Peter Comestor OSA, Historia scholastica; Stephen Langton, Expositio litteralis in historiam scholasticam.

Manuscript location  
Place  
RepositoryState Library of Victoria 
Collection  
Shelf markRARES 096 P44 
Former shelf mark  
Manuscript name  
NamePeter Comestor OSA, Historia scholastica; Stephen Langton, Expositio litteralis in historiam scholasticam. 
Contents  
Summary

1. Peter Comestor 0SA Historia Scholastica.

1ra. (Introduction unrubricated) Imperatorie maiestatis est in palatio tres habere mansions…[i]

 

1ra. De creatione empyrei et quatuor elementorum. In principio erat verbum et verbum erat principium in quo et per quod pater creavit mundum…(all ends 97vb in the Historia Evangelica)…translata est ad dominica multiplicatis festivitatibus sanctorum.

 

2. Stephen Langton, Expositio litteralis in historiam scholasitcam.

98ra. Genesis. Omne supetuacuum pleno de pectore manat.[ii] Proinde (?) ne sing[u]la queque relegendo volumina te ubique ita quod nusquam reperias paucis esto contentus…(105va)…scorsum id est extra frequentiam hominum.[iii]

 

105va. Exodus. Hystoria exodi Nota thomos (sic) vocat distinctiones unde achonius…(110vb)…est mentio quia enee erant. Hic explicit exodus. Not quite identical with the text given in Stegmüller, Vol. V, p. 235,  No. 7711.

 

110vb Incipit leviticus. Tertia distinctio his etc. Nota quod dicitur id est nomina[n]t eos supple quandoque nam alter est…(112va)…pro altero tenebatur devoto supra estimationem.

Cf. Stegmüller, Vol.V, pp. 235–236,  No. 7712; Glorieux, Vol. I, p. 240.

 

112va. Liber numeri. Quarta etc. quod sonat apud eos non habetur et libri inquit veteres habent quia ut locutus est…(115rb)…hoc modo non observatur a iudeis huius temporis.

Cf. Stegmüller, Vol.V, p. 236,  No. 7713; Glorieux, Vol.I, p. 240.

 

115rb. Deuteronimus (sic). Quinta etc. eliditur hic quorundam opinio qui dicebant…(116ra)…quantum ad frequentem collocutionem. Explicit pentatheucus.

Cf. Stegmüller, Vol. V, p. 236,  No. 7714; Glorieux, Vol. I, p. 241.

 

116ra.Incipit iosue. Inquit nave et hec similiter sinonima sunt iohannes[iv] et iosue qui scripsit filius scilicet…(117rb)…ubi thebas condidit a quibus thebani. Explicit liber iosue.

Cf. Stegmüller, Vol. V, p. 236,  No. 7715; Glorieux, Vol. I, p. 241.

 

117rb. Incipit liber iudicum. Liber etc. (sic) inquit appellatus est liber iste quia de iudicio…(118va)…et mulieres seorsum ascendebant eadem clausula verba magistri.

Cf. Stegmüller, Vol. V, p. 236,  No. 7716; Glorieux, Vol. I, p. 241.

 

118va. Liber ruth. Post samsonem historia inquit liber ruht (sic) per se tamen in kathalogo…(118vb)…patriarchas unde seminatus est populus dei.

Cf. Stegmüller, Vol. V, p. 236,  No. 7717; Glorieux, Vol. I, p. 241.

 

118vb. Regum I. Dissensio [est] inquit inter nos et ebreos quia quod librum…(120vb) incertum est inquit quo devenerunt. Explicit primus liber regum.

Cf. Stegmüller, Vol. V, p. 237.  No. 7718; Glorieux, Vol.I, p. 241.

 

120vb. [Regum II] Factum est etc. iste inquit adolescens mentitus est ut aiunt hebrei…(122va)…quare plaga cessavit in populo.

Cf. Stegmüller, Vol.V, p. 237,  No. 7719; Glorieux, Vol. I, p. 241.

 

122va. Incipit liber regum tertius. Incipit malachim id est tertium (sic) volumen regum apud hebreos…(125rb)…scilicet rex idumeus.

Cf. Stegmüller, Vol. V, p. 237,  No. 7720; Glorieux, Vol. I, p. 241.

 

125rb. Regum quartus. Porro etc. patris et matris sue scilicet achab et iezabel per cancellum…(128ra)…preconsiderata regum historia.

