This 12th-century English manuscript contains the Commentaria in
Epistolas Beati Pauli (Commentary on the Pauline Epistles), a
4th-century work that is considered to be an important source for
the reception of the Pauline Epistles before St Augustine of Hippo.
The Commentaria was written by an unknown author who is now known
as Ambrosiaster (‘would-be Ambrosius’), since the work was
erroneously attributed to St Ambrose during the Middle Ages (e.g.
see f. 1v). Contents: ff. 2r-140r: Ambrosiaster, Commentaria in
Epistolas Beati Pauli . The manuscript contains a number of
additions: f. 1v: A title in a 12th-century script: ‘Ambrosius
super epistolas Pauli’. f. 1v: A prayer, added in a 16th-century
script by John Prise: ‘Omnipotens et misercors deus, qui per
predicationem sancti apostoli tui Pauli, divinam voluntatem tuam
toto terrarum orbi notam fecisti. Clementer facias, ut nos qui
mirabilem conversionem suam memoria tenemus : adimpleamus
sacrosancta traditione tua qua per illum reddidisti ; per Jesum
Christum dominum nostrum - Amen’. ff. 142r-142v: A table of
contents (‘Index Ambrosii’) by Charles Burney (b. 1757, d.
1817).[ff. i recto-ii verso, 1r [but with blind ruling], 140v-141v
[except for faded 12th-century annotations], and 143r-145v are
blank].Decoration:1 large initial in green, red, and blue with
geometric decoration (f. 2r). Large and medium sized initials in
red or green, some decorated with foliate arabesques (e.g., f. 101v
and f. 111v). Small one-line initials in red or green, some in
purple or black ink. Rubrics in red. Paragraph markers in red.
Running headers, quotation marks (margins), and quire signatures
(final versos) in brown ink. Manicules in brown ink added to the
margins.
