Manchester. The John Rylands Library, Latin MS 11
- Source
- Manchester Digital Collections
- Library
- The John Rylands Library
- Shelfmark
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- Latin MS 11
- Biblissima authority file
- Language
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- Latin
- Title
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- Gospels, with St Jerome's prologue
- Agent
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- Preferred form
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- François Joseph Vergauwen (1801-1881)
- Role
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- Former owner
- Original form
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- Francois Vergauwen, book collector
- Vergauwen, Francois
- Other form
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- Vergowen
- Biblissima portal
- Biblissima authority file
-
- Description
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- Extent:
ff. 180 (xiii+162+v) Leaf height: 308 mm, width: 230 mm.
Binding:
Wooden boards, covered and edged with metal. The back has fragments of old red leather, with remains of early stamps. There is a metal clasp engraved with the word 'Maria' in gothic letters on a hatched ground.
The front cover has a border composed of metal plates, some enamelled and some engraved. The enamels are as follows: at the angles, four half-lengths of Angels, representing Virtues: each holds a disk: the grounds are blue. Top left: FIDES; top right: SPX; bottom left: CARITAS; bottom right: HVMILITAS. The remaining six enamels represent Apostles. Those at top and bottom are horizontally oblong, and show the bust and the hands raised, one holding a book. Those at the sides are rather over half-length, and hold books. They are: top, MATHEVS; Bottom, ANDREAS; left, THOMAS· BARTOLOMEVS; right, IACOBVS . PHILIPPVS. The alternate panels are all of one type: they are engraved with patterns, and each has a central nail and four round holes, which probably contained stones.
The sunk central panel has a broken border of thin metal, with repoussé pattern. The field, which once had an ivory or metal relief, has been painted in the 17th century (fairly early), with a full-length figure of Christ in dark robes (blue and purple), holding an orb with cross, and blessing.
The second cover is arranged exactly as the other. The enamels here represent: top left, angel with book MATHEVS . LIBER GHN; right ox - LVCAS . FVIT IN DIEB⁹ HERO; bottom right; lion - MARC⁹ . MARIA MAGDALENE; left, eagle - IOHS . IN PRIN; top centre - PAVLVS; bottom. centre - PETRVS, key; left - IOHANNES . IACOBVS; right - SIMON· TADEVS.
The sunk central panel bears marks of a cross, perhaps, which was fastened to it with nails. It must have contained relics, for at the top of the panel, painted in gold in the sixteenth (?) century is the inscription: DE LI .. T. S. LAVR. DE S. BERN DE S. NICOLAO. DE S. CECILIA. The lower part of the field is ornamented in fluid gold.
Second half of 12th century
Acquisition:
Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford. Bequeathed by Rylands to the John Rylands Library in 1908.
Layout:
27 long lines.
Collation:
Quire A6
Quire B4, wants 3-4
Quire C4
Quires 1-208
Quire 212
Quire D4, followed by two loose papers
Data Source(s):
Description based on M.R. James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Latin Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library at Manchester (Manchester, 1921), reprinted with an introduction and additional notes and corrections by F. Taylor (München, 1980), revised and expanded by Joanne Edge.
Subject(s):
Religion; Christianity; Bible. Latin--Versions--Vulgate; Bible. New Testament
Abstract:
Gospel book, produced in Flanders in the mid-12th century.
Format:
Codex
Material:
Parchment.
Provenance:
The Abbey of Our Lady of Leffe, Dinant: references from 1406, 1576 and 15th or 16th centuries (f. ir, vv-vir).
Bought for James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford by F. J. Olivier, bookseller of 11 Rue des Paroissiens, Brussels, for 7,500 fr. in the sale of Francois Vergauwen, book collector of March 1884 in Brussels, lot 42. (CLL, Jan.-June 1884, nos. 23-27 passim, 33-34, 40-41; CLI, 1883-91, No. 108).
- Extent:
- Rights
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- Provided by The University of Manchester. Zooming image © University of Manchester Library, All rights reserved. Images and Metadata made available for download are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). Images and Metadata made available for download are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
