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Cambridge. Corpus Christi College, Parker Library MS 2II

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Source
Parker Library On the Web (Cambridge)
Library
UK, Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, Parker Library
Shelfmark
  • MS 002II
Biblissima authority file
Date
  • 1100 - 1199
Language
  • Latin
Title
  • Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 002II: The Bury Bible
  • The Bury Bible
Description

  • Summary: This great Bible, CCCC MS 2, one of the most famous of the books in the Parker Library, is now bound in three volumes (2I, 2II, 2III), although once was a single volume. 2I contains ff. 1r-121v with Jerome’s Prologue and the books from Genesis to Joshua; 2II contains ff. 122r-241v with the books from Judges to Isaiah; 2III contains ff. 242r-357v with the books from Jeremiah to Job. The single volume thus contained the books of the Old Testament from Genesis to Job, and the second volume with the remainder of the Bible has not survived. It can be identified with a Bible commissioned by Hervey, the sacrist, for his brother, Talbot, prior of Bury St Edmunds Abbey, c. 1135-8, which was illuminated by Master Hugo. The miniatures and some of the illuminated initials are painted on separate pieces of vellum stuck to the page, and the description of the Bible in the Gesta Sacristarum attests that master Hugo 'was unable to find any suitable calf-hide in these parts' and had to purchase parchment from Ireland. Six large full-page or half-page miniatures preface some of the books, whereas the others have historiated or ornamental initials. Six of the large pictures have been removed from the book and are lost. It is a prime example of the very large luxury Bibles made in the twelfth century for monastic houses. The artist, Master Hugo, was influenced by Byzantine painting, and may have seen either illuminated manuscripts opr wall-paintings, such as those of Asinou in Cyprus which most closely resemble his style. The faces are modelled with shading in green and grey, and the folds are divided into sections reflecting the position of the limbs. This has been called the 'damp-fold' style and influenced many other artists working in England in the period c. 1140-70 at Canterbury, Winchester and elsewhere. After the dissolution of the abbey of Bury St Edmunds at the Reformation the Bible eventually came into the hands of Matthew Parker.


    Contents :


    122r-241v - The Bury Bible

    rubric: (128v) Explicit liber Josue Bennun habet versus I DCCC L

    Note: (128v) Capitula of Judges (xviii)

    Note: (129r) has been double. Full-page picture stripped off

    Note: (129v) Large decorative initial on verso

    rubric: (143v) Explicit liber Sophim id est ludicum habet versus I septingentos quinquaginta

    Note: (143v) Capitula of Ruth (x). Ieronimus in lib. ruth. Ruth moabitis (2.5 lines)

    Note: (143v) Decorative initial

    rubric: (145v) Explicit liber Ruth habet versus mille ducentos quinquaginta (!)

    Note: (145v) Prologue to Kings

    incipit: (145v) E (sic) viginti et duas litteras

    Note: (146v) Capitula (not all numbered - first 33 numbered)

    rubric: (147r) Expliciunt capitula scripta a beati Ieronimi in libro Regum io et iio

    incipit: (147r) Samuhel in heli mortuo

    explicit: (147r) imperii sacramenta testatur

    rubric: (147r) Explicit prologus

    Note: (147v) A double leaf. On verso frontispiece to 1 Kings. Border and backgrounds as before. Above. Elkanah on L. gives robes to Hannah and Peninnah (the former bowing). Below. On L. Eli in low white mitre, red chasuble with gold pall, blue dalmatic or tunicle, stole, alb, with crosier, stands under a building and listens to Hannah who stands (separated from him by a shaft) praying. On R. Hannah in bed, flames or clouds in front; above, a seated nurse tends the child Samuel. Names have been scribbled on the background, e.g. Colchestra.

    Note: (148r) Decorative initial

    Note: (154r) A little grotesque man is sketched in the margin

    rubric: (167r) Explicit Samuhel liber regum primus, habens versus duo milia trecentos

    Note: (167r) Capitula libri II (xviii)

    Note: (167v) Decorative initial, stuck on

    rubric: (182r) Explicit Samuhel liber regum secundus habet versus II CC

    Note: (182r) Capitula libri III (xviii)

    Note: (182v) Prologue

    incipit: (182v) Malachi idest tertius

    Note: (183r) Decorative initial, stuck on: dark green ground

    rubric: (200v) Explicit Malachim idest regum liber tertius habet versus II quingentos

    Note: (200v) Capitula libri IV (110)

    Note: (201v) Decorative initial, not stuck on

    rubric: (218v) Explicit liber regum IIII

    Note: f.219r-219v now blank has had a full-page picture stuck upon the verso

    Note: (220r) Prologue to Isaiah

    incipit: (220r) Nemo cum prophetas

    Note: (220r) Initial on green and blue ground. Above, a man with a mace holding a rope attached to muzzle of a (red) bear below on L. At bottom lie three round cakes (?) and a wooden trough with a long handle

    Note: (220v) Initial to Isaiah, stuck on. The prophet with white hair and beard seated on rocks, many coloured, holding out blank scroll. Divine Hand above. Green ground

Rights
  • Images courtesy of The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. For higher resolution images suitable for scholarly or commercial publication, either in print or in an electronic format, please contact the Parker Library directly at parker-library@corpus.cam.ac.uk
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