Scherpenheuvel-Zichem, Abdij der Norbertijnen van Averbode, Archief, Sectie IV, hs. 44

Cassiodorus, Expositio psalmorum, part 1

Manuscript description

Manuscript ID

mmfc-10016

Title

Cassiodorus, Expositio psalmorum, part 1

Collection

Scherpenheuvel-Zichem, Abdij der Norbertijnen van Averbode

Shelfmark

Scherpenheuvel-Zichem, Abdij der Norbertijnen van Averbode, Archief, Sectie IV, hs. 44

Former shelfmark

E.XIV (Cappuyns 1964)

Heritage register listing

Flemish list of masterpieces (individual items): 394

Manuscript Category

theology

Document type

library book / reference book

Topic

church fathers

Notes

General
This is the first of three separate volumes containing the complete text of Cassiodorus's commentary on the Psalms which originally was part of the library of the abbey of Stavelot. The second volume (containing the commentary on Psalms 51-100) is now in KBR Brussels (MS II 2571) and the third (commentary on Psalms 101-150) is in the British Library (Add. MS 16962). The volume now in London was copied earlier than the first two volumes, and probably dates to the late 9th century.

Provenance

Owner
Abbey of Stavelot
Date
early 12th century
Evidence type
External source
Comments
Mentioned in the abbey's inventory of 1105 (Cappuyns 1964).
Owner
Marie-Anne Libert
Date
19th century
Evidence type
Transmission
Comments
Sold to Stanislas Joris after her death in 1865.
Owner
Abbey of Stavelot
Date
second half 15th century
Evidence type
Ex-libris (lower pastedown recto (loose), Latin)
Transcription
Iste liber pertinet monasterio sancti Remacli in Stabulaus
Owner
Stanislaus Joris
Date
1867
Evidence type
Ex-libris (front pastedown, Latin)
Transcription
F. Stanislaus Joris Rel. Averbodensis. Malmundarii hac 7 mai 1867.
Owner
Abbey of Stavelot
Date
16th century
Evidence type
Ex-libris (fol. 1r, Latin)
Transcription
Liber monasterii Stabulensis
Owner
Abbey of Stavelot
Date
11th century
Evidence type
Other (fol. 1r-1v, 181r-181v)
Comments
Several 12th-century and 13th-century hands have added copies of documents relating to the estates of the abbey of Stavelot, including a list of people owing rents and services, a list of estates and rents, and records of gifts to the abbey, from 1085 and 1127, the latter possibly the original contemporary records.

References

Other online data sources

Mirabile (manuscripts)

Binding

UNIT ID

mmfc-10017

Leaf count

i + 181 + i fol. (The first leaf (fol. 1) was originally left blank but was later used for additional texts. The main text begins on fol. 2r. Two leaves are missing after fol. 174, having been torn out, leaving a triangular piece of the first leaf, containing some text, and an irregular stub of the second. The next leaf (fol. 175) is now loose, but has a narrow stub. The conjugate leaf of fol. 175r, originally the last leaf of the quire, must have been blank, since the original text ends at the top of fol. 181r.)

Dicta probatoria

final leaf (fol. 181v) : ulterius ad
secundo folio (fol. 2r) : Diversas notas

Endpapers

parchment, equalized

Readers’ annotation

Readers' notes, Inscriptions

Accompanying material

The manuscript contains a loose leaf from a manuscript that is different from the original volume from which the pastedowns were taken.

Binding

Binding type

Wooden boards

Date

Medieval binding

Cover material

Leather

Decoration

Blind tooling, Clasps, Gold tooling

Dimensions

h: 345 mm x w: 280 mm x d: 85 mm

Cover title

CASSIODORUS / IN / PSALMOS / M S (Tooled, 16th century)

Description

The boards are recycled from an earlier binding.

Fragments present in binding

Yes

Bookblock: Cassiodorus, Commentary on the Psalms, Part 1 (Psalms 1-50)

UNIT ID

mmfc-10018

Page range

fol. 1-181

Form

Codex

Integrity

Defective: Two folios have been torn out after fol. 174. Part of the outer margin of fol. 100 has been cut away with a straight edge, as well as the lower (outer) corner of fol. 109.

Language

Latin (main)
Old Greek (other)

Quires

Regular quires (4 bifolia per quire)

Quire markings

Quire numbers

Notes

Textual content
In addition to the text of Cassiodorus's commentary, the book contains annotations related to the history of the abbey written in the margins (fol. 125v, fol. 126r, fol. 139v) and in the blank spaces of the front fly leaf and last folio.

