Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 008: Vincent of Beauvais OP, Speculum historiale, books 1-14

purl.stanford.edu/cv176gb0028

Title:

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 008: Vincent of Beauvais OP, Speculum historiale, books 1-14

Alternate Title:

Vincentii Speculum Historiale. Libb. i-xiv

Language:

Latin

Extent:

ff. 268 + 1

Dimensions:

430 Height (mm) and 290 Width (mm)

Approximate Date:

[ca. 1300 - 1325]

Table of contents:

Speculum historiale, books 1-14

Description:

The main text in CCCC MS 8, dating to the first half of the fourteenth century, is the encyclopaedia of history, Speculum historiale, of the Dominican, Vincent of Beauvais (1189/94-1264), which is also in CCCC MSS 13, 14. The version in this MS is close to that in Dijon, Bibliothèque Municipale MS 568, dating to 1244, but omits the dedicatory letter and prologue. The back flyleaf of the book, bound in at a later date, contains polyphonic music on a five-line stave, dating to the middle years of the thirteenth century. The earliest English motet, 'Worldes blisce have god day,' is on the recto, and an Anglo-Norman love song, 'Volez oyer le castoy', on the verso.