This manuscript is made out of two parts (part 1: ff. 1-167; part
2: ff. 168-248) that were produced separately at the Benedictine
abbey of Stavelot (Wallonia) in the last quarter of the 12 th
century and were joined there as well. The resulting manuscript
contains complete copies of De Institutis Coenobiorum (On the
Institutes of Cenobitic Monks) and Collationes Sanctorum Patrum
(Conferences of the Desert Fathers), works about the monastic life,
by John Cassian (b. c. 360, d. 435). The manuscript also contains
one of the earliest extant copies of the office for the feast of St
Thomas Becket (d. 1170) that were composed at Christ Church in
Canterbury, where Becket’s feast was celebrated for the first
time in 1173. Stavelot’s access to the office shortly after its
composition suggests that there was active textual transmission
between the Continent and England at this time. Contents:f. 1v: A
commentary on John Cassian by Gennadius of Marseille (d. c. 496),
beginning ‘Gennadius in libro de viris illustribus’. f. 1v: A
commentary on John Cassian by Prosper of Aquitaine (b. c. 390, d.
c. 455), beginning ‘Item in eodem’. ff. 1v-4r: A letter of
Bernard, abbot of Auch, to the Palatine Frederick, in response to
criticism of Cassian, beginning ‘Epistola bern abbatis Augiensis
ad fridericum Palatinum’.ff. 4r-5r: An office for the feast of St
Thomas Becket, beginning ‘Passio sancti thome archiepiscopi et
martyris’. ff. 5v-62v: John Cassian, De Institutis Coenobiorum
(Books I-XII), beginning ‘Incipit prefaetio librorum cassiani’.
ff. 62v-167r: John Cassian, Collationes Sanctorum Patrum
(Collationes XI-XVII), beginning ‘Incipit Prologus Cassiani In
septem collationes sanctorum Patrum Cheremonis . Nesterotis et
Joseph’. ff. 114r-167r: John Cassian, Collationes Sanctorum
Patrum (Collationes XVIII-XXIV), beginning: ‘Incipit Prefacio
Cassiani in septem Collationes Sanctorum Patrum’. ff. 168r-248r:
John Cassian, Collationes Sanctorum Patrum (Collationes I-X),
beginning ‘Incipit Prefatio Cassiani In Decem Collationes
sequentes’. The manuscript contains a number of additions: f. 1r:
Excerpts from Theodulus, Cato, Virgil, Ovid, Horace and Lucan,
added in the 12 th or 13 th centuries. f. 248v: Excerpts from
Matthew 12.34, Ovid, Augustine, and Seneca, added in the 12 th or
13 th centuries. f. 248r: Psalm 113:9: ‘Non nobis domine non
nobis sed nomini tuo da gloriam’, added in the 15 th century. f.
54r: a 17 th -century note ‘Plenevaulx’ in the lower margin,
possibly a reference to Wenceslaus de Plenevaulx (d. 1621), a
Carthusian monk and writer from Delft and Arnhem. [f. 167v is
blank].Decoration: 1 large initial in black ink with foliate
decoration added in the ?15 th century on f. 25v. Large and small
initials in red throughout the manuscript, some with patterns in
the initials or minor penwork decoration. A 12 th - or 13 th
-century drawing of a lobster in brown ink and a 15 th -century
drawing of a plant and a sheep (?) in brown ink on f. 248v.