Cf. Stegmüller, Vol. V, p. 237,  No. 7721; Glorieux, Vol. I, p. 241.

 

128ra. Incipit tobias. Historia etc. iste inquit et filius eius eodem nomine dicti sunt…(128va)…leges.

Cf. Stegmüller, Vol. V, p. 237,  No. 7722; Glorieux, Vol. I, p. 241.

 

128va. Ezechiel [Ezechiel] etc. cisare dicebatur quedam portio terre…(129ra)…plures ii. de captiuis.

Cf. Stegmüller, Vol. V, p. 238,  No. 7723; Glorieux, Vol. I, p. 241.

 

129ra. Hic incipit liber daniel. Regressi stint cum eis qui transmigraverunt factum est etc. in palatio ad dissoluendas causas…(131ra)…et de familia vestra sumus.

Cf. Stegmüller, Vol. V, p. 238,  No. 7724; Glorieux, Vol.I, p. 241.

 

131ra. [Iudith.] Hanc historiam prefatio est magistri paula inquit… (131va) …pa[ra]sitidis nomen est mulieris.

Cf. Stegmüller, Vol. V, p. 238,  No. 7725; Glorieux, Vol. I, p. 241.

 

131va. Prefatio libri hester. [Librum hester] etc. regnauit ibi incipit hester (sic) revelauit (sic)…(132r.b)…habebant iouis idola.

Cf. Stegmüller, Vol. V, p. 238.  No. 7726; Glorieux, Vol. I, p. 241.

 

132rb. Incipit Historia de Machabeis. Tunc scilicet ipse antiochus iussa ipsius…(133ra)…munitiunculam scilicet turrem.

Cf. Stegmüller, Vol. V, p. 238.  No. 7727; Glorieux, Vol. I, p. 241.

 

133ra..  [Macchabeorum II] Secundus liber etc. prelibat magister quare hic appositum sit…(133rb)…verba sunt magistri transitum facientes.

Cf. Stegmüller, Vol. V, p. 238.  No. 7728; Glorieux, Vol. I, p. 241.

 

3. Stephen Langton, Expositio moralis in historiam scholasticam.

 

133rb. [Prologus Historie Evangelice.] [M]ortuo symone etc. iam tantum processit hystoria quod mortuus symon…(134va)…natus est precursor domini in iudea priusquam redirent et hoc est.

Cf. Stegmüller, Vol. V, p. 241,  No. 7742; Glorieux, Vol.I, p. 248.

 

134va. Evvangelium luce. [F]uit in diebus etc. sic incipit lucas evvangelium (bis) fuit (sic) et hic incipit historia evvangelica sed distinctiones huius voluminis altius incipiunt ibi scilicet mortuo simone…(breaks off 138vb)…percussionis primogenitorum unde ihesum se tertio occiderunt et in singulis annis dicuntur unum interficere.

Cf. Stegmüller, Vol. V, p. 241,  No. 7743; Glorieux, Vol. I, p.248.



[i] This manuscript lacks any attribution to Comestor and is not among the manuscripts listed by Stegmüller. References here are to the edition by Migne.

[ii] At the top of the folio in a contemporary hand is the note ‘Oratius dicit hunc uersum in poetica’; the opening words are from Q. Horatius Flaccus, Ars Poetica (l. 337).

[iii] The text is anonymous and does not begin in the same manner as the copy in MS. Paris, Bibl. Nat. lat. 14417, cf. Stegmüller, Vol.V, p. 235. No. 7710; Glorieux, Vol. I, p. 240.

[iv] The scribe’s contraction is ioh’s.

 
Physical description  
SupportParchment 
Dimensions235 x 165 mm 
Extenti-ii modern paper + 139 + iii modern paper. Folio i verso and fol. ii recto are blank. 
Collation1-38, 410, 5-98, 106, 118, 129, 13-168, 176, 184. Quire 17 lacks its last two sheets and quire 18 lacks its first four, but no loss of text is indicated. 
CatchwordsNo catchwords. 
SignaturesQuire signatures on verso of last sheet of first ten gatherings. 
FoliationFoliation modem pencil in arabic numerals by tens, no pagination. 
Condition

Parchment holed in places and without corners, no loss of text. Worm-holes in fol.139.

 
Layout

Text space: 210-14 x 139-48 mm. Black ink, fading to brown, ruled in pale brown ink, two columns each of 46-8 lines on fols lr–97v and 51-3 lines on fols 98r–138v. Script is first half of the thirteenth century. Edges untrimmed.

