Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek Vossianus Lat. F. 24 "Abavus maior" and other glossaries

Abstract

156. Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek Vossianus Lat. F. 24

"Abavus maior" and other glossaries

[Ker, App. 17; Gneuss -]

HISTORY: The manuscript dates from the late 9c or early 10c and according to Bischoff, on the basis of the dotted 'Z' on f. 103v/8d, originates from western France or Brittany (Bischoff 1974: 233, n. 1), a conclusion indicated also by about a dozen l lc marginal glosses in Old Breton (Fleuriot 1964: 5), but there are no other clues as to its exact provenance. In the early 17c it belonged to the Paris scholar Paul Petau, whose son Alexander sold his father's enormous library to Queen Christina of Sweden in 1650. The Dutch philologist Isaac Vossius, who had concluded this transaction for the queen, became the next owner of the book after he received a selection of Christina's library by way of remuneration for her debts. After Vossius's death in 1689, the curators of Leiden University purchased his library, by then in Windsor, and shipped it to its present location. Old shelfmark Vossius 38 (f. lr).