SPECULUM HISTORIALE VINCENTII I-VIII

MRJ number
43
College classmark
B.21

    Vellum, 14.25 x 10, ff. 277, double columns of 50 lines.  Early 14th cent., in fine round hand with good ornaments.  French work.

    Donor, T. C. S.                                                                                2 fo. utilium.

    From St Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury.  On flyleaf, liber Thome abbatis and Primum uolumen speculi historialis D. Thome abbatis (Ancient Libraries, p. 518).  The second and third volumes of the set are MSS. 13 and 14 at Corpus Christi College.  The fourth is unknown to me.

    Collation: 2 flyleaves (1 stuck to cover): a6 (1 added, 6 canc.) 112 - 2212 238 (wants 8), 4 flyleaves (4 stuck to cover).

    Old stamped leather binding over boards (sixteenth cent.); clasps gone.

    On the first leaf of quire a is a short table of names, evidently written at Canterbury, in a hand similar to that on the flyleaf.

    Table by the scribe of the book (ff. 3-6).

    Contents:

       Inc. speculum hystorie fratris Vincencii       .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .       f. 7

       Apologia tocius operis.

       I De causa, etc.  Quoniam multitudo librorum.

       A border with dogs chasing stag, and decorative initial, of most

           beautiful work.

       Capitula of libb. I-XXXII (followed by continencia libri II), in four

           columns to page, begin on f. 13.

       Lib. II, f. 42,  partial border:   dogs and boar.  Decorative initial.

       Lib.III, f. 82v                       dog and rabbit.                     

       Lib. IV, f. 118v, partial border:  dog and rabbit.  Decorative initial.

       Lib. V, f. 145                          grotesques.                           

       Lib. VI, f. 163v                       dog and rabbit.                    

       Lib. VII, f. 195                       rabbit.                                   

       Lib. VIII, f. 232v                    two cocks.                            

       Ends f. 277v: Opifices diffugiunt.  Expl. primum uolumen. 

 

Four leaves follow, of a closely-written Roman law MS. of the 13th cent., in double columns of 62 lines.

Manuscript extra information

The table goes with Corpus Christi MSS 13 and 14.

M.C. Duchenne, G.G. Guzman and J.B. Voorbij, ‘Une liste des manuscrits du Speculum Historiale de Vincent de Beauvais’, Scriptorium 41 (1987), 286-94.
Stella Panayotova (ed.), The Cambridge Illuminations: the Conference Papers (London: Harvey Miller, 2007) p. 140.
A. Stones, 'Prolegomena to a corpus of Vincent of Beauvais illustrations'. In M. Paulmier-Foucart (ed.), Vincent de Beauvais: intentions et receptions d'une oeuvre encyclopedique au Moyen Age (Montreal, 1990) pp. 301-44.
J.B. Voorbij, 'The Speculum Historiale: some aspects of its genesis and manuscript tradition'. In W.J. Aerts, E.R. Smits and J.B. Voorbij (eds), Vincent of Beauvais and Alexander the Great: studies on the 'Speculum Maius' and its translations into medieval vernaculars (Groningen, 1986) pp. 11-55.