In Latin., Script: Written by a single scribe in small, neat, gothic bookhand; note in his hand on f. 209r, too trimmed to be legible., Approximately half the historiated initials have been excised. The initials, 51- to 9-line, painted gold, red and blue with white highlights and punctuated with gold dots, terminate in spiralling floral serifs, often with biting animal heads, with long projecting stems against cusped grounds. The figures are red, blue, orange and grey, against red or blue grounds, some of them diapered and decorated with groups of three white dots and gold dots. Illuminated initials, 51- to 5-line, occasionally for books (f. 74v [Joshua] and f. 175r [Nehemiah]), for the most part for the prologues, similar to the historiated initials, except infilled with interwining and angular vines with biting head terminals, red and/or blue against red or blue grounds with gold dots and set in frames of painted gold. 2-line calligraphic initials for chapters, red or blue with blue or red penwork, each attached to a column of superimposed I's, red and blue, running the full length of the text column, with penwork flourishes, especially at the terminals. Capitals for verses stroked in red. Running headings and chapter numbers in alternating red and blue letters or numbers., and Binding: Date? Resewn on four single, round, vegetable fiber cords which are frayed out and adhered inside the oak boards. There are no endbands, but traces of alum tawed endband cores and sewing supports remain in the holes in the boards. The spine is square. Some lettering in ink on the fore-edge. Covered in red-brown calf, with an exceptionally large stamp of the Virgin and child in an aureole within concentric frames, one with an inscription, on the upper board and diamonds filled with crosses, roses and IHS in circles on the lower. The latter ornaments are also stamped on the turn-ins underneath the pastedowns. Rebacked and edges repaired. Upper board detached. Not the original and possibly not an early binding. Rebacked in the Yale Conservation Studio in 1982. The upper and lower covers are lined with single leaves, pasted down, of a missale plenum (11th century?). Portions of Dominica VI post Pentecosten, Feria IV of that week (upper cover), an unidentified mass of the Sanctorale, Dominica III post Pentecosten (lower cover). Where they occur, the texts of the proper chants are notated in German neumes in campo aperto. Some of the chants are cited by incipit; these are usually not noted. The Alleluia for DMC III is Domine in virtute; that for DMC VI is Eripe me. (We thank K. D. Hartzell for his assistance with these fragments.)
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Versions, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Missals
Manuscript on parchment (trimmed). and On fol. 260v: historiated initial of King David and a carillon of three bells and clappers.
Description:
Evidence of heavy use in the 14th through 16th centuries includes marginal notes of an early corrector (e. g. "hunc prologum non correxi quia non inueni correctum" on f. 182r and "Quidam non hunc istum uersum" on f. 539v).
Subject (Topic):
Bible.--Latin--Versions, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment (trimmed). The codex is probably a normal French Bible but is so badly bound, with lacunae throughout, that we cannot be certain
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by a single scribe in a neat, but slightly round, gothic bookhand, on the top line. Notes for initials and chapter numbers in margins, in an informal cursive script. Numerous corrections between rulings in lower margin; the corrections were then written in a neat gothic bookhand next to the text., The surviving historiated initials, 8-, 7-, 6-, and 5-line, are of varied design, and are all badly damaged. In type and style they are somewhat comparable to initials in mid-13th century Parisian manuscripts. For the most part, the initials are red or blue, with white highlights; the body of the letter on a dark blue, pink, or grey ground, with white dots; curling floral and dragon serifs, some with cusps (orange, red, and green); descenders (up to 2/3 of text column) same color as body of letter, with adjoining strips of pink, blue, or grey, often with cusped floral terminals, rampant dragons; all sections thickly edged in black. Other historiated initials, blue or pink, with cusped serifs, against a brown ground with delicate floral filigree in white; thick black edging. Three historiated initials (ff. 25r, 90v, and 117v) in architectural settings, in dark blue, blue, red, pink, and gold, with elaborate floral pendants below. The historiated initials for two books, f. 1r (Proverbs) and f. 63v (Philippians) were cut out; script and decoration have been restored with unusual care (15th century); large floral buds (green, orange, yellow, and/or pink) on short green stems against purple or black grounds., Illuminated initials, 4- to 2-line for prologues, pink or blue with white highlights, occasionally with gold; otherwise, diminutive versions of historiated initials types (f. 63 [Prologue to Philippians] with a small bird); one initial of this type f. 35v (John), originally historiated, has also been restored. 4- to 2-line initials for chapters, set into text columns, red and blue with blue and red penwork flourishes running along column into margins, some with animal-head terminals; some initials in bottom line with unusual penwork pendants. Capitals in text stroked in red. Chapter numbers, red and blue, often with flourishes; running headings, red and blue; rubrics in red throughout; corrections surrounded by undulating red lines, occasionally with trailing penwork flourishes., and Binding: 18th-19th centuries. Vellum case. Paper boards are composed of fragments of several French legal documents of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Versions, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment of an illuminated Bible, with the prologues attributed to St. Jerome, and interpretations of the Hebrew names.
Description:
Binding: 19th century: calf over cardboard; both covers and spine, in six compartments, gold-tooled. Purple silk doublures., Manuscript on parchment of an illuminated Bible, with the prologues attributed to St. Jerome; interpretations of the Hebrew names: Interpretationes nominum Hebraicorum, with additions in the margins and at the end; an alphabetical list of words with explanations and/or ethymologies; a table of Epistles, Gospels and other readings for the ecclesiastical year: Temporale, Sanctorale and Common of the Saints; and a list, in two columns, of the kings of Juda and Israel., and Script: probably copied by one hand in extremely small Gothica Textualis Libraria (Perlschrift). Article 3 is by a contemporary hand. Numerous historiated initials of various sizes with long vertical extensions.
