DCL MS. B.II.13St Augustine, Commentary on the Psalms, part 2
Held by: Durham Cathedral Library: Durham Cathedral Manuscripts

The second volume of a three volume copy of St Augustine's Ennarationes in Psalmos (a commentary on the book of Psalms covering Psalms 51-100) that was one of the group of books donated by William of St Calais, bishop of Durham (died 1096). The first volume has not been identified amongst surviving manuscripts, the third is now Durham Cathedral Manuscript B.II.14. It was created in Normandy towards the end of the 11th century.

Digitised: https://n2t.durham.ac.uk/ark:/32150/t1m1j92g744x.html

Physical description of manuscript
Support

Parchment

Extent: i+227+i f
Size: 360 mm x 265 mm

Foliation

Modern pencil foliation 1-121,121*-226


Secundo folio: Quid enim
Collation

A6,1-268,275 (i.e.6-8 cancelled)

Script

Written in late Caroline Minuscule

Decoration

Most Psalms are marked by a large initial. Initial I to commentary on Psalm 70 includes a standing portrait of William of St Calais, below whom is kneeling a tonsured cleric labelled “Robertus Benjamin”, identified as the artist by an inscription.

Binding

Standard Tuckett binding, mid 19th century full brown calf over thick wooden boards with 2 metal clasps (Charles Tuckett, binder to the British Museum, rebound many Durham manuscripts in the mid 19th century)

Manuscript history
Creation

Written in Normandy, end of 11th century.

Manuscript contents
(a)     f.1r-6v
Modern title: Index
Original title: Tabula
Date: [late 14th - early 15th century]
Incipit: Abba pater dicitur secundum utramque linguam
Explicit: Explicit tabula super secundam quinquagenam et cetera
Language: Latin

An alphabetical index to the contents of this volume, added about 300 years after the manuscript was written, on 6 inserted leaves (gathering A).

(b)     f.7r-226r
Modern title: St Augustine, Commentary on the Psalms
Original title: Enarrationes in Psalmos, 51-100
Author: St Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (354-430)
Date: [before 1096]
Incipit: Psalmus breuis est de quo loquendum suscipimus
Explicit: Explicit Beati Augustini Doctoris, Tractatus De Psalmo Centesimo Deo Gratias
Rubric: Aurelii Augustini Egregii Doctoris, Incipit Tractatus De Psalmo Quinquagesimo Primo
Language: Latin
Edited: Dekkers & Fraipont 1956

Digitised material for Durham Cathedral Library MS. B.II.13 - St Augustine, Commentary on the Psalms (part 2, Psalms 51-100)
Digitised in 2015 as part of the Durham Priory Recreated Project
https://n2t.durham.ac.uk/ark:/32150/t1m1j92g744x.html
Bibliography

Catalogi veteres librorum Ecclesiae cathedralis Dunelm. Catalogues of the library of Durham cathedral, at various periods, from the conquest to the dissolution, including catalogues of the library of the abbey of Hulne, and of the mss.   OCLC citation, Surtees Society 7, (London: J.B. Nichols and Son, [1838]).

Browne, A. C., "Bishop William of St. Carilef's book donations to Durham Cathedral Priory", Scriptorium 42 (1988) 140-155

Dekkers, E. & Fraipont, J., edd., Aurelii Augustini opera   OCLC citation v.10, parts 1-3; CCSL 38-40 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1956)

Gameson, Richard, ed., Manuscript treasures of Durham Cathedral, Richard Gameson with contributions by A. I. Doyle, John McKinnell, David Rollason, and Lynda Rollason and with a foreword by the Dean of Durham (London: Third Millennium Publishing, 2010)

Gullick, Michael, "The scribe of the Carilef Bible: a new look at some late-eleventh-century Durham Cathedral manuscripts" in Brownrigg, L. L., ed., Medieval book production: assessing the evidence. Proceedings of the Second Conference of the Seminar in the History of the Book to 1500, Oxford, July 1988 (Los Altos Hills, Calif.: Anderson-Lovelace, 1990), 61-83

Mynors, R., Durham Cathedral manuscripts to the end of the twelfth century. Ten plates in colour and forty-seven in monochrome. With an introduction [including a list of all known Durham manuscripts before 1200]   OCLC citation, (Durham: 1939)

Index terms