Milan, Ambrosiana M.79 sup. "Miscellania varia ecclesiastica;' including Biblical Glosses sourced to Theodore and Hadrian of Canterbury (Items 39, 42, 44)

Abstract

324. Milan, Ambrosiana M.79 sup.

"Miscellania varia ecclesiastica;'

including Biblical Glosses sourced to Theodore and

Hadrian of Canterbury (Items 39, 42, 44)

[Ker App.20; Gneuss --]

HISTORY:Almost certainly written in Piacenza (Northern Italy, in the Piedmonte) in the last quarter of the l lc by two main scribes working in collaboration, with additions by other hands, this manuscript is aptly described as "Miscellania Varia Ecclesiastica." Its main contents are Latin biblical glossaries, including some relics of specifically A-S material (Items 39, 42, 44). The terminus post quern for the date is the inclusion of the record of a Council held at Rome under Gregory VII in 1078 (Item 50). The terminus ante quern is the addition of the record of the Council held at Piacenza under Pope Urban II in 1095 (Item 59). The Calendar (Item 55) includes saints that were venerated particularly at Piacenza, so this feature and the fact that the first addition (Item 59) concerns Piacenza strongly suggests the manuscript's origin there. It comprises three separate booklets, the second beginning at f. 156, the third at f. 191. Scribe 1 wrote quires I-XIII, and the first column of f. 105r, the first leaf of quire XIV, leaving the lines at the bottom of the column blank. Scribe 2 wrote quires XIV-XXXI from f. 105rb up to f. 250rb. Both scribes prepared the membrane in much the same way ( details below), but while the first scribe wrote rubrics in red but without decorated initials, the second scribe drew initials in pen, which he then colored in red. On f. 245v in the bottom margin there is a trial ornamental capital F on its side in brown ink. There are annotations by a later hand (?13/14c) in the bottom margins of ff 81 v, 82v, 85r, 103v, showing that the manuscript was read with interest. On f. 144 a thin cord tag has been sewn into the outside edge of the leaf, presumably to assist a reader find his place. On f. 2r there is an added inscription (?16c): 'Iste liber est meij francisci de raynerij de brixia | cum duobus aliis libris et erat iste liber quo<n>dam | habbatis de gaijbo in territorio brixiensi', indicating subsequent provenance in Brescia; 'Gaijbo' may be Borgo S. Giacomo, near Brescia (Mazzuconi 1983: 202). The same hand may have written over some faded text on f. 32r.

The manuscript underwent "Restaurato" at "Badia Monumentalis di Santa Maria di Grottaferrata" in December 1953 with a new binding of polished oak boards and spine of brown calf which also covers the adjacent one third of the boards, and there are two clasps with leather straps to hold the book closed. New paper endleaves, one at the front (f.i), and one at the back, were added at the same time. Leaves that were separate before the restoration have been fused together, hopefully in a correct reconstruction of the original state.