THE CATALOGUE

THE MEUSEREGION

143

Fitzwilliam Museum, MS 241

Gospel BookIn LatinMeuse region, mid-twelfth century

Parchment, i paper flyleaf + 109 fols.+ i paper flyleaf,283 × 191mm (204 × 136mm), two columns, 32 lines,ruled in plummet, running headers

BINDING: eighteenth century, brown calf over pasteboards,partially erased arms of Park Abbey, Louvain, gold-stampedon both covers

SECUNDO FOLIO: [corri]gimus. Neque

SCRIPT: Gothic bookhand (textualis)

CONTENTS

fols.1v–34v Gospel of St Matthew, with prologues, capitula,and argumentum

fols.34v–53v Gospel of St Mark, with prologue and capitulafols.53v–85v Gospel of St Luke, with prologue and capitulafols.85v–109r Gospel of St John, with prologue and capitula

DECORATION

Historiated initial [L, 32 ll.] framed and occupying left-handtext column: fol.7v StMatthew’s Gospel, Fourmedallionswithbusts of Evangelists, the secondholding a book, the other threewith scrolls.

ORNAMENTATION

Multi-coloured initials formed of, and filledwith, coiled foliage,hybrid beasts, and human heads on gold grounds, and accom-panied by the first words of text in gold or alternate blue, redand green capitals, occupying full page at the beginning ofSt John’s Gospel (fol.87v), one text column at the beginning ofSt Mark’s Gospel (fols.36r; initial for St Luke’s Gospel onfol.55v cut out), and 8–25 lines at prologues (fols.1v,2v,4r, 5r,5v, 34v, 85v); blue, red and green penwork initials [1–4 ll.]with pen-flourished ornament in alternate colours.

PROVENANCE

ParkAbbey, Leuven (eighteenth-century pressmark ‘J. theca . ii.’verso of flyleaf at front); among the 374 volumes sold by ParkAbbey in 1829 (sale catalogue, 38, no. 15); Abbey of St Peter,Ghent (inscription inside upper cover); Pierre-Philippe-ConstantLammens (1762–1836), librarian of the University of Ghent(ex-libris inside upper cover, his catalogue, II, 393, no. 8); Jeande Meyer; his sale, Ghent, 2 November 1868, sale catalogue,17, no. 67; purchased byMuller for 500 fr.; Pierre-Henri Gélis-Didot (1853–1902) (bookplate inside upper cover); his sale,Paris, 12–13 April 1897, lot 2; purchased for the MuseumfromMessrs Maggs in 1897.

COMMENTS

This Gospel Book was probably among the manuscriptsproduced for Park Abbey under Abbot Philippus (1142–1165).Its decoration finds close stylistic parallels in the three-volumeBible of ParkAbbey dated 1148 (London, BL, Add.MS14788).

EXHIBITIONS: exhibited at a French exhibition under ‘Histoiredu Travail, Miniature, Section II’ while in the ownership ofGélis Didot; Cambridge 1966, no. 15.

LITERATURE: Cambridge1966,no. 15, pl. 4;Wormald andGiles1982, 156–57; Van Balberghe 1993, 161.

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Fol.5v (detail)

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Fitzwilliam Museum, MS 241. Fol.7v: Four medallions with busts of Evangelists forming initial L

THE MEUSE REGION · CAT. NO. 143

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Fitzwilliam Museum, MS 241. Fol.87v: Beginning of St John’s Gospel

144

Fitzwilliam Museum, MS McClean 165

Astronomical MiscellanyIn LatinMeuse region, probably St Trond, soon after 1175

Parchment, i paper flyleaf + 139 fols.+ i paper flyleaf,225–238 × 155mm, written above top line, one extantquire mark (fol.8v): A. fols.1–88 text block 189–206 ×120–133mm, 43–52 long lines, ruled in plummet;B. fols.89–116 text block 207–210 × c.140mm, 37 longlines, ruled in crayon; C. fols.117–134 text block 192–209× 126–135mm, 34 long lines, ruled in plummet;D. fols.135–139 text block 178–187 × 128mm, 47 longlines, ruled in plummet

BINDING: nineteenth century, black paper and parchmentover pasteboards, remains of two leather ties on foredge

SECUNDO FOLIO: aquilonalia tenens

SCRIPT: Gothic bookhand (textualis)

