This manuscript contains two works that were written separately in
the 2nd or 3rd quarter of the 9th century and incorrectly bound
together at some point before the 15th century. The first text (ff.
1r-105r, 131r-165v) is De Institutione Laicali (On the Instruction
of the Laity) by Jonas of Orléans (b. c. 760, d. 843), Bishop of
Orléans, servant at the court of Louis the Pious (b. 778, d. 840)
and advisor to his son, Pepin I of Aquitaine (b. 797, d. 838). The
second text is a previously unidentified copy of the Epistola
Concilii Aquisgranensis ad Pippinum Regem Directa (Letter of the
Council of Aachen to King Pepin) by Jonas of Orléans. Both are
works of religious instruction, particularly aimed at clerical
authorities and kings. The manuscript, according to Bernhard
Bischoff, may have been produced in Northeast France, in the second
third of the 9th century (Bischoff, Katalog (2004), p. 93).
Contents: ff. 1r-105v: Jonas of Orléans, De Institutione Laicali ,
Books 1-2, imperfect due to illegible text on f. 1r and loss of
some text (the final section of Book 2, Chapter 29) at the end [see
Patrologia Latina, 106: 121-278]. ff. 106r-130r: Jonas of Orléans,
Epistola Concilii Aquisgranensis ad Pippinum Regem Directa , Books
I-III [see Monumenta Germaniae Historica , Conc. 2.2]. ff.
131r-165v: Jonas of Orléans, De Institutione Laicali , Book 3,
imperfect (ends in Chapter 19). The manuscript contains a number of
additions:ff. 2r, 4v, 5r, 71r, 107r, 129v: Latin inscriptions, some
not legible, added in the (?) 9th century.f. 130v: An office for St
Crispin and St Crispinian, added in the (?) 9th century.[f. 5v and
f. 88v are empty].Decoration:Medium initials in brown or red.
Rubrics and Roman numbers in red (sometimes oxidized). A drawing of
a cross has been added in dry-point to the upper margin of f. 86r;
a zoomorphic figure in brown ink to the right margin of f. 95r.
