This manuscript contains the first six books of St Jerome's (b.
347, d. 420) commentaries on the Book of Jeremiah and the Book of
Ezekiel. It was produced in the 2nd quarter of the 12th century at
the Benedictine abbey of St Edmund in Bury St Edmunds; it is
particularly in this period, during the abbacy of Anselm
(1121-1148), a nephew of St Anselm of Canterbury, that the
abbey’s scriptorium flourished. This manuscript appears to have
been part of a series of biblical commentaries, since a 15 th
-century note on f. 159r refers to other parts of St Jerome’s
commentaries kept in the abbey’s armarium . Contents:ff. 2v-89r:
St Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah, beginning: ‘Incipit explanatio
sancti ieronimi in ieremiam prophetam’ (Books I-VI). ff.
90r-159r: St Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel, beginning: ‘Incipit
prologus Sancti Ieronomi de libru[m] Ezechielis prophetae’ (Books
I-VI). The manuscript contains a number of additions: f. 159r: A 15
th -century note about the manuscript and library’s contents,
‘Deficiunt hic Libri ·viij· beati Jeronimi Super ezechielem .
scripsit eum libros xiiij · super ezechielem – Et super Jeremiam
· libros ·xx· - Et super ysaiam libros xviij · Et aliis ut
pridem in registro – in armario nostro sancti edmundi’. f.
160v: A 12 th or 13 th -century prayer to St Edmund, ‘et
intercedente beato Edmundo rege et martyre tuo · ab hostium nos
defende propritius incursu’. [ff. 2r, 89v, 159v, 160r, 160v are
blank]. Decoration: 1 large decorated initial (Channel style) in
colours, containing a zoomorphic figure (a bird) on f. 3r. 1 large
initial with red and blue penwork decoration (f. 90r). Large and
small initials in red. 1 large initial in green with red penwork
decoraiton (f. 147r). A drawing of a man, faintly drawn in ink, on
f. 161r.