CONTENTS

fols.1r–16v Liber Iparcifols.17r–38r Hyginus, De astronomiafols.38v–44r Martianus Capella, De nuptiis Philologiae etMercurii, Bk VIII, De astronomia (excerpt)

fols.44r–47r Raymond of Marseilles, Liber cursuumplanetarum, canons (dateable to 1141, ed. Burnett andPoulle forthcoming)

fol.47r–47v Ten short excerpts, some derived fromanonymous translations of Mudhkart f ‘ilm an-nujm, hereascribed to ‘Albimasar’ (Ab Mashar), ‘Beheleindus’(perhaps for bi-al-Kind, i.e. by/in al-Kind), and ‘Almersius’(ed. Burnett 2003; Burnett 2004)

fol.48r Accessus to the science of the stars (ed. Burnett1990), followed by definitions

fol.48v The divisions of the firmament and of timefol.48v Ibn as-Saffr (translated by John of Seville), On the Useof the Astrolabe, chapters 23 and 37 (ed. Millás Vallicrosa1942, 274, 282, this manuscript not mentioned)

fols.48v–49r Abraham Ibn Ezra, Book of the Foundations ofthe Astronomical Tables (excerpt)

fols.49r–50v Theorica planetarumfols.51r–66v Raymond of Marseilles, Liber cursuumplanetarum, tables (ed. Burnett and Poulle forthcoming)

fols.67r–80v Instructions related to the Tables of Pisa,includes tables of anni collecti / anni expansi and Arabicmonths

fol.80r–80v Two tables for differences between eras and forthe vernal equinox, the second dated 1175

fols.81r–86v Adelard of Bath, Liber de astrolabio, withPrologue (unique in this MS), followed by two star tables(fols.87r and 88v) and drawings of an astrolabe(fols.87r–88v, reproduced in Cochrane 1979–1980)

fols.89r–102r Commentary on Porphyry, Isagoge

fols.102r–116v Commentary on Aristotle, Categoriaefols.117r–134v Boethius, De differentiis topicis (incomplete)fols.135v–139r Aristotle, Categoriae, chapters 1–7(incomplete)

DECORATION

Diagrams in brown and red ink: fol.13r Liber Iparci, Path of theSun; fol.50v De compositione tabularum, Planetary movement;fol.71r Introduction toTables of Pisa,The unequal divisions ofthe ecliptic circle on an astrolabe; fol.81v Liber de astrolabio,The unequal divisions of the ecliptic circle on an astrolabe;fol.82r Planetary movement; fols.83v–84r Five smallerdiagrams illustrating use of astrolabe; fol.87r Astrolabe,climate plate, latitude 48°; fol.87v Back of astrolabe, incom-plete, without alidade and shadow squares; fol.88r Astrolabe,climate plate for Bath, latitude 52°; fol.88v Design for rete,incomplete.

ORNAMENTATION

A. Initials [10–22 ll.] with foliate, zoomorphic and geometricmotifs outlined in red ink, often on green, blue, brown oryellow grounds, that on fol.44r with gold leaf; alternatered and green initials [2–4 ll.] with minor ornament insame or alternate colour; tables in red and occasionallygreen (fols.46r, 51r–66v, 79r), that on fol.64v includingacanthus ornament in both colours.

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Fol.1r

B. Black penwork initials [2–4 ll.] with foliate motifs, faces(fol.89r) or hybrids (fol.94v), occasionally tinted in lightbrown; initials sketched in plummet or spaces left blankafter fol.97v.

C. Red or black penwork initials [1–3 ll.]; tables [5–18 ll.] inred (fols.131r, 131v).

D. Spaces left blank for initials; capitals highlighted in yellow.

PROVENANCE

At least PartAwas in the Benedictine Abbey of StTrond by thethirteenth century (place name and dates 1286, 1287, 1285,1288 added on fol.66r); Prof. August Constantin Naumann,Freiberg; his sale, T.O. Weigel, Leipzig, 6 June 1854, lot 16;Prince Baldassarre Boncompagni (d.1894), no. 360written inred ink on spine, fragment of paper label with printed no. 320pasted over spine (Narducci 1862, no. 360, second ed. 1892,no. 320(360)); purchased from Wesley by Frank McClean(1837–1904); his bequest, 1904.

COMMENTS

Part A was written and illuminated by at least two contempo-rary hands but does not consist of four independent parts, asRobinson 1988, no. 230 suggested. It was made soon after1175, the date on fol.80v, which applies to fols.1–88, not justto fols.67–80. The initials in Part A find parallels in twelfth-centurymanuscripts from StTrond (Lapière 1981, 199–241).Parts A andD seem to be the work of the same scribe(s), butDwas probably copied independently, as a libellum; it occupiesone quire whose first and last leaves, fols.135r and 139v, areblank. At least Parts A and D were together at St Trond in thethirteenth century; the samehand(s) entered the astronomicalnotes which contain the thirteenth-century dates and placename: 1286, 1287, 1285, 1283, apud sanctum Trudonem(fol.66r), 1290 (fol.80r), 1289–1292 (fol.139r), 1247 and1241 (fol.139v). A different hand added calculations incrayon headed Anno domini 1295, 29 diemaj on fol.116v.

