This 10th-century manuscript contains a commentary on the Rule of
St Benedict. The commentary was written by Smaragdus (b. c. 760, d.
c. 840), a monk from the Benedictine abbey of of Saint-Mihiel near
Verdun, after the Rule of St Benedict (b. 480, d. 547) had been
made the norm for all monastic communities in the Synods of Aachen
(816–819). The manuscript remained at Stavelot until the sale of
its manuscripts in 1847. Contents:ff. 2r-2v: A table of contents
for the Rule of St Benedict, in a 14th- or 15th-century script
(‘Tabula huius libri’). ff. 3r-182v: Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel,
Commentary on the Rule of St Benedict. The manuscript contains two
fragments from a manuscript of the first half of the 9th century.
Two other leaves survive in Add MS 16962, f. 1 and f. 211 (see
Bischoff, Katalog ,I (1998); p. 75 (no. 357); II (2004), p. 96 (no.
2371)). The two leaves in this manuscript contain the following
passages: ff. 1r-1v contains 1 Maccabees 15. ff. 183r-183v contains
1 Maccabees 9-10. Decoration:Large and small initials in red or
brown ink, some with some foliate decoration and red fillers (e.g.
f. 2r). Small initials with red and green or red and yellow fillers
(ff. 158v, 159v, 163v, 166v).
