The James Catalogue of Western Manuscripts

O.7.13

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Shelfmark O.7.13
Manuscript Title

Cassiodorus, Variae epistolae
Alternative Title

Cassiodorii Epistolae.
James Number 1341
Century 12th
Physical Description

32 lines to a page. In a beautiful small hand, with good initials.
Provenance

Part of the Gale collection, given to T.C.C. by Roger Gale in 1738.Marked E. 2. No. 239. From St Alban’s. On f.1 at top in black (cent. xiv), Hic est liber sancti Albani ex dono magistri Simonis Abbatis quem qui abstulerit anathema sit. Simon was Abbot from 1166 to 1183. On the verso of the flyleaf in a similar hand Epistole Cassiodori.De almariolo C. The St Albans MSS. rarely have any press-marks.
Religious House St Albans, Hertfordshire, Benedictine Abbey
Donor Gale, Roger (1672-1744), Antiquary
Size (cm) 42 x 32
Folio 128 ff.
Material Parchment
Language Latin
Collation

1 flyleaf, 18-168.
IIIF Manifest URL https://mss-cat.trin.cam.ac.uk/Manuscript/O.7.13/manifest.json
Online Since 09/01/2017

Contents

Epistolae Cassiodorii.
f.1 Inc. prologus Cassiodori senatoris
Cum desertorum gratiam
-uestra pocius indicia sustinemus.
Initial of a man writing.
f.2b Magni Aurelii Cassiodori Senatoris uiri clarissimi et illustris exquestoris palatii exconsulis ordinarii exmagistri officii prepositi atque patricii uariarum formularum liber primus inc.
O imperator pacem querere.
Initial of a crowned King seated full-face with silver sword.
f.19b Liber II. Decorative initial with dragon and beast
f.34 Liber III. Decorative initial on lilac ground
f.49b Liber IV. Two birds in initial
f.59 Liber V. Upright beast in initial
f.74 Liber VI. Decorative
f.87b Liber VII. Decorative: lilac ground: two dragons
f.100 Liber VIII. Decorative
f.114b Liber IX. Two lions on red ground
Ends with Edictum quis nesciat prouidentiam
-ad uos perueniat munincentia principalis.
f.128b is blank.

The initials have an edging of green on the extreme outside which occurs in other St Albans books.

The drawing, especially in the first two, is very rough.

For the text see Mommsen in Mon. Germ. Auct. Antiquiss. XII.lxxxi, no. 12.

Bibliography

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

Robinson, P., Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries, 2 vols. (Cambridge, 1988), no. 380, pl. 82 [datable between 1167 and 1183?; written at St Albans?]

Thomson, R. M., Manuscripts from St Albans Abbey, 1066-1235, 2 vols. (Woodbridge, 1982), pp. 51, 53, 60, no. 14, pll. 173-4, 195-7

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