The Accessus on fol.48r also occurs in London, BL, Cotton,Appendix VI, fols.20v–21r, 23r; the Theorica planetarum onfols.49r–50v in Oxford, Bodl. Lib., MS Digby 47, fols.2r–10r.

Traces of a horoscope and a diagram with concentricspheres are discernible on fol.16v; traces of astronomicaldiagrams (Orbicular model andMercury model) on fol.135r.

A later hand added a fragment of plainchant in the marginon fol.46r.

LITERATURE: Narducci 1862,no. 360;GiornaledelleBiblioteche1(1867), 72; James 1912a, 316–19; Haskins 1913; Haskins1927, passim; AL no. 258; Thorndike 1923–1958, II, 21 n. 3,92 n. 2; Thorndike 1949, 35; Chenu 1957, 27 n. 2; Leonardi1959–1960, no. 31; Thorndike 1963, passim; Cochrane1979–1980; D’Alverny 1982, 442 n. 89; Kunitzsch 1982,488–89, 512; Le Boeuffle 1983, lv; Munk Olsen 1982–1989,I, 526 and III, 235; Kunitzsch 1987; Poulle 1987, 120 n. 11;Mercier 1987, 107 n. 57, 110; Burnett 1987a, 4 n. 30;Burnett 1987b, 138 n. 24; Burnett 1987c, 168 no. 10, 180no. 42; Robinson 1988, no. 230, pl. 89; Burnett 1990;Marenbon 1993; Marenbon 1997; Pedersen 2002, 95–6;Burnett 2002, 256; Burnett 2003;Mercier 2004, 28; Burnett2004, 116–19; D’Alverny, Burnett and Poulle forthcoming.

THE MEUSE REGION · CAT. NO. 144

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Fol.44r (detail)

Fol.87r: Astrolabe, climate plate, latitude 48˚

145

Fitzwilliam Museum, MS McClean 41

PsalterIn LatinMeuse region, Liège, c.1255–1265

Parchment, ii modern paper flyleaves + iv seventeenth-century paper flyleaves (foliated 1–4) + vii fifteenth-centuryparchment flyleaves (foliated i–vii) + 154 fols.+ iv sixteenth-century paper flyleaves + ii modern paper flyleaves,192 × 140mm (130 × 95mm), 18 long lines, ruled inplummet, leaves lost after fol.106v

BINDING: nineteenth century, blind-stamped brown leatherover wooden boards

SECUNDO FOLIO: qui non abiit

SCRIPT: Gothic bookhand (textualis)

CONTENTS

paper fols.2r–4v at front Office of the Guardian Angelcontinued on four paper flyleaves at end (addition,seventeenth century) parchment

fols. i recto–1v Hymns and ferial office (addition, fifteenthcentury)

fols.1v–137v Psalter, Gallicanfols.138r–151r Canticles and Quicumque vultfols.151r–153v Litany with Collectsfol.153v Prayer for recovery of Holy Land written overerased Collects (addition)

DECORATION

Eleven historiated initials with foliate extensions on goldgrounds: fol.1vPsalm1, [B, full-page] Coronationof theVirgin(above), Burial and Assumption of the Virgin (below),St Francis displaying stigmata on left, St Elizabeth with bookon right; fol.2r Psalm 2, [Q, 4 ll.] David playing harp and hold-ing ring, initial supported by female hybrid emerging fromborder foliate bar, gold cock perched on rod extending upwardsin outer margin; fol.23r Psalm 26, [D, 8 ll.] Christ holdingscroll inscribed respicite. fides uestra saluos uos fecit and address-ing twoblindmen; fol.36rPsalm38, [D, 8 ll.] Flight into Egypt;fol.48r Psalm 51, [Q, 8 ll.] Massacre of the Innocents; fol.48vPsalm 52, [D, 7 ll.] SecondTemptation of Christ, Devil holdingscroll inscribed Si filius deimitte te deorsum, Christ holding scrollinscribedNon temptabis dominumdeumtuum; fol.61vPsalm68,[S, 8 ll.] St Peter walking on the water, Christ holding scrollinscribed confidite ego sum nolite timere, St John holding scrollinscribed dominus est; fol.77r Psalm 80 [E, 7 ll.] Raising ofLazarus, Christ holding scroll inscribed Lazare ueni foras;fol.92r Psalm 97, [C, 8 ll.] Two clerks singing from book on

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ABOVE Fol.36r: Flight into EgyptBELOW Fol.61v: St Peter walking onthe water, Christ addressing him

lectern; fol.94r Psalm 101, [D, 7 ll.] Agony in the Garden;fol.138r Canticle of Isaiah, [C, 8 ll.] Doubting Thomas touch-ing Christ’s side and holding scroll inscribed dominus meus etdeusmeus.