 
Scribes  
ScriptsLittera gothica textualis, first half of thirteenth century.  
Decoration

Red rubrics, red capital letters and running titles.

 
Musical notation  
BindingEighteen or nineteenth-century royal blue velvet over boards. 
Seals  
Accompanying material  
 History  
 Origin

Thirteenth century.

 
 Provenance

On fol. 139r is Ave maria gratia plena dominus tecum benedicta tu in mulieribus cc benedictus fructus ventris tui. Amen in a fourteenth-century hand and is repeated in a fifteenth-century hand. The side back cover has the autograph of Robert Sticht ‘R.S.Ldn III.03’ and ‘58Ld’ and ‘dhg’ in a rectangle and ‘sek’ in pencil. The inside front cover has the inscription ‘Ex libris Robert Carl and Marion Oak Sticht 1909’, together with the label of A.H. Spencer, 86 Bourke St., Melbourne, and in modern pencil ‘Biblia Sacra’, ‘466c/o/s/p’, ‘See Catalogue extract at end of volume’. An extract from the Spencer sale catalogue, entry numbered 78, is written on the inside back cover, with the note ‘Spencer 3.4.23 £9/9/–’; fol. ii recto carries ‘Ex Libris Public Library of Victoria’, fol. ii verso its stock  No.’293568’, and fol. i recto and fol. 139v its stamp PUBLIC LIBRARY OF VICTORIA; fol. iii verso bears the library’s shelf-mark. Folio ir has the typed title ‘Petri Comestoris Historia Scholastica (Actus Apostolorum is omitted).

 
 Acquisition  
 Bibliography  
 Bibliography list

J.P. Migne, ‘Petrus Scholastica’. Patrologiae cursus completus, series Latina, Paris, 1844-55, Vol. 198.1054-1722.

 

P. Glorieux, Répertoire les maîtres en théologie de Paris au XIIIe siècle, Paris, 1933, Vol. 1.

 

F. Stegmüller, Repertorium Biblicum Medii Aevi, Madrid, 1940-61, Vol. 5.

 

K.V. Sinclair, Descriptive Catalogue of Medieval and Renaissance Western Manuscripts, Sydney, 1969, pp. 339-342, No. 206.

 
 Analysis  
 Commentary  
 Description by

Digital imaging and research on this manuscript were supported by the Australian Research Council Linkage Grant, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Australia:Researching and Relating Australia’s Manuscript Holdings to New Technologies and New Readers. Substantial donations from the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, Catholic Church Insurance and the National Australia Bank are gratefully acknowledged. The Catholic Diocese of Ballarat, The Network for Early European Research, and Newman College, The University of Melbourne, have also generously contributed to the project.

Chief Investigators (CIs) of the ARC project were Professor emeritus Margaret Manion (The University of Melbourne), Professor Bernard Muir (The University of Melbourne), and Dr Toby Burrows (The University of Western Australia). Graduate research assistants were Alexandra Ellem, Dr Hugh Hudson, Dr Elaine Shaw and postgraduate scholar Elizabeth Melzer (The University of Melbourne). Shane Carmody was the representative of the Chief Industry Partner (The State Library of Victoria). The following curators, conservators, photographers and computer specialists at The State Library of Victoria also contributed their expertise: Katrina Ben, Des Cowley, Ian Cox, Adrian Flint, Ross Genat, Jean Holland, Shelley Jamieson, Afsana Khan, Coralie McInnes, Monika McIntyre, Helen McPherson, Peter Mappin and Sarah Mason. Other contributors both in Australia and overseas are acknowledged in the relevant endnotes.

These detailed entries draw on the information in earlier catalogues and also update it. In particular, they are based on the following: K.V. Sinclair, Descriptive Catalogue of Medieval and Renaissance Western Manuscripts in Australia, Sydney, 1969, M. M. Manion and V. F. Vines, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Australian Collections, London, 1984, and B. Stocks and N. Morgan, eds, The Medieval Imagination: Illuminated Manuscripts from Cambridge, Australia and New Zealand, Melbourne, 2008. Our debt to these pioneering publications and dependence on them are acknowledged here.

Margaret M.Manion, on behalf of the ARC team, October, 2013.

 
 Acknowledgements  
 Other descriptions  
 Digital copieshttp://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/190106