Beschreibung:

PETER COMESTOR (d. c.1178). Historia Scholastica , in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [England, Rochester, 1190s] 330 x 230mm. iii + 237 + iv leaves: I 3 (of 6, i-iii cancelled blanks), 1 10 , 2-7 8 , 8 8 (and a part-folio inserted between ii and iii), 9-19 8 , 20 7 (vii a singleton), 21-29 8 , 30 4 (of 6, v and vi cancelled blanks), plus four 15th-century leaves at end including two lifted pastedowns from a previous binding, COMPLETE, two columns of 39 lines written in dark brown ink in a protogothic bookhand on 39 horizontals and bounded by two inner verticals and two outer pairs of verticals ruled in brown, a further vertical in outer margin ruled in plummet, justification: 240 x 145mm, rubrics and running headings in red, gatherings 1-12 with two- to eight-line initials in red or blue, some of them with flourishing of the contrasting colour, gatherings 13-29 with two- to seven-line initials of green, red or blue, mostly with flourishing of a contrasting colour, LARGE ILLUMINATED INITIAL with stave of burnished gold, orange and blue (page-edges darkened, neat marginal tear to five leaves, strip of vellum lost from edge of margin on folio 203, and upper corner of first endleaf). Early 19th-century panelled calf (scuffed, worn at extremities, upper cover detached). A PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN MANUSCRIPT FROM ROCHESTER CATHEDRAL PRIORY PROVENANCE: 1. Benedict, vicar of Sutton, probably Sutton at Hone, in the diocese of Rochester, Kent: inscription 'Per Benedictu[m] Vicariu[m] de Suthton. Liber Historiar[um] de Claustro Roffens[i]' (f.1). The manuscript is written by a number of different scribes, some recognisably Rochester hands, and it seems that it was produced in the scriptorium of the priory at the expense of Benedict. It may always have been intended for the priory's use. 2. Cathedral Priory of St Andrew, Rochester, Kent: inscription as above, and an anathema opening 'Qui hunc libru[m] de Claustro Roffens[i] alienav[er]it' (f.iii verso), both written in a 13th-century hand. The inscription on f.i is preceded by the number II, perhaps a press-mark. Other manuscripts from Rochester have similar notes of gift and anathema written in the same hand. These include another copy of the Historia Scholastica (BL, Royal 2 C I). Since the present manuscript is the earlier and is likely to have been written in the Priory in the 1190s it is reasonable to assume that it was this book which was described as the 'Hystoria magistri Petri. in.i. volumine.' in the 1202 inventory of books -- the Comune Librarium -- of Rochester Cathedral: English Benedictine Libraries: The Shorter Catalogues , eds R. Sharpe, J.P. Carley, R.M. Thomson and A.G.Watson (1996), pp.497-529. The overwhelming majority of manuscripts to survive from Rochester, which are now in the British Library, formed the largest single medieval component of the Westminster collection of Henry VIII. Carley has suggested that they may have been acquired with the personal library of John Fisher Bishop of Rochester when his goods were confiscated in 1534, or after his execution in 1535: J.P. Carley, The Libraries of Henry VIII , 2000, pp.xi-xli. While it is possible that the present manuscript shared this fate and is an escape from the royal library, it is perhaps more likely that it remained in the monastery at least until the house was surrendered in 1540. It was certainly there in the 26th year of the reign of Henry VIII (1534/35) when William Newton 'boy in the monastery', wrote a dated inscription on the final verso naming Samson Philippot, cellarer, who had been custodian of the store-room under the hall in the days of Master Phillip. 3. Philip Mainwaring Esq. of Over Peover (d.1647), Captain of the Light Horse of Chester and Sherrif of Cheshire in 1639: his signature on f.i. 4. Sir Henry Mainwaring of Over Peover, Bart (d.1797): his armorial bookplate inside upper cover. At birth he inherited the baronetcy created for his uncle Thomas in 1660. When Henry died unmarri