Subject (Name):
Jerome,--Saint,--d. 419 or 20
Subject (Topic):
Bible.--Latin--Versions, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment (thick, fuzzy on hair side) of a Book of Hours, followed by 3 short devotional texts in French.
Description:
Binding: 19th-20th centuries, England. Rigid vellum case with note on spine "MS. Circa 1400". Red edges. Bound by Birdsell and Son (Northampton, 1792 and later)., Manuscript has been heavily trimmed with loss of marginal decoration; staining, rubbing throughout affects illumination., Purchased from C. A. Stonehill in 1935 by Thomas E. Marston., Script: Written in two styles of script: large gothic bookhands, often with only 3-4 words per line, by three scribes for ff. 1r, 2r-91r, 93r-115v, respectively; Anglicana scripts for ff. 1v, 91v-92v (added prayers)., and The codex, now in fragmentary condition with no miniatures extant, contains a sequence of historiated initials, some badly rubbed. Large historiated initials, 3-line, pink or blue with white designs on blue square ground framed with gold; both initial and frame edged in black; figures on gold ground, often rubbed and flaked; elongated dragons extend into margins for ascenders, as in initial D. Small historiated initials, 2-line, of similar designs and colors, but on cusped gold grounds. Other text divisions marked by 2-line initials, pink, orange, blue with simple foliage motifs in the same colors and yellow, all with designs in white and on square or cusped gold grounds that often extend far into margins. Initials on ff. 93-115 are somewhat more delicate in appearance and presumably by a different hand than those on ff. 2-91. 1-line initials in red with blue penwork designs alternate with opposing color scheme. Elaborate line-fillers, including fish and heads of long-beaked beasts, for litany (art. 5). Headings in red, ff. 2-91 only.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church--Prayers and devotions
Subject (Topic):
Books of hours, Devotional literature, French, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript fragment on vellum of 1 leaf from a Breviary, with offices for St. Ursula.
Description:
Two historical initials.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church--Liturgy and Ursula,--Saint
Subject (Topic):
Breviaries, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment. Copied in the Charterhouse Val de Benediction (Vallis Benedictionis) at Villeneuve-les-Avignon
Description:
In Latin., Script: Copied by one hand in small Northern Gothica Textualis Libraria., All important illuminated leaves missing. Headings in red. Yellow heightening of the majuscules. 1-line flourished initials alternately red and blue. Numerous 2-line flourished initials in the same colours. 3-line dentelle initials with partial floral borders in gold (on f. 56r with bar-shaped extensions, on f. 57v no border)., The manuscript is heavily mutilated, some leaves are out of order and many (presumably all illuminated) leaves are cut out., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Light-brown leather over pasteboard; the covers gold-tooled with floral border and centre-piece. Gold-tooled spine with four raised bands. One large modern silver clasp attached to rear cover. Edges gilt and gauffered.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Carthusians. and Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Liturgy, Breviaries, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Monasticism and religious orders
Manuscript on parchment (trimmed) of Baudouin d'Avesnes (d. 1289; Lord of Beaumont and son of Margaret of Flanders), Chroniques de Hainaut. Continues to ca. 1131
Description:
In French., Script: Written in fine gothic textura. Corrections made over erasures., One fine historiated initial, 4-line (f. 4r): orange, pink and blue with white filigree; a king seated in conversation with three men, the figures orange, pink, and blue against a ground diapered in gold and blue with crowns in white; on a blue ground with white floral filigree framed in gold; curling vine serifs, red and green, extending into a 3/4 vine border, blue and pink, with red, blue, green and white leaves with some knots and gold cusping; large gold dots; two dogs, one with a bone, in lower margin. Two coats-of-arms in upper and lower margins. One fine calligraphic initial, 5-line, f. 197r, divided red and blue with particolored penwork, red and blue, with flourishes and a cascading column of I's, alternating red and blue and extending 3/4 length of inner margin. 4- to 2-line initials, red or blue, with blue or red penwork, dots and large flourishes, one on f. 4r with a cascading column of I's as above. 1-line initials, red or blue, with penwork, as above. Numerous crude marginal drawings in brown ink. Notes to rubricator, arts. 1 and 3., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Diced brown calf over heavy wooden boards which are possibly original.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut, New Haven., and Hainaut (Belgium)
Subject (Name):
Baudouin d'Avesnes.
Subject (Topic):
French literature, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment. Possibly produced at the Cistercian abbey of Fitero (between Pamplona and Tudela).
Description:
In Latin., Script: Copied by various hands in Iberian Praegothica., The original sections (articles 1, 2, 7 and 8) have red headings and red decorative line-fillers; 1-line plain initials and numerous 2-line (sometimes 3- or 4-line) plain or flourished initials or litterae duplices intermingled. Many round initials such as C, D, O, Q are filled with a human face ("face initials"); in art. 7 some initials I are zoomorphic and take the shape of a fish (ff. 127r, 134r). Red and purple initials normally alternate. Art. 4 has red initials. The remaining articles are undecorated., Lower edge of many leaves damaged, with loss of text. The final pages worn and smudged., and Binding: ca. 1800. Limp parchment with remains of two leather ties. On the spine the hand-written title "Charta charitatis, liber usuum et institut. Ordinis S. Bernardi. M.S." At the bottom of the spine a label with the handwritten modern number "1280".
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Cistercians
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Monasticism and religious orders