This manuscript is the unique witness of the poems of Robert Partes
(fl. c 1170), and also includes the collection of short poems,
known as the Floridus Aspectus (Appearance of Flowers), by Peter
Riga(b. c 1140, d. 1209). The volume was probably produced in the
Benedictine abbey of Reading, where Robert Partes was a monk (see
Cornog, 'The Poems of Robert Partes' (1937)). A versified letter
from Robert Partes to Peter of Celle (d. 1183), abbot of the
Benedictine abbeys of Montier-la-Celle and St Reims(Rheims), refers
to him as a bishop. This indicates that the manuscript was produced
in or shortly after 1181, when Peter of Celle succeeded John of
Salisbury as bishop of Chartres (see Cornog, 'The Poems of Robert
Partes' (1937)). The main part of Robert Partes's poems are
epistles in verse addressed to his brother William. Other versified
letters are addressed to Stephen of Lincoln, Linganus, a monk of
Reims, and to his benefactor Peter of Celle. In addition to these
poems there are plaints and epitaphs written by Robert Partes (ff.
17r-23r).The former 14th-century parchment binding is kept
separately as Egerton MS 2851/1.Contents:ff. 1r-5r: Robert Partes's
versified epistles to his brother William, beginning: 'Quasi
prefatiuncula de intentione scriptores fratri suo Willelmo.
Vernantis nitor eloquii, nitidi favus oris'. ff. 5r-5v: Robert
Partes's versified epistle to Stephen of Lincoln, beginning: 'Socio
quondam suo magistro Stephano Lincoliensi (sic). Me tibi teque
michi non enodandus amoris'. ff. 5v-9v: Robert Partes's versified
epistle to Peter of Celle, beginning: 'Domino Petro Carnotensi
episcopo tunc Abbati Sancti Remigii Remensis. Ut quid lingua silet?
Cur torpet dextera? Cessat'. ff. 9v-13r: Robert Partes's versified
epistle to Linganus of Reims, beginning: 'Domino Lingano monacho
Remensis quondam socio suo. Ite breves elegi, vero nichil obstat
amori'. ff. 13r-16v: Robert Partes's versified epistles to his
brother William, beginning: 'Item fratri suo de promulgatione nove
legis ab abbatis. Principis ad nutum nudat spatarius ensem'. ff.
16v-17r: A series of epitaphs related to Robert Partes's mother,
Basilia, who became a nun, beginning: 'Epitaphium matris. Hic sita
natorum genetrix generosa duorum est'. She died in 1267, according
to two verses (f. 16v): 'Anno milleno centeno sexageno/Septeno
moriens debita soluit'. ff. 17r-17v: Robert Partes's ten epitaphs
of Henry I, beginning: 'Epitaphia sepulture gloriosi regis Henrici
senioris inscribenda, fundatoris domus nostre. Regia rex soboles,
rex, recti, regula, rerum'. Henry I was the founder of the
Benedictine abbey of Reading in 1121. f. 17v: A short elegiac
couplet related to St Thomas Becket: 'De Sancto Thoma. Floreat in
terries per te pater insula Bruti, Percipiant famuli regna beata
tui'.ff. 17v-18r: Robert Partes's celebration of Henry I,
beginning: 'De rege Henrico seniore, de nomine scilicet illius.
Nomen inaurari nostra non indigent arte', including references to
the Benedictine abbey of Reading. The poet is punning the name
'Henry'. ff. 18r-18v: Twelve epitaphs for pictures illustrating the
Crucifixion, the Nativity, the Adoration of the Magi, the Sheperds
and Christ's baptism; the rubric entitled this part 'De diversis
picturis', beginning: 'Ima reconcilians summis Deus alta supinat'.
ff. 18v-22v: Robert Partes's lamentation upon St Thomas Becket's
martyrdom. The original rubric has been erased. It has been
replaced by a 17th-century hand: 'Thoma Beckett Anglo Archiepiscopo
Cantu[a]r[iensi]'; beginning: 'Cor gemit, auris hebet, manus aret,
lingua rigescit'. ff. 22v-23v: A series of verses and epitaphs,
beginning: 'Contra obloquentem puerum, mala male scribentem. In
scripta velde in speculo mens stulta relucet'. In the margin,
written vertically by the same scribe: 'Hic finiunt versus
Roberti'. ff. 23r-47v: Peter of Riga, Floridus aspectus, a
collection of poems and epitaphs. The same scribe wrote vertically
in the margin: 'Hic incipiunt versus Petri la Rigge'; beginning:
'De passione sancte Agnetis virginis'. Agnes sacra sui pennam
scriptoris inauret'; ending with a rhetorical treatise (ff.
43r-47v), which is considered by the scribe as the second book of
the Floridus Aspectus. This tract is attributed to Peter of Riga,
beginning of the prologue (ff. 43r-v): 'Maiori parte operis
consummata stilo quo potui'; beginning of the text: 'Repetitio est
cum continenter ab uno eodemque verbo in rebus similitibus et
diversis principia assumuntur, hoc modo'. Decoration:Initials in
red, blue, or green, some with simple penwork
decoration.Highlighting of letters in red.