Origin

Alternative dating
second half 10th century (M. Cappuyns)
Evidence
Cappuyns (1964) dates the manuscript and its sibling in (KBR, MS II 2571) to c. 975 on the basis of a marginal note next to a copy of a letter by bishop Advence of Metz (d. 875), which Cappuyns interpreted as a chronogram that refers to the year 975. Later authors have repeated this dating, which is clearly too early. Gaillard (1995) has explained the function of this code found in the Brussels manuscript, which does not refer to a date but was a means to allow the authentification of the episcopal letter.
Date
second half 11th century, possibly before 1085 (Godfried Croenen)
Evidence
The script and the style of the decoration indicate that the manuscript originated in the second half of the 11th century. The Romanesque initial on fol. 53v is closely related to those in a manuscript that was created in the abbey of Malmedy, the twin monastery of Stavelot, in the last quarter of the 11th century, Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. lat. 8552, in particular the intials on fol. 72v, 76v, 82v, 85v, 89v, 92v, 96v, 98r, 112v 116v, 117v, 138r and 188r. A similar style of initial is also found in the second volume of the set, KBR, MS II 2571, fol. 1r. If the notitia recording a gift to the abbey in 1085 was written into the manuscript (fol. 181r) contemporaneously with the transaction, then the manuscript must date from before 1085.
Place
Abbey of Stavelot (possibly), Southern Low Countries (Diana Goodwin)

Support

Material

Parchment

Number of leaves

181

Foliation

Modern foliation

Page dimensions

h: 332 mm x w: 267 mm (fol. 25) , leaves trimmed

Leave thickness

fol. 1, 8 leaves (1.56 mm)
fol. 1, 8 leaves (1.78 mm)

Layout

Section
fol. 1r-181r (fol. 9r)
Columns
1
Lines
33; lines ruled: 33 (written above top line)
Layout formula
| T |
Ruling
Full ruling, Blind-point ruling
Prickings
prickings visible in outer margin
Text dimensions
h: 263 mm x w: 188 mm
Margins
Top margin: 21 mm, inner margin: 34 mm

Writing

Script

Carolina
Northern gothica textualis
Capitalis
Hors-système script

Decoration

Type

versals, plain initials, interlace initials, initials with marginal extensions, romanesque initials, rubrics red, zoomorphic initials, illuminated

Description

The first two quires have the most extensive decoration, consisting of several Romanesque-style initials executed in red ink. The largest of these are found on fol. 2r (an initial R that begins the preface) and on fol. 11v (the B of Beatus vir). In addition, there are rubrics in red ink, done in rustic capitals, and plain initials in alternating red and green ink. The use of capitals for the rubrics disappears after fol. 28, to be replaced by rubrics in the same Caroline as the text.

1. Cassiodorus, Expositio psalmorum (Part 1)

UNIT ID

mmfc-50759

Page range

fol. 2r-181r

Title

Cassiodorus, Expositio psalmorum (Part 1)

Expositio psalmorum

Contributors

Cassiodorus Senator (author)

Language

Latin (main)

Keywords

Genre

commentary

2. Conflictus pape et regis (Walther 2648)

Endpapers: Lactantius, Divinae institutiones (fragments)

3. Lactantius, Divinae institutiones

UNIT ID

mmfc-50762

Page range

i-ii

Title

Lactantius, Divinae institutiones

Divinae institutiones

Contributors

Lactantius (author)

Language

Latin (main)

Notes

General
The fragments contain texts from the end of Book IV and the beginning of Book V, according to Cappuyns (1964).

Accompanying material: Faustus Reiensis, De gratia et libero arbitrio (fragment)

4. Faustus Reiensis, De gratia et libero arbitrio, Lib. II, caput VII

UNIT ID

mmfc-50760

Page range

fol. [1]r-[1]v

Title

Faustus Reiensis, De gratia et libero arbitrio, Lib. II, caput VII

De gratia et libero arbitrio

Contributors

Faustus Reiensis (author)

Language

Latin (main)

Notes

Textual content
Patrilogia latina, vol. 58, col. 824-825
Manuscript description
  1. Binding
    1. Bookblock: Cassiodorus, Commentary on the Psalms, Part 1 (Psalms 1-50)
      1. 1. Cassiodorus, Expositio psalmorum (Part 1)
      2. 2. Conflictus pape et regis (Walther 2648)
    2. Endpapers: Lactantius, Divinae institutiones (fragments)
      1. 3. Lactantius, Divinae institutiones
    3. Accompanying material: Faustus Reiensis, De gratia et libero arbitrio (fragment)
      1. 4. Faustus Reiensis, De gratia et libero arbitrio, Lib. II, caput VII