Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 246: Bible

purl.stanford.edu/ns059km6096

Title:

Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 246: Bible

Alternate Title:

Biblia

Language:

Latin

Extent:

ff. 7 + 400 + 3

Dimensions:

156 Height (mm) and 102 Width (mm)

Approximate Date:

[ca. 1200 - 1299]

Provenance:

Added in manuscript in the College copy of Stanley's Catalogue, with the note : Ex dono Mri Duncomb: 1745: but see MS 245. In case there is any error here, it is worth mentioning that William Roberts, Fellow in 1626, gave a MS. Bible in Latin. This is recorded in the MS. Catalogue of Benefactors. and Masters in his Appendix, p. 23, alludes to a manuscript Bible given by T. Hopbury (H. P. S.).

Table of contents:

Bible

Description:

CCCC MS 246 is a small thirteenth-century Latin Bible with simple red and blue initials at the beginning of each book. In France such portable Bibles were made in very large numbers in Paris during the period c. 1220-80, but this one was made in England where relatively few were made. The College copy of Stanley's Catalogue records CCCC MS 246 as a donation from John Duncombe. However, as CCCC MS 245 is also listed as a donation from Duncombe, James suggests that this manuscript might be the Bible donated by either William Roberts (Fellow in 1626) or T. Hopbury. William Roberts's donation was recorded in the Catalogue of Benefactors and T. Hopbury's donation of a Bible was noted by Masters in his history of Corpus Christi College. The book retains its original binding and is one of the best medieval bindings in the collection. As a result of the fragility of this binding it has only been possible to image the exterior and interior of the front cover, the exterior of the back cover, and part of the text pages, ff. 1r-22v.