ORNAMENTATION

Alternate red and blue penwork initials [2 ll.] with pen-flourished infill and extensions including occasional birds ordragons for ordinaryPsalms, Litany, andCanticles; alternate redand blue one-line penwork initials; red and blue pen-flourishedline fillers.

PROVENANCE

Marie Becket, Sub-prioress of the Carmelite convent in Liège(seventeenth-century ownership inscription, paper fol.1r atfront); Sister Marie Linerloz, 1636 (ownership inscriptionsbeneath coat of arms on paper fol.1v at front and on fol.56v);acquired by Walter Sneyd, Keele Hall, Staffordshire, in 1851(bookplate inside upper cover, mentioned in letter to ThomasPhilipps dated 8 December 1851; Munby 1972, 113); his sale,Sotheby’s, London, 16 December 1903, lot 660; purchased byFrankMcClean (1837–1904); his bequest, 1904.

COMMENTS

This is a typical representative of thirteenth-century MosanPsalters. Although Saints Francis and Elizabeth are depictedon fol.1v, they do not feature in the Litany. The listing ofSt Cornelius twice among the Martyrs and of St Martin firstamong the Confessors suggests a patron associated with thecollegiate Church of St Martin in Liège and the Premon-stratensian Abbey of Mont Cornillon (Oliver 1988, II, 253).The illumination has been ascribed to an artist from the work-shop responsible for London, BL,Add.MS21114 (Oliver 1988,II, 253). A historiated initial for Psalms 109 and the text ofPsalms 109–110:10 is lost with leaves missing after fol.106.

EXHIBITIONS: Cambridge 1966, no. 36; Sint-Truiden 1989,no. 14.

LITERATURE: James 1912a, 80–82, pl. XXIX; Haseloff 1938,69–72; Cambridge 1966, no. 36; Munby 1972, 113; Oliver1988, I, 26, 54–55, 62, 65, 69–71, 75, 77, 101–03, 118 n.64, 123, 125–30, 132, 136 n. 37, 140, 154 n. 41, and II, no.10, 213, 229–31, 263, 264, pls. 37, 83, 97; Sint-Truiden1989, 85, no. 14.

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Fols.1v–2r: Coronation of the Virgin above, Burial and Assumption of the Virgin below; David playing harp

CONTENT

fols.1r–113r Psalter, Gallican (begins imperfectly at Psalm 13)fols.113v–119v Canticles (end imperfectly in the secondCanticle of Moses, Audite celi)

fols.120r–124r Litany with Collectsfols.124r–160v Hours of the Virginfols.161r–182r Office of the Deadfols.182v–188v Ave porta paradysi (ends imperfectly)fols.189r–190v Prayers to the Trinity and the Cross, withfragment from Commendation of the Soul in French(additions)

DECORATION

Eighteen historiated initials in white-patterned blue and pinkon gold grounds: fol.12rPsalm26, [D, 10X ll.] Christ touchingman’s eyes; fol.24r Psalm 38, [D, 11 ll.] David pointing atmouth; fol.34v Psalm 51, [Q, 11 ll.] Saul’s suicide; fol.35rPsalm52, [D, 11 ll.] Fool holding club and eating cake; fol.46vPsalm 68, [S, 11 ll.] David in water praying to Christ above;fol.60v Psalm 80, [E, 11 ll.] David playing bells; fol.73r Psalm97, [C, 11 ll.] Three clerics singing at lectern; fol.85v Psalm109, [D, 11 ll.] Trinity with Father and Son seated on separatethrones, dove descending between them; fol.113v Canticle ofIsaiah, [C, 11 ll.] Priest at altar; fol.124r Hours of the Virgin,

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146

Fitzwilliam Museum, MS McClean 43

Psalter and HoursUse of LiègeIn LatinMeuse region, Liège, c.1275–1280

Parchment, ii parchment flyleaves (foliated i–ii) + 190 fols.+ i parchment flyleaf, 165 × 115mm (95 × 65mm),21 long lines, ruled in plummet, leaves lost before fol.1 andafter fols.119, 155, 188

BINDING: seventeenth century, parchment over woodenboards, sewn on five supports, traces of two fasteningdevices on foredge; repaired and rebound by Robert Proctor,Fitzwilliam Museum, 1989

SECUNDO FOLIO: et munera super

SCRIPT: Gothic bookhand (textualis)

Fols.34v–35r: Saul’s suicide; Fool holding club and eating cake