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Detailed record for Harley 3052
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| Author |
Gregory the Great; Caesarius of Arles |
| Title |
Moralia in Job, books 1-9 (ff. 1v-113); Homiliae X ad monachos (ff. 113-123); shorter texts (ff. 123-125), including a letter to the antipope Clement III, the Ordo ad includendum masculum vel feminam, an acrostic poem which spells out 'Gregorius' (f. 124v) and the Epitaphium Frederici episcopi Leodiensis(f. 125) |
| Origin |
Germany, W. (Arnstein) |
| Date |
2nd half of the 12th century |
| Language |
Latin |
| Script |
Protogothic |
| Scribe |
Gregorius |
| Decoration |
1 large anthropomorphic initial, outlined in red, on green and blue ground (f. 113). 1 large zoomorphic initial, outlined in red, on green and blue ground, with some yellow washes (f. 3). 8 large initials, outlined in red (partly oxidised), on green, blue and/or yellow grounds, all with foliate motifs, many with dragons, one (f. 14) with profile head (ff. 1, 6v, 14, 36, 49v, 63v, 77, 94v). Smaller initials in red, frequently decorated in same colour or, occasionally, in green or blue. 1 small initial in blue (f. 124). Display script in red, occasionally decorated or highlighted in another colour, for letters following some large initials. |
| Dimensions in mm |
375 x 275 (280-295 x 210) in 2 columns |
| Official foliation |
ff. 125 (+ 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and 3 at the end; f. 125 is a lifted paste-down) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
BM/BL in-house |
| Provenance |
The Premonstratensian abbey of St Mary and Nicholas, Arnstein, founded in 1139, written by the canon Gregorius: inscribed 'Prima pars moralium beati Gregorii pape in iob. Quam scripsit Gregorius canonicus sancte marie sanctique Nicolai in arenstein' (f. 1); some additions in 13th c. hand(s), including four historical records relating to the dedication of churches and altars in Arnstein, Untertiefenbach and Einghofen as well as a donation by the count of Nassau during the years 1246-1248 were added on f. 1 by a 13th century hand (transcribed by Kohl 1903); notes in later hands including that of abbot Heinrich Schupp (d. 1574).
Nathaniel Noel (fl. 1681, d. c. 1753), bookseller, employed by Edward Harley for buying books and manuscripts chiefly on the Continent, where his agent was George Suttie (Wright 1972).
The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts, inscribed as usual by their librarian, Humfrey Wanley ‘16 die Ianuarij, A.D. 1720/21’ (f. 1).
According to Wright, Edward Harley went to Noel on 9 January 1720/21 and selected this and other manuscripts which Noel had 'lately brought from Germany'. The manuscripts arrived on 16 January 1720/21 (see Wright and Wright 1976).
Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta Cavendish, née Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d.1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library. |
| Notes |
The manuscript forms part 1 of 3 parts, the second is Harley 3053, and the third is Harley 3054.
Running headers.
Quire marks.
2 leaves excised between ff. 33-34, 3 leaves excised between ff. 53-54 and 1 quire lost between ff. 67-68.
According to Krings 1990, p. 251 n. 83, the initial on f. 3 occurs also in Trier, Stadtbibliothek Cod. 261/1140 2o, fol. 153v. |
| Select bibliography |
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), II, no. 3052.
A. Kohl, 'Arnsteiner Handschriften im Britischen Museum zu London', Nassovia. Zeitschrift für nassauische Geschichte und Heimatkunde, 4 (1903), 106-08,120-21,133-34 (pp. 120-121).
C. E. Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 53, 254.
C. E. Wright and Ruth C. Wright, The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1976), I, p. 81 n 9.
Sigrid Krämer, Handschriftenerbe des deutschen Mittelalters, Mittelalterliche Bibliothekskataloge Deutschlands und der Schweiz: Ergänzungsband 1, 3 vols (Munich, 1989-90), I (1989), p. 26.
Bruno Krings, Das Prämonstratenserstift Arnstein a. d. Lahn im Mittelalter (1139-1527) (Wiesbaden: Selbstverlag der Historischen Kommission für Nassau, 1990), pp. 250-51 no. 22. |
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f. 1v
Decorated initial |
f. 1v
Decorated initial |
f. 3
Zoomorphic initial |
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f. 3
Zoomorphic initial |
f. 14
Decorated initial |
f. 14
Decorated initial |
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f. 113
Anthropomorphic initial |
f. 113
Anthropomorphic initial |
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