of William of Jumièges was printed in Camden's Anglia Normannica etc. a veteribus scripta, p.684 sqq. 1603.
Also in Duchesne, Hist. Normann. Scriptt. Ant., p. 245 (P.L. cxlix. 779). This MS. seems to represent the second edition of the history as described by Hardy, II. no.20, and contained in MS. Harl. 491 and Magdalen Coll., Oxford, no.75.
Then in another hand is added a note of the accession and death of Richard II.

11. In a different hand.
f.251 De infancia Christi
De commoracione beate marie in israel.
Erat maria in admiracione omni populo israel.
It is a text of the 'Liber de infantia,' printed by Tischendorf as the Evang. Pseudo-Matthaei, and also by Oscar Schade.
It ends
Ihesus autem crescebat statuta (-ra) et sapiencia et omnes
qui videbant eum glorificabant deum omnipotentem
qui est benedictus in sec. sec. Amen.
On f.264b is a form of deed roughly copied:
Pateat... quod ego fr. R. de Warwych' (?) ord. Cist. quondam Abbas monasterii de C. Recepi etc.

12. f.265 In another hand: double columns: in French verse
Advice from a father to his son.
Un sages home de grant valur
Ke lung temps uescist a grant honur
De suen enfant se porpensa
Et de suen bien lui moustra.
Ends: Plus ne dirrai meintenant
Chier filz a deux vous comant.
Explicit.

13. In the same hand: single lines.
Dialogue between Love and a Knight.
Uolez escuter vn deduit cochaunt
Ke ieo oy cestre autre nuit/ tut en choain
Entre tresduz fin amur
Et vn preudome de grant valur / issi disant
Ends:
Treschier amur pur ceo requere
Ke od moy voillez herberger / sanz returnir
Ieo prie Jesu le fiz marie
Ke me soiez en compaynie / A mon departir. Amen.

14. In prose.
f.273b Story of the true Cross
Ki voudra sauer et oyr de la verraie croiz etc.
Ad(am) nostre primein(?) pere quant il fu gette hors de paradys.
Ends: tut temps et empire sanz fyn(?). Amen.
The vellum is thin and bad here, and the writing blotted.

15. f.277 Inc. speculum Sancti Edmundi Archiepiscopi de tempore mundi
En le honour de iesu.
Ends f.287b: penser coment il a cele liure de sanne (?)
See Wallace's Life of St Edmund of Canterbury.
On the same page are later scribbled verses to the Virgin, very faint.
On the flyleaf are
recto. Nine lines of cent. xv.
A ffesto stelle numerando perfice lune
Quinque bis inde duas bis septem bis deca tetras
A ffesto stelle numerando perfice lune
Quinquaginta dies post lxx^a fiet
etc.
They relate to the date of Easter.
verso. Miscellaneous scribbles of verses, and pen trials.
One of four lines at the top is signed 'Bleysdale.'
On a slip which follows is,
Iste liber procuratus fuit per Rogerum de Lind(elay).

Ker, N. R., Medieval Libraries of Great Britain, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks 3, 2nd edn (London, 1964)

van Houts, E., Gesta Normannorum ducum: een studie over de handschriften, de tekst, het geschiedwerk en het genre (Groningen, 1982)

Taguchi, M., 'The legend of the cross before Christ: another prose treatment in English and Anglo-Norman', Poetica 45 (1996), 15-61