This manuscript consist of two parts bound together immediately
after their execution at Pontigny. It was likely intended for the
office of St Thomas, which was celebrated at Pontigny from 1174.
The order of the two text were revised probably in the early modern
period. The Passion of St Thomas Becket was composed by John of
Salisbury between 1173 and 1176 and the Passion and Miracles of St
Thomas Becket was written by Benedict of Peterborough between 1172
and 1179. Both parts were copied shortly after the writing of these
texts around 1180 (see Peyrafort, La bibliothèque médiévale de
l'abbaye de Pontigny (2001) no. 80). Contents: ff. 2r-70v: Benedict
of Peterborough, Passio et Miracula Sancti Thome Cantuariensis
(Passion and Miracles of St Thomas Becket), imperfect, ending:
'aliis qui astabant ut presbyter'. The table of the third book is
incomplete due to the loss of one folio between folios 32-33. A
bifolium has been misbound between ff. 62-63. ff. 71r-78r: John of
Salisbury, Passio Sancti Thome (Passion of St Thomas Becket).
Directions for twelve numbered lessons included in the margins (ff.
71-73r). Decoration:Four large initials in colours with foliate
decoration at the beginning of some books or prologues (ff. 2r,
13v, 48v (x2)). Large initials alternating in red or blue, some
with penwork decoration, at the beginning of chapters. Small
initials in blue or red in the chapter lists. Quire signatures. Two
red monochrome initials with palmettes (f. 71r). The four large
initials in Benedict of Peterborough's Passion and Miracles were
decorated by the illuminator of the Premonstratensian abbey of St
Marianus, Auxerre, also responsible for the decoration of Auxerre,
Bibliothèque municipal, ms. 11. The other initials are the work of
a scribe from the Cistercian abbey of Pontigny; also the red
initials with palmettes in the second part (f. 71r) were produced
at Pontigny but by another scribe according to Stirnemann, 'Le
témoignage des manuscrits' (2001), p. 66.
